Boise State Picked to Win 2025 Mountain West Football Title

LAS VEGAS – Boise State has been selected as the preseason favorite to claim the 2025 Mountain West football regular-season title, as selected by a media panel and announced by the Conference at its annual Old Trapper Mountain West Football Media Days, being held at Circa Casino & Resort.

The Broncos, who claimed the 2024 regular-season MW title and won last year’s Old Trapper Mountain West Football Championship game, earned 35 of 39 first-place votes and 464 total points to lead the preseason poll for the 15th straight season. Boise State, which finished last season ranked inside the top 10 in the College Football Playoff, Associated Press and US LBM Coaches polls, earned the No. 3 seed in the inaugural 12-team CFP field. Led by 2024 MW Coach of the Year Spencer Danielson, the Broncos went 12-2 overall and 7-0 in MW play last season, earning a bye into the CFP quarterfinals and taking on Penn State in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.

For the second straight year, UNLV is second in the preseason poll, picking up the four remaining first-place votes and 415 points total. The Rebels, who faced Boise State in the Old Trapper Mountain West Football Championship Game for the second straight season in 2024, are now under the direction of head coach Dan Mullen. UNLV went 11-3 overall (6-1 MW) and finished last season ranked in the top 25 in the CFP, Associated Press and US LBM Coaches polls. The Rebels downed California in the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk.

San José State sits third in the preseason poll with 359 points, followed by Colorado State in fourth with 326 points. Fresno State is fifth with 301 points, Air Force is sixth with 280, Hawai‘i is seventh at 213 and San Diego State is eighth with 202 points. Utah State (165 points), Wyoming (150), New Mexico (84) and Nevada (83) round out the poll.

In addition to UNLV, three other MW programs are under new leadership this season. Fresno State welcomes Matt Entz, who won a pair of FCS championships during a five-year stint as the head coach at North Dakota State. New Mexico is now under the direction of Jason Eck, who led Idaho to FCS national rankings and playoff berths in each of his three seasons at the helm for the Vandals. New Utah State head coach Bronco Mendenhall is in his third stop as a head coach at a MW institution, as he spent 2023 at the helm for New Mexico and paced BYU in the league from 2005-10.

The two MW programs with the best Conference records this season will face each other in the 2025 Mountain West Football Championship, which will kick off Friday, Dec. 5, at the site of the Conference team with the best winning percentage in MW play. The contest will be nationally televised on FOX for the sixth consecutive year.