Mountaintop View 7-19-23. MW Media Days, Murray’s selections, SDSU preview, Conference Realignment talk, NBA Summer League.

Even though it’s the “off-season,” there is a light at the end of the tunnel with Media Days going on. Through it all, we have you covered. Take a look at today’s links, plus the content coming your way on our site.

Five Mountain West questions for Media Days.

Jordan Kaye writes about Boise State, but he looks at the conference at large in this Media Days preview post. His five biggest questions are: the one on everyone’s mind, what will be said publicly about SDSU (although this may have been resolved), how Boise State’s transfers fare this year, how SDSU will capitalize on their newfound exposure, Barry Odom’s recruiting philosophy, and why Easton Gibbs has stayed at Wyoming. Look for the answers this week.

Chris Murray’s Mountain West voting.

The official votes will be released today, but some writers released their ballots ahead of time. One of them is one of the best in Chris Murray. He picks Boise State as the conference’s top team and is higher on Air Force than Fresno State when it comes to good teams who lost a lot of talent. He really likes Wyoming’s defense and also likes Colorado State’s defense while acknowledging the offense can’t get worse. As one can assume, he is higher on Nevada than anywhere else I’ve seen and is sour on UNLV and has New Mexico bringing up the rear. The POY selections are all pretty standard, and other than a few odd choices at LB and DB, his all-conference list checks out.

College Football News: San Diego State Preview

More previews, this one is on the Aztecs. Last year didn’t quite go the way they wanted, but they still made a bowl game. The blowout and close losses were tough to watch last year, though the defense was good more often than not. The key stat for the offense is averaging 4 ypc, as everything else seems to fall into place after that. Plus, they finally have a quarterback who gives the offense another dimension in Jalen Mayden. On defense, the line might struggle, but the linebackers should be solid and the secondary has lots of athletic options going for them.

Mums the word from Mountain West on San Diego State...

... Until it wasn’t.

MW Alums on NBA Summer League Team.

On the horizon:

• Later today: Peak Perspective: 2023 Mountain West Top Nonconference Games
• Later today: 2023 Utah State Predictions using ESPN’s FPI
• Coming Thursday: Our Mountain West Armchair Commissioner Series continues.
• Coming Friday: The MWCConnection Roundtable: Who will be the offensive breakout player for your team in 2023?
• Coming Friday: Friday Night Lights Review: S3E11
• Coming Friday: Reacts Results