Who Should Mountain West Fans Root For This Fall?
What are the best comparisons like your team?
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Who plays like my Mountian West team?
Yes, the Mountain West football season is not going to happen but that does not mean everyone needs just pack up shop until this league is back up and playing this spring, or maybe even in the fall of 2021.
This list will be a rooting guide for what team closely aligns with your Mountain West team in terms of success, playing style, coach, and anything else we can think of.
We will mix in some Power 5 and Group of 5 teams. As a reminder the leagues that are playing, as of today, SEC, Big 12, ACC, C-USA, Sun Belt, AAC, Army, and BYU.
Take this list for what it is and adopt the team or tell us who you are going with this fall or if we completely missed the mark. Shout out to us on Twitter. @MWCWire.
Air Force – Navy and Army.
Maybe these are the easy opt-out comparisons due to being a branch of the armed services in this country, plus they run the triple-option. There is no Power 5 team that fits this mark because Georgia Tech has moved away from the triple-option and Paul Johnson. The Midshipman might be the better comparison as they win at a clip closer to the Falcons than the Black Knights.
Boise State – Oklahoma.
This one is too easy to compare. The Broncos have played in four of six Mountain West title games, winning three of them but the Broncos have only been to just a single New Year’s Six bowl appearance. Oklahoma has been to the past three College Football Playoffs but they have lost in the semifinals each time.
The Sooners make sense as they have had amazing success but haven’t gotten over the hump in the big picture of college football. Boise State fits that by not going to a big-time bowl game since 2014.
Colorado State – North Texas and Boston College.
These teams are chosen due to success about a decade or two ago and have just been OK ever since. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Sonny Lubick was winning and competing for WAC and Mountain West titles, but over the past handful of years there have been bowl games but the records have been either just above or below bowl eligibility.
Boston College is a bit on the nose since new Rams coach Steve Addazio came from there. Those Eagles teams had six wins last year and the three prior just seven wins. Former Rams coach Mike Bobo had three-straight years of going 7-6. Also, digging deep into Eagles history they had multi-year stretches of being ranked in the mid-2010s and mid-1990s.
As for North Texas, they were successful in the early 2000s with four straight Sun Belt titles but since then have had some up and down successes there in Denton, Texas.
Fresno State – Houston.
Houston has been close to conference titles and just a few times have come out on top over the past decade. The Cougars have had a Heisman trophy winner in Andre Ware whereas Fresno State had David Carr who was a Heisman finalist and selected No. 1 overall pick by the then-expansion Houston Texans. The downs for Fresno State are not as bad nor as long as Houston, but they have been there including the tail end of the Tim DeRuyter era which saw the Bulldogs go 2-10 in his final year.
Hawaii – Memphis and Washington State.
This one is more on the style of play than the records really. One is a Mike Leach which team saw a lot of passing attacks and not the best of defense. However, the Warriors have had their share of quality defenders of the years. It does help that former Warrior coach Nick Rolovich is overseeing the Cougars program.
If you want to watch an offense that will put up a lot of points and be exciting to watch then go with Washington State. Also, Memphis is a great choice as they also have a great and exciting offense and put up points. The Tigers are a bit more balanced but still very explosive. Plus, both of these defenses are not all that great which lines up with Hawaii’s.
Nevada – Kansas State.
These two teams recently are fairly regularly participate in bowl season. These teams are fairly pedestrian in the big picture with a few seasons of extraordinary seasons.
New Mexico – UTEP, Vanderbilt.
Unfortunately, these two fit in the same category as the Lobos. A couple of bowl games this decade but mostly on the wrong end of the final scores and not all that competitive for the most part against its own conference. Blips of being good shadowed by poor results.
San Diego State – Auburn.
The Aztecs are a team that has won a conference title and wins games but can be overshadowed from bigger programs in its conference despite beating them. Auburn has a historic win, plus other, over Alabama with the infamous kick-six.
Boise State is the team that gets more respect over and recognition over San Diego State and that is similar to Alabama and Auburn. Good programs but sometimes they get overshadowed despite great success.
San Jose State – Syracuse.
Both of these teams have had close upsets over high-quality teams in their conference. The Spartans nearly upset San Diego State and the Orange had Clemson on the ropes. Both teams also have had some success years ago with really good quarterbacks with David Fales for San Jose State and Donovan McNabb for Syracuse.
UNLV – Kansas.
These two teams have had issues over the past decade with little success and the Rebels actually have had more with one more bowl game this decade. Both have new-ish coaches with Les Miles entering the second year while UNLV is going with Marcus Arroyo.
Utah State – Texas A&M.
There are expectations for both teams each year. These Aggies — both of them — have expectations from within their own fanbases. Success has been interminetent with rare wins over bigger named opponents.
Wyoming – Michigan State.
These two teams have just OK offenses but really good defenses over the years. The Spartans are a step above the Cowboys with a couple of Cotton Bowl appearances, but the style of play of these two teams is similar which is built upon an elite defense and an offense that gets the job done.
