The 2023 Mountain West Conference football season is the 25th season of

College football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for 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 o ...

. It is part of the

2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season is the 154th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...

. 12 teams competed in the conference during the season. The season began on August 26 and will conclude on December 2 with the

Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game The Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game is an annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of the Mountain West Conference (MW). History From 1999 to 2012, the champion of the Mountain West was determi ...

. The full schedule for the season was released on March 2, 2023.

Previous season

During the 2022 Mountain West Conference football season,

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

won the Mountain Division, while

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 ...

won the West Division. In the

2022 Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game The 2022 Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game was a college football game which was played on December 3, 2022, at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. It was the tenth edition of the Mountain West Conference Football Championship Ga ...

, Fresno State defeated Boise State by a score of 28–16.

Conference changes

Prior to the 2023 season, the Mountain West Conference announced that it would eliminate divisions, with the two teams with the best conference records now playing in the championship game instead of division winners.

Preseason

Preseason Poll

The Preseason Media Poll was released July 19, 2023. Boise State has been selected as the preseason favorite to claim the 2023 Mountain West football regular-season title.

Preseason All-Conference team

Mountain West preseason awards and all-conference teams were announced on July 19.

Awards

All-conference team

Coaches

Coaching changes

*On November 28, 2022, UNLV announced that they had fired head coach

Marcus Arroyo Marcus Cole Arroyo (born January 23, 1980) is an American football coach and former plauer. He served as the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from 2020 to 2022. Arroyo played college football as quarterback at San ...

. Arroyo posted a 7–23 record with the school over three years. UNLV announced on December 6, 2022, that former Missouri head coach

Barry Odom Barry Stephen Odom (born November 26, 1976) is an American football coach and currently the head coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Odom spent 15 years with the Missouri Tigers program as a player, recruiter, assistant coach, and head ...

would become the new head coach for the 2023 season.

Head coaches

Mid-season changes

*On November 12, Boise State announced that they had fired head coach Andy Avalos. Boise State's defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson was named as the interim head coach. On December 3, Danielson was promoted to the school's permanent head coach.

Post-season changes

*On November 13, San Diego State head coach

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

announced that he would retire at the conclusion of the season. On November 29, the school announced that Sean Lewis would become the head coach for the 2024 season. Lewis had previously been offensive coordinator at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and the head coach of

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ash ...

. *On November 25, New Mexico announced that they had fired head coach

Danny Gonzales Daniel Ray Gonzales (born January 13, 1976) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of New Mexico. Prior to 2018, Gonzales had spent his college coaching career on Rocky Long's s ...

after four seasons as head coach. Gonzales had posted a 11–32 record during his time at the school. On December 6, New Mexico announced

Bronco Mendenhall Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall (born February 21, 1966) is an American football coach who most recently coached at The University of Virginia. He stepped down after the 2021 season. Mendenhall joined Virginia in 2015 after spending the previous elev ...

as the new head coach for the 2024 season. Mendenhall had previously been head coach at

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. *On December 1, Nevada announced that they had fired head coach Ken Wilson. Wilson had gone 4–20 in his two seasons with the school. On December 4, Nevada announced

Jeff Choate Jeff Choate (born July 15, 1970) is an American football coach. He is the co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at the University of Texas at Austin. Choate served as the head football coach at Montana State University from Decembe ...

as the new head coach for 2024. Choate had previously been the co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and the head coach of

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

. *On December 6, Wyoming head coach

Craig Bohl Craig Philip Bohl (born July 27, 1958) is an American college football coach and former player, currently the head football coach at the University of Wyoming. He was previously the head coach at North Dakota State University in Fargo from 2003 ...

announced that we would retire following Wyoming's 2023 bowl game. Wyoming's defensive coordinator

Jay Sawvel Jay Sawvel (born March 14, 1971) is an American football coach who is the head football coach at the University of Wyoming. He previously served as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at the University of Wyoming from 2020 to 2023. S ...

was promoted to head coach for 2024.

Rankings

Schedule

The schedule for the 2023 Mountain West football season was announced on March 2, 2023. All times Mountain time.

Week 0

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Championship Game

Postseason

Bowl Games

Selection of teams

*Bowl eligible (7): Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming *Bowl ineligible (5): Colorado State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State

Mountain West records vs other conferences

2023–2024 records against non-conference foes: Postseason

Mountain West vs Power 5 matchups

This is a list of games the Mountain West has scheduled versus

power conference The Power Five conferences are the five most prominent and highest-earning athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA D ...

teams (

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

, Big 10,

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

, Notre Dame and SEC). All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.

Mountain West vs Group of Five matchups

The following games include Mountain West teams competing against teams from the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

C-USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

, MAC, or

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...

Mountain West vs FBS independents matchups

The following games include Mountain West teams competing against FBS Independents, which includes

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

, or UMass.

Mountain West vs FCS matchups

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

Mountain West Individual Awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Mountain West Conference football coaches at the end of the season.

All-conference teams

The following players were selected as part of the Mountain West's All-Conference Teams.

National awards

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Paycom ...

: Trey Taylor, Air Force

All-Americans

Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of

Division I-FBS NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points.

College Football All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term ''All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Football ...

consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, ''TSN'', and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.

Home game attendance

Bold – At or Exceeded capacity
†Season High

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountain West Conference football season