2025 College Football Preview: Mountain West

Photo by David Becker from The Associated Press

It’s one final ride for a few Mountain West teams, as multiple will head to the PAC-12 next year in an attempt to revitalize their conference.

Will one of them finish their last year in the conference as conference champions?

It’s very likely for one team.

Tier 1: Title Contenders

Boise State Broncos

Ashton Jeanty was the main reason Boise State made the College Football Playoff last season.

Obviously, Jeanty is now gone and in the NFL.

Still, Boise State are the clear favorites in this conference.

The Broncos return 67% of their production from last year, and while a large chunk of the missing production is from Jeanty, I believe it was Brad Pitt that said they can replace him in the aggregate.

Malik Sherrod comes from Fresno State, and they still have three other solid backs as well to help the run game continue to be competitive.

They’ll be more than fine in Boise.

UNLV Rebels

I am buying so much stock in UNLV this year.

Dan Mullen takes over, and there have been lots of misconceptions about Dan Mullen.

He was never a bad coach.

He just didn’t like to recruit.

Now, at UNLV, he has filled his offense with dynamic QBs like Anthony Colandrea and Alex Orji, who have the same play style of other Mullen QBs such as Tim Tebow, Dak Prescott, and Nick Fitzgerald.

They also compliment that with solid running backs in Jaylon Glover and Keyvone Lee.

UNLV should have a typical Mullen offense, and that was an offense that made Mississippi State a consistently good team in the SEC.

I think UNLV will be more than fine with Mullen at the helm.

Tier 2: Dark Horses

San Jose State Spartans

San Jose State got raided in the portal after they lost head coach Brent Brennan to Arizona, but still finished last year 7-6 with an insane amount of turnover in Ken Niumatololo’s first year in charge.

So now with some stability at hand for the Spartans, a run could be on the cards.

Air Force Falcons

Quarterback is the most important position in football, but it might be even more important at the service academies that run the triple option.

Not only do you need athleticism, and some ability to throw, but you need to have the smarts to make the right read when running the triple.

So Josh Johnson will need to be that level at Air Force for them to contend for the conference title.

If he does, Air Force will be good.

If he doesn’t, it won’t be in the cards.

Tier 3: Bowl Game Bound?

Colorado State Rams

Jay Norvell has improved CSU slowly but surely, making a bowl for the first time in his tenure last year.

There’s no reason to think that progress won’t continue this season, but expecting them to be title contenders this year is too bold for me.

Fresno State Bulldogs

Fresno State is a good football program.

And even though Matt Entz is in his first year as a head coach, he should have plenty to work with foundationally.

But, as I mentioned, it’s his first year in charge.

Add in many skill position turnover, and you have a team that can get to a bowl, but needs a quick retool before they go to the PAC-12.

San Diego State Aztecs

I’m going to give Sean Lewis more time.

He made Kent State good at football.

Since then, the success hasn’t been that great.

He struggled as OC in Colorado, and went 3-9 year one with SDSU.

But Colorado had a lot going on in that coaching room, and SDSU had a horrid offense under Brady Hoke that Lewis had to fix.

So even though it was bad, it should be better this year.

And if it is, they can turn things around and make a bowl game.

Wyoming Cowboys

Usually, continuity is key in these lower level conferences.

So I had high faith in Wyoming when Craig Bohl left, but promoted defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel to be the new head coach.

And then Wyoming went into the toilet, going 3-9 in Sawvel’s first year.

But hey. I’m feeling kind today.

I’ll give Sawvel another chance fix things up.

But if Wyoming misses out on a bowl again, this might just be the wrong fit.

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

Timmy Chang turned around an absolute mess when he took over, and he’s done a decent enough job getting it right.

But things have stagnated, and Hawaii can maybe get better results elsewhere.

Or maybe, this is the year they get back to a bowl game.

QB Micah Alejado looked promising last year, and with a full season to work with, might get Hawaii to a bowl for the first time since 2020.

Tier 4: Better Luck Next Year

Utah State Aggies

Bronco Mendenhall fixed Virginia, he did his best to fix New Mexico, and now he will try to fix Utah State, and I think he can do it.

But it will take time, and there is so much turnover with the Aggies that it is hard to see a path to 6 wins right away.

Nevada Wolfpack

Nevada went 3-10 last season, had a massive transfer exodus, lost a coordinator, and now have to replace all those pieces again.

That can’t continue, or else head coach Jeff Choate will never make the progress needed to succeed.

But if the transfers click, maybe they can get somewhere.

But I have some doubts Chubba Purdy will be the success at QB to turn things around.

Chubba Purdy was in Florida State’s 2020 recruiting class.

It is now 2025, and Purdy is playing for his 4th school.

It just hasn’t worked for him, and I don’t think it will magically start to.

New Mexico Lobos

Every now and then, New Mexico gets a coach who gives them one or two good years and makes a bowl game.

Maybe Jason Eck is that guy, but I am not putting any money on that bet until I see it happen.

Until proven otherwise, this program is dead in the water.