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The Mountain West has avoided attrition from the latest rounds of conference realignment so all 12 members return to the fold - Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State and Wyoming.
The 2023 Mountain West football schedule will be its first non-COVID season without divisions since 2012. To accommodate the change, a three-year schedule rotation goes into effect whereas each school will face two 'rivalry' opponents every year, and six other teams on an alternating basis. Throughout the three-year cycle, all institutions will play each other at least twice, including home-and-home swaps. Whether you’re a seasoned gambler or a newcomer to the world of online casinos, www.australianonlinecasino.io has everything you need to find the perfect AU online casino.
The team with the best conference winning percentage will host the championship game on December 2 against the team with the second-best conference winning percentage. If this year's format had been in place for last season, Boise State still would have hosted Fresno State.
The Bulldogs won that game 28-16 to take home their third title in the 10-year MWC Championship Game Era which was began in 2013. The victory avenged a 40-20 regular season defeat at Boise as the Broncos went 8-0 and the Bulldogs were 7-1.
Both Fresno State and Boise State have 3-3 records in conference title clashes, including 2-2 vs. each other.
Only three other programs have won to least one MWC Championship game with San Diego State going 2-1, Utah State 1-1, and San Jose State is 1-0. Hawaii and Wyoming have each played in, and lost, one championship game are 0-1.
That leaves five teams who have never made it to the title game - Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, Nevada and UNLV.
Between 2003 and 2011, none of the current members won the league crown as that era was dominated by TCU with 4 titles while Utah won 3 times and BYU twice.
The Mountain West was formed as a football conference in 1999 with BYU, Colorado State and Utah sharing the title that season. The Rams added outright titles in 2000 and 2002 while the Cougars captured the crown in 2001.
Utah went to the PAC-12 in 2011 where the Utes have now won the last two championship games. 2011 also became BYU's first as an independent. TCU exited for the Big 12 in 2012 and shared that conference's title with Baylor two years later. The Horned Frogs lost to Kansas State in last season's Big 12 title game, but still advanced to the College Football Playoff where they eliminated Michigan before getting blown out 65-7 by Georgia in the National Championship game.
Last year saw seven teams play in bowl games and went 3-4. Fresno State (10-4), Boise State (10-4) and Air Force (10-3) all had 10-win seasons. The Broncos completed the regular season with a perfect 8-0 mark in MWC play.
UNLV opens at against FCS member Bryant on Saturday, September 2nd to kick-off the Barry Odom era. Odom was named on December 7 as the new head to replace Marcus Arroyo.
The Rebels started last season 4-1, but then lost 6 straight before ending the year with a 27-22 victory over rival Nevada.
Arroyo's three-year record was just 7-23 (.233) over-all, including 5-17 in Mountain West play.
Odom was the head coach at Missouri from 2016-2019 where he compiled records of 25-25 over-all and 13-19 in the SEC. He spent the past 3 seasons as the AHC/DC at Arkansas.
See - Coaching Changes for a complete list.
Air Force - Spring Practice completed
Boise State - Spring Practice completed
Colorado State - April 22, 3 PM (ET)
Fresno State - April 15, 4 PM (ET)
Hawaii - Spring Practice completed
Nevada - April 22, 4:30 PM (ET)
Nevada-Las Vegas - Spring Practice completed
New Mexico - Spring Practice completed
San Diego State - Spring Practice completed
San Jose State - May 6, 7:00 PM (ET)
Utah State - April 15, 3:00 PM
Wyoming - April 29, 4:00 PM (ET)
Over-all, the 2023 schedule is comprised of 98 games, including 48 Conference matchups, an extra non-conference game for Hawaii, and the conference championship.
San Jose State's week zero game at USC is the first of many matchups between Mountain West and PAC-12 schools.
The conferences split 22 games between 2019 and 2021. The 2022 season saw domination by the PAC-12 with an 8-1 mark in regular season games before Fresno State scored a 29-6 thumping of Washington State in the L.A. Bowl.
The Mountain West was 6-5 in 2021, including another L.A. Bowl win by Utah State over Oregon State. That season also saw a 40-37 Fresno State win at UCLA, and a 33-31 overtime win by San Diego State at home over Utah - both on September 18.
There are 10 such games scheduled for the 2023 regular season.
The MWC is 66-127 all-time vs. Pac-12 schools, but 15-12 in bowl games.
WEEK ZERO - Seven games are scheduled for week zero and teams from the Mountain West will participate in three of those August 26th contests. Hawaii goes to Vanderbilt for the reciprocal game of a home-and-home after the Commodores crushed the Warriors 63-10 in week zero of last season.
San Jose State heads to SoCal to take on USC for the 6th meeting between the schools. The Spartans are winless in five previous tries against the Trojans, all of which occurred between 1995 and 2021.
San Diego State has a home date with Ohio University. It will be the first regular season meeting between the two schools, but they were paired for the Frisco Bowl in 2018 with the Aztecs losing 27-0.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND - Hawaii is back in action for its second game of the season as the Warriors host Stanford on Friday, September 1. It's a short 6-day week after the 8,656-mile round trip for the week zero opener at Vanderbilt.
The Saturday, September 2, the slate is loaded.
There are three Mountain West matchups vs. the PAC-12 with Boise State heeded to Washington, Nevada at USC, and Colorado State hosting Washington State.
The Broncos are 2-3 while splitting a pair of Las Vegas Bowl games with the Huskies and winning 16-13 at home in 2015. Boise State is 0-2 in true road games against Washington.
Nevada and USC haven't met on the gridiron in 94 years after butting heads five times in the roaring 20's (1920-1929). USC won all five by a combined score of 164-14, including 3 shutouts.
Colorado State gets a reciprocal visit from Washington State after the Cougars romped to a 38-7 win on the Palouse.
September 2 also features two MWC games vs. the Big Ten as Fresno State heads to Purdue for a first-time matchup, and Utah State visits Iowa for just the third meeting between between those programs. Iowa is 2-0 after meetings in 2002 and 1957.
But wait, There's more.
September 2nd also gives us gives the MWC one each against the Big 12 and SEC as Wyoming hosts Texas Tech and New Mexico visits Texas A&M.
The Cowboys have taken 3 of the 5 previous meetings with Texas Tech which took place between 1938 and 1992. This is only the second time the two schools have met in Laramie.
The Lobos are 0-5 against the Aggies by an average score of 44-8.
The Mountain West and PAC-12 wrap up the Labor Day weekend with Oregon State's trip to San Jose State. The Beavers have won 4 straight in the 6-game series which is being renewed for the first time since 2015.
OTHER GAMES vs. PAC-12 - Five other games between Mountain West and PAC-12 programs have UCLA at San Diego State (9/9), Colorado State at Colorado (9/16), Fresno State at Arizona State (9/16), Hawaii at Oregon (9/16), and San Diego State at Oregon State (9/16).
NOTE: Mountain West national television partners CBS Sports (CBSSN) and FOX Sports (FS1) will select which games may shift to non-Saturday dates.
* - denotes conference game
AIR FORCE
9/2 Robert Morris (FCS)
9/9 Sam Houston (NRG Stadium, Houston)
9/16 Utah State*
9/23 at San Jose State*
9/30 San Diego State*
10/14 Wyoming*
10/21 at Navy
10/28 at Colorado State*
11/4 Army (at Denver)
11/11 at Hawaii*
11/18 UNLV*
11/25 at Boise State*
BOISE STATE
9/2 at Washington
9/9 Central Florida
9/16 North Dakota (FCS)
9/22 at San Diego State*
9/30 at Memphis
10/7 San Jose State*
10/14 at Colorado State*
10/28 Wyoming*
11/4 at Fresno State*
11/11 New Mexico*
11/18 at Utah State*
11/25 Air Force*
COLORADO STATE
9/2 Washington State
9/16 at Colorado
9/23 at Middle Tennessee State
9/30 Utah Tech (FCS)
10/7 at Utah State*
10/14 Boise State*
10/21 at UNLV*
10/28 Air Force*
11/4 at Wyoming*
11/11 San Diego State*
11/18 Nevada*
11/25 at Hawaii*
FRESNO STATE
9/2 at Purdue
9/9 Eastern Washington (FCS)
9/16 at Arizona State
9/23 Kent State
9/30 Nevada*
10/7 at Wyoming*
10/14 at Utah State*
10/28 UNLV*
11/4 Boise State*
11/11 at San Jose State*
11/18 New Mexico*
11/25 at San Diego State*
HAWAII
8/26 at Vanderbilt
9/1 Stanford
9/9 Albany (FCS)
9/16 at Oregon
9/23 New Mexico State
9/30 at UNLV*
10/14 San Diego State*
10/21 at New Mexico*
10/28 San Jose State*
11/4 at Nevada*
11/11 Air Force*
11/18 at Wyoming*
11/25 Colorado State*
NEVADA
9/2 at USC
9/9 Idaho (FCS)
9/16 Kansas
9/23 at Texas State
9/30 at Fresno State*
10/14 UNLV*
10/21 at San Diego State*
10/28 New Mexico*
11/4 Hawaii*
11/11 at Utah State*
11/18 at Colorado State*
11/25 Wyoming*
NEVADA-LAS VEGAS
9/2 Bryant (FCS)
9/9 at Michigan
9/16 Vanderbilt
9/23 at UTEP
9/30 Hawaii*
10/14 at Nevada*
10/21 Colorado State*
10/28 at Fresno State*
11/4 at New Mexico*
11/11 Wyoming*
11/18 at Air Force*
11/25 San Jose State*
NEW MEXICO
9/2 at Texas A&M
9/9 Tennessee Tech (FCS)
9/16 New Mexico State
9/23 at UMass
9/30 at Wyoming*
10/14 San Jose State*
10/21 Hawaii*
10/28 at Nevada*
11/4 UNLV*
11/11 at Boise State*
11/18 at Fresno State*
11/25 Utah State*
SAN DIEGO STATE
8/26 Ohio
9/2 Idaho State (FCS)
9/9 UCLA
9/16 at Oregon State
9/22 Boise State*
9/30 at Air Force*
10/14 at Hawaii*
10/21 Nevada*
11/4 Utah State*
11/11 at Colorado State*
11/18 at San Jose State*
11/25 Fresno State*
SAN JOSE STATE
8/26 at USC
9/3 Oregon State
9/9 Cal Poly (FCS)
9/16 at Toledo
9/23 Air Force*
10/7 at Boise State*
10/14 at New Mexico*
10/21 Utah State*
10/28 at Hawaii*
11/11 Fresno State*
11/18 San Diego State*
11/25 at UNLV*
UTAH STATE
9/2 at Iowa
9/9 Idaho State (FCS)
9/16 at Air Force*
9/23 James Madison
9/30 at UConn
10/7 Colorado State*
10/14 Fresno State*
10/21 at San Jose State*
11/4 at San Diego State*
11/11 Nevada*
11/18 Boise State*
11/25 at New Mexico*
WYOMING
9/2 Texas Tech
9/9 Portland State (FCS)
9/16 at Texas
9/23 Appalachian State
9/30 New Mexico*
10/7 Fresno State*
10/14 at Air Force*
10/28 at Boise State*
11/4 Colorado State*
11/11 at UNLV*
11/18 Hawaii*
11/25 at Nevada*