UNLV clinches Mountain West co-championship, computer rankings to determine title game participants

UNLV made it a four-way tie atop the Mountain West standings with a 42-17 road victory over rival Nevada on Saturday.

Boise State (8-4, 6-2), New Mexico (9-3, 6-2), San Diego State (9-3, 6-2) and UNLV (10-2, 6-2) all get a share of the MWC regular-season title. The two championship game participants will be selected by an average across four computer rankings: Connelly SP+, SportSource, ESPN’s SOR and KPI Rankings.

The final computer rankings are expected to be released between 8 and 9 a.m. Mountain time on Sunday. When the two participants are selected, head-to-head record will then be used to determine the host. 

The SportSource rankings are not provided to the public. As of Saturday morning, UNLV had the highest average ranking in the other three metrics, followed by San Diego State, Boise State and New Mexico. 

On Friday afternoon, the Lobos secured a share of their first regular-season conference title since 1964 with a 23-17 double-overtime win over San Diego State. 

New Mexico is one victory away from the program’s first 10-win season since 1982. 

“I think we’re just a good example and a good lesson of a team that can come together, and a team that shows a lot of the things that lead to winning and lead to championships,” first-year Lobos head coach Jason Eck said after the win. “And if you do that stuff, the wins follow. … It’s more about proving yourself right than proving other people wrong.”

San Diego State is hoping to make its first MWC championship game appearance since capturing back-to-back titles in 2015-16. 

“We’ve got to respond,” Aztecs head coach Sean Lewis said after the loss. “That’s what this team has done all year long. That’s the beauty of the life lessons that this game teaches. Not every day is going to be your day. The sun will come up tomorrow. We’ve got to learn from these lessons, these very, very hard lessons. We’ve got to get back to work and know there’s going to be another opportunity. And we can’t let this one beat us twice.” 

While the Lobos and Aztecs battled in Albuquerque, Boise State erased an 11-point second-half deficit to secure a 25-24 victory at Utah State. 

The Broncos have won back-to-back MWC titles but will need the computer rankings to break their way to reach a third straight championship game. 

“We handled our business, and I’m proud of our guys,” Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson said. “We went into this and I didn’t talk about other teams and what needed to happen. We needed to go out and handle business, and we did that, and we’re going to let the chips fall where they may.”