2025 MW Football Weekly Release - Week 1

EVERYONE IN ACTION
After three Mountain West teams got their seasons started in Week 0, all 12 MW programs are in action in Week 1. … Three Conference squads play Thursday, headlined by No. 25/25 Boise State visiting South Florida in an early season road test. … The MW has two games on Friday and seven on Saturday to cap a full Week 1.

BRONCOS IN THE POLLS
Boise State is ranked No. 25 in both The Associated Press and US LBM Coaches preseason polls and appears in the preseason rankings for the first time since 2018. … Thursday’s game against South Florida will be the Broncos’ 74th as a ranked team in the AP poll since joining the Mountain West in 2011. The Broncos are 123-22 (.848) all-time while being ranked in the AP Top 25. That’s the best record of any FBS team while ranked over the last 40 seasons (min. 50 games as ranked team).

MW TAKING ON THE BIG TEN
On Saturday, Nevada will play at No. 3/2 Penn State, New Mexico visits No. 14/14 Michigan and Colorado State travels to Washington, which is receiving votes in the national polls. It will be the first time in MW history that three different teams from the Conference play a Big Ten opponent on the same day.

FALCONS’ HOT STREAK
Air Force has won its last 18 season openers, which is the third-longest active streak in the nation behind only behind Ohio State (24) and Alabama (23). The Falcons open their season against Bucknell on Saturday.

SPARTAN TAKEAWAYS
San José State has forced at least one turnover in 13 consecutive games, tied for the sixth-longest active streak in the FBS. No other MW team has an active such streak of more than three games.

KEEP IT OVER 20
UNLV has scored at least 20 points in each of its last 23 regular-season games (excluding MW championship games), marking the second-longest active such streak in the FBS, behind only Memphis (37 straight). The Rebels are 19-4 over that stretch.

‘BOWS LOOKING FOR MORE
With its 23-20 win over Stanford in Week 0, Hawai‘i picked up its first win over an A4 opponent since 2019. The Rainbows will look to make it two in a row when they visit Arizona in Week 1 – a feat not accomplished by the ‘Bows since opening that 2019 campaign with consecutive wins over Arizona and Oregon State.

DUAL-THREAT AGGIES
Utah State has scored both a rushing and passing touchdown in each of its last 10 games, the longest active streak in the FBS. It’s the Aggies’ longest such streak since the touchdown became worth six points in 1912.

CENTURY-MARK STREAKS
The two longest active streaks for games with at least 100 rushing yards by an FBS team are both by Mountain West teams. Air Force has done so in 85 consecutive games and Boise State is on a 38-game run.

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
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. This season marks his 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. … 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. … 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.

PLAYER AVAILABILITY REPORTS
The Mountain West will 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 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. … Since 2018, the MW has the best winning percentage over Autonomous 5 teams (30.66) among its peer conferences. MW teams have collected 42 wins over such teams in that span, also the most among its peer conferences (the American is second with 33). … Hawai‘i earned the MW’s first A4 win of the 2025 season with its 23-20 win over Stanford in Week 0. … 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). UNLV went 4-1 against A4 opponents last season. … 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.

MW vs. THE TOP 25
This season, MW squads have a total of 12 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 12 contests, five are against preseason ranked squads, with three inside the top 10. … Since 2021, 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.

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 POTY RUN
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).