Mountain West Connection
All you need to know about the Mountain West, and then some
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Pac-Mountain Pulse Ep. 7: How Bad Was Week 0?, Week 1 Games to Keep Eyes On, Should Group of 6 Get Separate Championship?
Hello and welcome back to the Pac-Mountain Pulse, a Mountain West Connection podcast! In this episode, Derek and Dom discuss their feelings regarding the Mountain West’s performance in Week 0, which games they are keeping eyes on in Week 1, and their takes on the recent debate surrounding the Group of 6 and whether there […]
Mountaintop View 9-3-26
Mountain West power rankings: A new No. 1 after North Dakota State’s impressive debut Chris Murray of NevadaSportsNet posts his updated Mountain West power rankings after Week 0’s action. Predictably, North Dakota State trends up while UNLV falls backward. BSU sports has a growing budget deficit. Leaders look to ‘gold mine’ in the parking lot […]
AZTECS PREPARE FOR SEASON OPENER AGAINST PORTLAND STATE VIKINGS
Offensive line shored up for success this season. Key players to watch for as well as projected starters. San Diego State hosts Portland State this Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 PST at Snapdragon Stadium. The Aztecs find themselves heavy favorites. The current spread is 40.5 points. With a total point line of 62.5, the […]
MW/PAC-12 Week 0 Recap + Week 1 Preview! NDSU rolls to 1st win, UNLV & Hawaii stumble! Top storyline to watch for EVERY team’s season opener! HP Ep. #168 OUT NOW!
Welcome back everyone to the Hike’s Peak Podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! The 2026 college football season is officially underway, with the big story being North Dakota State steamrolling their way to their first win as an FBS program, as well as disappointing losses from Hawaii & UNLV. We’ll break down […]
High medium low: what a team’s non-conference tiers actually measure opening a season
Almost every program outside the Power 4 builds its non-conference schedule the same way, one game up a level, one game at your level and one game down a level. It’s not unique to San Jose State. Boise State does it. James Madison does it. Most of the Group of Six does it. What makes […]
The Pac-12 spent years rebuilding; now the hard work begins.
The Pac-12 is back in 2026, and college football is better off for it. This is not your older sibling’s Pac-12 conference, and it’s definitely not the Pacific-10 of your parents or grandparents era either. The conference has been on a long journey to get back to this point. Nearly a complete overhaul of members, […]
Mountain West & Pac-12 Bowl Projections Week 0: New Mexico winning the MW?
The time has come. The 2026 season is upon us. We are past the time of watch lists and preseason awards and have entered the time of bowl projections. Our team at Mountain West Connection will be releasing our bowl projections each week. This season, both Mountain West and Pac-12 projections will be included in […]
Air Force Football: Season Simulation with EA Sports College Football 27
The wait is over! College Football has officially kicked off, with nearly half of the Mountain West Conference loggings games in Week Zero. Unfortunately for three of the four teams to play got an early loss on their resumes (Hawai’i, UNLV and San Jose State). The lone winner was a newcomer to the Conference as […]
Mountaintop View 9-2-26: Nevada athletics, Utah State unis, UTEP throwbacks
Here’s how much each Nevada Wolf Pack head coach will make during 2026-27 season Nevada publicized this year’s payroll for its coaches. Boise State officials confirm stance on new 5-for-5 battle For the Broncos, no players will be signed that have moved to the next level. Utah State’s cow print helmet to be worn during […]
After Week Zero Success, Does NDSU Have Recipe For Bowl-bound FBS Debut?
Saturday, Aug. 29, was a historic day in the city of Fargo: FBS football has finally arrived in the state of North Dakota. A picturesque afternoon turned into a picturesque evening thanks to a 33-7 Bison victory over the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. It was North Dakota State’s first FBS win since 2016, as Tim Polasek […]
No Jack Layne, No Surrender: The Lobos Still Have the Quarterbacks to Win!
Losing their record-setting starter hurts, but Luke Moga, Toa Fa’avae, James Laubstein and Gabriel Motschenbacher give New Mexico the talent and versatility to remain a serious contender in the new Mountain West. There is no way to minimize Jack Layne’s impact on the University of New Mexico football team in 2025. Layne started all 13 […]
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: Week Zero
While Week Zero may not have had the marquee game that draws in the casual fan, most of the games were entertaining to watch, and we learned quite a bit about the Mountain West teams that competed. It was a weekend of mixed results for the new look conference; they were in the spotlight and […]
Get the best of Mountain West Connection on the new SB Nation app
It’s a big day for Mountain West Connection. Today, the SB Nation app is live, and it’s the best way to follow the Mountain West. You can download it by searching SB Nation for iOS or Android. A year ago we made some big changes to our community, including offering fewer ads and the addition […]
Mountaintop View 9-1-26
Fresno State Bulldogs to start Jayden Mandal at QB in season-opener at USC The local product from Clovis will be QB1 for the Bulldogs against USC this weekend. Mandal missed all of last season with an injury but is back after appearing in six games as a freshman. Air Force optimistic behind star quarterback, veteran […]
MWC Reacts Survey: Who will win the Pac-12?
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mountain West fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys:
Mountain West Connection Week 0 Players of the Week: NDSU Takes The Conference By Storm
Four Mountain West schools played a Week 0 game over the weekend, with only one coming out victorious. Besides San Jose State, the other two losing teams, UNLV and Hawaii, kept their respective games close, but NDSU made a statement in the first FBS game for the Bison. Similar to the official Mountain West POTW, […]
Mountain West Football Rankings: Week 0. Rebels fall, Bison rise.
The college football season has begun, for some teams anyway. The rest will play this coming weekend. The rankings won’t change much with only four teams playing and such a small sample size, but it’s also important for the weekly rankings to reflect the games that have been played. See how the four games have […]
MWCConnection Recruiting Roundup 8-31-26. Teams in new conferences are taking bigger recruiting swings.
It’s another week of the Recruiting Roundup. Something I’m attempting to keep an eye on is how a team’s recruiting efforts are impacted by being in a new conference. Are schools seeing a boost going from the Mountain West to the Pac-12? How about moving from the Sun Belt, MAC, or CUSA to the Mountain […]
Mountaintop View 8-31-26. Bison win, SJSU, Hawaii, UNLV suffer losses. NCAA Calendar Changes
It’s Monday, and we are back at it! As the season officially kicks off, we have you covered. As always, check out our original coverage and what we can find on the World Wide Web below. Spartans outclassed by Trojans This Week 0 game went pretty much as expected. The Spartans were outclassed for much […]
WEEK O KICKS OFF WITH SOME DISAPPOINTMENT FOR MOUNTAIN WEST TEAMS
ONLY ONE WIN AMONG MWC TEAMS UNLV drops a disappointing game against Memphis. Hawaii can’t catch up with Stanford as turnovers rear their ugly head. San Jose State falls behind early against USC but fight back in loss. Newcomer North Dakota State the only team in the win column against Jacksonville State. The early docket […]
2026 Mountain West Football Week 0 Recap
Week 0 of the 2026 season is in the books, and we certainly had some interesting results across the board. That fact rings true in the Mountain West as well, where the league went 1-3, featuring two devastating blows to preseason CFP-contending teams. Without further ado, let’s get into the Week 0 slate for the […]
Weaver’s calm intensity inside the coliseum is SJS’ real story in matchup vs. Maiava, USC
Forget the whole ancient war for a second. The part people actually still talk about, thousands of years later, is one matchup. Troy’s best fighter, Hector, squared off with the Greeks’ best fighter, Achilles, knowing full well he probably wasn’t walking away from it. He fought anyway. He lost. And it’s that stand, not the […]
Mountain West 2026 Week 0: Game Time, TV Schedule, Odds, Predictions
We have real live football games today featuring Mountain West teams! Check out today’s action, with four teams from the conference competing in Week 0. MW teams play this afternoon and of course, this evening, so there will be no shortage of football to watch. Below is all the info you need to know and […]
MWCConnection Reacts Results: Who will win the Mountain West in 2026?
This post is brought to you by FanDuel, a proud partner of SBNation. Rebels are Mountain West favorites The Mountain West is almost certain to have a first-time champion this year after this offseason’s schism. UNLV got the most votes in this poll, capturing a bit under half of the votes. The Lobos come in with […]
Hawai’i Warriors Weekly Countdown: Stanford
The long wait is over, football season has arrived at Manoa. While most college football teams are waiting one more week for the action to start, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors will once again feature in Week 0. Remember when Week 0 used to be exclusive to Hawaii and its lone opponent? Now there’s an entire […]