Mountain West football roundup: Star freshman quarterback leads Hawaii to road upset of Air Force

Saturday’s lone intraconference matchup featuring Mountain West teams occurred at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs. 

Hawaii freshman quarterback Micah Alejado bounced back from a rough outing against Fresno State to throw for 457 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-35 road victory over Air Force. 

Alejado, a redshirt freshman from Nevada power Bishop Gorman High School, led the Rainbow Warriors (4-2, 1-1) to a Week 0 upset of Stanford but suffered an ankle injury seven days later against Arizona. Alejado returned last week and threw three picks in a 23-21 loss to Fresno State. 

Facing a struggling Air Force (1-3, 0-3) defense, Alejado completed 35 of 47 passes and didn’t commit a turnover. 

“Micah did his thing,” Hawaii running back Landon Sims told Spectrum News after the game. “He came back, and he told us after last week it’s on him. He’ll eat that one, and he’ll come back stronger. The nerve it takes and the spine it takes to totally eat that and put it on yourself, but then rebound and say, ‘no, I’m not done yet.’ ... He’s a hell of a leader, nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I’m very proud to be by his side every play.”

Hawaii is off next week before hosting Utah State (3-2, 1-0) on Saturday, Oct. 11. 

Boise State (3-1, 1-0) earned its third straight victory by routing Appalachian State at home, 47-14. 

Maddux Madsen threw for a career-high 321 yards and four touchdowns. Defensively, Boise State held Appalachian State to 184 yards of total offense while forcing two turnovers, including a pair of pick-sixes. 

“Getting two pick-sixes, I don’t know if that’s ever happened in a game, at least in my time,” Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson said after the win. “I’m proud of our coaches, proud of our players. It was huge for us to build on that going forward.”

The Broncos have a massive road matchup with No. 21 Notre Dame next Saturday. 

San Diego State (3-1) won a defensive slugfest with Northern Illinois, 6-3, on a 25-yard Gabriel Plascencia field goal as time expired. New Mexico (3-1) quarterback Jack Layne tossed four touchdown passes in a 38-20 rivalry victory over New Mexico State. 

San Jose State (1-3) hung tough with Stanford behind 473 passing yards and three touchdowns from Walker Eget, but the Cardinal scored a touchdown with 10 seconds remaining for a 30-29 comeback win. 

Utah State dropped a 55-35 decision at No. 18 Vanderbilt while Colorado State (1-3) mustered just three points in a 20-3 home loss to Washington State.