MWCConnection Roundtable: How many 10 win teams 2023?

Last year, the Mountain West ended up with three of its team who hit ten wins during the football season. Looking to 2023, how many teams will reach the ten-win mark for the season?

Mike: The Mountain West has had little trouble getting teams to ten wins the past few years, with four in 2021 and three in 2022. I think they can at least get two teams to double-digit wins in 2023, but I don’t know if another team can manage it. I think Air Force and Boise State are the best bets to achieve ten victories, based both on ability and their schedule. I’m not quite as high on Fresno State this season as others, meaning I think they end up with eight or nine wins. Often, there is a surprise team, but again, it’s hard to see anyone getting all the way to ten wins. So I’ll stick with two teams.

Zach: It seems like parity will be a major theme for the conference this year. I think there are a lot of good teams, but not really any great teams. I think Boise State will be the only team in the conference to get to ten wins and will probably take the conference championship game to get them there. So I am going to go with only one team getting to ten wins.

Jack: There have been multiple 10 win teams in every year since 2015 (not counting 2020). Even with the Mountain West having no clear favorite, I’d be surprised if there weren’t at least three teams that reached double digits. The top four in projected win total (Boise State, Air Force, San Diego State, and Fresno State) should provide two 10 win teams between them. I’ll count on a surprise team rising to the occasion, too, potentially Wyoming, Colorado State, or UNLV, which brings my prediction to three teams reaching ten victories.

NittanyFalcon: I agree with Zach’s opinion here, the only team likely to get to 10 wins is Boise State. I think the Falcons would have had a good chance without the latest roster losses - both starting cornerbacks and their top offensive linemen. Parity should take care of preventing any other team from reaching 10 wins.

Matt: I think that we’ll end up with 3 teams, but it takes until after the bowl games. Boise, Air Force, and Fresno are the most likely bets to hit the mark, but I think we’ll see at least one of them end the regular season/CCG weekend at 9 wins, and will need a bowl game victory to get to 10 wins. I think that Boise is probably the best bet to get there in the regular season, with Fresno and AFA aiming for 9 wins, with at least one of them getting there in the post-season.

Dom: The Mountain West is always going to be hit-or-miss, but I think we’ll only see two teams reach 10 wins. Boise and Fresno are the two most likely to finish over 10 wins, but I do see about three other teams that will be just short with nine wins. Air Force, San Diego State, and Wyoming should all finish around the nine win mark. Even though Air Force has a track record of double-digit wins, I feel the offense and the inconsistency of both sides of the ball will push them down to under 10. As I said however, this conference is like a rollercoaster, and we could see five 10-win teams or we could see none.

Adam: I’m going to give one shoo-in and that is Air Force. The Falcons open with Robert Morris and Sam Houston State, so one would think 2-0 to start. From then until the Boise State contest in late November they will be favored in every contest. This is a team that will rely on a veteran defense and take over 10 wins.

Boise State will be an interesting one to say the least. They have the most talent in the Mountain West this season. However, the schedule has a ton of road contests with tough matchups. Opening at Washington, then later in the season the Broncos are at San Diego State and at Memphis in back-to-back weeks and then travel to Fresno State before hosting Air Force later in the season. Many pundits think that the Broncos will get to double-digit wins, I think they will as well, but it will not be as easy as Air Force’s road.

Fresno State will be borderline making 10-wins. I think they will be 4-2 after six games, but over their second half of their season, there is really three games that I would consider them as winning, the other three could go either way.

So, at the end of the day, I will take two teams getting 10-wins; Boise State and Air Force.