Rankings: Mountain West’s bad week comes on and off the field

It is safe to say the Mountain West is now coming off one of the worst weeks in its football history.

The bad news began in the middle of last week when it was announced the conference's four most high-profile football programs (Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State and San Diego State) would join the Pac-12 for the 2026 season. The ominous cloud that darkened the Mountain West skies then continued through the weekend when the conference lost eight of 11 games.

The top four teams in this week's Nevada Appeal Mountain West football rankings either won (No. 2 UNLV, No. 3 Fresno State and No. 4 San Jose State) or had a bye (No. 1 Boise State) last week but the bottom eight all lost by 17 points or more.

The most impressive Mountain West victory last week was by UNLV, 23-20 at Kansas. The Rebels (3-0, 0-0) went 75 yards on 18 plays, eating up 9:31 of the fourth quarter clock, to pull off the victory. UNLV ran the ball on 17 of their 18 plays on the drive, scoring on a 1-yard run by Kylin James with 1:51 to play.

"Their quarterback is a very scrappy competitor," Kansas coach Lance Leipold told kuathletics.com.

Rebel quarterback Matthew Sluka was just 7-of-18 through the air for 86 yards and a touchdown but the Holy Cross transfer ran the ball 19 times for 124 yards. He had runs of 21, 9, 10 and 10 on the game-winning drive. UNLV was just 2-of-13 on third down but managed to outgain Kansas, 352-267 and rally from deficits of 17-13 at halftime and 20-16 in the fourth quarter.

The Rebels secured the victory by sacking Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels on 4th-and-15 from the Kansas 20-yard line with 1:11 to play.

"It was wild," UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodard told the Las Vegas Sun. "A little nervous but I trust all those guys on offense. We see it every single practice how good they are. Every single play (on the winning drive) they just kept their poise."

Fresno State (2-1, 0-0) had the most lopsided Mountain West win of the weekend, whipping New Mexico State, 48-0 in front of a home crowd of 39,079.

Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene connected with wide receiver Mac Dalena on a 69-yard touchdown on the Bulldogs' second play from scrimmage. The two combined on a 75-yard score on the game's first play the week before in a win over Sacramento State. Dalena also caught a 13-yard touchdown against New Mexico State. The 5-foot-11 Dalena, in his fifth year at Fresno State, now has 15 catches for 384 yards (25.6 yards a catch) and three scores this year.

"I just like the way we play," Fresno State coach Tim Skipper told gobulldogs.com. "It's all about our style of play. You have to show your personality, and we want that style to be tough and hard-nosed."

Fresno State ran the ball 43 times for 281 yards and four touchdowns. New Mexico State of Conference USA is a favorite non-conference opponent for the Mountain West. The Aggies are now 3-17 against the Mountain West since the start of the 2018 season.

San Jose State is the surprise of the Mountain West, winning their first three games. The Spartans beat Kennesaw State, 31-10, on Saturday as quarterback Emmett Brown was 26-of-38 for 355 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receiver Nick Nash, in his sixth year with the Spartans, caught 17 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns. He already has 34 catches for 485 yards and six touchdowns this year in just three games.

Kennesaw State, which had just 192 total yards and was called for 11 penalties, is in its first year in the FBS (Conference USA).

No. 5 Colorado State (1-2, 0-0) was beaten, 28-9, by Colorado at home in its Rocky Mountain Showdown. A crowd of 40,099 saw the first time the rivalry game was played at Colorado State since 1996.

"We just really wanted it to be decisive," Colorado coach Deion Sanders told USA Today.

Sanders said preseason comments from Colorado State quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi and wide receiver Tory Horton (two former Nevada Wolf Pack players) about Colorado angered Sanders and his players.

"The disrespect was uncalled for," Sanders said. "A couple of their players took shots at the whole program. We heard all the foolishness. We have ears."

Fowler-Nicolosi was 22-of-39 for 209 yards and two interceptions. Horton, who didn't play the full game because of an injury, caught just two passes for 24 yards.

"We just weren't good enough," Colorado State coach Jay Norvell told coloradoan.com. "We have to get better. It's that simple."

No. 6 Nevada (1-3, 0-0) lost 27-0 at Minnesota on Saturday for its second consecutive loss. The Wolf Pack had just 172 total yards and 10 first downs, its fewest number of first downs in a game since it also had 10 at Iowa in 2022 in another 27-0 loss.

"Between the penalties (eight) and turnovers (three interceptions) that's kind of the tale of the tape for us," Wolf Pack coach Jeff Choate told the Associated Press. "We have to tackle better; we can't turn the ball over."

No. 7 San Diego State (1-2, 0-0) lost to California, 31-10, at Berkeley, Calif. (35,197 crowd). The Aztecs were outgained, 473-276. and were called for 15 penalties. Cal ran the ball 42 times for 275 yards and two touchdowns against the normally stingy San Diego State defense.

First-year Aztec coach Sean Lewis, though, supported his team after the game.

"The fight, the character and their resolve shows we have a real good ballclub," Lewis said to goaztecs.com. "The level of execution will go up."

No. 8 Utah State fell to Utah, 38-21, and No. 9 Hawaii fell to Sam Houston, 31-13, in Huntsville, Texas. Hawaii is now 1-12 under coach Timmy Chang on the road the last three seasons.

No. 10 Air Force dropped a 31-3 decision at Baylor for its most lopsided loss since a 58-13 loss at Colorado State in 2013. The Falcons' triple-option offense has struggled to run the ball this year, averaging just 3.2 yards per attempt.

No. 11 Wyoming and No. 12 New Mexico each dropped to 0-3 on the season. Wyoming lost to BYU, 34-14, while New Mexico lost to Auburn, 45-19. Wyoming has yet to score more than 14 points in a game this year and is off to its first 0-3 start since it began 0-6 in 2015.

"There's an expectation here for us to be good and there's still an expectation this year to be good," Wyoming coach Jay Sawvell said, according to wyosports.net. "(But) the one thing you don't do is all of a sudden cut the tree down after three weeks."

The Nevada Appeal Mountain West football rankings for the week of Sept. 16:

1. BOISE STATE (1-1, 0-0): Last week: Bye. This week: Portland State at Boise State (Saturday).

2. UNLV (3-0, 0-0): Last week: UNLV 23, Kansas 20. This week: Bye.

3. FRESNO STATE (2-1, 0-0): Last week: Fresno State 48, New Mexico State 0. This week: Fresno State at New Mexico (Saturday).

4. SAN JOSE STATE (3-0, 1-0): Last week: San Jose State 31, Kennesaw State 10. This week: San Jose State at Washington State (Friday).

5. COLORADO STATE (1-2, 0-0): Last week: Colorado 28, Colorado State 9. This week: UTEP at Colorado State (Saturday).

6. NEVADA (1-3, 0-0): Last week: Minnesota 27, Nevada 0. This week: Eastern Washington at Nevada (Saturday).

7. SAN DIEGO STATE (1-2, 0-0): Last week: California 31, San Diego State 10. This week: Bye.

8. UTAH STATE (1-2, 0-0): Last week: Utah 38, Utah State 21. This week: Utah State at Temple (Saturday).

9. HAWAII (1-2, 0-0): Last week: Sam Houston 31, Hawaii 13. This week: Northern Iowa at Hawaii (Saturday).

10. AIR FORCE (1-2, 0-1): Last week: Baylor 31, Air Force 3. This week: Bye.

11. WYOMING (0-3, 0-0): Last week: BYU 34, Wyoming 14. This week: Wyoming at North Texas (Saturday).

12. NEW MEXICO (0-3, 0-0): Last week: Auburn 45, New Mexico 19. This week: Fresno State at New Mexico (Saturday).