Peak Perspective: The 2025 Mountain West Out-of-Conference Review

Non-conference games serve a few different purposes. In some cases, it lets teams work out kinks and prepare for the regular season. In other instances, it’s a cash grab, taking money to play games against

programs in exchange for money to add to their budget. Most importantly, it’s a chance for the Mountain West to measure itself against other conferences and make a statement against Power Four teams.

This article looks at how the Mountain West fared in their out-of-conference schedule this season.

Note: This article does not include bowl games and instead focuses on the regular season out-of-conference schedule.

Mountain West 2025 OOC Record:

• Overall: 26-22
• P4: 4-12
• PAC2: 1-2
• G5: 9-8
• FCS: 12-0

Power School Wins

• Hawaii vs Stanford W
• New Mexico vs UCLA W
• San Diego State vs Cal W
• UNLV vs UCLA W

Last year, the Mountain West only had three wins against teams from power conferences, so the four this year represent an improvement. They were spread out among four different teams, although the common denominator was two different teams beating the Bruins. Hawaii set the tone by beating Stanford to start the year and San Diego State’s beatdown of Cal represents the conference’s best P4 of 2025.

Good losses to Power schools

• New Mexico vs Michigan L
• San Jose State vs Stanford L

It is worth noting that MW teams played some competitive games against P4 teams, even if they didn’t come away with a victory. Unfortunately, that number was pretty low this season, which may be an indicator of how competitive the conference was, or wasn’t in this case. The Lobos gave the Wolverines a good run, trailing by 10 going into the fourth quarter, which was a sign of things to come for their strong season. Similarly, the Spartans nearly got a second conference win over the Cardinals, losing by a single point in a heartbreaker. For these contests, it’s fair to count them as “moral victories” for one reason or another, even if some felt like a letdown.

Bad losses to Power schools

• Boise State vs Notre Dame L
• Colorado State vs Washington L
• Fresno State vs Kansas L
• Hawaii vs Arizona L
• Nevada vs Penn State L
• San Jose State vs Texas L
• Utah State vs Texas A&M L
• Utah State vs Vanderbilt L
• Wyoming vs Utah L
• Wyoming vs Colorado L

Nearly all of these games ended up as blowouts, with some getting out of hand from the early going. Many of them were expected to be bad losses, with the Mountain West playing the role of early-season tune-up to some traditional blue blood programs and earning a nice payday to do so. Maybe some of these games could have been more competitive, but none of them were thought to be wins heading into the contest. Some of these losses are “okay” but weren’t close enough to categorize as good. Unfortunately, the list grew longer this year, which is not a good direction for the MW.

The Academy Games

• Air Force vs Navy L
• Air Force vs Army L

The top priority for the Falcons every year is to win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy. However, they have not captured the Trophy until 2022. This year, Air Force went 0-2 in the games against their archrivals. This year, the matchups were much closer, but they still ended up on the wrong side of the outcome. Also, losing two games against teams from the American Athletic Conference is never good either.

PAC-2 Games

• Colorado State vs Washington State L
• Fresno State vs Oregon State W
• San Diego State vs Washington State L

This category featured far fewer games without the scheduling agreement. Avid fans may have heard a bit about the fallout between the two conferences over this. On the field, the PAC came out ahead, winning two of three games. The Rams were lifeless against the Cougars, and the Aztecs didn’t fare much better, despite Washington State only winning seven games this season. Meanwhile, Fresno State experiences an offensive explosion against the lowly Beavers, but it was still a tight game. It will be interesting to see how many games occur between the two conferences going forward.

Group of 5 Matchups

• Air Force vs UConn L
• Boise State vs USF L
• Boise State vs App State W
• Colorado State vs UTSA L
• Fresno State vs Georgia Southern W
• Hawaii vs Sam Houston W
• Nevada vs Middle Tennessee State L
• Nevada vs Western Kentucky L
• New Mexico vs New Mexico State W
• San Diego State vs NIU W
• San Jose State vs Central Michigan L
• UNLV vs Sam Houston W
• UNLV vs Miami (OH) W
• Utah State vs UTEP W
• Wyoming vs Akron W

These games are against fellow Group of 5 teams, as the name indicates, and depending on the teams, the games can sometimes be evenly matched. With that being said, the Mountain West should still be winning a majority of these games in order to boost its prestige. This season, the conference struggles in this section, only finishing one game above .500 (when counting the two academy games), which is somehow an improvement over their 4-4 record of last year. The MW lost winnable games against UTSA, Western Kentucky, and Central Michigan, which is a bit embarrassing. All non-conference games are important, but the more wins the Mountain West can have against other mid-major conferences, the more they can distinguish themselves as the premier G5 conference, which is something they have not been able to claim due to OOC records like these.

FCS gimme games (Wins)

• Air Force vs Bucknell W
• Boise State vs Eastern Washington W
• Colorado State vs Northern Colorado W
• Fresno State vs Southern W
• Hawaii vs Portland State W
• Nevada vs Sac State W
• New Mexico vs Idaho State W
• San Diego State vs Stony Brook W
• San Jose State vs Idaho W
• UNLV vs Idaho State W
• Utah State vs McNeese W
• Wyoming vs Northern Iowa W

FCS games should be gimmes. Remember that the Mountain West teams almost always pay money for these teams to come in and lose. It is assumed that MW teams will win, and notching twelve victories while going undefeated is a huge success. For the 2025 season, the conference took care of business despite a few games that were closer than they should have been.

FCS gimme games (Losses)

• N/A

For the first time in a few seasons, Mountain West schools won every game against FCS schools, avoiding the embarrassing losses that gain national attention on social media. Good job MW schools!

Bottom Line

Overall, the Mountain West had a winning record in the non-conference portion of its schedule, although the total winning percentage left a bit to be desired. The undefeated record against FCS schools was partially canceled out by going .500 against the Group of 5 and PAC2 teams. An improved record against Power 4 teams is good, but that improvement consists of only one game, combined with fewer close losses, and is not. Hopefully, the Mountain West can continue to improve in 2026, but the new-look conference will be more of an unknown than ever next season.