College football bowl games put the spotlight on Mountain West teams, SDSU Aztecs

Five Mountain West Conference football teams are poised to make flight to the reorganized Pac-12 beginning in July. Thus, December’s bowl games served as a grand finale to represent the MW conference before the big switch happens.

Six MW teams qualified for bowl games in 2025: Boise State, Fresno State, UNLV, Hawaii, San Diego State University and the New Mexico Lobos. Three of those teams – Boise State, Fresno State and SDSU — played their final games as MW members before becoming official Pac-12 property.

Hawaii, UNLV and New Mexico will all continue to represent the MW along with conference holdovers Air Force Academy, San Jose State Spartans, Nevada-Reno Wolf Pack and the Wyoming Cowboys, The newcomers include Northern Illinois University and the University of Texas-El Paso for a regenerated nine team conference.

The new Pac-12 will include five MW refugees: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, SDSU and Utah State. They join Pac-12 holdovers Washington State and Oregon State. The Pac-12 membership was hiked to eight schools for football (nine including other sports) with the recent addition of Texas State.

Of the six teams to represent the MW in postseason competition this holiday season, only Hawaii and Fresno State came out winners — Hawaii in a wild 35-31 victory over Cal-Berkeley in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24 while Fresno State defeated Miami of Ohio, 18-3, in the Arizona Bowl on Dec. 27.

The Rainbow Warriors overcame a 21-0 deficit to eclipse the Golden Bears’ star on a game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds to play. The dramatic comeback with 22 fourth quarter points ranked as the most enjoyable of all the bowl games played thus far.

Hawaii’s comeback started with 10 second quarter points to halve the Cal lead to 21-10 at halftime. The Rainbow Warriors tacked on three points in the third quarter to further narrow the deficit to 21-13.

A touchdown to start the fourth quarter allowed the hosts to tie the game, 21-21, but the Golden Bears took a three-point lead on a 22-yard field goal by Chase Meyer. The Warriors marched back in front, 28-24, with 7:19 to play in regulation.

Cal (7-6) added a touchdown to move in front 31-28 with 1:57 to play. But the Warriors (9-4) rewarded their fans with 10seconds remaining on a TD pass from backup Luke Weaver to Nick Cenacle. The extra point was good to cap a 35-31 victory.

It marked Hawaii’s first nine-game win season in six years.

The teams combined for 883 total yards — 488 for Cal and 395 for Hawaii. The passing game was prolific with 343 yards for the Golden Bears and 302 for the Warriors.

The chain gang was kept busy with 53 first downs.

Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado passed for 274 yards with three touchdowns before leaving the game while Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele racked up 343 yards and one TD. Pofele Ashlock had 14 catches for 123 yards and two scores to lead Warriors receivers while Jacob DeJesus had nine catches for 137 yards and one TD.

Kendrick Raphael and Anthony League scored back-to-back rushing touchdowns to put the Bears in a three-touchdown lead. Kansei Matsuzawa connected on back-to-back field goals following a TD catch by Ashlock while Ashlock’s second scoring reception of the game tied the score.

Hawaii took its first lead of the contest on a 17-yard TD catch by Brandon White on an overturned call.

The Cal QB scored on a one-yard run to flip the scoreboard, but Weaver completed his first play in the game for the game-winner.

Next up on the bowl gridiron were Fresno State in the Arizona Bowl in Tucson, Ariz., and SDSU in the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, both on Dec. 27.

Fresno State (9-4) defeated Miami of Ohio (7-7) by an 18-3 score on four field goals by Dylan Lynch and one TD by Richie Anderson III from E.J. Warner.

The Bulldogs out-gained the RedHawks 391-192 in yardage.

SDSU engaged the University of North Texas, ranked No. 23 in the AP poll. The matchup produced 96 points between the teams and featured a bowl record 1,149 total combined yards as fans had to return to their seats and viewers flip their dials as the Aztecs began a feverish rally from a 42-20 deficit with 27 points in the fourth quarter.

North Texas started driving almost immediately in building early leads of 14-0 and 28-13. But the Aztecs scored the bulk of their points late to make the Mean Green sweat out the victory.

SDSU started the game with two key defenders out and was down to its third string QB by end of the game.

But it didn’t matter.

Quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr. rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns before exiting the game in the second quarter with an injury. The 170 rushing yards are the most by an Aztec quarterback in program history. He scored on runs of nine and 72 yards.

The combined 96 points were the fourth most in a SDSU game in its Division I history (since 1969). The Aztecs’ 47 points were the most against an FBS opponent since scoring 48 points against Central Michigan in the 2019 New Mexico Bowl.

Kyle Crum entered the game at the signal-caller position and completed a three-yard scoring pass to Jackson Ford to bring the score to 28-20 at halftime.

North Texas scored twice in the third quarter to pad its lead to 22 points. But the Aztecs countered with two touchdowns to start the fourth quarter to make it an eight-point game. Crum scored on an 11-yard run while Nathan Acevedo scored on a 63-yard punt return.

The Mean Green returned to the endzone for a 15-point lead before SDSU closed out the game with a pair of scores — an 11-yard scoring run by Helix grad Christian Washington and a one-yard run by Crum.

Crum passed for 169 yards while Acevedo caught four passes for 61 yards.

The Mean Green and Aztecs’ 1,150 yardage total fell short of the New Mexico Bowl record of 1,237 set in 2012 between Arizona and Nevada.

“It didn’t take a whole lot of motivation or need to get the guys attention,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said.

Drew Mestemaker passed for 250 yards with three touchdown and two interceptions for North Texas wjile Cameron Dorner had six catches for 66 yards and two TD. Caleb Hawkins controlled the run game with 31 carries for 198 yards and two TD.

Best of the rest
MW champion Boise State made history by qualifying for its 28th consecutive bowl game by appearing in the L.A. Bowl on Dec. 13 against Washington, which ended the Idahoans’ season at 9-5 with a 38-10 setback. The Huskies finished 9-4.

Max Cutforth passed for 202 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions for Boise State while Chris Marshall had five receptions for 97 yards. Dylan Riley had 10 carries for 34 yards against the Washington defense.

Demond Williams Jr. unleashed four touchdowns passes to go with 215 passing yards for the Huskies. Denzel Boston had six catches for 126 yards with one TD while Jonah Coleman rushed 12 times for 85 yards with one TD.

MW runner-up UNLV met Ohio University in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl on Dec. 23 in Texas. The teams played in the Ford Center at The Star, which doubles as the NFL Dallas Cowboys practice facility and is one of three local venues used in the Frisco Independent School District for varsity football games.

UNLV carried play early but proved susceptible to mistakes and turnovers to keep the score close. Ohio led, 6-0, at halftime on a five-yard scoring run by quarterback Parker Navarro. However, the extra-point conversion was wide, leaving the Bobcats with a narrow halftime lead.

The Rebels continued to create opportunities but ended drives prematurely to the chagrin of a vocal fan base that traveled from Las Vegas.

Sieh Bangura scored a 23-yard rushing touchdown with 11:02 to play in the third quarter and Navarro hit Chase Hendricks on a successful two-point conversion to boost Ohio to a 14-0 lead.

UNLV finally got on the scoreboard via a 50-yard field goal by Ramon Villela with 7:33 to play in the quarter to make the score 14-3. But the Bobcats countered with a 45-yard field goal by David Dellenbach to extend the Ohio lead to 17-3.

The Rebels scored a touchdown on a two-yard run by Anthony Colandrea, the MW offensive player of the year, with 4:45 to play. But that was as close as the Nevadans could get in a 17-10 final in front of 6,521 fans in the 12,000-seat venue.

It was the seventh consecutive bowl game victory for the Bobcats, whose band serenaded fans with a spirited halftime performance.

Colandrea had a rough game by completing 19 of 30 passes for 164 yards with one interception. He rushed nine times for 28 yards.

Overall, Ohio out-gained UNLV 350-281 in total yards — 207-97 in rushing yards.

Navarro was much more efficient by completing 11 of 15 passes for 143 yards with one touchdown. He rushed 12 times for 43 yards.

Bangura rushed 19 times for 149 yards with one TD while Hendricks caught four aerials for 87 yards.

Jai’Den Thomas led UNLV with 11 carries for 51 yards while Jaden Bradley had four catches for 62 yards. JoJo Earle had four catches for 40 yards.

Game MVPs included Bangura (Offensive) and Adonis Williams Jr. (Defensive) with five tackles and one sack for Ohio.

Extra points
Notre Dame, Iowa State and Kansas State all declined bowl games. Notre Dame declined a bowl game invitation after being left out of the college football playoff bracket.

Mountain West Conference
2025 Bowl-Eligible Teams
L.A. Bowl: Washington 38, Boise State 10
Frisco Bowl: Ohio 17, UNLV 10
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii 35, Cal 31
Rate Bowl: Minnesota 20, New Mexico 17
New Mexico Bowl: North Texas 49, SDSU 47
Arizona Bowl: Fresno State 18, Miami (Ohio) 3