Once again, the college football season is nearly upon us (shameless plug for our Hawaii vs. Cal coverage). This means, once again, some intrepid writers have taken it upon themselves to release power rankings that encompass the entirety of the FBS. Naturally, Mountain West Connection was curious to see how the conference stacked up in the eyes of national scribes.
Here's what I found. High rankings are in bold italics, while low rankings are in (parentheses).
Team | Bill Connelly | Campus Insiders | CBS Sports | Orlando Sentinel | Phil Steele Power Poll | ESPN Football Power Index | Athlon Sports | Football Outsiders F/+ Projection | Paul Myerberg | Range | Median | Average [conf. rank] |
Air Force Falcons | 75 | 70 | 45 | 41 | 55 | (82) | 51 | 81 | 54 | 41 | 55 | 61.56 [3] |
Boise State Broncos | (38) | 33 | 28 | 33 | 31 | 36 | 34 | 29 | 19 | 19 | 33 | 31.22 [1] |
Colorado State Rams | 87 | 75 | 72 | 60 | (97) | 96 | 89 | 95 | 79 | 37 | 87 | 83.33 [6] |
Fresno State Bulldogs | 102 | 99 | 103 | 85 | 107 | 103 | 108 | 98 | (117) | 32 | 103 | 102.44 [9] |
Hawaii Warriors | (127) | 100 | 121 | 121 | 117 | 118 | 121 | 121 | 121 | 27 | 121 | 118.56 [12] |
Nevada Wolf Pack | (94) | 85 | 57 | 77 | 86 | 89 | 86 | 82 | 61 | 37 | 85 | 79.67 [5] |
New Mexico Lobos | 93 | 90 | (101) | 88 | 80 | 93 | 93 | 100 | 67 | 34 | 93 | 89.44 [8] |
San Diego State Aztecs | 43 | 43 | 37 | 49 | 45 | (58) | 36 | 49 | 13 | 45 | 43 | 41.44 [2] |
San Jose State Spartans | 95 | 91 | 79 | 91 | 87 | 74 | (96) | 94 | 86 | 22 | 91 | 88.11 [7] |
UNLV Rebels | 104 | 98 | 88 | 113 | 105 | 102 | 106 | (115) | 93 | 27 | 104 | 102.67 [10] |
Utah State Aggies | 85 | 81 | (90) | 72 | 84 | 87 | 82 | 73 | 46 | 44 | 84 | 77.78 [4] |
Wyoming Cowboys | (119) | 95 | 115 | 117 | 112 | 107 | 114 | 113 | 107 | 24 | 113 | 110.44 [11] |
Some interesting revelations from the chart:
- Compared to last year, the gap between Boise State and the next best team is not quite as large as it was. San Diego State is considered the second-best team in the conference.
- Hawaii had the least amount of change in their average ranking from 2015 to 2016. Unfortunately, the Warriors fell from 11th to last overall.
- The gap between the Aztecs and Falcons (#2 and #3, 20.12), is only slightly smaller than the gap between the Falcons and Rams (#3 and #6, 21.77)
- For the second year in a row, Bill Connelly was the low man on the most MWC teams. The ones in common in both years: Boise State, Nevada and Wyoming.
- Only three teams finished in the top half of the aggregated rankings: the Broncos, Aztecs and Falcons. Four teams are in the bottom 25%: Fresno State, UNLV, Wyoming and Hawaii.
- Once again, some perspective: Among the different rankings, Power 5 programs ranked 110th or lower include Iowa State, Kansas, Oregon State, Purdue and Rutgers.
Got any other observations? Criticisms? Be sure to leave 'em in the comments!