The first game week of the season is upon us, will be nice to have football that counts back, won’t it?

Not much on the Air Force front, but here’s a quick overview of this week’s lamb being led to slaughter opponent, Northwestern State.

Around the Mountain West/service academies: BYU is still hoping to go independent in football. Really, there was never any concrete indication the Cougars had decided to stay in the Mountain West. … Some teams have interesting matchups this week, like BYU trying to slow down Washington’s Jake Locker. … I’ve made wise cracks about Gary Patterson trying to find holes in his TCU team to keep it motivated, but this is a real one: If Andy Dalton goes down, there’s not much experience behind him at quarterback. … Things seem to be running more smoothly in Mike Locksley’s second year at New Mexico. … Utah has first-team all-MWC pick Eddie Wide at tailback, but Tauni Vakapuna is looking good too. … A look at Navy going into its season opener.