The time has come. The 2025 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. Our first round of projections can be seen below and will likely change as the season progresses. Read our projections below and leave your own in the comments.
Mike
Los Angeles Bowl: Boise State
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii
Potato Bowl: UNLV
New Mexico Bowl: Colorado State
Arizona
Bowl: Air Force
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: San Jose State
College Football Playoff: N/A
Other Bowl (TBD): N/A
I dropped Fresno State and added Hawaii following the three Week 0 games. It’s only one game, but the Bulldogs don’t look like one of the six best teams in the conference. Meanwhile, Hawaii pulled off a thrilling victory and moves into the projections. They take the spot in the Hawaii Bowl while UNLV gets dropped down to the Potato Bowl after struggling in their first game.
Zach
Los Angeles Bowl: San Jose State
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii
Potato Bowl: Wyoming
New Mexico Bowl: UNLV
Arizona Bowl: Colorado State
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Air Force State
College Football Playoff: Boise State
Other Bowl (TBD): N/A
I’m not feeling very confident in Fresno State or UNLV and this week’s projections are a reflection of that. For now, I have Boise State and San Jose State in the top two spots.
Jeff
Los Angeles Bowl: San Jose State
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii
Potato Bowl: UNLV
New Mexico Bowl: Colorado State
Arizona Bowl: Air Force
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Boise State
College Football Playoff: N/A
Other Bowl (TBD): N/A
I’m impressed with Hawaii as long as their QB can get healthy. Less so with Fresno State. UNLV has a lot of questions, but they sure have offensive firepower. I’m still predicting an upset in the championship game with SJSU topping Boise and only six teams in bowl contention.
Chase
Los Angeles Bowl: San Jose State
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii
Potato Bowl: Colorado State
New Mexico Bowl: San Diego State
Arizona Bowl: Air Force
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: UNLV
College Football Playoff: Boise State
Other Bowl (TBD): N/A
My concerns about Fresno State were reinforced by their non-competitive loss to Kansas, and my optimism about Hawaii was as well, specifically through the play of Micah Alejado. As for UNLV, they struggled way too much against Idaho State for my liking, specifically defensively, only winning in large part due to four Bengal interceptions. If they keep up with the turnovers, UNLV will be fine. If not? It might be a long year for the Rebels.
Dom
Los Angeles Bowl: Boise State
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii
Potato Bowl: UNLV
New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State
Arizona Bowl: Air Force
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: San Jose State
College Football Playoff: N/A
Other Bowl (TBD): N/A
No changes this week.
Zane
Los Angeles Bowl: San Jose State
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii
Potato Bowl: UNLV
New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State
Arizona Bowl: N/A
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Colorado State
College Football Playoff: Boise State
Other Bowl (TBD): N/A
No changes this week.