Happy Saturday and six weeks until the college football season kicks off, finally. Last time we began our review into the FBS and we continue that with what is always a very interesting conference: the Mountain West. Last season there were 3 teams (Air Force, Boise St, Fresno St) with exactly 10 wins and 3 with exactly 10 losses (Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico). It seems like somebody in this conference is a giant killer every year. A couple of years ago, they had a winning record against the Pac-12. I know, the Pac-12 was really weak, but were they just awful or did the MWC losses drive that weakness? At the same time, it’s always been a conference of haves and have-nots more so than most. Boise St, Fresno St, and San Diego St are well known for being powerhouses who can threaten anyone (rumors of San Diego St and their potential move to the Pac-12 have been steady throughout the off-season). Once in a while Air Force, Hawaii, or Wyoming will step up, but the New Mexico’s, Colorado St’s, UNLV’s are in the lower half of the conference year in and year out. The MWC is divided into two Divisions creatively deemed Mountain (Air Force, Boise St, Colorado St, New Mexico, Utah St, Wyoming) and West (Fresno St, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego St, San Jose St, UNLV).
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One of the NCAA’s coolest rules is that anyone who plays a game in Hawaii has the opportunity to play an additional regular season game. Hawaii does this every year, but their conference mates often do not because it essentially eliminates the bye week. This season is no exception with no other MWC team taking advantage of the rule. As we dig into the Preseason Strength of Schedule for this conference remember the average SOS for a Group of 5 team is 6.305 (FBS total is 7.3955) compared to the 12-team MWC average of 6.4834. Two teams (San Jose St and Boise St) are in the top 56 nationally which indicates a more difficult slate than a significant number of Power 5 schools (note: there are 69 Power 5 teams this year). There is just one neutral site games scheduled (Air Force/Army) indicated by (N) in the table below along with (P) indicating a Power 5 (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC, Notre Dame) opponent and (F) indicating an FCS opponent.
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | ’22 Record/ SOS Rank | ’23 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away |
| San Jose St (1) | 7.582/54 | 7-5/125 | 82-71 (.536) | (21-27) Air Force, Utah St, Hawaii, UNLV | (29-24) Boise St, New Mexico, Fresno St, San Diego St | (12-12) (P) Oregon St, (F) Cal Poly | (20-8) (P) Southern Cal, Toledo |
| Boise St (2) | 7.665/56 | 10-4/88 | 86-68 (.558) | (26-24) San Jose St, Wyoming, New Mexico, Air Force | (26-26) San Diego St, Colorado St, Fresno St, Utah St | (16-10) (P) UCF, (F) North Dakota | (18-8) (P) Washington, Memphis |
| San Diego St (3) | 7.163/81 | 7-6/94 | 81-73 (.526) | (28-25) Boise St, Nevada, Utah St, Fresno St | (23-27) Air Force, Hawaii, Colorado St, San Jose St | (20-18) Ohio, (F) Idaho St, (P) UCLA | (10-3) (P) Oregon St |
| Utah St (4) | 6.765/94 | 6-7/82 | 74-75 (.497) | (25-27) Colorado St, Fresno St, Nevada, Boise St | (26-23) Air Force, San Jose St, San Diego St, New Mexico | (9-13) (F) Idaho St, James Madison | (14-12) (P) Iowa, UCONN |
| UNLV (5) | 6.756/95 | 5-7/122 | 71-79 (.473) | (20-30) Hawaii, Colorado St, Wyoming, San Jose St | (24-27) Nevada, Fresno St, New Mexico. Air Force | (9-14) (F) Bryant, (P) Vanderbilt | (18-8) (P) Michigan, UTEP |
| Nevada (6) | 6.459/106 | 2-10/96 | 71-80 (.470) | (17-30) UNLV, New Mexico, Hawaii, Wyoming | (26-27) Fresno St, San Diego St, Utah St, Colorado St | (13-12) (F) Idaho, (P) Kansas | (15-11) (P) Southern Cal, (P) Texas Tech |
| Wyoming (7) | 6.345/107 | 7-6/90 | 71-80 (.470) | (18-33) New Mexico, Fresno St Colorado St, Hawaii | (27-24) Air Force, Boise St, UNLV, Nevada | (18-18) (P) Texas Tech, (F) Portland St, App St | (8-5) (P) Texas |
| Fresno St (8) | 6.026/114 | 10-4/81 | 65-85 (.433) | (19-31) Nevada, UNLV, Boise St, New Mexico | (27-24) Wyoming, Utah St, San Jose St, San Diego St | (8-15) (F) E Washington, Kent St | (11-15) (P) Purdue, (P) Arizona St |
| Colorado St (9) | 5.954/116 | 3-9/72 | 70-82 (.461) | (29-23) Boise St, Air Force, San Diego St, Nevada | (21-30) Utah St, UNLV, Wyoming, Hawaii | (11-13) (P) Washington St, (F) Utah Tech | (9-16) (P) Colorado, Middle Tennessee |
| New Mexico (10) | 5.906/119 | 2-10/76 | 67-84 (.444) | (21-29) San Jose St, Hawaii, UNLV, Utah St | (29-24) Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming | (11-13) (F) Tennessee Tech, New Mexico St | (6-18) (P) Texas A&M, UMASS |
| Hawaii (11) | 5.830/121 | 3-10/ 108 | 71-90 (.441) | (27-25) San Diego St, San Jose St, Air Force, Colorado St | (16-33) UNLV, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming | (13-23) (P) Stanford, (F) Albany, New Mexico St | (15-10) (P) Vanderbilt, (P) Oregon |
| Air Force (12) | 5.249/130 | 10-3/ 129 | 63-83 (.432) | (25-26) Utah St, San Diego St, Wyoming, UNLV | (23-28) San Jose St, Colorado St, Hawaii, Boise St | — | (15-29) (F) Robert Morris, Sam Houston, Navy, (N) Army |
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That’s it for today and the 10th place Mountain West. Tune in next time to find out who the next most difficult conference is. Thank you for reading and sharing with others. See you in a few days, G
