2026 is here and the end of the college football season is near. There are only four teams remaining in the College Football Playoff with Ole Miss set to take on Miami and Indiana set to take on Oregon. With the Mountain West Football season complete, it is time to take one last broad look at 2025. Was the season a success or failure for the conference? Let’s take a look in this edition of “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.”
The Good
A Boise State Three-Peat
The Broncos will leave the Mountain West as the king of
the conference. In the 13 years the conference has played a championship game, the Broncos have appeared nine times and won six. Even more impressive, Boise State has appeared in eight of the past nine conference championships, winning five of those games. The Broncos have always been near the top of the standings since entering the conference in 2011. It will be interesting to see who emerges as the new flagship football program of the Mountain West. Right now it seems like there will be a battle between UNLV, Hawaii, and New Mexico. The question is whether or not these programs have what it takes to maintain long-term success.
New Mexico Soars Under New Leadership
Everyone expected the Lobos to be near the bottom of the conference standings after the departure of Bronco Mendenhall to Utah State. Jason Eck and his staff exceeded all expectations, making New Mexico one of the most interesting teams in the conference and leading them to nine wins. It was only the third time the Lobos have reached nine wins since joining the Mountain West and, arguably, the program’s most successful season since the 1980s. It will be interesting to see if Eck can keep the momentum going. Previous coaches like Bob Davie and Rocky Long had solid seasons, but they had a difficult time maintaining success.
Hawaii’s Bright Future
I think people expected Hawaii to be better this year. But I don’t think anyone expected the Rainbow Warriors to remain in contention for the conference title nearly all season and have one of the most exciting offenses in college football. This felt like a make or break season for Timmy Chang and his Rainbow Warriors staff. His first few seasons were a disappointment and it was clear there needed to be some changes on the offensive side of the ball. Enter exciting freshman quarterback Micah Alejado and the deepest receiving group in the conference. Nine wins was a major accomplishment for this group. Now they need to seize the momentum they built and look to seize control of the new-look Mountain West that will be wide open with Boise State off to the PAC 12.
The Bad
The Tiebreaker Situation
The end of the season was full of drama. The regular season ended in a four-way tie for first place in the conference with Boise State, UNLV, New Mexico, and San Diego State all finishing with a 6-2 record in Mountain West play. The tiebreaker was a bit controversial, as it ultimately came down to computer rankings which favored UNLV and Boise State. If I were in charge, the first tiebreaker would go to rankings by the College Football Playoff Committee. (You want to protect your teams that have a chance to make the playoff.) The second tiebreaker should have been the final record between the tied teams. In this scenario, you would have had Boise State and New Mexico at 2-1, San Diego State at 1-1, and UNLV at 0-2. Somehow the only team that did not defeat a top Mountain West team made the conference championship. Lobo fans were rightfully upset over how this all played out.
Transfer Portal Madness
The transfer portal has not been kind to many Mountain West teams so far. Offensive Player of the Year and UNLV quarterback Anthony Colandrea is in the portal and likely headed to a Power Five program. Defensive stars like Trey White (San Diego State) and Ty Benefield (Boise State) are in the portal as well. It hasn’t all been bad news in regard to the portal; Hawaii may have lost their top receiver in Jackson Harris, but Micah Alejado and Pofele Ashlock have chosen to stay. Another major surprise is UNLV running back Jai’Den Thomas staying in Las Vegas; that’s a big win for the Rebels. Outside of Ty Benefield, Boise State has been able to hold on to key contributors like Jayden Virgin-Morgan, Dylan Riley, and Sire Gaines.
The Ugly
Conference Uncertainty
The split of the Mountain West conference with Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State headed to the PAC 12 caused division and controversy that plagued the football season. The Mountain West and PAC 12 continued to be tangled up in messy litigation that has taken the focus off the product on the field. Regardless off how this all plays out in court, it has been a messy breakup between the five teams leaving for the PAC 12 and the Mountain West.
Bowl Performance
If the bowl season proved anything, it showed that 2025 was a down season for Mountain West football. The goal is to have a team that makes the College Football Playoff. The Mountain West fell miserably short of this, and even the teams at the top of the standings had glaring weaknesses that kept them out of the rankings for the entirety of the season. Finishing 2-5 in bowl games is a huge loss for the conference, especially with UNLV losing to Ohio and Utah State losing to Washington State. Fresno State looked solid in their win over Miami (Ohio) and Hawaii looked outstanding in their come-from-behind win over Cal. Outside of that, New Mexico had a respectable performance against Minnesota and the rest of the games were pretty ugly.
What are some things from the 2025 football season that stood out to you? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
