2025 MW Football Weekly Release - Week 0

WEEK ZERO NOTES

• The FBS season once again starts with the Mountain West, as three of the five Week 0 FBS games on Saturday, Aug. 23, feature MW teams. Two of those games are at home, with UNLV hosting Idaho State and Hawai‘i welcoming Stanford. Fresno State visits Kansas to kick off the 2025 campaign.
• UNLV, which is receiving votes in both the The Associated Press and US LBM Coaches preseason polls, will attempt to win its fourth consecutive season-opener. The Rebels’ current three-game season-opening winning streak began with a 52-21 win over Idaho State in 2022.
• UNLV has scored at least 20 points in each of its last 22 regular-season games (excluding MW championship games). That’s the second-longest active such streak in the FBS, behind only Memphis (37 straight).
• Fresno State is opening its season against an Autonomous 4 opponent for the third straight season. The Bulldogs downed Purdue to open the 2023 season before falling at then-No. 8/9 Michigan to lift the lid on their 2024 campaign.
• The Bulldogs will be playing a Big 12 school for the first time since a 45-29 win over Kansas State in November 2007. Fresno State has scored at least 45 points in three straight games against Big 12 opponents – no non-Big 12 team has ever done that in four straight.
• Hawai‘i will be taking on an ACC opponent for the first time in program history. The Rainbow Warriors last faced Stanford in 2023, when the Cardinal was a member of the Pac-12. Hawai‘i won its season-opener last year, taking a 35-14 victory over Delaware State.
• Two of the MW’s Week 0 games feature coaches making their team debuts. Former Florida and Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen, the 2014 National College Football Coach of the Year, takes the reins at UNLV after spending the last three seasons as an ESPN college football analyst. Matt Entz, a two-time FCS National Coach of the Year during a five-year stint as the head coach at North Dakota State, where he led the Bison to a pair of FCS championships, takes over at Fresno State after serving as the assistant head coach for defense and linebackers coach at USC in 2024.
• Preseason Mountain West favorite Boise State is ranked No. 25 in both The Associated Press and US LBM Coaches preseason polls. The Broncos appear in the preseason rankings for the first time since 2018. BSU opens its season on Thursday, Aug. 28, at South Florida.
• MW teams will play 16 autonomous conference opponents in 2025, including three of the four CFP semifinalists from last season (Nevada at Penn State on Aug. 30, San José State at Texas on Sept. 6 and Boise State at Notre Dame on Oct. 4). League squads will play four of those A4 games at home, with Hawai‘i hosting Stanford in Week 0, UCLA at UNLV on Sept. 6, Utah at Wyoming on Sept. 13 and California at San Diego State on Sept. 20.
• This season, MW squads have a total of 11 nonconference games scheduled against teams ranked or receiving votes in the preseason US LBM (AFCA) and/or AP top-25 polls, including two at home. Of those 11 contests, five are against preseason ranked squads, with three inside the top 10.

AROUND THE MW

PRESEASON FAVORITES
Boise State is the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West again in 2025, marking the 18th straight season that the Broncos have been picked to claim either a conference or division crown, including every year since joining the MW in 2011. The Broncos earned 35 of 39 first-place votes and 464 total points in the poll.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA HONORS
Boise State offensive tackle Kage Casey has earned All-America honors from several organizations this preseason, including first-team distinction from Walter Camp, one of the five organizations used in determining consensus postseason All-America honors.

San Diego State EDGE Trey White and Boise State EDGE Jayden Virgin-Morgan also earned preseason All-America honors from Athlon Sports, landing on the third and fourth teams, respectively, while White earned second-team honors from College Football News.

Eight additional players earned honorable mention from CFN.

NEW MW COACHES
In addition to Matt Entz joining Fresno State and Dan Mullen joining UNLV, two other programs in the MW are under new leadership this season. … Utah State hired New Mexico’s Bronco Mendenhall in December. Mendenhall, who led the Lobos to a 5-7 record in his lone season at the helm, returns to his home state, where he led BYU for 11 seasons and earned MW Coach of the Year honors in 2006. … New Mexico later announced Jason Eck as its new head coach. Eck spent the previous three seasons at Idaho, leading the Vandals to FCS national rankings and playoff berths each season. … For UNLV’s Mullen, this season marks a return to the MW, as he served as the quarterbacks coach at Utah for 10 seasons, helping develop 2005 NFL No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith.

PLAYER AVAILABILITY REPORTS
The Mountain West announced on Friday that it would add player availability reporting for the 2025 season for all regular-season Conference games. The policy standardizes the submission of student-athlete availability information for football contests to protect student-athlete privacy, reduce outside pressure on student-athletes for inside information, ensure transparency, and promote competitive integrity. This policy also addresses public confidence in fair play and the integrity risks associated with sports wagering. Availability reports will be posted publicly on TheMW.com.

MW AGAINST THE A4
MW teams played 15 one-possession games against A4 opponents last season, with four of those games settled in overtime or on the final play of regulation. … The MW had 12 nonconference wins against A4 opponents last season, five more than the Big 12 (7) and three more than the combined total of its four peer conferences (nine). … Since 2018, the MW has the best winning percentage over Autonomous 5 teams (30.37) among its peer conferences. MW teams have collected 41 wins over such teams in that span, also the most among its peer conferences. … UNLV went 4-1 against A4 opponents last season.

MW VS. THE TOP 25
Over the last four seasons, the MW has the best winning percentage over top-25 teams (17.46) among its peer conferences. MW teams have beaten 11 ranked squads in that span.

MW TEAMS IN THE FINAL RANKINGS
Boise State was No. 9 and UNLV No. 24 in the final College Football Playoff rankings last, marking the second time the MW has had two teams in the final CFP rankings and the first since 2018, when Fresno State finished No. 21 and Boise State finished No. 25.

The Broncos finished No. 8 in the Associated Press and No. 9 in the US LBM Coaches (AFCA) poll, while the Rebels finished No. 23 and No. 24, respectively. The Broncos are 124-21 (.855) all-time while being ranked in the AP Top 25. That’s the best record of any team while ranked over the last 40 seasons (min. 50 games as ranked team).

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Utah State senior safety Ike Larsen was one of three winners of the 2024 Comeback Player of the Year Award as selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) and The AP in association with the Fiesta Bowl Organization.

Larsen has become a champion for mental health after overcoming his own challenges. In 2021, with his family deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Larsen battled depression and suicidal thoughts, seeking help through therapy and other learned coping tools.

DANIELSON AMONG COTY FINALISTS
Boise State coach Spencer Danielson, the 2024 Mountain West and AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year, was a finalist for the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award and the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. He is on the watch list for the Dodd Trophy this season.

BOWL SUCCESS
In the CFP era (since 2014), the MW is one of just four conferences with a bowl winning percentage over .500. Only the SEC (.578), Sun Belt (.571) and Big Ten (.565) are higher than the MW (.515).

TOP MW HONORS
Former UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodard and former Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty earned two of the highest honors the MW can bestow over the summer. Woodard was named the Mountain West Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Jeanty was the MW Male Athlete of the Year.

NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
The Mountain West has had four players earn a national player of the year award in a four-season span. Former Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty won the Maxwell Award (outstanding player) and the Doak Walker Award (outstanding running back) last season in addition to unanimous All-America honors and being the Heisman Trophy runner-up. Former Air Force safety Trey Taylor won the 2023 Paycom Jim Thorpe Award (best defensive back), Colorado State’s Trey McBride won the 2021 John Mackey Award (best tight end) and San Diego State’s Matt Araiza won the 2021 Ray Guy Trophy (top punter).

JEANTY’S DOMINANCE
Boise State junior running back Ashton Jeanty put together one of the best seasons in FBS history in 2024. With a MW-record 2,601 rushing yards, Jeanty finished second in FBS history for rushing yards in a season, trailing only Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders (2,628 in 1988). Jeanty finished the season with 2,750 all-purpose yards, good for second in MW history and just 224 back of San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny‘s mark of 2,974 from 2017. With 29 TD runs last season, Jeanty finished just two back of the MW single-season record set by Colorado State’s Kapri Bibbs in 2013.

NASH’S TRIPLE CROWN
One of three Biletnikoff Award finalists last season, former San José State receiver Nick Nash was just the fourth player to earn the FBS college football receiving triple crown in the regular season, as he finished leading the country in receptions (a school-record 104), receiving yards (1,382), and receiving touchdowns (16). The unanimous All-American is currently on the Atlanta Falcons’ roster.

MW OWNED THE RUN GAME
For the first time last season, four MW squads finished in the top 10 in the FBS in rushing, led by New Mexico in second at 253.6. UNLV was No. 7 with 243.5, Boise State was No. 8 at 240.4 and Air Force was No. 10 with 224.0 per game.

2025 NFL DRAFT RECAP
Six Mountain West players were selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, led Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. It was the most selections for the league since 2022. Jeanty was the sixth overall pick by the Las Vegas Raiders, making him the second-highest selection in Mountain West history. Only former Utah quarterback Alex Smith, the No. 1 overall pick by San Francisco in 2005, was chosen higher. The MW has now produced 12 first-round picks in its history, including five inside the top 10. This year’s sextet push the league’s overall total to 251 NFL draftees.

Utah State wide receiver Jalen Royals (Kansas City Chiefs, fourth round, 133rd overall pick), Colorado State wide receiver Tory Horton (Seattle Seahawks, fifth round, 166th overall pick), Boise State defensive end Ahmed Hassanein (Detroit Lions, sixth round, 196th overall pick), Nevada safety Kitan Crawford (Arizona Cardinals, seventh round, 225th overall pick) and and UNLV wide receiver Ricky White III (Seattle Seahawks, seventh round, 238th overall pick) were also selected.