2020 Mountain West Conference football season
The 2020 Mountain West Conference football season, part of that year's NCAA Division I FBS football season, was scheduled to be the 22nd season of college football for the Mountain West Conference (MW). Since 2012, 12 teams have competed in the MW football conference. On August 10, 2020, the conference cancelled all fall sports competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]
| 2020 Mountain West Conference football season | |
|---|---|
 | |
| League | NCAA Division I FBS |
| Sport | Football |
| Duration | Postponed to spring 2021 |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| TV partner(s) | CBS Sports Family (CBS, CBSSN, CBS All Access), Fox Sports Family (Fox, FS1, FS2), Stadium, ATTSN |
| Regular Season | |
| Championship | |
| 2020 Mountain West Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mountain Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Air Force | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boise State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Colorado State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wyoming | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| West Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fresno State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hawaii | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nevada | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Diego State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Jose State | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNLV | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Championship: TBA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The season was scheduled to begin on September 3, 2020 and end on November 28, 2020. The Mountain West football Conference Championship Game was to be played on December 5, 2020. The entire schedule was released on February 27, 2020.[2]
Previous season
In 2019 Boise State won the Mountain Division with prefect a 8–0 Conference record conference record while Hawaii won the West Division with a 5–3 Conference record. Boise State defeated Hawaii 31–10 in the 2019 Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game which was held At Albertson's Stadium in Boise, ID
Preseason
Potential COVID-19 disruption
On May 12, 2020, California State University system chancellor Timothy White announced that all of its 23 campuses would hold essentially all classes in the 2020 fall term online. This in turn raised serious questions whether its member campuses—three of which (Fresno State, San Diego State, and San Jose State) are MW members—would be able to field teams in fall sports, including football, in light of statements by NCAA president Mark Emmert made on that organization's Twitter account on May 8:[3]
All of the [conference] commissioners and every [school] president that I've talked to is in clear agreement: If you don't have students on campus, you don't have student-athletes on campus. That doesn't mean [the school] has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you have to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students. ... If a school doesn't reopen, then they're not going to be playing sports. It's really that simple.
No decision on football at any of the CSU institutions has been made. However, on the same day that the CSU chancellor made his remarks, the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), an NCAA Division II non-football league whose members are all CSU campuses, publicly announced that it had canceled its 2020 fall sports season.[3][lower-alpha 1]
Mountain West Media
The Mountain West Media days will be held at the Cosmopolitan July 28 and 29.
Preseason Poll
The Preseason Poll will be released in August 2020.
Rankings
Coaches
Coaching changes
They Were Six Coaching Changes for the 2020 season New Mexico Aggies coach Bob Davie Resigned on November 25 and Danny Gonzales was hired On December 17. Later that same day UNLV Rebels Head Coach Tony Sanchez also resigned and he was replaced by Marcus Arroyo On December 11. On December 4 Colorado State Rams Coach Mike Bobo Resigned and he was replaced on December 14 by former Boston College Coach Steve Addazio. The Following Day December 5 Fresno State Bulldogs Coach Jeff Tedford Resigned and was replaced on December 17 by Kalen DeBoer. On January 8 San Diego State Aztecs Coach Rocky Long Announced his retirement from coaching and was replaced that same day by Ex-Coach Brady Hoke. And on January 14 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Coach Nick Rolovich was hired by Washington State and was replaced by Todd Graham On January 21.
Head coaches
| Team | Head Coach | Years At School | Overall Record | Record at School | MW Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Force | Troy Calhoun | 14 | 98–69 | 98–69 | 59–45 |
| Boise State | Bryan Harsin | 7 | 69–22 | 61–15 | 40–8 |
| Colorado State | Steve Addazio | 1 | 57–55 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Fresno State | Kalen DeBoer | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Hawaii | Todd Graham | 1 | 95–61 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Nevada | Jay Norvell | 4 | 15–21 | 15–21 | 12–12 |
| New Mexico | Danny Gonzales | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| San Diego State | Brady Hoke | 3 | 78–72 | 13–13 | 7–9 |
| San Jose State | Brent Brennan | 4 | 8–29 | 8–29 | 4–21 |
| UNLV | Marcus Arroyo | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Utah State | Gary Andersen | 6 | 63–67 | 38–31 | 41–25 |
| Wyoming | Craig Bohl | 7 | 140–72 | 36–39 | 23–25 |
Footnotes
- While the cited story states that the CCAA has 13 schools, only 12 will be members in the 2020–21 school year. The only CCAA member in 2019–20 that was not a CSU campus, UC San Diego, joins the Division I Big West Conference on July 1, 2020.[4]
References
- "Mountain West Postpones 2020 Fall Sports". TheMW.com. August 10, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
- "Mountain West Conference Announces 2020 Football Schedule". TheMW.com. February 27, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
- Bonagura, Kyle (May 12, 2020). "California State University system to stay online, leaving fall sports up in air". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- "CSU Bakersfield, UC San Diego to Join Big West Conference" (Press release). Big West Conference. November 27, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.