One final look at last season
Every year I like to take a look back at my preseason predictions and see how I did. I think it is fair to say this past year’s predictions were not my best. The last few weeks we looked at record predictions for all twelve teams. This final week of the series, we are going to focus on the last round of my preseason predictions. Without further ado, let’s look at the Good, Bad, and Ugly of my preseason predictions.
The Good
A Boise State Three-Peat
This wasn’t a bold prediction and it certainly did not come true in the way I expected. But the Broncos tenure in the Mountain West ended with the school winning their third consecutive Mountain West Championship. To say the Broncos’ time in the conference was a success would be an understatement. Boise State joined the Mountain West in 2011. During their 15 years in the conference, they played for the title nine times and won seven conference championships.
An Unexpected Player of the Year
Maddux Madsen was the Preseason Player of the Year, but I predicted that it would end up being an unexpected hero that would emerge to win the award. I nailed this one. UNLV quarterback and Virginia transfer Anthony Colandrea ended up taking home the postseason hardware. Colandrea had an outstanding season and propelled the Rebels into a ten-win team that made an appearance in the conference championship game. It was a great season for Colandrea, who will now be making a nice paycheck as the quarterback of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Mendenhall Turns the Aggies Around
Bronco Mendenhall is a really good football coach, and he inherited a program that was in flux but has a reputation for recovering quickly. To some extent, this prediction proved to be true. The 2025 version of the Aggies was much better than the 2024 version, but this was still an inconsistent team that had plenty of flaws. They finished the season with six wins and qualified for a bowl game, but they struggled late in games which kept them from being a true contender for the Mountain West title.
The Bad
The Bottom of the Conference Continues to Struggle
In my preseason prediction, I thought that New Mexico, Wyoming, and Nevada would have rough seasons and Air Force was going to be the most improved team. Turns out Air Force got worse and New Mexico was the most improved team in the conference. I may have been right about Wyoming and Nevada, but I definitely missed the mark on Air Force and was really shocked to see how bad Colorado State ended up being.
Quarterback Play Underwhelms
I stated in my preseason predictions that Maddux Madsen winning Preseason Player of the Year was a reflection of how poor the quarterback play had been in the Mountain West. Unfortunately, that proved to be true. Outside of UNLV’s Anthony Colandrea and Utah State’s Bryson Barnes, the quarterback position was a weakness across the Mountain West. Honestly, I don’t see things looking much better this fall with Colandrea heading to Nebraska and the rest of the teams in the conference not making any real noise in the portal.
An Unbalanced Schedule Leads to an Unbalanced Result
This prediction played out in an unexpected way. The four-way tie to decide two spots in the conference championship was controversial, to say the least. New Mexico’s upset victory over San Diego State in the final week of the regular season had the Lobos thinking they had secured a spot in the championship game. Unfortunately for the Lobos, it wasn’t meant to be. Instead of comparing results between the four teams (Boise State 2-1, New Mexico 2-1, San Diego State 1-1, UNLV 0-2), the tiebreaker went to the computers which favored UNLV and Boise State. I truly think the championship game should have been the Lobos and Broncos, but it wasn’t meant to be.
The Ugly
Realignment Brings Unwanted Attention
The animosity between the teams leaving for the PAC 12 and the teams staying in the Mountain West was and has continued to be a major storyline this year. The legal battle between the two conferences is still a major issue with no conclusion in sight. It’s a real shame that the two conferences could not come to an amicable separation, but we live in a world where every issue tends to end up in court, especially in college athletics.
The End is Near
When I wrote this, I talked about how unfortunate it was the Mountain West we know and love is entering its final season of college football. The end is now here, and the bitterness between the teams leaving and those staying is at an all-time high. Here’s to hoping the athletic directors in both of these conferences have the common sense to keep these rivalries alive in non-conference play.
Did the 2025 season play out like you expected? Who will be the conference heavyweights moving forward? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Category: General Sports
