DENVER — The conference rotation for 2023-25 was released by the Mountain West Conference on Thursday.
Although the opponents are familiar names, a few things are different, as the league has elected to shake some things up on the football side.
No more divisions
It was previously announced that beginning in 2023, the Mountain West will be abandoning divisions. Instead of splitting the 12 teams in half and having the winner of each section face each other in the conference championship game, the two teams with the highest winning percentage within league play will now meet for the title each year.
The purpose of doing this is to try and give the winner of the MW Championship Game the best opportunity to play in the CFB Playoff, or at the very least participate in a New Year’s Six game.
New schedule rotation
Additionally, the new format will allow institutions that were previously separated by division to play more frequently. For example, teams that were in the WAC together in the late 2000s and used to play annually, but were placed in opposite sides of the MWC after coming over, could now play more than just twice every four years. The same goes for some of the original members of the Mountain West.
According to a release from the MWC, the new model avoided repeat matchups at the same location from 2022 to 2023, but is based on a 2-6 structure where each team will play two guaranteed opponents annually and face six other Conference teams. During the three-year cycle, 2023-25, all teams will face nine of 11 opponents at least twice, once at home and once on the road, and two opponents in each of the three years.
It should be noted that other factors were included in the equation, like ensuring that three teams will not finish with 8-0 records, while factoring in historic competitive balance and balanced travel in relation to time zones and altitude.
The MWC also had to be mindful of who was scheduled to play at Hawaii in advance and have already scheduled Week O games, as well as teams from other leagues with Week 0 games at Hawaii so as not to disrupt schooled non-conference games.
Traditional rivals still in play
If you were concerned about the possibility of losing some of the matchups along the Front Range, you can take a sigh of relief. CSU’s two guaranteed conference opponents are Air Force and Wyoming, so the local rivalries will live on.
Going back to 1899, the Rams and Cowboys have met on an annual basis with very few exceptions. It is the oldest rivalry West of the Mississippi River and one of the most unique matchups in all of college football.
Outside of 2020, CSU and Air Force have played every year since 1978 and the rivalry dates back to 1957. So, while it is not quite on par with the Border War, it is definitely a local matchup with decades of history.
2023
Sept. 2 | Washington State
Sept. 16 | at Colorado
Sept. 23 | at Middle Tennessee
Sept. 30 | Utah Tech
TBD | Air Force, Boise State, Nevada, San Diego State
TBD | at Hawaii, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming
2024
Aug. 31 | at Texas
Sept. 7 | Northern Colorado
Sept. 14 | Colorado
Sept. 21 | UTEP
TBD | Hawaii, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming
TBD | at Air Force, Boise State, Nevada, San Diego State
2025
Aug. 30 | at Washington
Sept. 6 | Texas Tech
Sept. 13 | Northern Colorado
Sept. 27 | at Vanderbilt
TBD | Air Force, Fresno State, Hawaii, UNLV
TBD | at Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, Wyoming
Thoughts on the pairings
There is never going to be a way to design the perfect schedule that completely satisfies every member of the conference or its respective fans. One side will inevitably feel that they got the short end of the stick, while the other side got a cakewalk. Some fans will complain that they didn’t get matched up with the right teams. But the drama, the debates, the back and forth is all just part of the fun.
From CSU’s perspective, getting paired with Air Force and Wyoming makes total sense. And looking around the conference, I personally feel that the MWC did a pretty solid job with the pairings across the board.
It was a little surprising to see that Boise State did not get Nevada or Fresno State as a guaranteed opponent, and instead got UNM and Utah State. However, as we have already established, it’s an imperfect process, particularly when there are teams that do not have any rivals at the moment. Does anyone really feel animosity towards San Jose State? What about New Mexico? Utah State’s biggest rivals, BYU and Utah, aren’t in the conference. All of those teams still had to get paired too. Plus, the Broncos will play at least one of their old foes from the WAC every year in the three-year cycle anyways, so there’s really no room for griping in Broncoland in the near future.
Thoughts on CSU’s cycle
Considering CSU is playing multiple power five teams each year from 2023-25, some Ram fans might have rather played New Mexico twice and Boise State once, instead of the other way around. I believe that so long as CSU can be competitive under head coach Jay Norvell, it will be beneficial to be playing in higher profile games though.
The reality is that racking up wins over lowly teams like the Lobos does nothing for the CFB Playoff selection committee. Utah State won nine games in 2021 prior to beating the breaks off San Diego State, who was ranked 19th, in the MWC Championship. The vast majority of the Aggies’ wins in the regular season were against teams with losing records though. So, despite being a double-digit win team going into bowl season and the conference champs, the Aggies played a seven-win Oregon State squad in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl. Although that is technically the best bowl contract that the MWC has, after being ditched for the SEC in the Las Vegas Bowl, the 2021 Aggies are a perfect example of how little respect beating bad G5 teams earns you.
It may not end up mattering when it’s all said and done — it sure seems like the SEC and Big 10 are on a collision course to completely disrupt the game as we know it — but it’s nice to see that the conference is at least making an attempt to remain relevant in the national conversation.
Of course, all of this is dependent on the Mountain West staying together as is. Any additions or departures from the conference would mean that everything would have to be reevaluated. We’ll just have to see what happens with the ever changing landscape of college football.
