Week 6 of the 2026 season is in the books, and this week saw the Mountain West standings flipped on their head. Two monumental upsets—one slightly expected and one unprecedented—mean that at the halfway point of the season, the MW title race is absolutely wide open heading into the home stretch. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the absolute anarchy that dominated Week 6 of the 2026 season.
Wyoming 16, San Jose State 13 (OT)
The Scoop: Now this was an unexpected surprise. Entering this game, Wyoming was 0-4 all-time against
the Spartans on the road and was on an eight-game road losing streak dating back to their first game of 2025. Yet somehow, the Cowboys shocked everyone by overcoming a fourth-quarter deficit to stun their western rivals in overtime, bringing both teams to a .500 record halfway through the year. This is a monumental win for Wyoming; one that will likely go towards ensuring this coaching staff stays intact the rest of the season. San Jose State, meanwhile, will feel the sting of this one for a while. This may be the single greatest botching of a winnable game in program history.
SJSU’s three-point margin of defeat looms large considering the fact that the Spartans had three separate chances to score those three points and avoid humiliation. The first was in the first quarter, when after a 48-yard drive assisted by a Wyoming penalty, kicker Trajan Sinatra missed a 44-yard field goal to leave the possession with nothing. Then, with 16 seconds left in the half, Ken Niumatalolo made the decision to try and score a touchdown from the Cowboys’ 25-yard line with no timeouts. This decision backfired spectacularly when Luke Weaver was sacked on the play, running out the rest of the half without an attempt at a field goal being made. Finally, the Spartans went for it on 4th and 1 in overtime, which, after Weaver’s pass fell incomplete and Wyoming kicked a field goal of their own, officially sealed their fate.
Tyler Hughes only threw for 114 yards, but rushed for a team-high 92 yards while his defense held MW leading rusher Jabari Bates to just 69 yards on the night. Wyoming was not fantastic in this game, only gaining 345 yards of offense, turning the ball over twice and going 3-of-15 on third down. The Cowboys’ line gets much better when you realize they went an incredible 5-of-6 on fourth down, including going 2-for-2 on a masterful 18 play, 75 yard drive that wound up tying the game at 13 in the fourth quarter. Wyoming simply had the answers that SJSU did not have in the big moments, leading to a massive victory that leaves them halfway to a bowl game with six left to play. As for the Spartans, they leave with another heartbreaking loss, and more questions than answers about the game management of Coach Niumatalolo.
Wyoming (3-3, 2-1 MW) will head back home next week to take on one of the worst teams in the country: the Northern Illinois Huskies (0-5, 0-1 MW) on Oct. 17 at 1:30 p.m. MDT. The Huskies are coming off of yet another uncompetitive loss to the Liam Szarka-less Falcons, continuing their seemingly perpetual downward spiral in their new conference. The Cowboys should be able to handle the Huskies given their recent level of play, which would put them at a jaw-dropping 3-1 in conference—far better than anyone could have predicted just three weeks ago.
San Jose State (3-3, 1-1 MW) will begin a two-week road trip next week, heading to El Paso, TX for a game against the UTEP Miners (1-5, 0-2 MW) on Oct. 17 at 6:00 p.m. PDT. The Miners are coming off of an uncompetitive loss to Nevada in their Mountain West home opener, and their only win on the year so far has come against an FCS team that is currently 1-5. This should be an easy win for the Spartans, but then again, this game should have been one too.
Nevada 30, UTEP 13
The Scoop: There are few teams in college football that needed a win more than Nevada, and that elusive W finally came against new conference foe UTEP on Saturday. The Wolf Pack had their fair share of mistakes during this game, but the game was pretty much over for UTEP when it was announced that they would be starting backup QB Raymond Moore III instead of EJ Colson due to the latter’s ongoing concussion issues. This change led to just one UTEP first down in the first half of the game, which was an 18-yard TD pass from Moore on a 3rd and 14 after a Carter Jones fumble inside his own red zone. After that, Nevada locked in, leading to a game that never really felt that close.
Nevada forced UTEP to punt on nine of their first 11 drives, with the tenth being a turnover on downs. Carter Jones only passed for 82 yards on the night, but Nevada’s ground game dominated to the tune of 51 carries for 274 yards, 192 of which came from the continued breakout of the lightning-quick Herschel Turner. UTEP made the game look better with a 75-yard touchdown drive in the final minute, one of just three drives all game that covered more than 20 yards. This was a dominant performance by Nevada, despite their fair share of errors. I do not believe that this is a sign that things are going to turn around for the Pack, but it is certainly a start.
Nevada (2-3, 1-1 MW) will have the unenviable task of having to walk into the Fargodome to take on the NDSU Bison (5-1, 2-1 MW) a week after the latter’s first loss as an FBS team to UNLV. North Dakota State’s offense looked atrocious against the Rebels, and it is rather easy to see the Wolf Pack have a better defense than the Rebels do. I think the Pack may have a much better shot in this game than many people realize.
UTEP (1-5, 0-2 MW) will get another crack at a MW home game next week, hosting San Jose State (3-3, 1-1 MW) on Oct. 17 at 7:00 p.m. MDT. The Spartans are coming off of a humiliating home loss to Wyoming and will be playing with a burning desire for a rebound win. This game will be far more winnable for the Miners if they can get EJ Colson back. Otherwise, UTEP will be all but eliminated from bowl contention in 2026, which may start some uncomfortable conversations surrounding Scotty Walden.
UNLV 13, North Dakota State 7
The Scoop: I told you I had a feeling about this game. North Dakota State felt unstoppable early in the season, and they sure let that fact get to their heads. Facing their toughest test of the season thus far in Las Vegas, the Bison were forced into an uncomfortably close defensive slugfest, one where UNLV—a team whose Paul Guenther-led defense has been gashed repeatedly this season—came out on top in the end, picking off Nathan Hayes on the Bison’s final drive to secure a massive, era-defining win for Dan Mullen and company.
UNLV set the tone early, scoring in the first on a 23-yard pick six by Andre Porter. NDSU tied the game in the second quarter with a Hayes TD pass, but had three punts, a missed field goal, a turnover on downs and a game-sealing pick the rest of the way. The Rebels tacked on two second-half field goals, doing just enough to secure the upset victory. QB Nathan Hayes looked absolutely lost all game, throwing three terrible interceptions and only passing for 124 yards. Myles Mitchell and the Bison run game kept them in the game until the end but were simply unable to undo all the damage their quarterback had already done to their chances.
Jackson Arnold was also terrible in this game, throwing for just 77 yards, no TDs and an interception, but Jet Thomas was able to rush for 112 yards—nearly half of the Rebels’ offensive total on the night. UNLV’s defense did everything right, only sacking Hayes twice but only allowing four completions of greater than 10 yards all game.
This was a dominant performance by UNLV’s defense, one that has inserted the Rebels right back into MW title contention. As for North Dakota State, they have a defense that can go toe-to-toe with anyone, but their offense is truly abysmal when facing an opponent with a pulse. They will need to figure their issues out quickly in order to stay in the race for a MW title in their debut season.
NDSU (5-1, 2-1 MW) will travel back home this week to face off against the Nevada Wolf Pack (2-3, 1-1 MW) on Oct. 17 at 6:00 p.m. CDT. Nevada broke their three-game losing streak this week, defeating UTEP to advance into this contest with momentum to spare. The Wolf Pack have one of the better defensive units in the conference, though they have struggled to stop the run for the majority of the season. I think this will be a closer contest than most people realize. If the Bison are not careful—or if they look ahead to their clash with the Lobos the week after—then they may wind up with their first home loss as an FBS team as well.
UNLV (4-2, 2-0 MW) will head on the road this week, facing off against the Air Force Falcons (4-1, 2-1 MW) on Oct. 17 at 12:30 p.m. PDT. Air Force dominated poor NIU without starting QB Liam Szarka this week, showing that no matter who is under center, their triple-option attack is a force to be reckoned with this year. The Falcons are also a dark-horse MW title contender, making this game arguably more of a must-win for the Rebs than this week’s contest.
Air Force 28, Northern Illinois 7
The Scoop: The Huskies are even worse than I previously thought they would be. Air Force—less than a week after losing QB Liam Szarka for the year—walked into DeKalb and made themselves at home. Despite a 7-7 ballgame in the second quarter, NIU looked overmatched and confused all game. The Huskies allowed Air Force backup QB Evan Medders to have the game of his life, leading the triple option in a 28-7 victory that was much more lopsided than the final score indicates.
The Falcons did not complete a pass all game yet still won easily because they rushed for a mind-boggling 439 yards and four TDs against NIU’s increasingly awful-looking defense. Offensively, thanks to Air Force’s offensive gameplan, the Huskies were held to just seven possessions all game, turning those into a touchdown, two punts, the end of the half, an interception and two turnovers on downs. This game marked the third time this season NIU was held scoreless in the second half, their seventh straight loss, and their fifth straight loss to begin their MW tenure. Meanwhile, the Falcons now sit at 4-1, just two wins away from a return to a bowl game with a very easy schedule coming up. The Falcons are certainly flying high right now, that’s for sure.
Air Force (4-1, 2-1 MW) will return home to Colorado Springs next week, taking on UNLV (4-2, 2-0 MW) on Oct. 17 at 1:30 p.m. MDT. UNLV is coming off of a game-changing victory over North Dakota State this weekend, and will surely be floating on clouds entering this game. Thankfully, Air Force is the true master of the sky, meaning we should be getting a fantastic contest to witness in Colorado Springs.
Arizona State 30, Hawaii 12
The Scoop: Yes, this game was much closer than I thought it would be for the vast majority of the run time, but that has much more to do with how disappointing the Sun Devils looked than anything Hawaii did. Cutter Boley was held to 189 yards passing, but ASU’s run game exploded for 231 yards on just 30 carries (7.7 YPC), an absurdly bad tally for Hawaii’s defense. Micah Alejado narrowly completed over 50 percent of his 49 passes, showcasing yet again why this team’s offense has been so utterly abysmal despite Alejado’s great raw totals.
The ‘Bows forced five punts and a missed field goal, but that’s about where the good ends for them. As with the rest of the season so far, Hawaii had no run game, no pass rush, no defense, and no adjustments to try and make Micah Alejado’s life any easier. Nothing has improved, and nothing appears as if it is going to change any time soon. This is a very bad Hawaii team, perhaps the most disappointing team in the country at this point. Two more losses will lock Hawaii out of a bowl game entirely, but at this point, I think Hawaii is just praying they can win another game this season.
Hawaii (1-5, 0-3 MW) will return home next week, being the Week 7 sacrificial lamb at the alter of the New Mexico Lobos (4-1, 1-0 MW). UNM was on a bye this week, but prior to that, they absolutely eviscerated the remains of what was once the UTEP Miners in a record-breaking 61-7 thrashing. New Mexico is a very scary team, especially for these reeling Warriors. Unlike their namesake, Hawaii will not put up much of a fight here.
