The 2019 Mountain West Conference football season, part of that year's NCAA Division I FBS football season, is the 21st season of College Football for the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 2012. 12 teams have competed in the MW-football conference. The season began on August 24, 2019, and will end on November 30. The entire schedule was released on February 4, 2019.
Preseason
Mountain West Media The Mountain West Media Days took place on July 23 and 24 at the Cosmopolitan.
Preseason Polls
Place Mountain Division West Division 1 Boise State (15) 120 Fresno State (17) 122 2 Utah State (6) 108 San Diego State (3) 106 3 Air Force 73 Nevada 74 4 Wyoming 66 Hawai'i (1) 67 5 Colorado State 52 UNLV 51 6 New Mexico 22 San Jose State 22 First place votes in parentheses
Preseason All–Mountain West team
+ Offense Position Player Class Team QB Jordan Love** Jr. Utah State WR John Hightower Sr. Boise State WR Cedric Byrd II Sr. Hawai'i RB Juwan Washington Sr. San Diego State RB Toa Taua So. Nevada OL Ezra Cleveland* Jr. Boise State OL John Molchon* Sr. Boise State OL Jake Nelson Sr. Nevada OL Keith Ismael Jr. San Diego State OL Justin Polu Sr. UNLV TE Jared Rice** Sr. Fresno State
+ Defense Position Player Class Team DL Jordan Jackson** Jr. Air Force DL David Moa* Sr. Boise State DL Curtis Weaver Jr. Boise State DL Tipa Galeai Sr. Utah State LB Mykal Walker Sr. Fresno State LB Kyahva Tezino* Sr. San Diego State LB David Woodward** Jr. Utah State DB Jeremy Fejedelem Sr. Air Force DB JuJu Hughes** Sr. Fresno State DB Tariq Thompson** Jr. San Diego State DB DJ Williams So. Utah State + Specialists Position Player Class Team P Ryan Stonehouse* Jr. Colorado State PK Cooper Rothe* Sr. Wyoming KR/PR Savon Scarver* Jr. Utah State
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Jordan Love, Jr., QB, Utah State Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Curtis Weaver, Jr., DL, Boise State Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year: Cooper Rothe, Sr., PK, Wyoming
(* – member of the 2018 All–Mountain West first team)
(** – member of the 2018 All–Mountain West second team)
Rankings
Listed are the Mountain West teams who were ranked or received votes at some point during the season. Colorado State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, and UNLV were never ranked nor received any votes.
+ Legend Improvement in ranking Drop in ranking Not ranked previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 FinalAir Force Falcons AP RV RV RV 25 24 22C RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 24 23 CFP Not released Boise State Broncos AP RV 24 22 20 16 16 14 14 22 21 21 19 20 20 19 18 23C RV 24 22 20 15 15 14 13 21 21 21 19 19 19 17 18 22 CFP Not released 22 21 20 20 19 19 Fresno State Bulldogs AP RV C RV RV CFP Not released Hawaii Rainbow Warriors AP C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released San Diego State Aztecs AP RV RV 25 24 RV RV RVC RV RV RV RV 24 RV 25 RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Utah State Aggies AP RV C RV RV RV RV CFP Not released Wyoming Cowboys AP C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV CFP Not released
Coaches
Coaching changes There was only one coaching change in the Mountain West Conference for the 2019 season.
Gary Andersen, who previously coached at Utah State, returned to Logan to replace Matt Wells, who left to coach at Texas Tech.
Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school MW record Air Force Troy Calhoun 13 87–67 87–67 52–44 Boise State Bryan Harsin 6 57–20 49–13 32–8 Colorado State Mike Bobo 5 24–27 24–27 17–15 Fresno State Jeff Tedford 3 104–63 17–5 14–2 Hawaii Nick Rolovich 4 18–22 18–22 10–15 Nevada Jay Norvell 3 8–14 8–14 8–8 New Mexico Bob Davie 8 68–79 33–54 17–39 San Diego State Rocky Long 9 136–105 71–37 46–17 San Jose State Brent Brennan 3 3–22 3–22 2–15 UNLV Tony Sanchez 5 16–32 16–32 11–21 Utah State Gary Andersen 5 57–61 31–25 35–23 Wyoming Craig Bohl 6 132–67 28–34 19–21
Schedule The Regular season will begin on August 24 and will end on November 30.
Regular season Index to colors and formattingMountain West member wonMountain West member lostMountain West teams in bold
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Week Five
Week Six
Week Seven
Week Eight
Week Nine
Week Ten
Week Eleven
Week Twelve
Week Thirteen
Week Fourteen
Championship Game
Week Fifteen (Mountain West Championship game)
The 2019 Mountain West Conference Championship Game was held on December 7 between the champions of the Mountain Division and the West Division.
Postseason
Bowl games Legend Mountain West win Mountain West loss
Bowl gameDateSiteTelevisionTime (MST)Mountain West teamOpponentScoreAttendance Frisco Bowl December 20 Toyota Stadium • Frisco, TX ESPN2 5:30 p.m. Utah State Kent State 41–51 12,120 New Mexico Bowl December 21 Dreamstyle Stadium • Albuquerque, NM ESPN 11:00 a.m. San Diego State Central Michigan 48–11 18,823 Las Vegas Bowl December 21 Sam Boyd Stadium • Whitney, NV ABC 5:30 p.m. No. 19 Boise State Washington 7–38 34,197 Hawaii Bowl December 24 Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI ESPN 6:00 p.m. Hawaii BYU 38–34 21,582 Cheez-It Bowl December 27 Chase Field • Phoenix, AZ ESPN 8:15 p.m. Air Force Washington State 31–21 34,105 Arizona Bowl December 31 Arizona Stadium • Tucson, AZ CBSSN 2:30 p.m. Wyoming Georgia State 38–17 36,892 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl January 3, 2020 Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID ESPN 1:30 p.m. Nevada Ohio 30-21 13,611
Rankings are from CFP rankings. All times Mountain Time Zone. Mountain West teams shown in bold.
Selection of teams Bowl eligible: Air Force, Boise State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State, Wyoming Bowl-ineligible: Colorado State, Fresno State, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV
Mountain West records vs Other Conferences 2019–2020 records against non-conference foes:
Regular season
Power 5 ConferencesRecordACC1–1Big Ten1–2Big 120–0Pac-124–4BYU/Notre Dame1–3SEC3–2Power 5 Total10–12Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican0–3C-USA2–1Independents (Excluding BYU and Notre Dame)6–1MAC0–1Sun Belt1–1Other FBS Total9–7FCS OpponentsRecordFootball Championship Subdivision12–0Total Non-Conference Record31–19
Post Season
Power Conferences 5RecordACC0–0Big Ten0–0Big 120–0Pac-121–1BYU/Notre Dame1–0SEC0–0Power 5 Total2–1Other FBS ConferencesRecordAmerican0–0C–USA0–0Independents (Excluding Notre Dame)0–0MAC1–2Sun Belt1–0Other FBS Total2–2Total Bowl Record4–3
Mountain West vs Power Five matchups
This is a list of games the Mountain West has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, BYU/Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score August 24 Pac-12 Arizona HawaiiAloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI W 45–38 August 30 ACC Utah State Wake ForestBB&T Field • Winston-Salem, NC L 35–38 August 30 Big Ten Purdue NevadaMackay Stadium • Reno, NV W 34–31 August 30 Pac-12 Colorado State ColoradoSports Authority Field • Denver, COL 31–52 August 31 ACC Boise State Florida StateDoak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL W 36–31 August 31 SEC Missouri WyomingWar Memorial Stadium • Laramie, WY W 37–31 August 31 Pac-12 Fresno State USCLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA L 23–31 September 7 Pac-12 Oregon State HawaiiAloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI W 31–28 September 7 Pac-12 San Diego State UCLARose Bowl • Pasadena, CA W 23–14 September 7 Pac-12 Nevada OregonAutzen Stadium • Eugene, OR L 6–77 September 7 Big Ten Minnesota Fresno StateBulldog Stadium • Fresno, CA L 35–38 (2OT) September 14 Pac-12 Air Force ColoradoFolsom Field • Boulder, CO W 30–23 (OT) September 14 Independent New Mexico Notre DameNotre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, IN L 14–66 September 14 Big Ten UNLV NorthwesternRyan Field • Evanston, IL L 14–30 September 14 SEC Colorado State ArkansasDonald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR L 34–55 September 14 Pac-12 Hawaii WashingtonHusky Stadium • Seattle, WA L 20–52 September 21 SEC San Jose State ArkansasDonald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR W 31–24 October 5 SEC Utah State No. 5 LSUTiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, LA L 6–42 October 12 SEC UNLV VanderbiltVanderbilt Stadium • Nashville, TN W 34–10 October 19 Independent Boise State BYULaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT L 25–28 November 2 Independent BYU Utah StateRomney Stadium • Logan, UT L 14–42 November 30 Independent BYU San Diego StateSDCCU Stadium • San Diego, CA W 13–3
Mountain West vs Group of Five matchups The following games include Mountain West teams competing against teams from the American, C-USA, MAC or Sun Belt.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 6 C–USA Marshall Boise StateAlbertsons Stadium • Boise, ID W 14–7 September 7 Sun Belt Wyoming Texas StateBobcat Stadium • San Marcos, TX W 23–14 September 7 American Tulsa San Jose StateCEFCU Stadium • San Jose, CA L 16–34 September 7 Sun Belt Arkansas State UNLVSam Boyd Stadium • Whitney, NV L 17–43 September 21 MAC Toledo Colorado StateCanvas Stadium • Fort Collins, CO L 35–41 September 21 American Wyoming TulsaSkelly Field at H. A. Chapman Stadium • Tulsa, OK L 21–24 September 21 C–USA Nevada UTEPSun Bowl • El Paso, TX W 37–21 October 5 American Air Force NavyNavy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD L 25–34
Mountain West vs FBS independents matchups The following games include Mountain West teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, or UMass.
Date Conference Visitor Home Site Score September 14 Independents San Diego State New Mexico StateAggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, NM W 31–10 September 21 Independents New Mexico State New MexicoDreamstyle Stadium • Albuquerque, NM W 55–52 September 28 Independents New Mexico LibertyWilliams Stadium • Lynchburg, VA L 10–17 September 28 Independents Fresno State New Mexico StateAggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, NM W 30–17 October 26 Independents San Jose State ArmyMichie Stadium • West Point, NY W 34–29 November 2 Independents Army Air ForceFalcon Stadium • Colorado Springs, CO W 17–13 November 30 Independents Army HawaiiAloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI W 52-31
Mountain West vs FCS matchups
Date Visitor Home Site Score August 29 Northern Colorado San Jose StateCEFCU Stadium • San Jose, CA W 35–18 August 31 Colgate Air ForceFalcon Stadium • Colorado Springs, CO W 48–7 August 31 Sam Houston State New MexicoDreamstyle Stadium • Albuquerque, NM W 39–31 August 31 Weber State San Diego StateSDCCU Stadium • San Diego, CA W 6–0 August 31 Southern Utah UNLVSam Boyd Stadium • Whitney, NV W 56–23 September 7 Western Illinois Colorado StateCanvas Stadium • Fort Collins, CO W 38–13 September 7 Stony Brook Utah StateMaverik Stadium • Logan, UT W 62-7 September 14 Idaho WyomingWar Memorial Stadium • Laramie, WY W 21–16 September 14 Weber State NevadaMackay Stadium • Reno, NV W 19–13 September 14 Portland State Boise StateAlbertsons Stadium • Boise, ID W 45–10 September 21 Sacramento State Fresno StateBulldog Stadium • Fresno, CA W 34–20 September 21 Central Arkansas HawaiiAloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI W 35–16
Awards and honors
Player of the week honors