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The Mountain West announced on Tuesday that their two new divisions will be named Mountain and West. Now is the time to have a very early breakdown of which division is the toughest.
For a quick review, here are the divisions:
At first glance the tougher division is the West division due to including 2012 tri-Mountain West champions Fresno State and San Diego State, then there is the all dangerous Nevada and San Jose State who won 11 games. The only below average teams are Hawaii and UNLV, but even with Hawaii they have a history of being an above average team.
The Mountain division is not a cakewalk, but it is much easier than the West division. Boise State is the best team, but they do have a challenge with Utah State who won 11 games this past year and Air Force is always a challenge with their run-option offense. Wyoming is hit-or-miss over the past few years, but if they are on they can challenge any team in the league, and if Bob Davie can keep New Mexico on their upward trajectory they could be a contender in a few years.
For an extremely early, and non-binding, divisional picks have to be Boise State on the Mountain side, and then Fresno State on the West side. A factor that makes these picks difficult at this time is that the three cross-division games will play a huge roll in who will win their respective division. Another factor that could make the difference is where games are played.