Around the Mountain: Aztecs Sit Atop Conference Standings
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., -- Here's this weeks news and notes from around the Mountain West Conference.
WEEK 11 ACTION
Eight Mountain West teams are in action in Week 11, with three of the four games appearing on national television. Air Force at San José State opens the Saturday slate at 3 p.m. PT on FS1. Nevada at Utah State follows at 5:30 p.m. MT on CBSSN, with UNLV visiting Colorado State on FS1 at 7:30 p.m. MT. In a game with massive MW Championship game implications, RV/RV San Diego State visits Hawai‘i at 6 p.m. HT. That game can be viewed on Spectrum Sports and on the MW App (mobile only).
BOWL ELIGIBILITY
Half of the Mountain West (Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai‘i, New Mexico, San Diego State and UNLV) is bowl eligible. The SEC (.563), Big Ten (.556) and the MW (.500) have the highest percentages of their teams eligible. … Boise State is bowl eligible for the 28th consecutive season, the second-longest active streak in the FBS. … Fresno State is bowl eligible for the fifth straight season. … Hawai‘i is bowl eligible for the first time since 2021. … New Mexico is bowl eligible for the first time since 2016. … San Diego State is bowl eligible for the 14th time in 16 seasons. … UNLV is bowl eligible for the third straight season.
MW DEPTH
Nine of the 12 Mountain West teams have multiple conference wins this season (75.0%). That is tied for the second-largest share among all FBS conferences (Big 12), behind the ACC (76.5%; 13 of 17). … Seven of the MW's programs are .500 or better overall on the season.
FBS LEADERS
San José State leads the FBS in passing offense (331.5), Walker Eget leads in passing yards per game (325.9) and Danny Scudero leads with 135.6 receiving yards per game and 1,085 total receiving yards. … Air Force leads the nation with 18.97 passing yards per completion. … Wyoming's Aneesh Vyas shares the FBS lead with two blocked kicks. … Hawai‘i's Micah Alejado averages an FBS-best 28.43 completions per game. … Hawai‘i's Kansei Matsuzawa is among five qualified kickers still perfect on field goals this season and leads the FBS with 21 field goals made and 2.33 per game. … Fresno State's Jahzon Jacks leads the FBS with four fumbles recovered. … Colorado State's Owen Long leads in tackles per game (12.9) and Nevada's Dylan Labarbera leads in tackles for loss per game with 1.94.
MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Five MW players earned spots on The Associated Press Midseason All-America football teams, including a pair of first-team selections. Hawai‘i senior kicker Kansei Matsuzawa and San Diego State senior defensive back Chris Johnson earned first-team nods. San José State sophomore wide receiver Danny Scudero, Colorado State sophomore linebacker Owen Long and UNLV senior defensive back Aamaris Brown were named to the second team. The MW’s two first-team selections are as many as the other non-autonomous conferences combined, while the Conference’s five total selections surpassed the combined total of its peer leagues.
AZTECS' STIFLING DEFENSE
San Diego State is second in the FBS in scoring defense at 10.0 points allowed per game and is sixth nationally in total defense with 246.3 yards allowed per game. … The Aztecs are the only FBS squad with a trio of shutouts this season. This marks the first time in SDSU’s Division I history (since 1969) with three shutouts in a single season. … SDSU has allowed seven or fewer points in five different games this season, tied for the most in the FBS (Ohio State). That is the most such games by a Mountain West team in a single campaign since the Aztecs themselves had five in 2016. … No opposing receiver has recorded 100 or more yards in any of San Diego State’s last 25 games, dating back to October 2023. That’s the longest such streak in MW history and the longest by any FBS team since Kentucky (28 straight) from 2017 to 2019.
ROAD REBS
UNLV has nine road wins since the beginning of last season, tied with BYU for the most in the FBS over that span. … The Rebels have also won six straight road games against non-MW teams, the longest such win streak by any Mountain West team in conference history.
UNLV'S MAGIC NUMBERS
UNLV has scored at least 20 points in each of its last 30 regular-season games (excluding MW championship games), marking the second-longest active such streak in the FBS, behind only Memphis (44 straight). The Rebels are 24-6 over that stretch. … UNLV is one of just two teams in the FBS (North Texas) to score at least 30 points in every game this season.
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EGET DEALING
San José State’s Walker Eget has recorded at least 250 passing yards, multiple passing scores and zero interceptions in five straight games. That is tied for the longest active streak in the FBS (Duke’s Darian Mensah) and tied for the longest streak in Mountain West history (Fresno State’s Derek Carr in 2013). … Eget was named a Manning Award Star of the Week and to the Davey O'Brien Award's Great 8 for his efforts in a Week 10 win over Hawai‘i (458 passing yards, two TDs).
LOBOS' DYNAMIC DUO
Against UNLV in Week 10, New Mexico had one player throw for at least 340 passing yards and three passing touchdowns (Jack Layne) and another player throw a touchdown and have 90 rushing yards (James Laubstein). Only one other FBS duo has done that in a game over the last 30 seasons: Fresno State’s Derek Carr and Robbie Rouse on Nov. 24, 2012.
SZARKA ON A ROLL
Air Force’s Liam Szarka is the first FBS player to have at least 1,200 passing yards, 800 rushing yards and 10 rushing scores through eight team games of a season since Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts in 2019. No other MW player has reached those marks through eight team games of a campaign.
CENTURY-MARK RUSHING STREAK
The longest active streak for games with at least 100 rushing yards by an FBS team belongs to Air Force, which has done so in 93 consecutive games.
INTERCEPTIONS GALORE
Since the beginning of 2022, UNLV’s defense is second in the FBS with 60 interceptions, just one behind Notre Dame. … The Mountain West has three different players with multiple pick-sixes this season (Boise State's A'Marion McCoy, San Diego State's Chris Johnson and UNLV's Aamaris Brown), while all other FBS conferences have combined for four such players. The only other season the MW had at least three players with two or more interception returns for touchdowns was 2017 (also three).
PLASCENCIA SETS MW MARK
San Diego State kicker Gabe Plascencia went 1-for-2 on field-goal attempts in a 24-7 win over Wyoming in Week 10, extending his MW record to 26 consecutive makes before missing a 23-yard attempt in the third quarter. It was Plascencia's first miss since Aug. 31, 2024, and just the second of his SDSU career.
THE TOKYO TOE
Hawai‘i kicker Kansei Matsuzawa is currently 21-for-21 on field-goal attempts this year, setting program and MW records for consecutive made field goals to start a season and matching Hawai‘i's single-season record for made field goals. He has hit 22 in a row dating back to last season, a program record for consecutive makes and tied with Air Force's Luke Strebel (2015-16) for the second-longest streak in MW history. He currently has the second-longest active streak in the FBS.
MW AGAINST THE A4 AT HOME
MW teams went 3-1 against A4 opponents at home this season. Hawai‘i earned the MW's first A4 win of the 2025 season with its 23-20 win over Stanford in Week 0. UNLV made it 2-0 with a 30-23 win over UCLA in Week 2. San Diego State picked up a third MW home win over an A4 when it throttled California 34-0 in Week 4.
MW AGAINST THE A4, PART II
New Mexico outscored UCLA, 21-0, in the fourth quarter of its 35-10 win in Week 3. The 21 points were the most scored by a Mountain West team in the fourth quarter of a win against an ACC/Big Ten/Big 12/SEC opponent since BYU scored 21 at Virginia in a 38-35 overtime win on Sept. 2, 2000. … San Diego State’s 34-0 victory over Cal in Week 4 was the second-largest shutout win ever by a MW team against an autonomous conference school. The only larger such win was BYU’s 59-0 win versus UCLA in 2008.
MW AGAINST THE A4, PART III
MW teams have played 16 autonomous conference opponents in 2025, including three of the four CFP semifinalists from last season (Nevada at Penn State, San José State at Texas, and Boise State at Notre Dame). … Since 2018, the MW has the best winning percentage over Autonomous 5 teams (30.0) among its peer conferences. MW teams have collected 45 wins over such teams in that span, also the most among its peer conferences (the American is second with 39).
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