It’s a much different look in the Mountain West this season, but one thing hasn’t changed. The favorite to win remains Boise State despite losing a number of starters on both sides of the ball.
Let’s get the conference changes out of the way first.
Boise State will be happy to see TCU leave considering the Horned Frogs were the main obstacle in the way of winning the MWC. TCU has moved on to the Big 12, but the Mountain West went out and recruited three new schools to take their place.
Fresno State, Hawaii and Nevada are the three new schools in the conference.
None of those three schools really excelled in football last season, meaning it should still be a clear path to the title for the Broncos.
Boise State’s lost quite a bit of talent, but this a program that has become elite and continues to recruit well. It will be a complete and utter shock if they don’t manage to win the MWC at season’s end.
The main challengers should be Wyoming, San Diego State and Air Force, who all had winning records last season. Wyoming went 5-2 in conference play in 2011/12, while the Aztecs were 4-3 with a 8-5 overall record and Air Force went 3-4 in conference play with a 7-6 overall record.
The bottom of the barrel will feature Colorado State, UNLV and New Mexico most likely. Those three programs combined to win a paltry six games last season.
So there you have it. As far as college football picks go, Boise State is about as big of a lock to win their conference as you’ll find in the nation. There may be no Kellen Moore or other key contributors in Bronco-land anymore, but they’ll be one of the most explosive offensive teams around regardless.
This is Boise State’s title to lose. Don’t expect it to happen though.
