Week 5 Mountain West Watch – No more winless teams, Boise State & UNLV tighten grip on top of conference | Sports



A lot of the Mountain West took the week off but it still managed to be an incredibly exciting week with marquee matchups and superstar level performances. UNLV and Boise State flexed their respective muscles in their own respective ways to show that they’re the top dogs of the conference, seemingly destined to make the Oct. 25 matchup between them simply round one of the Mountain West championship game.

Also, five weeks into the season and the conference no longer has any winless team.

Looking at the standings, there’s a few more teams joining the group that have played a Mountain West game this year and one new face in the AP Poll.

Week 5 Mountain West Standings / AP Poll Rankings

Rk Team Record MW Record AP Poll Composite Avg Rk (1-134)
1 UNLV 4-0 1-0 25th 31.0
2 San Jose State 3-1 1-0 77.7
3 Wyoming 1-4 1-0 118.3
4 Fresno State 3-2 1-1 75.2
5 Boise State 3-1 0-0 21st 25.3
6 Colorado State 2-2 0-0 107.5
7 Hawai’i 2-2 0-0 105.5
8 Nevada 2-3 0-0 99.7
9 San Diego State 1-3 0-0 110.2
10 Utah State 1-3 0-0 122.7
11 New Mexico 1-4 0-1 121.0
12 Air Force 1-3 0-2 115.3

Seeing Wyoming technically tied for first in the Mountain West standings is a little funny, but having UNLV finally punch through into the AP Top 25 poll is pretty nice for the conference. It could truly signal a new era for the Rebels in football with this year being the true start. National rankings certainly seemed to take notice as the Rebels jumped from an average rank of 40 last week all the way to 31.

Walker’s MW Power Rankings

1. UNLV

  • Last Week: 1st
  • Week 4 game: 59-14 Win vs Fresno State

More on this later, but UNLV is sitting pretty right now even after a whirlwind of news and controversy last week. The Rebels probably aren’t what one might call a consensus top team in the conference, but they’ve certainly earned the right to be at the top of anyone’s rankings. A quick glance at ESPN’s playoff predictions shows 10 (out of 13) writers projecting the Rebels as the G5 representative.

2. Boise State

  • Last Week: 2nd
  • Week 4 game: 45-24 Win vs Washington State

The Broncos let the Cougars stay in the game for a while, but a dominant fourth quarter featuring some stellar play from Ashton Jeanty kept BSU moving onward and upward. That loss to Oregon really seems to hurt more and more as it could present a huge missed opportunity. But even if that chance to be a top 15 team right now isn’t helping Boise State’s playoff chances, it hasn’t sunk them either. Plenty of people are still projecting the Broncos as one of the top potential G5 candidates for the playoffs (just not the top candidate as implied above).

3. San Jose State

  • Last Week: 4th
  • Week 4 Game: Bye

With Fresno State losing big to UNLV and SJSU having lost to the Washington State team that just got drubbed by 21 points by Boise State, it’s pretty clear there’s now a new tier with the third and fourth teams with the Spartans and Bulldogs occupying those spots. Debate who you think belongs in which spot, but it probably won’t get settled until the two teams meet late in October.

4. Fresno State

  • Last Week: 3rd
  • Week 4 Game: 14-59 Loss @ UNLV

The Bulldogs had the chance to play spoiler to UNLV’s golden season but absolutely fell flat on their faces. For now, Fresno State still seems to be a step above everyone aside from the consensus top two and probably SJSU, but losing that bad to UNLV opens up the conversation as to whether FSU were pretenders and aren’t really in the same category as the rest of the struggling Mountain West. And with a bye upcoming for the Bulldogs, we’ll have to wait for them to prove otherwise.

5. Colorado State

  • Last Week: 6th
  • Week 4 Game: Bye

No game and not much of a change aside from a free move up after Air Force dropped down. The last two teams to inherit the fifth spot my rankings both stunk it up the next week so pray for the Rams as they travel to face Oregon State.

6. Hawai’i

  • Last Week: 7th
  • Week 4 Game: Bye

The Warriors will have a chance to solidify themselves as at least a mid-tier MW team this week when taking on San Diego State. Hawai’i is right on the edge of being either a decent team or falling into the mud that’s been the bottom half of the conference. With enough luck and execution, the Warriors can stick to the top half and push for a bowl game.

7. Nevada

  • Last Week: 10th
  • Week 4 Game: Bye

I kind of just changed my mind on Nevada in deciding to move them up, though the poor performance of teams like SDSU and USU helped in the move up. The fact Nevada at least has a win over an FBS team, unlike nearly every team below them, is a notable factor. But reaching seventh in these rankings is a pretty low bar to clear (which is sad from a lot of different perspectives).

8. San Diego State

  • Last Week: 8th
  • Week 4 Game: 21-22 Loss @ Central Michigan

The Aztecs lost a heart-breaker on a last-second field goal as offensive woes continue under the offensive-minded new head coach. SDSU is averaging 10.3 points per game against FBS opponents, but have improved each of the last three weeks for what it’s worth (0 vs Oregon State, 10 at Cal and 21 at Central Michigan). The good news is the defense is fairly solid, with the 31 points allowed against Cal being a minor exception to that. But the Aztecs have to score points to actually take advantage of that decent defense.

9. Utah State

  • Last Week: 9th
  • Week 4 Game: Bye

The Aggies have a lot to work on and just had a bye to take some time to do that work, but they also have a brutal schedule to deal with as they have to face Boise State and UNLV in back-to-back weeks. It may not be a fun two weeks for USU and its fans.

10. New Mexico

  • Last Week: 11th
  • Week 4 Game: 50-40 Win vs New Mexico State

The Lobos will likely find ways to put up lots of points in these kind of low-ranking team vs low-ranking team matchups the rest of the season. They could make for some pretty exciting games, but UNM’s inability to play defense will likely hinder its ability to win consistently. But, for now, the Lobos have left the ranks of the winless.

11. Wyoming

  • Last Week: 12th
  • Week 4 Game: 31-19 Win vs Air Force

Wyoming finally lands its first win of the season and it was obviously its most complete performance on both sides of the ball. For that, the Cowboys move out of last place in my rankings. How long that lasts only time can tell.

12. Air Force

  • Last Week: 5th
  • Week 4 Game: 19-31 Loss @ Wyoming

Maybe dropping the Falcons from fifth to last is a bit harsh, but it’s probably more of me reflecting on yet again making the mistake of assuming teams hadn’t already shown me who they were in previous weeks. A meager 21-6 win over an FCS team and then 10 combined points against SJSU and Baylor

Biggest Risers 

Hajj-Malik Williams (and UNLV)

The Rebels could have hardly made a bigger statement to the Mountain West or college football with not just a win over Fresno State, but an absolute beatdown. And it obviously wasn’t just that. All eyes were on UNLV after Matthew Sluka’s departure and especially new starting QB Hajj-Malik Williams, and boy did both deliver. Williams had a far better day than any of Sluka’s performances through three games by completing 13 of 16 passes for 182 yards, three touchdowns (no interceptions) with 119 rushing yards and a fourth overall TD.

It’s probably safe to say that UNLV’s conference title and College Football Playoff hopes have not even skipped a beat post-Sluka.

Still somehow Ashton Jeanty

Jeanty may not be able to statistically top his Week 1 performance where he ran for six touchdowns, but he’s still been able to wow the nation with his prowess. And while he never really dipped, a bye week for the Broncos plus a blowout against an FCS team that limited him to just 11 carries (but still 127 yards) meant it’d been a minute since Jeanty had been able to truly let loose. Washington State were the unfortunate recipients of his return to top-end production.

On a season-high 26 carries, Jeanty made the Cougars look silly, almost like graduate assistants just hitting him with pads in a drill as he bounced between them and then went off to the races. The end results was Jeanty having his second 250-plus yard game of the year through a mere four games. And, fun fact, excluding his shortened stint against Portland State, Jeanty has run for at least 190 yards and scored at least three touchdowns every game this season. Do some extrapolation and assuming Boise State is able to make the conference title game, he’s still within spitting distance of a 3,000-yard season while also being on pace for an even more absurd 45 touchdowns. And as unfortunate as it may sound, Jeanty may have to do just that if he’s going to convince P4 elitist media that he’s worth giving the Heisman to.

Biggest Fallers

Air Force

One could probably have held out hope that Air Force could chalk up its lackluster start to an adjustment to losing most of its production from last year on both sides of the ball. But after losing to Wyoming in a game that solidified AFA’s inability to score and showcased a poor defense that allowed the Cowboys to move the ball for the first time all year and it’s pretty clear this will be a down year for the Falcons. The good news is that there’s every reason to expect Troy Calhoun to be able to drag them out of it eventually. He’s had down years before and then ripped off 

Matthew Sluka

Just by virtue of how well Williams played in the biggest game of the season so far for UNLV, things didn’t look good for Sluka as it seems he wasn’t having as massive of an impact on the team’s success as maybe he hoped to show by him leaving.



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