Around The Mountain: It’s Time to Play Ball

* Mountain West Conference press release contributed to this report

LARAMIE -- Wyoming won't play this weekend.

Three Mountain West teams -- Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico -- will.

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Timmy Chang and the Rainbow Warriors will host Delaware State on the islands. The Hornets will travel nearly 5,000 miles for this Zero-Week matchup. That's a more than 10 hours in an airplane ... one way.

Jeff Choate will make his coaching debut in Reno on Saturday against SMU and Bronco Mendenhall makes his return to the conference in a home meeting with Montana State. Both home teams are heavy underdogs.

Here are some other notes from around the MW:

• The FBS season starts with the Mountain West, as three of the four Week Zero games on Saturday, Aug. 24, feature MW teams. All three MW squads are at home, with Nevada hosting new ACC member SMU, which is receiving votes in both the AFCA and Associated Press preseason polls. Also in Week Zero, New Mexico and Hawai‘i welcome Montana State and Delaware State, respectively. The season’s full composite schedule can be found on page 13 of these notes.

• The Mountain West has the strongest nonconference schedule in the FBS. MW teams have 35 nonconference games scheduled this season against Autonomous 4 opponents (including Oregon State and Washington State), the most of any FBS league, with the next-closest totaling 23. The MW has four (4) games against the ACC, eight (8) against the Big 12, six (6) against the Big Ten and two (2) against the SEC in addition to 15 contests against Oregon State and Washington State, most of which are part of a scheduling agreement that will see all 12 MW schools face either the Beavers or Cougars. Fifteen of the MW’s games against Autonomous 4 opponents this season will be played at home.

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• It's a new era for the College Football Playoff in 2024, as the five highest-ranked FBS conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked at-large teams will earn spots in the 12-team postseason playoff. With unprecedented access to the CFP, the Mountain West will be well-positioned to earn a shot at competing for a national title.

• Three Mountain West programs are receiving votes in the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll, including Boise State (30 points), UNLV (5) and Air Force (1). Boise State (47) is also receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25.

• Mountain West squads have a total of 12 nonconference games scheduled against teams ranked or receiving votes in the preseason AFCA and/or AP top-25 polls, including four at home. Of those 12 contests, seven are against preseason ranked squads, with three inside the top 10. MW teams will take on three ranked teams in Week One, with Colorado State visiting No. 4/4 Texas, Fresno State at defending national champion and No. 8/9 Michigan, and New Mexico at No. 21/21 Arizona on Saturday, Aug. 31. Nevada also visits Troy, which is receiving votes in both polls, that day. The following week sees Boise State visit No. 3/3 Oregon and Utah State head West to No. 23/23 USC.

MW vs. Ranked/Receiving Votes Teams (AFCA/AP)

• Aug. 24: RV/RV SMU at Nevada
• Aug. 31: Colorado State at 4/4 Texas
• Aug. 31: Fresno State at 8/9 Michigan
• Aug. 31: New Mexico at 21/21 Arizona
• Aug. 31: Nevada at RV/RV Troy
• Sept. 7: Boise State at 3/3 Oregon
• Sept. 7: Utah State at 23/23 USC
• Sept. 13: UNLV vs. 24/22 Kansas (in Kansas City, Kan.)
• Sept. 14: 13/12 Utah at Utah State
• Sept. 14: New Mexico at RV/RV Auburn
• Sept. 14: RV/RV Colorado at Colorado State
• Oct. 4: RV/-- Syracuse at UNLV

• Over the last three seasons, the MW has the best winning percentage over top-25 teams (21.4) among its peer conferences. MW teams have beaten nine ranked squads in that span.

• Boise State is the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West in 2024, marking the 17th 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 38 of 46 first-place votes to top the preseason poll with 543 points.

• Eight of the 12 MW programs are under new leadership this season. Boise State's Spencer Danielson enters his first full season for the Broncos after serving as their interim coach for the final four games of the season, while Fresno State's Tim Skipper, who served as acting coach for the Bulldogs in their win in the Isleta New Mexico Bowl last season, will serve as Fresno State's interim coach this season after former coach Jeff Tedford stepped down in July. Jeff Choate (Nevada), Bronco Mendenhall (New Mexico), Sean Lewis (San Diego State), Ken Niumatalolo (San José State), Nate Dreiling (Utah State, interim) and Jay Sawvel (Wyoming) enter their first seasons at the helms of their respective programs. Mendenhall, the 2006 MW Coach of the Year, was the head coach at BYU from 2005-10, while Sawvel served on former Pokes coach Craig Bohl's staff since 2020 as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Niumatalolo, who was a three-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year during a successful 15-year run at Navy, served as an assistant coach in the MW at UNLV from 1999-2001 and played (1987-89) and coached (1990-94) at Hawai‘i before the Rainbow Warriors joined the league.

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• Nine MW players have earned preseason All-America honors from at least one publication entering this season, while two more have earned honorable mention. Boise State's Ashton Jeanty (running back), Jonah Dalmas (placekicker) and James Ferguson-Reynolds (punter) and UNLV wide receiver Ricky White III all earned first-team distinction from at least one organization, with Jeanty, the MW Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, collecting the honor from The Athletic, College Football Network and College Football News.

• Of the 16 preseason watch lists announced for awards sanctioned by the National College Football Awards Association, the MW is inside the top five for most selections for 10 of them, trailing only the Autonomous 4 conferences in those instances.

• The MW is tied for the second-most players on Paycom Jim Thorpe Award, which honors the nation's top defensive back. The MW's five on the watch list – Boise State’s A’Marion McCoy and Seyi Oladipo, Colorado State’s Jack Howell, UNLV’s Cameron Oliver and Utah State’s Ike Larsen – trails only the Big Ten's seven. Air Force safety Trey Taylor won the award last season.

• The Mountain West has had three players to earn a national player of the year award a three-season span. Taylor won the 2023 Paycom Jim Thorpe Award, finishing the season with 74 tackles (40 solo), half a sack and three interceptions, including one for a touchdown. He anchored a Falcon defense that ranked sixth in the FBS in total defense (277.7) and rushing defense (90.8), 12th in scoring defense (18.2) and 20th in passing defense (186.8). Taylor joins a group of recent national players of the year that includes Colorado State's Trey McBride, who won the 2021 John Mackey Award (best tight end) and San Diego State's Matt Araiza, who won the 2021 Ray Guy Trophy (top punter).

• Taylor was one of two MW players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. Colorado State defensive lineman Mohamed Kamara was selected in the fifth round with the 158th overall pick by the Miami Dolphins. In the seventh round, Taylor was taken by the Las Vegas Raiders with 223rd overall pick.

• This summer, Taylor was named the 2023-24 Mountain West Male Athlete of the Year. He is the seventh football player in Conference history to win the award, which originated in 2009-10. Taylor was the second straight Air Force winner and the first Falcon from the football program to claim the honor.

• The Mountain West picked up four wins over Autonomous 5 programs last season, tied for the most among its peer conferences. Over the last three seasons, the MW has collected 14 wins over such programs, more than any of its peer conferences. The American Athletic Conference is second with 12.

• Six of the 12 Mountain West programs received votes in either the Associated Press or AFCA polls last season. Two were nationally ranked, with Air Force reaching as high as No. 17 and Fresno State topping out at No. 24. Five squads – Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State, UNLV and Wyoming – received votes in the final AFCA poll.

• Boise State's Ashton Jeanty finished the 2023 season ranked second in the FBS with 159.67 all-purpose yards per game. He finished third in total all-purpose yards with 1,916 despite missing two games.

• UNLV's Jacob De Jesus led all of college football with 1,079 total return yards last season. He ranked 13th in the FBS in kickoff returns with an average of 25.7 per return and fell one punt return shy of the qualifying standard in that category, but his average of 16.1 yards per return would have ranked third nationally. De Jesus was one of three finalists for the 2023 Jet Award, which honors the nation's top kick returner, and is one of 16 players on the preseason watch list for the award entering this season.

• Boise State punter James Ferguson-Reynolds paced the FBS with an average of 49.7 yards per punt last season. His average was a school record for a season and was the sixth-best season average in FBS history.

• Boise State senior placekicker Jonah Dalmas enters this season with 80 career made field goals, which puts him three shy of the MW record, held by former Nevada kicker Brandon Talton (2019-23).

• Last season, UNLV head coach Barry Odom was one of 12 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, one of 14 semifinalists for the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award, one of 15 finalists for the College Football News Coach of the Year Award and one of three finalists for the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach of the Year Award. Odom, in his first year with the program, led the Rebels to a 9-5 overall record, a 6-2 MW mark to claim UNLV's first MW regular-season title and a spot in the MW Championship for the first time in program history, and their first bowl appearance in a decade.

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