College Football 2018 Season Preview: The Mountain West Conference

The most logical conference to follow behind the AAC is the MWC, for the sole reason that these are clearly the top two Group of 5 conferences in the land and have been going back and forth for best ranked team.  Boise is the hot team here, but I think we see an upset in the Championship game which gives Memphis the nod.

Conference Standings:
Mountain		W	L	West		W	L
Boise State		12	0	Fresno State		9	3
Air Force		7	5	San Diego State		8	4
Colorado State		7	5	UNLV		6	6
Wyoming		5	7	San Jose State		5	7
Utah State		4	8	Hawaii		2	11
New Mexico		2	10	Nevada		1	11
Won division				Won division
Conference Championship:
	Fresno State over Boise State
Bowl Teams:		6
	CFP:	None
	Big 6:	None
	CFP 2:	None
	Others:	Boise State
		Air Force
		Colorado State
		Fresno State
		San Diego State
		UNLV
Most Underrated:	UNLV
Most Overrated:	San Diego State
Coaches on Hot Seat:	Wyoming
	Utah State
	Nevada
	New Mexico
	Hawaii
	Nevada
	San Jose State

Best Player: KeeSean Johnson Sr. Fresno State.  I know a lot of people are picking Wyoming's Wingard and Rypian from Boise State but I think Johnson has more talent and upside than both of them.

Dark horse for conference POTY: UNLV SO QB Armani Rogers.  Speed, athleticism but dodgy passing down the field hurt him in 2017. IF he can get better at throwing the ball the Rebels might be the sleeper team everyone overlooks.  Also: the defense must improve a TON.

Coach that's almost sure to go: Bob Davies, New Mexico. It's bad enough that you're a guy who the players don't like and who's not entirely adored by the fan bas but then you go 2-10?

No, they're not going to be good.  Nevada. Defensively they're horrible, possibly even worse than UNLV (odd that Nevada teams are horrid defensively) and on offense they're rolling out the son of Hal Mumme to try and find an option of the air raid that will work. It's going to be ugly.

Overrated based on last year: San Diego State. They're still going to be OK, they haven't fallen off a talent cliff, but they were so one-handed on offense last year it will be tough to come back from losing their running back.

Questions:

Will Wyoming bounce back?  No, I don't think so, and I think there's some heat building there if they don't. The opening game against NM State is going to be tougher than most think.

Will Boise St. Make a New Year's Six  game? They'll be the favorites to do so throughout the season, but with Boise recently there's always been a "huh?" game thrown in the mix. I think that comes against a good Fresno State team in the championship.

Will they fill their bowl commitments? Possibly the conference least likely to do so. I've got UNLV in a bowl (again) but I will admit that part of the reason for this is because I'm partial to the Desert Rug Rats and WANT them to do well.  The path is possible, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it DID NOT HAPPEN.

Fun early game you might overlook. Don't skip it when Fresno State visits Minnesota. Also, don't blink during Boise State/Oklahoma State. Someone might hit 100 in that game.