Sometimes, flying beneath the radar can be a good thing. So it goes for the Mountain West, which in an era of college conference upheaval has maintained a familiar look for almost a decade, content with its alignment and not particularly worried about any of its members being poached. Until lately, that is, with San Diego State conducting an apparent courtship with the Pac-12, though it's a bit hard to tell whom is courting whom in the wake of USC and UCLA's pending departures to the Big Ten. Recently, the Aztecs notified the Mountain West of their intention to explore other possibilities, but quickly rescinded that request when the conference threatened to play a bit of hardball. The last time such possibilities arose was over a decade ago, when the Big East was still playing football and made a future move for both SDSU and Boise State, though that would disintegrate quickly before both sheepishly asked the Mountain West to accept them back into the fold  Reportedly, the Aztecs made less friends around the conference than the Broncos with their behavior in those days, a fact not lost upon other members in their recent rebuke of SDSU's latest request.

Whatever the case, the Mountain West seems assured of its place in the college sports food chain, even if it is standing well back in the queue. At least the conference's future existence isn't in question. For the moment, at least, the Pac-12's immediate future is much more of a mystery. Indeed, should the Pac splinter in the near future, a likely landing spot for some of those displaced members could be the Mountain West, with Washington State and Oregon State most discussed as potential future adds. Stay tuned for further developments.

In the meantime, the Mountain West has experienced a pretty good run lately, with its football teams faring well in recent bowl action and the aforementioned Aztecs off a charge to the national title game in the most recent iteration of March Madness. Not all of the programs have flourished on the gridiron, however. The Mountain West has continued its annual pattern of well-defined haves and have-nots. Another characteristic of the loop; with the notable exception of Air Force, its successful coaches are also still apt to be lured elsewhere. Meanwhile, like elsewhere in the country, the straggler programs often also lack patience with their losing mentors. And while most Mountain West reps are not going to be big players in the NIL arms race, the expansive transfer portal is now providing another avenue to a quick fix for those programs shrewd enough to take advantage.

A similar cast of characters (Boise State, Air Force, Wyoming, Utah State, San Diego State, Fresno State) look most likely to emerge this fall, with one important change; the conference is no longer broken into "Mountain" and "Pacific" halves. Instead, like the Big 12 has done for years, and recently the Pac-12, it will simply be the top two finishers who qualify for the league title tilt in early December. That's important, as in recent seasons, the Mountain half of the loop has tended to list more of the serious entries, even though Jeff Tedford's Fresno State would emerge as the conference kingpin last December.  Few regional observers, however, would be surprised if the title game for this term features teams who both recently played in the same division of the league.

2023 Mountain West title odds

Per Caesars Sportsbook

• Boise State +220
• Fresno State +260
• Air Force +425
• San Diego State +750
• Wyoming +1000
• San Jose State +1200
• UNLV +1600
• Utah State +2200
• Colorado State +2200
• Nevada +4000
• Hawaii +10000
• New Mexico +10000

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