Our MNC Wednesday column today looks at the best seasons ever for the Mountain West, a conference that was formed pretty recently, after the realignment shifts of the 1990s. Of the current 11 conferences included in the FBS right now, the MWC is the third-youngest league. That’s pretty incredible, for a few reasons. The Mountain West has 12 schools in it for the 2023 season, but its membership has varied since forming (1999).

In total, the league has a combined record of 1497-1471 for a .504 winning percentage. This includes a 66-52 bowl mark (.559). In 24 seasons, too, 30 different teams have finished the season ranked in the (meaningless?) Associated Press Top 25. It’s not a Power 5 conference, of course, and even if Oregon State and Washington State join in 2024, the league won’t improve its national stature that much. But it’s fun.

10. 2005

Despite a mediocre 51-53 record overall, this season featured the TCU Horned Frogs finishing in the Top 25. They went 8-0 in league and 11-1 overall with a Houston Bowl win over Iowa State to end up ranked No. 11 overall. Three other teams went to bowl games, too: Utah won the Emerald Bowl over Georgia Tech; BYU lost the Las Vegas Bowl to California; and Colorado State lost the Poinsettia Bowl to Navy. Not a bad year.

9. 2006

This time, it was the BYU Cougars going 8-0 to win the conference, finishing with an 11-2 record overall. That left them ranked 16th in the country, and joining the Cougs in the AP Top 25 was TCU once again (22)—also with an 11-2 record. The MWC as a whole posted a 55-57 mark, as Utah (Armed Forces win) and New Mexico (New Mexico loss) joined BYU (Las Vegas win) and the Horned Frogs (Poinsettia win) in bowl season.

8. 2010

Breaking even with an overall 57-57 record, the MWC was dominated by the Horned Frogs (13-0, 8-0) and the Utes (10-3, 7-1). This was Utah’s last season in the conference before jumping up to Pac-12 Conference. Meanwhile, TCU finished No. 2 in the AP poll; it moved to the Big XII in 2012. Five teams went bowling: TCU (Rose), Utah (Maaco), BYU (New Mexico), Air Force (Independence), and San Diego State (Poinsettia). Wow!

7. 2021

Now a 12-team league, the MWC posted an 84-69 record for the fourth-best winning percentage in the FBS. Both SDSU (25th) and Utah State (24th) finished the year ranked in the Top 25. The Aggies (11-3) beat the Aztecs (12-2) in the title game, and overall, six teams went to bowl games: Air Force, Fresno State, Nevada, SDSU, USU, and Wyoming. Only Nevada lost as the MWC claimed the Bowl Challenge Cup again (fifth time).

6. 2008

Three schools ended up in the Top 25: Utah (2), TCU (7), and BYU (25). The Utes went undefeated (13-0) and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The Horned Frogs and the Rams won bowl games, too, while the Cougars and the Falcons lost their postseason matchups. The overall 64-49 record for a .566 winning percentage was fifth best in the FBS, too. The Utah bowl dominance over the Crimson Tide and its overrated coach is legend.

5. 2009

Seems like not much could top 2008, but here we go nonetheless: a 61-52 record featured three teams winning at least 10 games. TCU (12-1) finished No. 6 after losing its bowl game to also-undefeated Boise State, while BYU finished 11-2 at No. 12 and Utah finished 10-3 at No. 18. Air Force and Wyoming also won bowl games to clinch the third of the league’s five Bowl Challenge Cup victories. It’s hard to top this, right?!

4. 2007

But here we go—BYU (11-2) finished No. 14 in the country after going undefeated in league and beating UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl. TCU, New Mexico, and Utah also won bowl games, while Air Force lost its bowl matchup to California. Overall, the MWC teams compiled a 60-53 record combined. The top five teams in the league put together a joint 46-19 mark and helped the conference win another Bowl Challenge Cup.

3. 1999

The first year of the conference’s existence featured an 8-team league that went 50-41 overall for the fourth-best winning percentage in the FBS. No teams were ranked in the end, and only three schools reached bowl games: Utah (Las Vegas win); Brigham Young (Motor City loss); and Colorado State (Liberty loss). Yet when the old Western Athletic Conference folded and reformed as the Mountain West, the nation noticed, indeed.

2. 2003

Only 2 teams in the 8-school conference finished with losing records as the Utes went 10-2 to win the league and finish No. 21 in the AP poll behind Urban Meyer in his first season at Utah. Winning the Liberty Bowl was the Utes’ springboard to greater successes everywhere since. The Rams (San Francisco) and the Lobos (Las Vegas) also reach the postseason, although both teams lost. The 52-46 record doesn’t tell all here, at all.

1. 2004

Even though the conference posted just a 46-45 record overall, there is sabermetric strength here. Utah went undefeated and beat Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl to finish No. 4 overall in the AP poll. New Mexico lost the Emerald Bowl to Navy, while Wyoming won the Las Vegas Bowl over UCLA. The MWC finished sixth in overall SOS, which gave its achievements a big boost, too, as it claimed its first BCC victory ever.