The 2025 Mountain West Conference football season is the 27th season of college football for the Mountain West Conference. It is part of the 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season. 12 teams are competing in the conference during the season. The season began on August 23, 2025, and conclude with the Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game on December 5, 2025. The full season schedule was released on February 20, 2025.
Conference realignment
The 2025 is the final season before major realignment for the Mountain West Conference. Five schools – Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State – will all depart the Mountain West after 2025 to join the Pac-12 Conference. Two schools will join the Mountain West in 2026 as football members to replace the departing schools. UTEP will join as a full member of the Mountain West, while Northern Illinois And North Dakota State will join as football-only associate members. Additionally, Hawaii will become a full-member of the Mountain West beginning in 2026. Hawaii had been a football-only member of the conference since joining in 2012, with the Western Athletic Conference being the previous primary conference.
Coaches Coaching changes On December 4, 2024, Fresno State announced that Matt Entz would become the new permanent head coach beginning in 2025. Entz had previously been the associate head coach at USC and the head coach at North Dakota State On December 6, 2024, Utah State announced that they had hired Bronco Mendenhall away from New Mexico to become their head coach for 2025. On December 14, 2024, New Mexico announced Jason Eck as their new head coach for 2025. Eck had previously been head coach at Idaho. On December 8, 2024, UNLV head coach Barry Odom was announced as the new head coach of Purdue in the Big Ten Conference. On December 12, 2024, UNLV announced that Dan Mullen would be the new head coach for the 2025 season. Mullen had previously been head coach of Florida in the SEC.
Head coaches Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school MW recordAir Force Troy Calhoun 19 135–89 135–89 80–58Boise State Spencer Danielson 3 15–3 15–3 10–0Colorado State Jay Norvell 4 49–47 16–21 35–29Fresno State Matt Entz 1 60–11 0–0 0–0Hawaii Timmy Chang 4 13–25 13–25 8–15Nevada Jeff Choate 2 31–32 3–10 0–7New Mexico Jason Eck 1 26–13 0–0 0–0San Diego State Sean Lewis 2 27–40 3–9 2–5San Jose State Ken Niumatalolo 2 116–89 7–6 3–4UNLV Dan Mullen 1 103–61 0–0 0–0Utah State Bronco Mendenhall 1 140–88 0–0 3–4Wyoming Jay Sawvel 2 3–9 3–9 2–5
Mid-season changes On October 19, Colorado State announced that they had fired head coach Jay Norvell. Norvell had posted an 18–26 record during his time at the school. Defensive coordinator Tyson Summers was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
Preseason Preseason Poll The Preseason Media Poll was released July 16, 2025. Boise State was selected as the preseason favorite to claim the 2025 Mountain West football regular-season title.
1 Boise State 464 (35) 2 UNLV 415 (4) 3 San Jose State 359 4 Colorado State326 5 Fresno State301 6 Air Force280 7 Hawaii213 8 San Diego State202 9 Utah State165 10 Wyoming150 11 New Mexico84 12 Nevada83
Preseason All-Conference team Mountain West preseason awards and all-conference teams were announced on July 16.
Awards PositionPlayerClassPositionTeamAwardOffensive Player of the YearMaddux MadsenJr.QBBoise StateDefensive Player of the YearTrey WhiteJr.EDGESan Diego StateSpecial Teams Player of the YearGabe PlascenciaSr.PK
All-conference team PositionPlayerClassTeamFirst Team OffenseQBMaddux MadsenJr.Boise StateRBScottre HumphreyJr.New MexicoJai'Den ThomasJr.UNLVWRLatrell CaplesGr.Boise StatePofele AshlockJr.HawaiiNick CenacleSr.TEMatt LauterSr.Boise StateOLKage CaseyJr.Boise StateMason RandolphSr.Peseti LapuahoSr.San Jose StateCaden BarnettSr.WyomingJack WalshSr.First Team DefenseDLBraxton FelySr.Boise StateJayden Virgin-MorganJr.Trey WhiteJr.San Diego StateGafa FagaSr.San Jose StateLBMarco NotarainniSr.Boise StateTano LetuliJr.San Diego StateJordan PollardSr.San Jose StateMarsel McDuffieSr.UNLVDBTy BenefieldJr.Boise StateA'Marion McCoyGr.Al'zillion HamiltonSr.Fresno StateIke LarsenSr.Utah StateFirst Team Special TeamsPKGabe PlascenciaSr.San Diego StatePLuke FreerSr.Air ForcePRMarcus BellonSr.NevadaKRAbraham WilliamsSr.New Mexico
Rankings
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Final Air Force AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —C — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — — Boise State AP 25 — — — — — — — RV — — — — — — RV RVC 25 — — — — — — — RV RV — — — — — RV RV CFP Not released — — — — — — Colorado State AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —C — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — — Fresno State AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —C — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — — Hawaii AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — RVC — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — — Nevada AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —C — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — — New Mexico AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — RV RV —C — — — — — — — — — — — — — — RV — — CFP Not released — — — — — — San Diego State AP — — — — — — — RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV — —C — — — — — — — RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV — CFP Not released — — — — — — San Jose State AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —C — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — — UNLV AP RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV — — — RV RV RV RV RV —C RV — RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV — — — RV RV RV — CFP Not released — — — — — — Utah State AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —C — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — — Wyoming AP — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —C — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — CFP Not released — — — — — —
+ Legend Improvement in ranking Drop in ranking Not ranked previous week No change in ranking from previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll т Tied with team above or below also with this symbol
Schedule The schedule was released on February 20, 2025.
Index to colors and formattingMW member wonMW member lostMW teams in bold All times Mountain time.
Week 0
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Championship game
Postseason
Bowl Games
Legend Mountain West win Mountain West loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (MST)Mountain West teamOpponentScoreAttendance LA Bowl December 13 SoFi Stadium • Inglewood, CA ABC 6:00 p.m. Boise State Washington L 10–38 23,269 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl December 22 Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID ESPN 12:00 p.m. Utah State Washington State L 21–34 17,031 Frisco Bowl December 23 Ford Center at The Star • Frisco, TX ESPN 7:00 p.m. UNLV Ohio L 10–17 6,521 Hawaii Bowl December 24 Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex • Honolulu, HI ESPN 6:00 p.m. Hawaii California W 35–31 15,194 Rate Bowl December 26 Chase Field • Phoenix, AZ ESPN 2:30 p.m. New Mexico Minnesota L 17–20 OT 27,439 Arizona Bowl December 27 Casino Del Sol Stadium • Tucson, AZ The CW 2:30 p.m. Fresno State Miami (OH) W 18–3 New Mexico Bowl December 27 University Stadium • Albuquerque, NM ESPN 3:45 p.m. San Diego State North Texas L 47–49
Mountain West records vs. other conferences 2025–2026 records against non-conference foes:
Regular season Power Four ConferencesRecordACC2–1Big 120–4Big Ten2–3Notre Dame0–1SEC 0–3Power 4 Total4–12Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican 0–4CUSA 3–2Independents (Excluding Notre Dame) 0–1MAC 3–1Pac-121–2Sun Belt 2–0Other FBS Total 9–10FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision 12–0Total Non-Conference Record 25–22
Mountain West vs Power 4 matchups This is a list of games the Mountain West has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score August 23 Big 12 Fresno State Kansas David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium • Lawrence, KS L 7–31 August 23 ACC Stanford Hawaii Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex • Honolulu, HI W 23–20 August 30 Big Ten Colorado State Washington Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA L 21–38 August 30 Big 12 Hawaii Arizona Arizona Stadium • Tucson, AZ L 6–40 August 30 Big Ten Nevada No. 2 Penn State Beaver Stadium • University Park, PA L 11–46 August 30 Big Ten New Mexico No. 14 Michigan Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI L 17–34 September 6 SEC San Jose State No. 7 Texas Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX L 7–38 September 6 Big Ten UCLA UNLV Allegiant Stadium • Paradise, NV W 30–23 September 6 SEC Utah State No. 19 Texas A&M Kyle Field • College Station, TX L 22–42 September 12 Big Ten New Mexico UCLA Rose Bowl • Pasadena, CA W 35–10 September 13 Big 12 No. 20 Utah Wyoming War Memorial Stadium • Laramie, WY L 6–31 September 20 ACC California San Diego State Snapdragon Stadium • San Diego, CA W 34–0 September 20 Big 12 Wyoming Colorado Folsom Field • Boulder, CO L 20–37 September 27 ACC San Jose State Stanford Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA L 29–30 September 27 SEC Utah State Vanderbilt FirstBank Stadium • Nashville, TN L 35–55 October 4 Independent Boise State Notre Dame Notre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, IN L 7–28
Mountain West vs other FBS matchups The following games include Mountain West teams competing against teams from the American, C-USA, MAC, Pac-12 or Sun Belt.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score August 28 American No. 25 Boise State South Florida Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL L 7–34 August 29 MAC Central Michigan San Jose State CEFCU Stadium • San Jose, CA L 14–16 August 30 Sun Belt Georgia Southern Fresno State Valley Children's Stadium • Fresno, CA W 42–14 August 30 C-USA UNLV Sam Houston Shell Energy Stadium • Houston, TX W 38–21 August 30 C-USA UTEP Utah State Maverik Stadium • Logan, UT W 28–16 August 30 MAC Wyoming Akron InfoCision Stadium–Summa Field • Akron, OH W 10–0 September 6 Pac-12 Fresno State Oregon State Reser Stadium • Corvallis, OR W 36–27 September 6 C-USA Sam Houston Hawaii Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex • Honolulu, HI W 37–20 September 6 Pac-12 San Diego State Washington State Martin Stadium • Pullman, WA L 13–36 September 13 C-USA Middle Tennessee Nevada Mackay Stadium • Reno, NV L 13–14 September 20 American UTSA Colorado State Canvas Stadium • Fort Collins, CO L 16–17 September 20 C-USA Nevada Western Kentucky Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium • Bowling Green, KY L 16–31 September 20 MAC UNLV Miami (OH) Yager Stadium • Oxford, OH W 41–38 September 27 Sun Belt Appalachian State Boise State Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID W 47–14 September 27 Pac-12 Washington State Colorado State Canvas Stadium • Fort Collins, CO L 3–20 September 27 C-USA New Mexico State New Mexico University Stadium • Albquerque, NM W 38–20 September 27 MAC San Diego State Northern Illinois Huskie Stadium • DeKalb, IL W 6–3 October 4 American Air Force Navy Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD L 31–34 November 1 American Army Air Force Falcon Stadium • USAF Academy, CO L 17–20
Mountain West vs FBS independents matchups The following games include Mountain West teams competing against FBS Independents, which only includes UConn for 2025.
Date Visitor Home Site Score November 15 Air Force UConn Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT L 16–26
Mountain West vs. FCS matchups The following games include Mountain West teams competing against FCS schools.