Where Utah State and the Mountain West, Pac-12 teams rank in post-spring ball SP+ | Sports

Utah State is considered a bottom-20 team in college football according to the latest SP+ ranking update. The metric crafted by ESPN’s Bill Connelly puts the Aggies at 119th out of 136 FBS teams. It makes USU the third-worst ranked team in the Mountain West, coming out ahead of only Nevada (124th) and New Mexico (130th).

The highest ranked team in the Mountain West is, unsurprisingly, Boise State (33rd) with a big gap before the second and third-highest ranked teams UNLV (75th) and San Jose State (83rd).

While SP+ rankings are already incredibly unfriendly to Group of Five programs, Utah State hasn’t helped itself by having several mediocre years between its better days in the 2010s and the Mountain West championship season in 2021. Plenty of other Mountain West teams are currently very much on the wrong end of these rankings, having plenty of work to do if they want to end up on the top half of the college football ladder. Based on these rankings, only Boise State is in the top half of all teams (UNLV is just outside the cutoff line of 68 with its ranking).

Let’s take a look at all of the teams in the Mountain West and along the way we’ll also loop in Utah State’s future Pac-12 peers along with the future Mountain West football members, Northern Illinois and UTEP.

SP+ Rankings for Current, Future Mountain West and Pac-12 Teams

Along with the SP+ ranking, the returning production ranking (also provided by Bill Connelly’s article) along with 247’s high school and transfer recruit rankings are also included to get a full idea of where the teams fall in relation to each other.

33. Boise State

• 2024 Record — 12-2
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 29th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 62nd
• 247 Transfer Rank — 98th
• Returning Production — 13th (67%)

73. Oregon State

• 2024 Record — 5-7
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 97th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 64th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 60th
• Returning Production — 37th (62%)

75. UNLV

• 2024 Record — 11-3
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 36th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 97th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 74th
• Returning Production — 132nd (32%)

82. Washington State

• 2024 Record — 8-5
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 68th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 72nd
• 247 Transfer Rank — 69th
• Returning Production — 131st (32%)

83. San Jose State

• 2024 Record — 7-6
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 92nd
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 115th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 126th
• Returning Production — 68th (54%)

89. Fresno State

• 2024 Record — 6-7
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 85th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 104th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 99th
• Returning Production — 112th (41%)

94. Air Force

• 2024 Record — 5-7
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 111th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 129th
• 247 Transfer Rank — N/A
• Returning Production — 85th (50%)

97. Colorado State

• 2024 Record — 8-5
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 94th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 107th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 75th
• Returning Production — 86th (50%)

102. San Diego State

• 2024 Record — 3-9
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 119th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 78th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 104th
• Returning Production — 71st (53%)

105. Wyoming

• 2024 Record — 3-9
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 115th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 89th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 106th
• Returning Production — 62nd (56%)

106. Northern Illinois

• 2024 Record — 8-5
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 84th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 83rd
• 247 Transfer Rank — 125th
• Returning Production — 127th (35%)

108. Hawaii

• 2024 Record — 5-7
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 107th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 124th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 129th
• Returning Production — 70th (53%)

119. Utah State

• 2024 Record — 4-8
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 106th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 87th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 121st
• Returning Production — 133rd (31%)

123. UTEP

• 2024 Record — 3-9
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 130th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 71st
• 247 Transfer Rank — 100th
• Returning Production — 73rd (53%)

124. Nevada

• 2024 Record — 3-10
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 117
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 88th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 111th
• Returning Production — 126th (35%)

130. New Mexico

• 2024 Record — 5-7
• End 2024 SP+ Rank — 116th
• 247 Recruiting Rank — 109th
• 247 Transfer Rank — 71st
• Returning Production — 121st (36%)

Balance of Power in current, future conferences by SP+

Current Mountain West Ranking by SP+

1. Boise State
2. UNLV
3. San Jose State
4. Fresno State
5. Air Force
6. Colorado State
7. San Diego State
8. Wyoming
9. Hawaii
10. Utah State
11. Nevada
12. New Mexico

Average Rank — 96.6

Future Mountain West Ranking by SP+

1. UNLV
2. San Jose State
3. Air Force
4. Wyoming
5. Northern Illinois
6. Hawaii
7. UTEP
8. Nevada
9. New Mexico

Average Rank — 105.3

Future Pac-12 Ranking by SP+

1. Boise State
2. Oregon State
3. Washington State
4. Fresno State
5. Colorado State
6. San Diego State
7. Utah State

Average Rank — 85.0

Conferences Ranked by Average SP+ Rating

These are the rankings by average SP+ rankings. The average rating of the future Mountain West and future Pac-12 based on their teams’ average SP+ ranking right now has been spliced in for reference.

1. SEC (15.3)
2. Big Ten (9.5)
3. Big 12 (6.3)
4. ACC (5.0)
5. Future Pac-12 (-5.3)
6. American (-7.8)
7. Sun Belt (-8.1)
8. Mountain West (-8.6)
9. Future Mountain West (-11.1)
10. Conference USA (-13.0)
11. MAC (-13.7)