College Football Preview Part XIX- Mountain West

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Welcome Back!

Today I continue my conference previews. These previews will attempt to predict how each conference finishes, but realize that doing so is extremely difficult, especially since no conference has a balanced schedule. Also, whatever the conferences come up with in the form of tiebreakers will make a huge difference, as all but the Sun Belt have done away with divisions. In addition, these predictions aren't my personal opinion; they are the result of the formula/model/statistical analysis/whatever. I will sometimes mention my thoughts in the narratives below the predictions.

The list of records for 3-years, 6-years, and 10 years are conference records only, and do not include any results for the conference championship games. You will notice that the teams haven't all played the same number of games, especially when considering they should have. This is because that teams played a varied number of games in 2020, and that sometimes games get cancelled (see Virginia in 2022, for example). In the case of teams switching conferences, I counted the record from their previous conference. Independent teams joining a conference were counted with their full record (UMass), but FCS teams moving up enter with 0-0 records.

In case you are interested, I get all of my information from various sources. I use the 3 main preview magazines (Phil Steele, Lindy's, and Athlon), but I also use many different websites, including (but not limited to): Google, Winsipedia, sports-reference.com, ESPN.com, TeamRankings.com, NCAA.com, and, of course, individual school websites.

I don't have a staff- it's just me- so all of the research is my own from these various sources (it doesn't help when they contradict each other...), so any mistakes are mine. I also don't have an editor/proofreader, so you are likely to find several (many? I hope not) typos, such as commas where periods should be (or vice versa), a misspelled or missing word, doubled words ("the the" in the middle of a sentence, for example), etc. 

Finally, feel free to leave a comment. Interacting is much of the fun! Of course, if you know me personally, feel free to just text. I'll get that a lot quicker.

So, on with the previews!


Mountain West Conference


3-Year History


Boise St 21-2/.913/1st

Fresno St 15-8/.652/2nd

UNLV 15-8/.652/2nd

SJSU 14-9/.609/4th

Air Force 13-10/.565/5th

Utah State 12-11/.522/6th

Wyoming 12-11/.522/6th

Colo St 12-11/.522/6th

SDSU 9-14/.391/9th

Hawaii 8-15/.348/10th

New Mexico 5-18/.217/11th

Nevada 2-21/.087/12th


6-Year History


Boise St 39-5/.886/1st

AF 28-15/.651/2nd

FSU 26-19/.578/3rd

USU 25-20/.556/4th

SDSU 25-20/.556/4th

SJSU 25-20/.556/4th

Wyoming 20-25/.444/7th

UH 20-27/.426/8th

UNLV 19-26/.422/9th

CSU 18-25/.419/10th

Nevada 17-30/.362/11th

N Mex 8-38/.174/12th


10-Year History


Boise St 64-12/.842/1st

SDSU 49-28/.636/2nd

AFA 48-29/.613/3rd

USU 42-35/.545/4th

FSU 42-35/.545/4th

Wyoming 37-40/.481/6th

CSU 35-40/.467/7th

SJSU 34-43/.442/8th

Nev 32-47/.405/9th

UNLV 30-47/.390/10th

UH 30-49/.380/11th

N Mex 21-57/.269/12th


Predicted Finish:


  1. Boise State

  2. San Jose State

  3. UNLV

  4. Air Force

  5. Fresno State

  6. Colorado State

  7. San Diego State (tie for 7th with Hawaii)

  8. Hawaii (tie for 7th with SDSU)

  9. Utah State

  10. Wyoming

  11. Nevada

  12. New Mexico


Conference Champion: Boise State


Chances to make the playoff: With Boise State being a participant last year, I would have to say their chances of making it back are pretty good, but there will be 2 tasks they will need to accomplish. First, they will need to avoid any upsets, especially if they make it to the MWC CG. Secondly, they will need a good showing at Notre Dame on October 4. They don’t necessarily need to win, but they need to be respectable, such as avoiding a 66-20 blowout. In other words, they need to play ND close like the Broncos did in a 37-34 loss at Oregon last year. San Jose State and UNLV would also have good cases if they follow Boise’s example and play their P4 foe close; at Texas for SJSU and UCLA at home for UNLV.

Don’t be surprised if… Hawaii moves into the top half of the conference. I think they may be poised to have their 1st winning season since 2020.

I’m not convinced… UNLV drops below 4th place, as it may take a year to get cranked back up after losing their HC.


Make sure you come back tomorrow as I continue my previews!


Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!  

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