Week 5 of the 2026 season is in the books, and the slate jam-packed with rivalry games sadly did not deliver many thrillers. Most games looked closer than they actually were, and the lone game that was truly tight throughout was a low-scoring affair. Despite this, we still have some important results to go over this week, so let’s get right into the MW madness that took place in Week 5.
Air Force 14, Navy 9
The Scoop: Air Force got their long-awaited win over Navy on Saturday, doing so in dominant fashion, despite what
the score might indicate. The Falcons are now 3-1, placing themselves firmly in contention for Mountain West championship contention, well on their way to returning to a bowl game in 2026.
On a day dominated by defense, the Falcons held their opponent to 253 yards of offense, with 68 of those coming on the typical fluke explosive pass to be expected once or twice from these triple-option slugfests. That pass came midway through the third quarter, after which the Midshipmen were held to a fumble, three punts, and 41 yards of offense. Liam Szarka did throw two interceptions during this game, being thoroughly outplayed by his counterpart Jackson Gutierrez in that regard, but his team-leading 81 yards on the ground and accounting for both of AFA’s touchdowns more than made up for it.
Air Force (3-1, 1-1 MW) will be on the road next week, heading to DeKalb, IL for a matchup with the Northern Illinois Huskies (0-4) on Oct. 10 at 5:30 p.m. MDT. This game will be the Huskies’ MW conference debut, but fortunately for the Falcons, NIU appears to be an even worse team than their 0-4 record would indicate. This is the kind of filler game that this squad will need to put themselves in a bowl game this year, so it is not one that can be taken lightly, despite how awful NIU has been this season.
UNLV 39, California 31
The Scoop: UNLV continued to show what their brilliant scheduling strategy can truly do on Saturday, earning their fourth victory over a power-conference team in four years. They did so by winning a shootout with the Cal Golden Bears, who were without starting QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele for over half the game. UNLV raced out to a 24-7 lead, but blew the entire advantage to be losing 25-24 near the start of the fourth quarter. Thankfully for Rebels fans, 15 straight points in the fourth allowed UNLV to cruise to a 39-31 victory, their first in front of their home crowd in 2026.
Jackson Arnold completed just 11 of 22 passes, but accounted for five total touchdowns—three in the air and two on the ground. Former Colorado State QB Jackson Brousseau was inserted into the game after Sagapolutele went out, throwing for 200 yards and two TDs against the Rebels’ porous secondary. UNLV’s defense gave up a whopping 464 yards of offense, but they stole the show in the clutch, forcing an interception, a missed field goal and three turnovers on downs. Cal also committed 16 penalties for a ridiculous 147 yards. The Rebels were not the more talented team in this match, but what they were is the better, more well-coached unit, and that is what won them the day in the end. I don’t think UNLV’s problems are fixed in any meaningful way, but this looks far more like the MW title contender we all expected to see at the beginning of the year.
UNLV (3-2, 1-0 MW) will stay at home next week, this time hosting an even bigger game than either Memphis or Cal. They will be hosting the North Dakota State Bison (5-0, 2-0 MW) on Oct. 10 at 4:00 p.m. PDT. The Bison have looked like a team incapable of losing in the early part of the season, having won four of their five games by at least 21 points. The Rebels will have a tall task in front of them, but can earn eternal in-conference bragging rights by handing the Bison their very first loss as an FBS team.
North Dakota State 28, Wyoming 0
The Scoop: The first annual “Battle of the Basins” wasn’t really much of a battle at all. North Dakota State shut out Wyoming in a game that was far more lopsided than the final score might indicate, earning their fifth straight victory to stay undefeated as an FBS team. As for the Cowboys, they drop to 2-3 on the year, but still have four relatively winnable games remaining on their schedule, meaning bowl contention is still a possibility for Jay Sawvel’s squad.
Wyoming’s first play of the game was an interception thrown right to the Bison defense, which set the tone for the rest of the contest. While the Cowboys never turned the ball over again, every single drive after resulted in either a punt (seven), a turnover on downs (two), or having possession when the half ended. Meanwhile, NDSU had arguably their worst offensive game of the season so far, putting up only 407 yards, punting a whopping four times, and doing the unthinkable: settling for a field goal not once, but twice. Obviously, this criticism is fully sarcastic. North Dakota State, despite some offensive inconsistency, looks to be completely indominable in the Mountain West this year. There looks to be little stopping them from creating a battle of the best in Albuquerque in two weeks, a game that will likely end up serving as a preview of the 2026 Mountain West Championship Game.
Wyoming (2-3, 1-1 MW) will be back next week on Oct. 9, traveling to San Jose, CA to take on the SJSU Spartans (3-2, 1-0 MW) at 7:00 p.m. MDT. San Jose State started conference play strong last night, defeating Hawaii in an ugly game. They should be able to handle the Cowboys, who have only shown life this season against that same ‘Bows squad. Perhaps Coach Sawvel can pull another rabbit out of his hat, but I fear this team’s performance against Hawaii may have been a last-ditch effort to save jobs, rather than a repeatable recipe for consistent success.
North Dakota State (5-0, 2-0 MW) finds themselves just a game away from a bowl berth, but they will have arguably their toughest game of the season next week, traveling to face the UNLV Rebels (3-2, 1-0 MW) on Oct. 10 at 6:00 p.m. CDT. UNLV was a projected conference contender that struggled to begin the year, but just picked up a massive home win against Cal, which could give them a much-needed confidence boost for this crucial game. If NDSU does not prepare properly, UNLV could end up springing a trap and snapping the Bison’s perfect FBS start.
New Mexico 61, UTEP 7
The Scoop: For the second week in a row, I predicted New Mexico would blow out their rivals here, and I was spot on again, though I could not have possibly foreseen just how badly the Lobos would destroy every single remnant of what was once their southern rivals. New Mexico out-gained the Miners by over 200 yards, forced five turnovers, allowed just 101 passing yards among three quarterbacks, and recorded 24 first downs to UTEP’s 11. UNM’s defense out-scored UTEP 16-7, which is as sure of a sign as anything that this game went horribly awry for the Miners. There is nothing good here to say for UTEP, whereas I cannot express well enough how scary the Lobos are appearing to be right now. This is what a CFP contender looks like, I only can hope they get the chance to truly compete for a spot.
UTEP (1-4, 0-1 MW) will host their first MW conference game next week, facing off against the Nevada Wolf Pack (1-3, 0-1 MW) on Oct. 10 at 5:00 p.m. MDT. Despite how poorly the Miners just played this week, this is absolutely an opportunity for them to score their first conference victory in the Mountain West. Nevada has consistently found unbelievable ways to consistently lose by one score, regardless of the caliber of opponent or the importance of the game. If UTEP simply shows up ready to play, they will find themselves victorious at home against an FBS opponent for the first time in nearly two years.
New Mexico (4-1, 1-0 MW) has their final bye week this week, returning on Oct. 17 when they travel to face Hawaii (1-4, 0-3 MW) at time TBD. Hawaii is reeling after falling to 0-3 in conference, with their potentially magical season now sitting in tatters. This game should be little more than a speed bump along the Lobos’ way to a seemingly inevitable Mountain West championship berth.
San Jose State 20, Hawaii 16
The Scoop: If this game proved anything at all, it is that Hawaii is more cooked than overdone Huli Huli. The Rainbow Warriors outgained their opponents by over 100 yards, holding MW leading rusher Jabari Bates to just 74 scoreless yards, yet still managed to somehow find a way to lose their third conference game of the season already. Meanwhile, SJSU ended up scoring a critical road win to begin conference play, which will surely help them reach bowl eligibility this season.
After spotting the Spartans a 14-0 lead, Hawaii did come back into the game to cut SJSU’s lead to as little as 17-16. Trailing by four on their final drive, the ‘Bows had 18 seconds left and no timeouts from the Spartans’ 40-yard line when Cam Barfield made the erroneous decision to catch a pass in bounds behind the first-down marker. This decision took the clock from 0:13 to 0:03, which forced the Warriors to attempt a Hail Mary right away from the 37, which obviously failed, securing yet another gut-punching loss.
With the run game packing a punch to be mistaken for a water pistol, Micah Alejado had to play 60 straight minutes of hero ball on the night. Most resulted in good things, such as the QB accounting for 377 yards of combined offense, but threw two costly interceptions deep in his own territory that the Spartans capitalized on to the tune of 10 points in a game they won by four. Luke Weaver’s 246 yards pale in comparison to that of the man who beat him out for the job last year, but his two touchdowns sit next to a big ole zero in the turnover column. Weaver did not make mistakes in this game, and it is the reason why the Spartans walked away with the victory.
San Jose State (3-2, 1-0 MW) will travel back stateside this week, hosting Wyoming (2-3, 1-1 MW) on Oct. 9 at 6:00 p.m. PDT. The Cowboys are coming off of a game where they were offensively stymied by North Dakota State, and have generally not looked to be a very good team for most of the season. This is a winnable game in every respect, one that the Spartans desperately need to make a bowl game with a brutal schedule coming up.
Hawaii (1-4, 0-3 MW) will take a break from Mountain West play this week, heading to Tempe, AZ for a matchup against the Big 12’s Arizona State Sun Devils (2-2) on Oct. 10 at 4:30 p.m. HST. Once thought to be Big 12 title contenders, the Sun Devils were destroyed at home by a not-great Baylor squad this week, perhaps showing some vulnerability against a team like Hawaii. However, considering how Hawaii played on the road against Stanford, who were just railroaded by Wake Forest, I highly doubt that this game will go any better than the ‘Bows’ last trip to Arizona (40-6 defeat to the Wildcats in 2025). This season has been nothing short of a disaster in paradise, a fact that I do not foresee changing any time soon.
