Mountaintop View 1-2-23. Cowboys lose, Bowl overhaul, Playoff talk, Rebel rebuild, Nevarez era begins.

It’s Monday, and we are back at it. Happy New Year to one and all! Now that the Arizona Bowl has come and gone, Mountain West football is officially behind us. On the other hand, we have conference basketball games over the next few months and the conference is as good as it ever way. Plus, recruiting content is still going strong. Check out our original coverage and what we can find from the world wide web below.

Cowboys lose a close one.

Credit to Wyoming, after a month-long layoff and already losing many players to the transfer portal, they showed up ready to play on Friday. However, so did Ohio. It was a back-and-forth game and, surprisingly, an offensive game, as neither team’s defense found much success. In thrilling fashion, the game went to double overtime before the Bobcats scored to end the game.

Bowl Season Overhaul.

Bowl officials will meet this spring to discuss their future and potential changes once the college football playoff expands. Topics will include: raising the six-win standard, providing standard name, image and likeness (NIL) payments to players, incorporating bowls into the playoff, starting bowl games earlier, and more flexibility in conference bowl affiliations. While some may say bowl games are too plentiful and more irrelevant, viewership remains higher than ever.

What still needs to be figured out for the College Football Playoff?

Speaking of the College Football Playoff, Nicole Auerbach explores what still needs to happen before the expansion begins. Among those things are: moving the start of the season up a week (making Week 0 the new Week 1), getting media contracts for each of the games, figuring out where the quarter-final games will take place, the Rose Bowl, and more importantly, figuring out the revenue distribution for the playoff, which figures to look much different than the current setup.

Odom eager to get Rebel rebuild going.

It appears new UNLV coach Barry Odom has no problem figuring out how to motivate his players, sometimes with words and sometimes with fire. He was a tough-nosed player back in his day and figures to mold his new team in the same way. A great dive into who Coach Odom is and what has led him to this point.

Nevarez officially starts leading the charge.

On the horizon:

• Later today: A new MWC Recruiting Roundup with the latest news, offers, and commitments. Plus, January team recruiting rankings!
• Later today: The Recruiting Road So Far: San Diego State
• Coming Tuesday: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Bowl Week #3
• Coming Tuesday: The Recruiting Road So Far: San Jose State
• Coming Tuesday: Reacts: Men’s basketball
• Coming Wednesday: Peak Perspective: The MWCConnection 2022 Year in Review
• Coming Wednesday: The Recruiting Road So Far: UNLV