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Who Should Mountain West Fans Root For This Fall?
What are the best comparisons like your team?
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
Who plays like my Mountian West team?
Yes, the Mountain West football season is not going to happen but that does not mean everyone needs just pack up shop until this league is back up and playing this spring, or maybe even in the fall of 2021.
This list will be a rooting guide for what team closely aligns with your Mountain West team in terms of success, playing style, coach, and anything else we can think of.
We will mix in some Power 5 and Group of 5 teams. As a reminder the leagues that are playing, as of today, SEC, Big 12, ACC, C-USA, Sun Belt, AAC, Army, and BYU.
Take this list for what it is and adopt the team or tell us who you are going with this fall or if we completely missed the mark. Shout out to us on Twitter. @MWCWire.
Air Force – Navy and Army.
Maybe these are the easy opt-out comparisons due to being a branch of the armed services in this country, plus they run the triple-option. There is no Power 5 team that fits this mark because Georgia Tech has moved away from the triple-option and Paul Johnson. The Midshipman might be the better comparison as they win at a clip closer to the Falcons than the Black Knights.
Boise State – Oklahoma.
This one is too easy to compare. The Broncos have played in four of six Mountain West title games, winning three of them but the Broncos have only been to just a single New Year’s Six bowl appearance. Oklahoma has been to the past three College Football Playoffs but they have lost in the semifinals each time.
The Sooners make sense as they have had amazing success but haven’t gotten over the hump in the big picture of college football. Boise State fits that by not going to a big-time bowl game since 2014.
Colorado State – North Texas and Boston College.
These teams are chosen due to success about a decade or two ago and have just been OK ever since. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Sonny Lubick was winning and competing for WAC and Mountain West titles, but over the past handful of years there have been bowl games but the records have been either just above or below bowl eligibility.
Boston College is a bit on the nose since new Rams coach Steve Addazio came from there. Those Eagles teams had six wins last year and the three prior just seven wins. Former Rams coach Mike Bobo had three-straight years of going 7-6. Also, digging deep into Eagles history they had multi-year stretches of being ranked in the mid-2010s and mid-1990s.
As for North Texas, they were successful in the early 2000s with four straight Sun Belt titles but since then have had some up and down successes there in Denton, Texas.
Fresno State – Houston.
Houston has been close to conference titles and just a few times have come out on top over the past decade. The Cougars have had a Heisman trophy winner in Andre Ware whereas Fresno State had David Carr who was a Heisman finalist and selected No. 1 overall pick by the then-expansion Houston Texans. The downs for Fresno State are not as bad nor as long as Houston, but they have been there including the tail end of the Tim DeRuyter era which saw the Bulldogs go 2-10 in his final year.
Hawaii – Memphis and Washington State.
This one is more on the style of play than the records really. One is a Mike Leach which team saw a lot of passing attacks and not the best of defense. However, the Warriors have had their share of quality defenders of the years. It does help that former Warrior coach Nick Rolovich is overseeing the Cougars program.
If you want to watch an offense that will put up a lot of points and be exciting to watch then go with Washington State. Also, Memphis is a great choice as they also have a great and exciting offense and put up points. The Tigers are a bit more balanced but still very explosive. Plus, both of these defenses are not all that great which lines up with Hawaii’s.