The calendar flips to August, the NFL’s Hall of Fame preseason game is upon us and fall camps are underway for college football.
In the dwindling days of summer, the college football space is filled with predictions and takes about the season to come. But why not just find out the results ourselves?
Thanks to our college football supercomputer (EA’s College Football 27 and my Xbox), here is what technology thinks the 2026 season will look like for the Mountain West and PAC-12.
A Quick NDSU Introduction
A lot of fans are excited
about North Dakota State’s first season in the FBS. According to CFB27, they will have a lot more to be excited for when it comes to the Bison.
NDSU finished its Mountain West digital debut with an impressive 8-1 conference record and a 11-2 finish overall.
This included nine straight victories to start their schedule, pulling out a 24-20 win at New Mexico and a 31-10 victory at UNLV.
Quarterback Nathan Hayes threw for 2,964 yards and 20 touchdowns while running back DJ Scott went for over 1,000 yards, averaging 6.3 yards per carry with seven scores.
Their secret weapon looked to be their defensive unit, as they only allowed 14.9 points per game in 13 games played, a mark good for third best in the nation.
Virgin-Morgan is Magic
There has been a lot of praise and hype around Boise State defensive end Jayden Virgin-Morgan this offseason.
That hype translates quite well virtually.
Virgin-Morgan finished the season with a whopping 19 sacks, including 32 tackles for loss and 55 solo tackles in 13 games. His 19 sacks are just one shy of the Boise State record (Chris Wing, 1996)
Virgin-Morgan took home the Chuck Bednarik Award (Best Defensive Player), Bronko Nagurski Trophy (Defensive Player of the Year), Lombardi Award (Defensive Lineman of the Year) and the Defensive End of the Year award.
He was the only Mountain West or PAC-12 player to earn first-team All-American honors as well.
Boise State, behind their wrecking ball on the defensive line, finished with an 8-5 record and 7-1 in conference.
Lobos are a No-Go?
After a breakout season in 2025, the Lobos came back to earth virtually in 2026.
It all started with a 35-34 loss to Central Michigan to open the season at home, going on to lose their last four of six to close the year.
Now, looking at the bigger picture, longtime Lobos fans will surely not complain about a 6-6 finish and a bowl appearance. But after the hype of the offseason, a year that had conference title aspirations fell flat in the video game world.
UNM actually led the conference in points per game, but would also allow the fourth most points on the season and would finish first in penalties, giving up leads and losing close games down the stretch.
They would go on to play UConn in the Idaho Potato Bowl.
Hard Times in Logan
This is not a shot at any Utah State fans, especially those who have been loyally commenting on these articles, but the computers were not kind to the Aggies.
Out of the two conferences, USU had the worst outcome, finishing 2-10 with a 0-8 conference record.
Big losses via a 30-0 loss to Colorado State and a 33-6 loss to Boise State would be punches to the jaw, but what hurt the most would come in the final three games of the season.
Against San Diego State, Oregon State and Boise State (again), the Aggies dropped all of them by just one possession.
At San Diego State: 34-28 L
At Oregon State: 38-25 L
Vs Boise State: 31-24 L
They finished last in the conference in points scored, battling with Oregon State in many categories for the worst of the PAC (Despite the Beavers taking them down).
Ouch.
In Summary
Mountain West
- North Dakota State, 11-2 (8-1)
- San Jose State, 7-6 (5-4)
- UNLV, 8-5 (5-3)
- Wyoming, 7-5 (4-4)
- (#24) Hawaii, 7-5 (4-4)
- Nevada, 7-5 (4-4)
- New Mexico, 6-6 (4-4)
- Air Force, 6-6 (3-5)
- Northern Illinois, 5-7 (2-6)
- UTEP, 4-8 (2-6)
PAC-12
- Boise State, 8-5 (7-1)
- Fresno State, 8-4 (6-2)
- Washington State, 8-5 (6-2)
- San Diego State, 8-4 (5-3)
- Colorado State, 4-8 (3-5)
- Texas State, 5-7 (3-5)
- Oregon State, 3-9 (2-6)
- Utah State, 2-10 (0-8)
Mountain West Championship: UNLV 24, North Dakota State 21
PAC-12 Championship: Washington State 27, Boise State 17
This would be an exciting outcome for fans to take in. I’m not sure I have seen anyone take both the Rebs and Cougs to take home conference titles.
However, this would not be the outcome each conference is looking for, as these losses to the Broncos and Bison basically kept the MWC and PAC out of CFP contention.
What outcomes shocked you the most? What is the most realistic? Comment down below:
