Editing Mountain West Conference (section)

==Football==

===Divisions===
{{See also|Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game}}
Beginning in 2013, the conference split into two divisions, named the "Mountain Division" and "West Division," of six teams each for football. The Mountain West also added a conference championship game, pitting the winners of the two divisions. This first championship game took place on December 7, 2013, at [[Bulldog Stadium]] in [[Fresno, California]], the home stadium of [[2013 Fresno State Bulldogs football team|Fresno State]], the divisional winner with the higher BCS ranking.<ref>{{cite web |last=Myerberg |first=Paul |date=2013-01-22 |title=Mountain West splits 12 football schools into six-team divisions |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/01/22/mountain-west-conference-football-announces-divisions/1856165/ |access-date=2013-08-09 |publisher=USAToday.com}}</ref> Each team played five divisional games and three cross-divisional contests annually.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.themwc.com/genrel/012213aaa.html |title=Mountain West Conference |publisher=Themwc.com |access-date=2013-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216214734/http://www.themwc.com/genrel/012213aaa.html |archive-date=2013-02-16}}</ref>
The 2015 championship game featured the Air Force Academy Falcons against the San Diego State University Aztecs. The 2016 championship game featured the San Diego State University Aztecs against the University of Wyoming Cowboys.

On May 20, 2022, the conference approved a new football schedule format, set to take effect in the 2023 season.<ref>{{cite web|first=Heather |last=Dinich|url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/33952873 |title=Mountain West Conference to eliminate football divisions in 2023|publisher=ESPN|date=May 20, 2022 |access-date=July 15, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Kirk|last=Kenney|url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/story/2022-05-20/mountain-west-football-one-division-2023-ncaa-conference-championship-game-san-diego-state-aztecs-sdsu|title=Mountain West will go to single 12-team division for football in 2023|work=The San Diego Union-Tribune|date=May 20, 2022 |access-date=July 15, 2022}}</ref> Under this format, the conference will remove divisions, and instead play a 2–6 format, where each team plays 2 designated rivals every year along with six separate 6-team rotations that flip every other year, such that every team will have at least one home game and one away game against every other team in a three-year cycle (less than the standard length of a college player's career). The MW Championship will also no longer be determined by the winners of the two divisions; the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will play instead.<ref name=perrivals>{{cite web|first=Brent|last=Briggeman|url=https://gazette.com/sports/air-force-sports/mountain-west-reveals-football-scheduling-format-for-its-post-division-era-starting-in-2023/article_e265ca64-03c3-11ed-98b2-a36150d525be.html|title=Mountain West reveals football scheduling format for its post-division era starting in 2023|publisher=The Gazette|date=July 14, 2022 |access-date=July 15, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Jason|last=Turner|url=https://www.hjnews.com/sports/usu/mountain-west-releases-football-schedule-from-2023-25/article_e46f1299-867c-50c2-b764-990793ff1244.html|title=Mountain West releases football schedule for 2023–25|publisher=The Herald Journal|date=July 14, 2022 |access-date=July 15, 2022}}</ref> The designated rivals under this system are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ MW Permanent Matchups<ref name=perrivals/>
|-
! scope="col" | School
! scope="col" | Rival 1
! scope="col" | Rival 2
|-
| '''Air Force'''
| Colorado State
| Wyoming
|-
| '''Boise State'''
| New Mexico
| Utah State
|-
| '''Colorado State'''
| Air Force
| Wyoming
|-
| '''Fresno State'''
| Nevada
| San José State
|-
| '''Hawaii'''
| San Diego State
| UNLV
|-
| '''Nevada'''
| Fresno State
| UNLV
|-
| '''New Mexico'''
| Boise State
| San José State
|-
| '''San Diego State'''
| Hawaii
| Utah State
|-
| '''San José State'''
| Fresno State
| New Mexico
|-
| '''UNLV'''
| Hawaii
| Nevada
|-
| '''Utah State'''
| Boise State
| San Diego State
|-
| '''Wyoming'''
| Air Force
| Colorado State
|}

Prior to this, the division format was as follows:

{| class="wikitable" align=center style="text-align:center"
|+ MW Football Divisions {{nowrap|(2013–2022)}}
|-
!Mountain Division
!West Division
|-
|Air Force
|Fresno State
|-
|Boise State
|Hawai{{okina}}i
|-
|Colorado State
|Nevada
|-
|New Mexico
|UNLV
|-
|Utah State
|San Diego State
|-
|Wyoming
|San José State
|}
* No other MW sport is split into divisions—including women's soccer, the only other conference sport with 12 competing schools (with Colorado College as the 12th member).

===Bowl games===
The Mountain West Conference has agreements with six bowls.

Since the 2014 season, the Mountain West champion is eligible for an at-large berth in the [[Cotton Bowl Classic]], [[Fiesta Bowl]], or [[Peach Bowl]], if it is the highest-ranked conference champion among the [[Group of Five conferences|"Group of Five"]] conferences (which also includes [[American Athletic Conference|The American]], [[Conference USA|CUSA]], [[Mid-American Conference|MAC]], and [[Sun Belt Conference|Sun Belt]]) in the final [[College Football Playoff]] rankings, if it is not in the top 4. In the 2014 season, [[2014 Boise State Broncos football team|Boise State]] became the first team to receive this berth, being selected for and winning the [[2014 Fiesta Bowl (December)|Fiesta Bowl]].

As of 2020,

{| class="wikitable" align=center style="text-align:center"
|-
!width=75| Pick
!width=200| Name
!width=200| Location
!width=100| Opposing<br/>conference
!width=75| Opposing<br/>pick
|-
|1
|[[LA Bowl]]
|[[Inglewood, California]]
|[[Pac-12]]
|5
|-
|Non–specific
|[[Hawaii Bowl]]
|[[Honolulu|Honolulu, Hawaii]]
|[[American Athletic Conference|The American]]
|Non–specific
|-
|Non–specific
|[[Famous Idaho Potato Bowl]]
|[[Boise, Idaho]]
|[[Mid-American Conference|MAC]]
|Non–specific
|-
|Non–specific
|[[New Mexico Bowl]]
|[[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]
|[[Conference USA|CUSA]]
|Non–specific
|-
|Non–specific
|[[Arizona Bowl]]
|[[Tucson, Arizona]]
|[[Mid-American Conference|MAC]]
|Non–specific
|-
|Conditional*
|[[Cactus Bowl]]
|[[Phoenix, Arizona]]
|[[Big 12 Conference|Big 12]] or [[Pac-12 Conference|Pac-12]]
|6 (Big 12) or 7 (Pac-12)
|-
|Conditional*
|[[San Francisco Bowl]]
|[[Santa Clara, California]]
|[[Big 12 Conference|Big 12]] or [[Pac-12 Conference|Pac-12]]
|Non–specific (Big Ten) or 4 (Pac-12)
|}
* If [[Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football|Hawaii]] is bowl eligible and not MW champions or selected for a CFP bowl, they will receive a berth in the [[Hawaii Bowl]].
<nowiki>*</nowiki> The MW will only send a team to the Cactus or San Francisco Bowls if one of the primary conferences affiliated with those bowls is unable to fill their slots.

===Bowl records===
<small>As of the [[2024–25 NCAA football bowl games|2024-25 bowl games]]</small>
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
!School !! Appearances !! W !! L !! T !! Win<br/>% !! BCS/<br/>NY6 !! National<br/>championships
|-
|{{left}}[[Air Force Falcons football|Air Force]]
|30
|16
|13
|1
|{{winpct|16|13|1}}
|0–0
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[Fresno State Bulldogs football|Fresno State]]
|28
|17
|14
|0
|.548
|0–0
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[Boise State Broncos football|Boise State]]
|22{{efn|Appeared in the [[2018 First Responder Bowl]], but the game was canceled midway through the first quarter due to lightning.}}
|13
|9
|0
|.591
|3–1
|2 — 1958 ([[NJCAA National Football Championship|NJCAA]]), 1980 ([[NCAA Division I Football Championship|NCAA Division I-AA]]{{efn|In 2006, "Division I-AA" was renamed "Division I Football Championship Subdivision" or "Division I FCS" for short.}})
|-
|{{left}}[[San Diego State Aztecs football|San Diego State]]
|20
|10
|10
|0
|{{winpct|9|9|0}}
|0–0
|3 — 1966–1968 ([[NCAA Division II National Football Championship|NCAA College Division]]{{efn|The "NCAA College Division" was split into today's "NCAA Division II" and "NCAA Division III" in 1973. The NCAA considers all College Division championships to be part of the histories of Division II championships in the same sports.}})
|-
|{{left}}[[Nevada Wolf Pack football|Nevada]]
|18
|7
|12
|0
|{{winpct|7|12|0}}
|0–0
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[Wyoming Cowboys football|Wyoming]]
|18
|10
|9
|0
|{{winpct|10|9|0}}
|0–0
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[Colorado State Rams football|Colorado State]]
|17
|6
|12
|0
|{{winpct|6|12
|0}}
|0–0
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[Utah State Aggies football|Utah State]]
|15
|6
|11
|0
|{{winpct|6|11|0}}
|0–0
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football|Hawai'i]]
|14
|8
|6
|0
|{{winpct|8|6|0}}
|0–1
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[New Mexico Lobos football|New Mexico]]
|13
|4
|8
|1
|{{winpct|4|8|1}}
|0–0
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[San Jose State Spartans football|San Jose State]]
|12
|7
|7
|0
|{{winpct|7|7|0}}
|0–0
|0
|-
|{{left}}[[UNLV Rebels football|UNLV]]
|6
|4
|2
|0
|{{winpct|4|2|0}}
|0–0
|0
|}
{{notelist}}

===Bowl Challenge Cup===
[[ESPN]] created the [[Bowl Challenge Cup]] in 2002 for the conference that had the best college football bowl record among [[Football Bowl Subdivision|Division I Football Bowl Subdivision]] conferences. The conference has won it five times, more than any other conference, by finishing with bowl game records of 2–1 in [[2004–05 NCAA football bowl games|2004–05]],<ref name="espn">{{Cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/bowls07/news/story?id=3169117 |title=2007 Bowl Challenge Cup standings |date=December 26, 2007 |work=ESPN}}</ref> 4–1 in [[2007–08 NCAA football bowl games|2007–08]],<ref name="mwc">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080121061808/http://themwc.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/011008aab.html Mountain West Posts Top Bowl Win Percentage Among FBS Subdivision Conferences]</ref> 4–1 in [[2009–10 NCAA football bowl games|2009–10]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/16343161/ |title=2009–2010 Conference Bowl Wins |work=NBC Sports |access-date=2010-01-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105093655/http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/16343161 |archive-date=2010-01-05 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 4–1 in [[2010–11 NCAA football bowl games|2010–11]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Adelson |first=Andrea |url=https://www.espn.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/37567 |title=Mountain West wins Bowl Challenge Cup |work=ESPN |access-date=2013-08-09}}</ref> and 5–1 in 2021–22.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mountain West Wins Nation's Best Fifth Bowl Challenge Cup |url=http://themw.com/news/2022/1/12/football-mountain-west-wins-nations-best-fifth-bowl-challenge-cup.aspx |access-date=2022-01-13 |website=themw.com}}</ref>