College Football 25: The Mountain West Conference

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Only three empty Saturdays stand between us and the week zero slate of games to kick off the NCAA Football season! I know, I know, it’s been a long offseason and we’re all itching for some game action. Well, there’s good news.

Two weeks ago, EA Sports finally released the College Football 25 video game after a decade-long absence for their iconic franchise series. To say this was a long-awaited return would be a colossal understatement. EA Sports sold over 2 million copies of their premium edition, which gave gamers access three days ahead of the announced standard release date of July 19th.

As a longtime fan of the series, I was one of the 2 million who secured early access. While there’s no substitute for a Saturday (or the countless other days games are now played) of Mountain West action, CFB25 provides a nice bridge to the official start of the 2024 season.

Recognizing that not every college football fan has or will buy the CFB25 game, we wanted to share some of the fun with everyone. So here’s what we did.

WE HAVE SIMULATED THE 2024 SEASON

Using the Dynasty feature in the CFB25 game, we simulated the entire 2024 college football season. In case you’re wondering, Jacksonville State made the playoffs in our simulation as the sole representative from the Group of Five. As if not making the playoffs wasn’t bad enough, MWC fans won’t be happy to hear that BYU not only made the college football playoffs, but earned a bye week as well.

So yes, the introduction of the new 12-Team College Football Playoff is exciting, but we’re here for the Mountain West action! Even though no Mountain West Conference teams made the playoffs in our simulation, there were plenty of interesting takeaways from the season.

HOW THE (MOUNTAIN) WEST WAS CONQUERED

Probably not surprisingly to many, the Boise State Broncos were your Mountain West Conference Champions. Who did they have to beat to win the championship? Nevada. That’s right, the Nevada Wolf Pack were not only bowl-eligible, but were nearly crowned conference champs in our simulation.

In addition to Boise State and Nevada, Air Force, Fresno State, San Diego State, New Mexico and Hawai’i were also eligible for the Bowl.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

One of the first things that stood out was that the New Mexico Lobos gave up the least points defensively. Part of the reason for the strong defensive performance was their defensive end, Gabriel Lopez, who recorded 15.5 sacks this year. Lopez was third in the voting for the Nation’s Best Defensive End award. It also helped that Tavian Combs was tied for the conference lead in interceptions.

The All-Conference First Team was loaded with Broncos, as seven Boise State players earned a spot. Brayden Schager represented Hawai’i well, as he was recognized as the best quarterback in the conference. Somewhat shockingly, Ashton Jeanty was not a first-team running back, and Tory Horton was not an All-Conference nominee at all. However, Jeanty was on the second team, while Horton suffered a season-ending injury in the simulation. An injury is the only thing that could keep that man from catching passes.

It was also interesting to see three Mountain West quarterbacks throw for 30 or more touchdowns. Malachi Nelson (38), Brayden Schager (32), Devon Dampier (31), and Spencer Petras (30) all had 30 TUDs and 3,000 yards on the year! And it’s no surprise that Air Force’s Dylan Carson led the conference in rushing yards. Video game or not, get to know that name.

TURNED DOWN

It was a lot of fun to run this simulation and see how some of our favorite teams and players fared. But the level of disrespect for the Mountain West was undeniable. No teams in the playoffs. No one was in the top 25. And not a single player from the conference was recognized as a consensus All-American.

Coaches in the Mountain West might want to print this out and hang it up as motivation for the season. Our EA Sports College Football 25 season may have slept on the Mountain West, but we know better. We just can’t wait for the season to start and check the facts!