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Winning the Mountain West conference title in 2024 means more than ever, with the expanded College Football Playoff giving one Group of 5 team a guaranteed spot among the 12 teams.
Whether that team comes from the Mountain West of course depends on how teams in the other conferences do, as well as which team steps up and takes home the title out west.
With eight new head coaches after the late retirement of Jeff Tedford at Fresno State and firing of Blake Anderson at Utah State, as well as eight new starting quarterbacks, this conference is going to look a lot different this fall. However, the team projected to finish at the top is not a surprise: the Boise State Broncos.
They will face stiff competition from the Bulldogs of Fresno State, who open at Michigan in less than two weeks, as well as Barry Odom’s up and coming UNLV squad.
Below is a look at our first power rankings for the Mountain West, with three conference teams all set to open up their respective seasons on Saturday, August 24:
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Spencer Danielson went 3-1 as a midseason replacement for Andy Avalos last year, blasting UNLV in the Mountain West championship which solidified his hiring on a full-time basis.
It also helped keep key talent in Boise, including running back Ashton Jeanty, quarterback Maddux Madsen, and left tackle Kage Casey. Madsen has been tabbed the starter over USC transfer Malachi Nelson, and his familiarity with the system should help this team succeed right away.
A Week 2 game in Eugene against Oregon is the only projected loss on the Broncos calendar, and if that becomes a reality this team could very well be in the College Football Playoffs this winter.
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Jeff Tedford’s retirement cleared the way for Tim Skipper to step up and lead the program on an interim basis. It also kept this program’s core together – a key component of the transfer portal era.
The Bulldogs return eight starters on offense, including quarterback Mikey Keene and running back Malik Sherrod. Improvement is necessary on defense, however, and the addition of former five-star EDGE rusher Korey Foreman out of USC will help in a major way.
Fresno State plays at Michigan to open up the campaign and at UCLA at the end of the regular season, and if they can clip either of those teams while winning most (all?) of their conference matchups they could be in the new look CFP instead of the Broncos.
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Barry Odom took UNLV from five wins to nine in his first season coming over from an assistant job at Arkansas, and there’s plenty of reason to think he can continue to build on that strong start.
The Rebels did lose quarterback Jayden Maiava to USC, but they retain offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, elite wide receiver Ricky White III, and fellow receiver Jacob De Jesus.
The defense looks much improved as well, with key returners up front and seven defensive back transfer portal additions, including former Texas DB Jalen Catalon. If either Matthew Sluka (Holy Cross) or Hajj-Malik Williams (Campbell) can make the leap under center, this team should be in contention for double-digit wins again.
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Wyoming gave us two of the best moments of the entire 2023 college football season in the month of September, first taking down Texas Tech in double-overtime then beating Appalachian State after a blocked field goal was returned for a touchdown. It resulted in a 9-4 finish and a fantastic final season for 65-year-old Craig Bohl, who called it a career which led to defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel taking over.
Wyoming is expected to maintain an excellent defense, as they have for the better part of a decade, but losing key offensive pieces like quarterback Andrew Peasley could make things tough for Sawvel in Year 1.
Syndication: The Coloradoan
Everyone expected Jay Norvell’s arrival from Nevada in 2022 would finally turn the tide for the Rams, who had really struggled for the better part of the previous decade. However, Norvell has kept the losing going, with an 8-16 record over the past two years leading to some angst in Fort Collins.
Optimistic fans will point out that Norvell is 5-5 in his last ten games, and a 3,460 passing yard season from redshirt freshman Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, many which went to star receiver Tory Horton, is a sign of good things to come in 2024 with both players still in the mix.
Ten returning upperclassmen on the defensive side is promising as well, and a return to a winning record and a bowl game would be a nice prize for Norvell and the Rams in year three.
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Air Force is one of the most quiet, consistently above average programs in college football. Coach Troy Calhoun has a sterling 130-82 overall record, has won four bowl games in the last five years, and at least nine games in each of the past four seasons.
Considering the recruiting and redshirt limitations that plague service academies, and the success Air Force has had in a strong Group of 5 conference, this is a team that deserves more love.
If Calhoun gets this team into bowl contention again, it will certainly turn heads. This roster is among the most overhauled in all of college football, losing the four leading rushers, quarterback Zac Larrier, top eight offensive lineman, and nine of the 14 defensive players who played more than 250 snaps.
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Hawaii has a rich history of being one of the most entertaining Group of 5 teams in college football, and this year’s roster should continue that trend.
Timmy Chang has gone 8-18 the past two seasons, but the Rainbow Warriors rank seventh nationally in returning production across all of college football – which includes star quarterback Brayden Schager (3,542 yards and 26 touchdowns last year) as well as Hawaii’s six leading receivers and star tackle Luke Felix-Fualalo.
The defense, particularly the pass rush, is the big hinge for this team going from ‘fun but not particularly competitive’ to really challenging for bowl eligibility and a top five finish in league play.
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Optimism around Utah State plummeted when coach Blake Anderson was dismissed this summer unexpectedly, resulting in some key departures via the transfer portal including wide receiver and kick returner Micah Davis, who wound up at Ole Miss.
There’s still a ton of talent on this team, particularly on offense, although it will be defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling taking over as head coach on an interim basis. After two straight 6-7 seasons, anything above .500 would be a nice win for the fans in Logan.
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One year as offensive coordinator at Colorado under Deion Sanders was enough for Sean Lewis, who takes over at San Diego State hoping to bring some offensive firepower to a program that hasn’t seen any in a long time.
The former Kent State coach led the Golden Flashes to a pair of bowl games over his last four seasons, and a litany of high profile transfers coming to San Diego should help this team right away – including quarterback AJ Duffy (Florida State) wide receiver Jerry McClure (UCLA) and tight end Jude Wolfe (USC).
Will it translate to instant success? Hard to say, but the program appears to be headed in the right direction – or at the very least will be more entertaining to watch.
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New everything at San Jose State this season: new coaching staff, new quarterback, new pass rushers, and four new starting offensive lineman.
Ken Niumatalolo has a rich history from his time leading Navy to multiple AP Top 20 finishes, to a unique leadership role for Chip Kelly at UCLA last year, and the hiring of Craig Stutzmann as offensive coordinator points to a more modern approach Niumatalolo is bringing to San Jose.
Will it work in year one? Probably not – anyone having to replace both offensive and defensive lines in one offseason is going to struggle – but this could be a very fun team to watch this year, especially if former Oregon quarterback Jay Butterfield pops.
Syndication: Reno Gazette Journal
There’s a lot to like about Nevada’s hiring of Jeff Choate. He is from Montana, has coaching experience at Utah State, Boise State, Washington State, and Washington, served as the head coach at Montana State and led them to the FCS semifinals in 2019, and recently was on Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Texas as defensive co-coordinator.
That all points to a potential rebuild for the Wolfpack, but they are starting at (or even below) zero. This team went 2-10 each of the past two seasons, ranking as one of the worst FCS teams in the country last year. Nowhere to go but up, although it likely won’t be a huge improvement right away.
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It’s hard to be too optimistic about New Mexico in 2024, but after hiring Bronco Mendenhall the future might be a little brighter for the Lobos.
Mendenhall won double-digit games five times across six years at BYU and earned bowl eligibility five out of six years at Virginia, and he went ahead and hired familiar faces to coach alongside him in Albuquerque.
If sophomore quarterback Devon Dampier takes a huge leap perhaps this team can have early success under Mendenhall, but otherwise it might take a full year (or two) for this team to get back to bowl contention.
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Courtesy : https://collegesportswire.usatoday.com/lists/mountain-west-football-preseason-power-rankings-boise-state/