The 2018 Mountain West Conference Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 1, 2018, at

Albertsons Stadium Albertsons Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It is the home field of the Boise State Broncos of the Mountain West Conference. Known as Bronco St ...

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

, to determine the

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football champion of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

(MW). For the second consecutive year, the game featured the West Division champion

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

visiting the Mountain Division champion

Boise State Broncos The Boise State Broncos are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Boise State University, located in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Moun ...

. The game was broadcast nationally by

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for the fourth consecutive year. Both Boise State and Fresno State finished the conference season with a 7–1 record. Boise State earned the right to host the championship due to their win over Fresno State on November 9 in Boise. After also meeting twice during the 2017 season, this was the fourth time the two teams met in a span of 372 days. The 2018 championship game was the sixth edition of the event. In the

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championship game, Boise State defeated

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

17–14. The two schools also met in the

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game. In a low-scoring game on a snow-covered field, the teams played to a 13–13 tie through regulation. In overtime, Boise State was held to a field goal, while Fresno State scored a touchdown to win, 19–16.

Teams

Fresno State

The Bulldogs finished the season 10–2 overall record, with a 7–1 conference record to be champions of the West Division. Their only conference loss came to Boise State. Fresno State enters the game ranked No. 25 in the College Football Playoff rankings and AP poll.

Boise State

Boise State finished with a 10–2 overall record, with a 7–1 conference record, with their only conference loss coming to

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. The Broncos tied Utah State for first place in the Mountain Division. However, the Broncos won the head-to-head meeting to be crowned Mountain Division champions as the Mountain West does not recognize co-champions in a two-way tie. Boise State enters the game ranked No. 22 in the College Football Playoff rankings, No. 19 in the AP poll, and No. 20 in the Coaches poll.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

{{Fresno State Bulldogs football navbox 2018 Mountain West Conference football season Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game Boise State Broncos football games Fresno State Bulldogs football games December 2018 sports events in the United States Mountain West