2024 MW Football Weekly Release - Bowl Season

MW Bowl Notes

• Boise State earned the No. 3 seed in the inaugural 12-team CFP field as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions, ahead of the ACC and Big 12. The Broncos earned a first-round bye and will face either No. 6 seed Penn State or No. 11 seed SMU in the CFP quarterfinals at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
• Five MW teams earned bowl bids in 2024, marking the 17th time in the last 18 years that at least five MW teams will compete in the postseason. The lone exception was the 2020 Covid-affected season.
• Including the five this season, the Mountain West has earned 133 bowl bids since 1999 and holds a 69-56 (.552) all-time record. Over the last 20 seasons, the MW has captured the Bowl Challenge Cup five times  and owns the second-best winning percentage in bowl games among the FBS conferences with a 62-48 (.564) mark, trailing only the SEC (120-75, .615).
• In that same 20-year span, the MW has the most wins of any Group of 5 conference. Conference USA is second with 57 wins, against 62 losses (.479).
• The MW has won at least three bowl games in each season since 2013, excluding the 2020 Covid season.
• With Boise State checking in at No. 9 and UNLV at No. 24, the MW had two teams in the final CFP rankings for the second time ever and the first since 2018. The previous instance was in 2018, when Fresno State finished No. 21 and Boise State finished No. 25.
• Boise State is bowl eligible for the 27th consecutive season, the second-longest active streak behind Georgia (28). The Broncos are 3-0 in the Fiesta Bowl all time, with memorable wins over Oklahoma (43-42 in overtime, 2007), TCU (17-10 in 2010) and Arizona (38-30 in 2014). Boise State is currently on an 11-game winning streak, the second-longest active streak in the FBS behind Oregon (14).
• UNLV will take on California in the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk. The Rebels, who are 3-1 against A4 competition this season, are making consecutive bowl appearances for the first time in program history. UNLV will be under the direction of interim coach Del Alexander, who assumed the post after coach Barry Odom departed for Purdue. Former Florida and Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen was announced as the Rebels’ new head coach on Dec. 12.
• Fresno State will face Northern Illinois, against whom MW teams are 3-0 in bowls all-time, in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The Bulldogs are seeking their sixth straight bowl win and are appearing in a bowl for the fourth straight season. Fresno State announced Matt Entz as its new head coach on Dec. 4 but will be led by interim head coach Tim Skipper, who guided the Bulldogs to six wins this season, in its bowl game for the second straight season.
• Playing in the Hawai‘i Bowl for the second straight season, San José State will battle South Florida. The Spartans, who will be competing in a bowl for the fourth time in five seasons, are led by first-year SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who is a Hawai‘i native and played at the University of Hawai‘i.
• Colorado State is slated to take on Miami (Ohio) in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop. The Rams, who are playing in a bowl for the first time since 2017, posted their most overall and MW wins since 2014. CSU played in the inaugural Arizona Bowl in 2015, facing MW foe Nevada.

MW Strength of Schedule

• Mountain West teams played 35 nonconference games against Autonomous 4 opponents, the most of any FBS league (counting Notre Dame, Oregon State and Washington State as A4 teams), with the next-closest totaling 27.
• MW teams have played 15 one-possession games against A4 opponents this season, with four of those games settled in overtime or on the final play of regulation.
• The MW has 11 wins against A4 opponents this season, more than twice the combined total of its four peer conferences (five).
• Since 2018, the MW has the best winning percentage over Autonomous 5 teams (30.08) among its peer conferences. MW teams have collected 40 wins over such teams in that span, also the most among its peer conferences.
• Mountain West squads have played 21 nonconference games this season against teams that were ranked or receiving votes in the US LBM Coaches (AFCA) and/or AP top-25 polls, including eight at home.

Notes Around the MW

MW TEAMS IN THE RANKINGS
Boise State is No. 9 and UNLV is No. 24 in the final College Football Playoff rankings. This marks the ninth time that two MW schools have been ranked by the CFP in the same week.

The Broncos are No. 8 in the Associated Press and US LBM Coaches (AFCA) polls, while the Rebels are No. 24 in both polls. The Broncos are 123-21 (.854) 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).

UNLV and Boise State are two of nine teams in the FBS that are undefeated this season against teams currently ranked outside the AP Top 25. The only other conferences with multiple such teams are the Big Ten (Oregon, Indiana and Penn State) and the SEC (Georgia and Texas).

ALL-AMERICA HONORS
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, the Maxwell Award and Doak Walker Award winner and Heisman Trophy runner-up, and San José State wide receiver Nick Nash, a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, both earned first-team All-America honors from Walter Camp, the AFCA and the Associated Press, while Boise State offensive lineman Kage Casey claimed second-team honors on the Walter Camp team and Colorado State center Jacob Gardner and UNLV safety Jalen Catalon earned third-team honors from the AP. Jeanty was the lone unanimous selection on the AP team.

JEANTY’S DOMINANCE
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty has put together one of the best seasons in MW and FBS history. The junior is at or near the top in the FBS in several categories:

• all-purpose yards per game (201.0, 1st)
• rushing touchdowns (29, t-1st)
• rushing yards (2,497, 1st)
• rushing yards per game (192.1, 1st)
• total points scored (180, 1st)
• total touchdowns (30, 1st)
• scoring (13.8, 2nd)
• rush yards per carry (7.26, 3rd)

With a MW-record 2,497 yards this season, Jeanty is the third MW player to rush for at least 2,000 yards in a single season, joining San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey (2,133 in 2016) and Rashaad Penny (2,248 in 2017). Jeanty is currently fourth in FBS history for rushing yards in a season, trailing just UCF’s Kevin Smith (2,567 in 2007), Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon (2,587 in 2014) and Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders (2,628 in 1988).

Jeanty has rushed for 2,497 yards this season for an average of 192.1 rushing yards per game. The only other FBS player ever to hit both of those marks in the same season was Barry Sanders during his Heisman-winning 1988 campaign.

Jeanty has two games this season with at least 250 rushing yards and four-plus rushing TDs, while no other FBS player has a single such game this season. He has three games with at least 200 rushing yards and three rushing TDs, tied for the most in a season in MW history with Colorado State’s Kapri Bibbs (2013). Since 1996, only two FBS players have done that four times in a season: Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor (2018) and Ron Dayne (1996).

Jeanty has five TD runs of at least 70 yards this year, eight of at least 60 yards and 10 of 50 yards or more, all of which are MW records in a season. He leads the FBS in all three of those categories this season. With 29 total TD runs this season, he is just two back of the single-season record set by CSU’s Bibbs in 2013.

Jeanty is also chasing the MW’s single-season all-purpose yards record. He currently has 2,613, just 361 back of Penny’s mark of 2,974 from 2017.

NASH’S TRIPLE CROWN
One of three Biletnikoff Award finalists, San José State receiver Nick Nash is just the fourth player to earn the FBS college football receiving triple crown in the regular season, as he fiished the regular season leading the country in receptions (a school-record 104), receiving yards (1,382), and receiving touchdowns (16). He also leads the FBS in receptions per game (8.7) and receiving yards per game (115.2).

He is tied for third in MW history in single-season TD catches, is fifth in single-season receptions and needs 170 yards to enter the top five in that category. Nash had a receiving TD in 10 consecutive games to open the season, the second-longest streak in MW history and the longest such streak to start a season in league annals. Nash is the first Mountain West player to have at least 10 receiving touchdowns and two passing touchdowns in a season.

MW OWNS THE RUN GAME
Three MW squads are in the top 10 in the FBS in rushing, led by New Mexico in fourth at 253.6. UNLV is fifth at 251.2 per contest and Boise State is No. 6 with 250.5. The MW has had three teams finish in the top 10 in the category twice, in 2012 and 2016. Air Force is just outside the top 10 at No. 11 with 224.0 per game.

There have been 27 200-yard individual rushing efforts this season, and nine of them have come from MW players, including six by Jeanty.

DALMAS NEARING FBS RECORDS
Boise State kicker Jonah Dalmas has 93 career field goals to his credit, good for third in FBS history and just four back of the FBS record of 97, held by NC State’s Christopher Dunn (2018-22). He is second in FBS history in kicking points with 503, behind Alabama’s Will Reichard 547 (2019-23). He is fifth in FBS history with a field-goal percentage of 87.7.

UNLV 3-1 AGAINST A4 COMPETITION
UNLV has beaten Big 12 teams Houston (27-7) and Kansas (23-20) this season, becoming the first nonconference team ever to have multiple road wins against Big 12 competition in the same season. UNLV’s 27-7 win at Houston in Week 1 was the largest for a MW school against a Big 12 opponent since Utah’s 68-27 win at Iowa State in 2010. Those are the only two times a Mountain West team has won a road game against a Big 12 school by 20-plus points. The Rebels fell in overtime to Syracuse in Week 6 before beating Oregon State in Week 8, 33-25.

SCORING IN BUNCHES
Boise State ranks fourth in the FBS in points per game this season (39.1). The Broncos have won six games this season by 20-plus points, with just seven teams – Ohio State (8), Oregon (8), Indiana (7), Miami (7), Notre Dame (7), SMU (7) and Tulane (7) – the only FBS teams with more this season.

DUAL THREAT
UNLV quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams had at least 10 completions and at least 10 rushing attempts in each of his last 10 games this season, tied with Nevada’s Brendon Lewis for the most such games by any FBS player. Williams had at least one touchdown pass in nine of those 10 games, with the lone exception being the Old Trapper MW Football Championship.

SACK CENTRAL
Boise State is second in the FBS in sacks with 3.92 per game and is 10th in sacks allowed at just 0.92. New Mexico leads the FBS at just 0.42 allowed per game and Colorado State is fourth at 0.83.

REBEL SPECIAL TEAMS
UNLV leads the FBS this season in blocked punts (5), with Rebel wide receiver Ricky White III leading the FBS with four. UNLV placekicker Caden Chittenden, the MW Freshman of the Year, is second in the nation in made field goals (25) and field goals per game (1.92). His 25 makes are a MW freshman record and just four back of the overall MW single-season record of 29 set by New Mexico’s John Sullivan in 2007.

White, the MW Special Teams Player of the Year, became the first player in MW history to have a season with more than 10 receiving touchdowns and at least one return TD.

MAN OF THE YEAR
Boise State defensive end Ahmed Hassanein has been named one of three finalists for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award. The award  recognizes exemplary leadership both on and off the field and the winner will be announced Feb. 12.

WINNING THE TURNOVER BATTLE
San José State (20) and UNLV (17) rank first and fourth, respectively, in the FBS in passes intercepted, with the Spartans third with 27 turnovers gained and the Rebels eighth in turnover margin at 1.00.

Boise State has lost just eight turnovers to rank second in the FBS, while UNLV and San Diego State are tied for ninth with nine each. The Rebels have committed no more than one turnover in any of their 13 games this season. That is five games longer than the next-longest active such streak by any FBS team and is the longest streak in MW history.

Fresno State’s Cam Lockridge, San José State’s Robert Rahimi and UNLV’s Jalen Catalon are tied for third in the FBS with five interceptions each. Boise State’s Andrew Simpson and Fresno State’s Korey Foreman, San Diego State’s Chris Johnson and Utah State’s DJ Graham II are tied for 10th with three forced fumbles.

RUSHING RAMS
Colorado State is averaging 170.6 rushing yards per game this season compared to 92.8 per game in 2023, the seventh-largest increase by any FBS team (+77.8) and largest by any MW team. The Rams have also gone from 10 rushing touchdowns last season to 19 in 2024.

COACHING MOVES
Fresno State hired Matt Entz as its new head coach on Dec. 4. Entz served as the assistant head coach for defense and linebackers coach at USC in 2024 after a five-year stint as the head coach at North Dakota State, where he led the Bison to a pair of FCS championships and was a two-time FCS National Coach of the Year.

Utah State hired New Mexico’s Bronco Mendenhall on Dec. 6. 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.

On Dec. 12, UNLV announced former Florida and Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen would take the reins for the Rebels. Mullen spent the last three seasons as an ESPN college football analyst.

On Dec. 14, New Mexico 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.

SMITH OFFICIALLY ENSHRINED
Former Utah quarterback Alex Smith, the MW Offensive Player of the Year and a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2004, was officially inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame at the National Football Foundation Awards Dinner on Tuesday, Dec. 12.