Week 9 of the 2026 season is in the books, and it was arguably one of the most boring weeks of football in the conference. Everyone that was favored to win did, and just two of the five games that took place were decided by one score. This lack of chaos was likely needed after the absolute lunacy that took place in Week 8, but it is still somewhat disappointing to see. Let’s get right into the action from the Mountain West in Week 9.
Air Force 35, UConn 26
The Scoop: Air Force got their revenge against UConn in the first
game of the day, doing so in what was a dominant performance by the Falcons for the majority of the proceedings. After jumping out to a 14-0 lead, the Falcons held that gap until it was 28-14. The Huskies started a rally at that point, scoring two straight touchdowns, but a missed extra point spiraled into a failed two-point conversion. This kept the score at 28-26 and allowed the Falcons’ subsequent touchdown with 3:09 remaining to extend the lead to nine, which all but sealed the game.
The Falcons did not complete a pass all game, rushing 74 times for 366 yards and five touchdowns. Kemper Hodges played the game of his life, with his 35 runs resulting in a clean 200 yards and four rushing scores. Air Force’s defense recorded three sacks and forced two turnovers on downs, which kept their opponents on the back foot throughout the game and allowed them to pull away in the end. While this game didn’t mean anything for the Falcons’ pursuit of a Mountain West championship, it did clinch the Falcons’ sixth win of the season, and thus, a berth in a bowl game for the first time since 2023.
Air Force (6-2, 3-2 MW) will continue their nonconference work next week, doing so in West Point, NY where they will take on rival Army (5-2) on Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m. MST on CBS. The Black Knights are the nation’s only rushing offense better than Air Force’s, led by do-it-all QB Cade Hellums, who leads the nation in rushing scores (16). This should be a standard grind-it-out slugfest typical of Commander-in-Chief’s Cup rivalry games, one where a win would clinch the trophy for the Falcons.
North Dakota State 31, UTEP 7
The Scoop: The Bison just keep winning ugly, but as any NDSU fan would tell you, the most important thing is that they are winning at all. North Dakota State allowed UTEP to have dreams of a monumental upset for the first quarter of this game, then proceeded to suffocate their opponent for the rest of the game on route to their seventh win of the year.
Nathan Hayes continued his run of horrific QB play at the start, throwing an interception on the Bison’s first drive that was capitalized on by the Miners for a 57-yard TD run one play later. After two punts, the Miners left the first quarter with a shocking 7-0 lead that began dreams of a historic upset win. From that point on, UTEP was held to just 107 yards the rest of the game, turning the ball over thrice and punting five times. NDSU’s suspect offense kept the game at 17-7 midway through the fourth quarter, but a pick, touchdown drive and fumble return touchdown ballooned the Bison’s lead to 31-7 and all but sealed the game.
The Bison defense racked up four sacks and 10 TFLs on the day, keeping the Miners behind the sticks and off the field quickly. Hayes ended up passing for 240 yards and a touchdown after his opening-drive interception, scoring another touchdown on the ground as well. This game was far from pretty for NDSU, but they did end up with the W at the end of the day, officially knocking the Miners out of bowl contention. UTEP played hard and gave the Bison everything they had, but unfortunately, they are simply too bad of a football team to capitalize on their opponents’ mistakes.
UTEP (1-7, 0-4 MW) heads back home to El Paso this week, hosting Hawaii (2-6, 1-4 MW) on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. MST on FS1. Hawaii has largely been an inconsistent mess this season but finally got their first conference win of the year last week by drubbing NIU 56-21. I don’t believe the Miners will be all that competitive in this game; Hawaii is nowhere near as bad as their record would indicate.
North Dakota State (7-2, 4-2 MW) will take their final bye this week, returning to—ironically—face the same Hawaii team as the Miners will this week. In contrast to UTEP, however, this game will be in Honolulu, kicking off on Nov. 14 at 10:00 p.m. CST on The CW. Hawaii has yet to win a home conference game this season, so while they will be gunning for an upset, I have a hard time believing the Bison defense will have much trouble against the inconsistent ‘Bows.
New Mexico 21, San Jose State 16
The Scoop: See what I said in the first part of the NDSU-UTEP game. I don’t care how ugly this win was for the Lobos; the most important thing is that they did win in the end. The Lobos really struggled with a feisty Spartans squad but held on in the fourth quarter to secure their seventh win of the season. This is the first time the Lobos have started a season 7-1 since 1982, and with some fortune in the ballots tonight, they will find themselves ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time ever. What a monumental moment that would be for the Lobos.
This game was a battle of horrible QB play, with Luke Weaver and Toa Fa’avae combining for 291 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions. The Spartans managed to make a field goal following a Fa’avae interception that made the score 14-9 at half, keeping alive hopes of a bounce back win. After that point, however, the SJSU offense had five drives that resulted in a punt, two turnovers on downs, and each of Weaver’s interceptions, both of which came down just five in the fourth quarter. SJSU managed to keep the game close due to returning another Fa’avae pick for a touchdown that made it 21-16, but their offense’s inability to stop messing up was what cost them in the end.
New Mexico’s defense racked up three sacks and 10 TFLs against the Spartans, never letting their opponents gain any sort of consistent offensive rhythm. Offensively, while Fa’avae did his best to ruin his team’s dream season, the run game refused to allow it. Kiefer Sibley racked up 102 yards, Scottre Humphrey ran for two scores, and the unit as a whole had 231 yards across their 43 carries. Meanwhile, the Spartan offense only ran for 48 yards across 35 carries, providing absolutely no support to their struggling and confidence-shaken quarterback. The Spartans fought valiantly, but it would have taken a nearly perfect game in order to defeat a defense as dominant as UNM’s.
New Mexico (7-1, 4-0 MW) will travel to Reno, NV next week, facing off against the Nevada Wolf Pack (3-5, 2-2 MW) on Nov. 6 at 7:00 p.m. MST on CBSSN. Nevada is coming off of a blowout loss to No. 7 UCLA, but that belies the fact that Nevada’s defense played incredibly well in defeat. The Wolf Pack have one of the only defensive units that can match up against what the Lobos are capable of, pairing that with a high school-level offense that is only good at turning the ball over. I expect this game to be another defensive slugfest, though one that the Lobos lead comfortably for the vast majority of the proceedings.
San Jose State (4-5, 2-3 MW) stays home next week, facing what appears to be their easiest game of the season against Northern Illinois (0-8, 0-4 MW) on Nov. 7 at 1:00 p.m. PST on MW+. The Huskies were robbed of what would have been their first victory of the season against UNLV last week, and they surely will be playing with a burning desire for victory as a result. If the Spartans continue to play the way they have the past few weeks, they may end up finding themselves in a dogfight against their inferior foe.
#7 UCLA 27, Nevada 0
The Scoop: What a pathetic display this was from the Wolf Pack. Yes, UCLA is an unexpectedly fantastic team, but that does not excuse just how awful Nevada’s offense was in this game. Facing backup QB Ty Dieffenbach, Nevada’s defense played admirably, holding dominant Bruin back Wayne Knight to just 53 rushing yards—his second-lowest total of the season. While most teams would find themselves close to an upset in this situation, the Pack decided to showcase their high school-level offense at every stage of this game, resulting in a 27-point win that felt much more dominant than the final score would indicate.
Most on Nevada’s offense were outmatched in this game, but this embarrassment stemmed from the terrible play of Nevada’s three quarterbacks. Despite how sluggish his offense looked against San Jose State, Jeff Choate made the decision to start QB Luke Duncan against his former team. This ended in absolute catastrophe when Duncan threw interceptions on each of Nevada’s first three drives, completing just one pass to his own team in the meantime. The throws were all either too high or horribly off-target, the final pass in the latter category resulting in the Bruins’ first touchdown on a pick-six.
Duncan was promptly benched for the still-hobbled AJ Bianco, who led the offense to just 94 yards across his six drives. The one good drive Bianco had was a 45-yarder that reached the UCLA 30, where kicker Joe McFadden somehow came up short on a 48-yard field goal, proving once again that he was deserving of preseason all-conference selection hype. Finally, Bianco was benched on the game’s final drive for freshman Reeve Slone, who quickly threw another interception to bring the misery to its conclusion.
Nevada combined to go 8-of-24 for 111 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions through the air—undoubtedly the worst MW QB stat line of the year, no question. Meanwhile, the rushing attack combined for just 1.9 YPC on 35 attempts, finishing off the complete waste of the Wolf Pack’s defensive effort. There is simply no solace to be taken in a game like this, especially considering the Pack will have to upset at least one of their final two daunting opponents (New Mexico, UNLV) if they wish to reach a bowl game. If their QBs keep playing like this, however, they will find it nearly impossible to beat anyone at all.
Nevada (3-5, 2-2 MW) heads back to Mackay this week, facing what could be an even greater challenge: the New Mexico Lobos (7-1, 4-0 MW). UNM is the clear-cut championship favorite and could very well be Nevada’s second straight ranked opponent. The Lobos have shown vulnerability on the road, having previously struggled to take out both Hawaii and San Jose State, but a far better offensive performance will be required to even consider anything other than a blowout in this game.
UNLV 31, Northern Illinois 24
The Scoop: I have heard of looking past an opponent, but I genuinely didn’t think it was possible to do so against a team as bad as the Huskies have been this season. NIU had yet to keep a game against an FBS opponent within 21 points, and yet UNLV absolutely should have lost this game. If it wasn’t for two highly suspect officiating calls on crucial plays in the fourth quarter that both went against NIU, this game would have gone to overtime. From there, win or lose, it would have been among the most embarrassing games in Rebels history. This is still a humiliating result, make no mistake, but it ends up being a familiar saying in this recap: at least they ended up winning in the end.
UNLV set the tone with a 75-yard bomb from Jackson Arnold to Kayden McGee on the very first play of the game, but Northern Illinois had no intention of lying down to die. By the end of the first half, the Huskies trailed 24-17, though it took two straight UNLV touchdowns and a missed field goal by the Huskies to reach that conclusion. UNLV opened up the second half with another TD to extend their lead to 31-17, giving everybody in attendance the impression that this would be just another NIU second half collapse. The Huskies squashed that narrative by responding with a touchdown of their own, after which their conference-worst defense stiffened up, allowing just 74 yards on the Rebels’ final five drives. Sadly, NIU could not capitalize on this fact with a score of their own, which left UNLV to try and gain some momentum on the fourth of their five drives. That’s when the suspicious influence ensued.
After a UNLV chop block penalty that put them on a 2nd and 24 at their own 13-yard line, McGee took an end around and tried to make a cut past three NIU defenders. This move failed miserably, McGee was hit and spun around, during which the ball popped out of his arms and was recovered and returned for an NIU touchdown. However, the official standing directly next to the play made the inexplicable decision to blow the play dead despite the fact that McGee was neither down nor had stopped moving forward when the whistle was blown. As a result, UNLV retained possession but failed to convert on the next play thanks to the ultimate “ball don’t lie” drop.
The Huskies then drove down the field to the UNLV 27, where they made the idiotic decision to run the ball up the middle on 3rd and 10. This led to a 4th and 9 play where Taron Dickens evaded pressure, rolled right, and scrambled through space to pick up the first down. However, the moment it was clear Dickens was not going to be caught by a defender, a flag was thrown for holding despite no Husky lineman being engaged with a defender at the time. Now facing 4th and 19 while down seven with three minutes left, the Huskies made another brilliant decision to kick a field goal, which of course was missed. Afterwards, UNLV was able to run the rest of the clock out, securing a ref-assisted home victory against the worst team in the FBS.
Both teams had strikingly similar stats on the night, showcasing the excellent work by the Huskies in the effort to play complementary football. Elijah Porter, Taron Dickens, Jet Thomas and Kayden McGee all deserve props for their great performances, but in reality, no stat or note from this game matters. This was yet another case of the officials deciding the outcome of a football game, which has quickly become a plague across the college football world. Yes, the Huskies made some terrible decisions that killed their chances in the end, but they should not have been in those spots to begin with. The Huskies just played their best game of the season as a 24.5-point road underdog and still ended up losing thanks to two horrific calls against them on crucial plays. Take the money and run, Rebels. This was an escape worthy of Houdini.
Northern Illinois (0-8, 0-4 MW) will continue their West Coast road trip next week, facing off against San Jose State (4-5, 2-3 MW) on Nov. 7 at 3:00 p.m. CST on MW+. San Jose State is reeling from two straight losses and three of their last four, going from a dark-horse contender to a team that might end up missing a bowl game. If the Huskies can play similar to how they did against UNLV the rest of the season, they will absolutely end up winning a game before the season is over.
UNLV (5-3, 3-1 MW) will stay home this week to face off against Wyoming (5-3, 4-1 MW) on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. PST. on CBSSN. The Cowboys are coming off of a bye but are currently in the unexpected position of controlling their own destiny for a conference championship berth. They will be motivated and will make quick work of UNLV if they play anything like how they did against NIU.
