| Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game | |
| Sport: | College football |
| Conference: | Mountain West Conference |
| Current Stadium: | Hosted by top regular-season team (see below) |
| Current Location: | Varies by year |
| Years: | 2013–present |
| Most Recent: | 2023 |
| Current Champion: | Boise State Broncos |
| Most Championships: | Boise State (4) |
| Television: | Fox/FS1 |
| Website: | League Site |
| Sponsors: | Hampton by Hilton |
The Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game is an annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of the Mountain West Conference (MW).
From 1999 to 2012, the champion of the Mountain West was determined by regular season record. Beginning in 2013, following the expansion to twelve members and the division of the conference into Mountain and West Divisions, the conference championship game was held between the two division winners. The Mountain West is one of four conferences to have its championship game at a campus site, along with the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, and the Sun Belt Conference.
The most recent 2022 championship game was the last to feature division winners. On May 20, 2022, the MW announced that it would eliminate its football divisions effective with the 2023 season, instead sending the top two teams in the conference standings to the title game.[1] Two days earlier, the NCAA Division I Council had approved a rule change that gave all FBS conferences full freedom to determine the participants in their football championship games.[2]
The inaugural MW Championship Game was played on December 7, 2013, at Fresno State's Bulldog Stadium and televised by CBS.[3]
The Mountain West Conference champion customarily receives a berth to play in the Las Vegas Bowl. However, if the MW champion finishes ranked ahead of the champions from the other "Group of Five" mid-major conferences (American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, and Sun Belt) by the selection committee of the College Football Playoff, it is guaranteed a berth in one of the non-semifinal "New Year's Six" bowls. If the conference champion is the highest ranked among group of 5 conference champions, the conference champion will play in the national championship playoff.
Membership reflects changes that took effect with the 2013 season.
| Air Force | Fresno State | |
| Boise State | Hawaii | |
| Colorado State | Nevada | |
| New Mexico | San Diego State | |
| Utah State | San Jose State | |
| Wyoming | UNLV |
| Season | Champion(s) | Conf. record | Overall record | Bowl result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–2 | 9–3 | Won | |||
| 5–2 | 8–4 | Lost | |||
| 5–2 | 8–4 | Lost | |||
| 6–1 | 10–2 | Won | |||
| 7–0 | 12–2 | Lost | |||
| 6–1 | 10–4 | Lost | |||
| 6–1 | 10–2 | Won Liberty Bowl | |||
| 7–0 | 12–0 | Won Fiesta Bowl | |||
| 8–0 | 11–1 | Won Houston Bowl | |||
| 8–0 | 11–2 | Won Las Vegas Bowl | |||
| 8–0 | 11–2 | Won Las Vegas Bowl | |||
| 8–0 | 13–0 | Won Sugar Bowl | |||
| 8–0 | 12–1 | Lost Fiesta Bowl | |||
| 8–0 | 13–0 | Won Rose Bowl | |||
| 7–0 | 11–2 | Won Poinsettia Bowl | |||
| 7–1 | 11–2 | Won Maaco Bowl Las Vegas | |||
| 7–1 | 9–4 | Lost Hawaii Bowl | |||
| 7–1 | 9–4 | Lost Poinsettia Bowl | |||
| Total | 18 bowl games | 11 wins, 7 losses | |||
Below are the results from all Mountain West Conference Football Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.
| Year | West | Mountain | Site | Attendance | MVP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style= | 24 | 24 | 17 | Bulldog Stadium • Fresno, CA | 31,362 | QB Derek Carr, Fresno State | ||
| 14 | style= | 22 | 28 | Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID | 26,101 | Offensive: QB Grant Hedrick, Boise State Defensive: MLB Tanner Vallejo, Boise State | ||
| 2015 | style= | 27 | 24 | Qualcomm Stadium • San Diego, CA | 20,959 | Offensive: QB Christian Chapman, San Diego State Defensive: S Na'im McGee, San Diego State | ||
| 2016 | style= | 27 | 24 | War Memorial Stadium • Laramie, WY | 24,001 | Offensive: RB Rashaad Penny, San Diego State Defensive: S Damontae Kazee, San Diego State | ||
| 2017 | 14 | style= | 17 | Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID | 24,515 | Offensive: QB Brett Rypien, Boise State Defensive: LB Leighton Vander Esch, Boise State | ||
| 2018 | style= | 25 | 19 | 16OT | 23,662 | Offensive: RB Alexander Mattison, Boise State Defensive: DE Mykal Walker, Fresno State | ||
| 2019 | 10 | style= | 19 | 31 | 23,561 | Offensive: QB Jaylon Henderson, Boise State Defensive: DT Sonatane Lui, Boise State | ||
| Year | No. 1 seed | No. 2 seed | Site | Attendance | MVP | |||
| 2020 | style= | 25 | 34 | 20 | Sam Boyd Stadium • Whitney, NV | 0 | Offensive: QB Nick Starkel, San Jose State[4] Defensive: DE Cade Hall, San Jose State | |
| Year | West | Mountain | Site | Attendance | MVP | |||
| 2021 | 13 | style= | 46 | Dignity Health Sports Park • Carson, CA | 13,445 | Offensive: QB Logan Bonner, Utah State Defensive: DE Byron Vaughns, Utah State | ||
| 2022 | style= | 28 | Boise State Broncos | 16 | Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID | 24,037 | Offensive: QB Jake Haener, Fresno State Defensive: DB Cam Lockridge, Fresno State | |
| Year | No. 1 seed | No. 2 seed | Site | Attendance | MVP | |||
| 2023 | UNLV Rebels | 20 | style= | 44 | Allegiant Stadium • Paradise, NV | 31,473 | Offensive: Taylen Green, Boise State Defensive: Alexander Teubner, Boise State | |
| 2024 | Boise State Broncos | UNLV Rebels | Albertsons Stadium • Boise, ID | |||||
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Selection criteriaThe Tiebreaking procedures for both selection for the Championship game and determination of the host for the 2023 Season are as follows.[6] Two-team tiebreaker procedure
Three or more-team tiebreaker procedureThis procedure is used until two teams remain tied, then the two-team tiebreaker procedures will be used.
Once the tie is reduced to two teams, then the two-team tiebreaker is used. Host determinationCurrent procedureThe team with the best conference record hosts the championship game. The tiebreaker procedure for determining which teams are selected for the championship game also serves as the tiebreaking procedure for determining who is the host. 2018–2022 procedureThe team with the best conference record hosts the championship game. Before 2023, the division champion with the better conference record hosted the game. If the teams have the same record, the following tie-breaking procedure is used:[7]
2013–2017 procedureFrom 2013 to 2017, the division champion with the higher College Football Playoff ranking going into the final week of regular season was designated as the host school unless it lost its final regular season game. If the latter occurred, or neither team was ranked in the latest available College Football Playoff rankings, then the following procedure was used:[8]
This procedure was discontinued after the 2017 Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game after Boise State was selected to host the game despite having the same conference record as their opponent Fresno State and losing to Fresno State during the regular season. Game records
See alsoReferences |
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