Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game

The Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game is an annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of the Mountain West Conference (MW).

History

From 1999 to 2012, the champion of the Mountain West was determined by regular season record. Beginning in 2013, following the expansion to twelve members and the division of the conference into Mountain and West Divisions, the conference championship game was held between the two division winners. The Mountain West is one of four conferences to have its championship game at a campus site, along with the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, and the Sun Belt Conference.

The most recent 2022 championship game was the last to feature division winners. On May 20, 2022, the MW announced that it would eliminate its football divisions effective with the 2023 season, instead sending the top two teams in the conference standings to the title game. Two days earlier, the NCAA Division I Council had approved a rule change that gave all FBS conferences full freedom to determine the participants in their football championship games.

The inaugural MW Championship Game was played on December 7, 2013, at Fresno State's Bulldog Stadium and televised by CBS.

Members

Membership is current for the upcoming 2026 season, reflecting membership changes that become official that July.

Results

Mountain West Conference champions (1999–2012)

Final AP Poll rankings shown.

Mountain West Conference Championship Game (2013–present)

Below are the results from all Mountain West Conference Football Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.

† Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 game was played behind closed doors without fans.

Results by team

Current members

Former members

Rematches

The Mountain West Conference Football Championship game has featured a rematch of a regular-season game a total of eight times (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024, 2025). The team which won the regular-season game is 4-4 in the rematches, winning in 2014, 2019, 2024, and 2025 but losing in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022.

No results by team

• Nevada and New Mexico have yet to appear in a Mountain West Championship Game.
• Northern Illinois and UTEP will play their first season of MW football in 2026.
• North Dakota State, which joins in 2026 from the FCS ranks, will accordingly be eligible for the title game for the first time in 2028.
• Colorado State did not make an appearance in a Mountain West Conference Championship Game while a member of the conference.

Selection criteria

The Tiebreaking procedures for both selection for the Championship game and determination of the host for the 2023 Season are as follows.

Two-team tiebreaker procedure

1. Head-to-head record between the tied teams
2. Highest College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee Ranking (or composite of selected computer rankings). If one or both teams are ranked in the Nov 21, 2023 CFP Rankings and win in the final weekend of regular season play, the CFP Rankings will serve at the tiebreaker. If no team is both ranked in the Nov 21 CFP rankings and wins in the final weekend then, "a composite average of selected computer rankings" will serve as the tiebreaker.
3. Overall winning percentage against all opponents. (max one FCS win will be counted)
4. Record against the next highest-placed team in the Conference Standings
5. Winning percentage against common conference opponents.
6. Coin toss

Three or more-team tiebreaker procedure

This procedure is used until two teams remain tied, then the two-team tiebreaker procedures will be used.

1. Head-to-head winning percentage among the tied teams. If within the mini round-robin of tied teams, any of the tied teams did not play each other, the group of teams shall remain tied, unless one team defeated all other tied teams.
2. Highest College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee Ranking (or composite of selected computer rankings). If one or both teams are ranked in the Nov 21, 2023 CFP Rankings and win in the final weekend of regular season play, the CFP Rankings will serve at the tiebreaker. If no team is both ranked in the Nov 21 CFP rankings and wins in the final weekend then, "a composite average of selected computer rankings" will serve as the tiebreaker.
3. Overall winning percentage against all opponents. (max one FCS win will be counted)
4. Record against the next highest-placed team in the Conference Standings
5. Winning percentage against common conference opponents.
6. Drawing to be conducted virtually by the commissioner to determine the two teams.

Once the tie is reduced to two teams, then the two-team tiebreaker is used.

Host determination

Current procedure

The team with the best conference record hosts the championship game. The tiebreaker procedure for determining which teams are selected for the championship game also serves as the tiebreaking procedure for determining who is the host.

2018–2022 procedure

The team with the best conference record hosts the championship game. Before 2023, the division champion with the better conference record hosted the game. If the teams have the same record, the following tie-breaking procedure is used:

1. Head-to-head record
2. Higher College Football Playoff ranking going into the final week of regular season, excluding teams who are not ranked and/or that lost their final regular season game
3. Composite of selected computer rankings
4. Record versus common conference opponents
5. Highest overall winning percentage (conference and non-conference excluding exempt games)
6. Coin toss

2013–2017 procedure

From 2013 to 2017, the division champion with the higher College Football Playoff ranking going into the final week of regular season was designated as the host school unless it lost its final regular season game. If the latter occurred, or neither team was ranked in the latest available College Football Playoff rankings, then the following procedure was used:

1. Team with better composite ranking among selected computer rankings
2. Head-to-head record
3. Record versus common conference opponents
4. Winning percentage against the next-highest placed common conference opponent and proceeding through the conference, with placing based on: Placement within the division Overall conference record Composite of selected computer rankings
5. Coin toss

This procedure was discontinued after the 2017 Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game after Boise State was selected to host the game despite having the same conference record as their opponent Fresno State and losing to Fresno State during the regular season.

Game records

Source:

See also

• List of NCAA Division I FBS conference championship games