2025 MW Football Weekly Release - Bowl Season

SEVEN TEAMS BOWLING
Boise State (Bucked Up LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk), Fresno State (Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop), Hawai‘i (Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl), New Mexico (Rate Bowl), San Diego State (Isleta New Mexico Bowl), UNLV (Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl) and Utah State (Famous Idaho Potato Bowl) will represent the Mountain West in the postseason. … This season marks the 18th time in the last 19 years with at least five MW teams competing in the postseason, with the lone exception being the 2020 Covid-affected season. … This is the fourth time in five years with at least seven MW teams selected for bowl games.

MW BOWL SUCCESS
The MW has earned 140 bowl bids since 1999 (including seven in 2025) and holds a 70-60 (.538) all-time record (three games were canceled). Since 2004, the league has captured the Bowl Challenge Cup five times and owns the third-best winning percentage in bowl games among the FBS conferences with a 63-52 mark (.548) mark. In that same 21-year span, the MW has the most wins (63) of any Group of 5 conference. … The MW is .500 or better against all but one active FBS conference in bowl play (MAC, 9-13/.409). … The Conference is a combined 9-3 against the ACC (4-0), Big 12 (2-2), Big Ten (1-1) and SEC (2-0) in bowl games.

HOME-RUN HIRES
All four of the MW’s new head coaches this season – Fresno State’s Matt Entz, New Mexico’s Jason Eck, UNLV’s Dan Mullen and Utah State’s Bronco Mendenhall – led their teams to bowl berths in their first season at the helm. That’s the most first-year head coaches to lead a team to a bowl game of any conference this season, the most in a season in MW history, and tied for second-most by an FBS conference since 1997, behind only the SEC, who saw five coaches do so in 2020.

FAMILIAR FACES
Two of the MW’s 2025 bowl opponents were postseason foes last season, as well. In the Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl, Hawai‘i will host California, which fell to UNLV in the LA Bowl last season. Miami (Ohio) will be the MW’s opponent in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop for the second straight season, as Fresno State will face a RedHawks squad that downed Colorado State in 2024.

BOWL STREAKS
Boise State is bowl eligible for the 28th consecutive season, the second-longest active streak in the FBS, behind Georgia. … Fresno State is in a bowl for the fifth straight season. … Hawai‘i received a bowl bid for the first time since 2021. … New Mexico is bowl-bound for the first time since 2016. … San Diego State is in a bowl for the 13th time in 16 seasons. … UNLV will play in a bowl for the third straight season. … Utah State earned its fourth bowl bid in the last five seasons.

MW AGAINST THE A4
MW teams went 3-1 against A4 opponents at home this season. Hawai‘i earned the MW’s first A4 win of the 2025 season with its 23-20 win over Stanford in Week 0. UNLV made it 2-0 with a 30-23 win over UCLA in Week 2. San Diego State picked up a third MW home win over an A4 when it throttled California 34-0 in Week 4. … MW teams have played 16 autonomous conference opponents in 2025, including three of the four CFP semifinalists from last season (Nevada at Penn State, San José State at Texas, and Boise State at Notre Dame). … Three more A4 opponents are on the schedule during bowl season (Boise State vs. Washington, Cal at Hawai‘i and New Mexico vs. Minnesota).

HAWAI‘I VS. THE ACC
Hawai‘i has a chance to bookend its season with home wins over ACC opponents. The Rainbow Warriors earned a 23-20 walk-off win over Stanford in Week 0, with the legend of Kansei Matsuzawa taking off with his game-winning 38-yard field goal as time expired to hand UH its first win over an ACC team in program history. Now, Hawai‘i can make it 2-0 against the ACC this season with a win over California in the Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl on Dec. 24.

NEW MEXICO VS. THE BIG TEN
Similarly, New Mexico downed UCLA 35-10 at the Rose Bowl in Week 3 for its first win in program history against a Big Ten opponent. The Lobos, who fell at then-No. 14 Michigan in their season-opener, could make it 2-1 against the league this season when they take on Minnesota in the Rate Bowl on Dec. 26.

TOUGH SCHEDULES
Boise State faced eight bowl teams during the regular season (plus Notre Dame, which opted out of playing in a bowl), while Utah State squared off against seven, San Diego State and UNLV faced six apiece, and Fresno State, Hawai‘i and New Mexico faced five each.

TOP-TIER COACHES
With Boise State’s 38-21 win over UNLV in the 2025 MW Football Championship, the Broncos’ Spencer Danielson joins Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma, 2017-19) as the only FBS coaches to win conference championships in each of their first three years in the top job. … San Diego State’s Sean Lewis was among 20 semifinalists for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award … Hawai‘i’s Timmy Chang is the AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year.

BOISE STATE CONSISTENCY
Boise State has recorded at least eight wins in 24 different seasons since 2000. That is tied for the most by any FBS team during that time frame with Georgia and Oklahoma.

UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS
At 10-3 overall, UNLV has reached 10 wins for the fourth time in program history and in consecutive seasons for the first time.

MORE ON THE 10-WIN CLUB
UNLV’s 10-3 mark ensures that the MW has at least one 10-win team for the 24th time in 26 seasons (does not include the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign). … Boise State, New Mexico and San Diego State are all currently at nine wins, meaning the Conference has a chance at four 10-win teams for just the fourth time in league history and first since 2021.

DUAL-THREAT QBS
UNLV’s Anthony Colandrea has a passing touchdown and at least 15 rushing yards in all 13 games this season, most in the FBS. That is the most such games by any MW player in a single campaign, two more than the Wyoming’s Brett Smith posted in 2011. … Colandrea is one of just three FBS players with 3,000 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, eight rushing touchdowns and a 66.0% completion percentage (Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia and USF’s Byrum Brown). The only MW players to finish a season with such marks are Fresno State’s Marcus McMaryion (2018) and Boise State’s Grant Hedrick (2014). … Another dual-threat quarterback putting up historic numbers is Utah State’s Bryson Barnes, whose nine rushing touchdowns this season are an Aggie record for a quarterback. … Barnes has scored in a trio of ways this season, throwing for 18 touchdowns, rushing for nine and catching one. He is one of 10 FBS quarterbacks to have TDs in all three categories, and he is the only one with at least 18 passing and nine rushing scores.

INTERCEPTIONS GALORE
Since the beginning of 2022, Fresno State (63) is second in the FBS in interceptions and UNLV (62) is third, trailing only Notre Dame (66). … The MW has three different players with multiple pick-sixes this season (Boise State’s A’Marion McCoy, San Diego State’s Chris Johnson and UNLV’s Aamaris Brown), while all other FBS conferences have combined for seven such players. The only other season the MW had at least three players with two or more interception returns for touchdowns was 2017 (also three).

JET’S EFFICIENCY
UNLV running back Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas leads the FBS with four games this season in which he has recorded at least 100 yards rushing on fewer than 15 carries. Not surprisingly, Thomas leads the FBS with 7.19 yards per carry (min. 10 rushes per game and must play in 75 percent of team games). He needs just 15 more rushing yards to reach 1,000 on the season.

AZTECS’ STIFLING DEFENSE
San Diego State is fifth in the FBS in scoring defense at 12.6 points allowed per game and is seventh nationally in total defense with 266.7 yards allowed per game. … The Aztecs are the only FBS squad with a trio of shutouts this season. This marks the first time in SDSU’s Division I history (since 1969) with three shutouts in a single season. … San Diego State has held seven different opponents to seven or fewer points this season, most in the FBS (no one else even at six such games). … San Diego State allowed a MW-record 6.8 points per game at home this season, besting TCU’s home slate in 2008 (8.7).

KICKERS ON DISPLAY
Two of the best kickers in the FBS reside in the Mountain West and will be playing in the postseason. San Diego State senior Gabe Plascencia is the FBS’s career leader in field-goal percentage (minimum 1.2 field goals per game played and 30 made) at 90 percent (36-for-40). … Hawai‘i’s Kansei Matsuzawa, one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Place-Kicker of the Year Award, leads the FBS this season with 25 made field goals and a 96.2 field-goal percentage. He hit his first 25 of the season before missing his last one of the regular season. His 25 makes this year are a Rainbow Warrior program record and tied for third-most in a season in MW history.

JOHNNY ON THE SPOT
With an FBS-best four fumble recoveries this season, Fresno State’s Jahzon Jacks is just one back of matching the MW’s single-season record, set in 2000 and last achieved in 2021.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Since the start of the 2024 season, UNLV leads the FBS with 11 road wins, ahead of BYU and Oregon, who have 10 each. … The Rebels have also won six straight road games against non-MW teams, the longest such win streak by any Mountain West team in conference history.

CONSISTENT WINNERS
Also since the start of the 2024 season, Boise State and UNLV are tied for eighth in the FBS with 21 wins in that span. The only teams ahead of UNLV and BSU are autonomous programs, with defending national champion Ohio State leading the way with 26.

ALL-MW HONORS
All six people who earned Mountain West individual accolades are in the postseason, as UNLV quarterback Anthony Colandrea (MW Offensive Player of the Year), New Mexico linebacker Jaxton Eck (Co-Defensive Player of the Year), San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson (Co-Defensive Player of the Year), Hawai‘i placekicker Kansei Matsuzawa, Hawai‘i quarterback Micah Alejado (Freshman of the Year) and New Mexico coach Jason Eck (Coach of the Year) are going bowling. Including Boise State, Fresno State and Utah State, the MW’s seven bowl-bound teams combined for 43 of the 57 all-conference selections this season. … For more information on the All-MW teams, see Page 4 of these notes.

NATIONAL POTY RUN
Hawai‘i’s Kansei Matsuzawa is one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Place-Kicker of the Year Award. He is seeking to become the Mountain West’s fifth player to earn a national player of the year award in the last five seasons. … 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).