What the Mountain West got right (and wrong) about its protected rivalries
The Mountain West announced Thursday its conference football schedules for the 2023-25 seasons. Starting in 2023, the MW will no longer play in divisions and will instead use a "2+6" formula for the league schedule that allows each team two conference opponents it will play on an annual basis. The MW did not call these "protected rivalries," but that's basically what they are. So which rivalries did the conference protect? The full list is below.
MW protected rivalries
Air Force: Colorado State and Wyoming
Boise State: New Mexico and Utah State
Colorado State: Air Force and Wyoming
Fresno State: Nevada and San Jose State
Hawaii: San Diego State and UNLV
Nevada: UNLV and Fresno State
New Mexico: Boise State and San Jose State
San Diego State: Hawaii and Utah State
San Jose State: Fresno State and New Mexico
UNLV: Nevada and Hawaii
Utah State: Boise State and San Diego State
Wyoming: Colorado State and Air Force
Some of these make complete sense. Those schools include Air Force, Colorado State, Nevada, Fresno State, Hawaii, UNLV and Wyoming. Those seven teams should be happy with their protected rivals. They're perfect fits. But the other five teams in the MW? Some didn't get perfect puzzle pieces.
Boise State's rivals are the most awkward. The Broncos drew New Mexico and Utah State. The Aggies are close geographically to Boise State, so that makes sense. New Mexico makes no sense. Boise State's top rivals are Nevada, Fresno State and San Diego State. It got paired with none of those schools. San Diego State drew Hawaii and Utah State, which is odd because the Aztecs' top rivals are Fresno State, San Jose State and even Nevada.
The big problem at hand was New Mexico and Utah State, which both don't have true in-conference rivals. Utah State's top rivals are Utah (in the Pac-12) and BYU (soon to be in the Big 12). For New Mexico, it's New Mexico State, an independent. There was no perfect schedule as a result of Utah State and New Mexico not having long-standing MW rivalries.
I put together my own "2+6" rivalry system and came up with the following, which is more or less perfect, with one major issue.
MW protected rivalries that make sense
Air Force: Colorado State and Wyoming
Boise State: Nevada and Fresno State
Colorado State: Air Force and Wyoming
Fresno State: Boise State and San Jose State
Hawaii: San Diego State and UNLV
Nevada: UNLV and Boise State
New Mexico: Utah State
San Diego State: San Jose State and Hawaii
San Jose State: Fresno State and San Diego State
UNLV: Nevada and Hawaii
Utah State: New Mexico
Wyoming: Colorado State and Air Force
The issue, of course, is that Utah State and New Mexico would have to play twice a season to make this work. That's not an option. Ultimately, I would make some minor changes to the list above, giving SDSU games with SJSU and New Mexico and Utah State games with Hawaii (Polynesian connection) and New Mexico. That would looks like the following.
My final MW protect rivalries
Air Force: Colorado State and Wyoming
Boise State: Nevada and Fresno State
Colorado State: Air Force and Wyoming
Fresno State: Boise State and San Jose State
Hawaii: UNLV and Utah State
Nevada: UNLV and Boise State
New Mexico: Utah State and San Diego State
San Diego State: San Jose State and New Mexico
San Jose State: Fresno State and San Diego State
UNLV: Nevada and Hawaii
Utah State: New Mexico and Hawaii
Wyoming: Colorado State and Air Force
This, to me, would have been the best-case scenario. It protects all the MW's best rivalries but one and includes annual games between Colorado State-Air Force; Colorado State-Wyoming; Air Force-Wyoming; Nevada-UNLV; Nevada-Boise State; Boise State-Fresno State; UNLV-Hawaii; SJSU-SDSU; and SJSU-Fresno State. That's nine rivalries protected under my pairings. In the pairing the MW put forth, only six of those pairings are protected. Yes, it'd be a bummer not to see Nevada-Fresno State play every year (that's the top MW rivalry that falls through the crack), but the Wolf Pack should play UNLV and Boise State every season. Boise State's rivalry games being with New Mexico and Utah State was the biggest flaw in the MW schedule, and that's fixed here.
Ultimately, the MW's "2+6" plan is an improvement over the old schedule as every MW team will play its conference opponent at least twice every three years, whereas the old model had a minimum of two games every four years. But it could have been a little better with the protected rivalries offered above. Of course, the odds the MW will have the exact same 12 football teams in 2025 seems slim to none, so this all might be a mute point anyway.
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.