2007 Mountain West Conference football season
The 2007 Mountain West football season is the 9th since eight former members of the Western Athletic Conference banded together to form the Mountain West Conference. It began on August 30th when UNLV defeated Utah State in Logan, Utah. The same night, Utah fell to Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon. Brigham Young University won its second consecutive, undefeated, outright conference title, which was the Cougars' fourth MWC title since the conference began in 1999.
Coaching Changes
- Troy Calhoun took over at Air Force, following the retirement of longtime Falcons' coach Fisher DeBerry.
Standings
| Team | Conference | Overall | Rank | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Losses | PF | PA | Wins | Losses | PF | PA | AP | Coaches | BCS | |
| BYU | 8 | 0 | 200 | 102 | 10 | 2 | 326 | 198 | 14 | 14 | 17 |
| Air Force | 6 | 2 | 228 | 164 | 9 | 3 | 353 | 232 | 32 | 32 | |
| Utah | 5 | 3 | 167 | 87 | 8 | 4 | 306 | 187 | 34 | ||
| New Mexico | 5 | 3 | 161 | 176 | 8 | 4 | 298 | 247 | |||
| TCU | 4 | 4 | 220 | 153 | 7 | 5 | 319 | 230 | |||
| San Diego State | 3 | 5 | 169 | 217 | 4 | 8 | 274 | 365 | |||
| Wyoming | 2 | 6 | 130 | 233 | 5 | 7 | 233 | 311 | |||
| Colorado State | 2 | 6 | 179 | 232 | 3 | 9 | 304 | 369 | |||
| UNLV | 1 | 7 | 148 | 231 | 2 | 10 | 218 | 343 | |||
Statistical Leaders
| Passing | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | School | COMP | ATT | YDS | TD | INT |
| Max Hall | BYU | 277 | 461 | 3,617 | 24 | 12 |
| Kevin O'Connell | SDSU | 224 | 384 | 2275 | 14 | 7 |
| Donovan Porterie | New Mexico | 223 | 380 | 2636 | 13 | 8 |
| Rushing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | School | ATT | YDS | YPC | TD |
| Chad Hall | Air Force | 211 | 1415 | 6.7 | 14 |
| Harvey Unga | BYU | 227 | 1,211 | 5.3 | 13 |
| Rodney Ferguson | New Mexico | 292 | 1179 | 4.0 | 13 |
| Darrell Mack | Utah | 231 | 1128 | 4.9 | 10 |
| Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | School | REC | YDS | YPC | TD |
| Marcus Smith | New Mexico | 86 | 1039 | 12.1 | 3 |
| Travis Brown | New Mexico | 68 | 895 | 13.2 | 5 |
| Brett Swain | UNLV | 48 | 875 | 18.2 | 2 |
| Austin Collie | BYU | 50 | 837 | 16.7 | 6 |
| Tackles | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | School | SOLO | AST | TOTAL | ||
| Beau Bell | UNLV | 79 | 47 | 126 | ||
| Drew Fowler | Air Force | 43 | 67 | 110 | ||
| Russell Allen | San Diego St. | 67 | 43 | 110 | ||
| Kelly Poppinga | BYU | 42 | 58 | 100 | ||
| Sacks | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | School | SACKS | ||||
| Jan Jorgensen | BYU | 12 | ||||
| John Fletcher | Wyoming | 10.5 | ||||
| Chase Ortiz | TCU | 8.0 | ||||
| Interceptions | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | School | INT | ||||
| Carson Bird | Air Force | 6 | ||||
| Julius Stinson | Wyoming | 5 | ||||
Bowl Games
- Utah 35, Navy 32
December 20, 2007 • Qualcomm Stadium • San Diego, California • ESPN
In the first bowl game of the 2007 season, the Utes' quarterback Brian Johnson threw for 226 yards as the Utah was able to outlast the 316 yards of rushing offense built up by the Midshipmen. It was Utah's seventh consecutive bowl victory, a streak that dates back to 1999.
- New Mexico 23, Nevada 0
December 22, 2007 • University Stadium • Albuquerque, New Mexico • ESPN
For the second year in a row, the Lobos were invited to play in their hometown bowl game. This time, however, they emerged victorious. It was their first bowl victory since 1961, snapping a five-game losing streak. Quarterback Donovan Porterie threw for 354 yards to earn MVP honors.
- BYU 17, Oregon 16
December 22, 2007 • Sam Boyd Stadium • Las Vegas, Nevada • ESPN
The Cougars and the Bruins had met in the regular season on September 8th, with UCLA claiming victory, 27-17. In front of the Las Vegas Bowl's fifth consecutive sell-out, however, the Cougars won the rematch 17-16, as they blocked UCLA kicker Kai Forbath's last-second field goal to preserve victory.
- TCU 20, Houston 13
December 28, 2007 • Reliant Stadium • Houston, Texas • NFL Network
In a rematch of former Southwest Conference rivals, TCU overcame a 10-7 halftime lead and then held back a last-minute rally by the Cougars to win their third consecutive bowl game, 20-13. Freshman quarterback Andy Dalton threw for 249 yards to earn MVP honors, while the TCU defense held Houston to just 32 yards rushing.
- California 42, Air Force 36
December 31, 2007 • Amon G. Carter Stadium • Fort Worth, Texas • ESPN
Making their first bowl appearance since 2002, Air Force jumped out to a 21-0 lead to start the game. But then the Cal offense got going, with quarterback Kevin Riley throwing for 269 yards and 3 touchdowns and running back Justin Forsett running for 140 yards and two scores. This was the MWC's only loss of the 2007 bowl season.
Awards
- Coach of the Year: Troy Calhoun, Air Force
- Offensive Player of the Year: RB/WR Chad Hall, Sr, Air Force
- Defensive Player of the Year: LB Beau Bell, Sr, UNLV
- Special Teams Player of the Year: K/P Louie Sakoda, Jr, Utah
- Freshman of the Year: RB Harvey Unga, BYU
All Conference Team
| Offense | |
|---|---|
| Quarterback | Max Hall, So, BYU |
| Running back | Chad Hall, Sr, Air Force Rodney Ferguson, Jr, New Mexico |
| Wide receiver | Travis Brown, Sr, New Mexico Marcus Smith, Sr, New Mexico |
| Tight end | Dennis Pitta, So, BYU |
| Offensive Line | Blaine Guenther, Sr, Air Force Ray Feinga, Jr, BYU Dallas Reynolds, Jr, BYU Devin Clark, Sr, New Mexico Vince Natali, Sr, New Mexico |
| Kicker | John Sullivan, Sr, New Mexico |
| Kick Returner | Brian Bonner, Sr, TCU |
| Defense | |
|---|---|
| Defensive Line | Jan Jorgensen, So, BYU Chase Ortiz, Sr, TCU Tyler Donaldson, Sr, New Mexico Martail Burnett, Sr, Utah |
| Linebacker | Jon Rabold, Sr, Air Force Bryan Kehl, Sr, BYU Beau Bell, Sr, UNLV |
| Defensive back | Carson Bird, Sr, Air Force DeAndre Wright, Jr, New Mexico Steve Tate, Sr, Utah Julius Stinson, Sr, Wyoming |
| Punter | Louie Sakoda, Jr, Utah |
References
| Full members |
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| Future members |
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| Football associates |
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| Women's soccer associate | ||
| Baseball & women's swimming associate |
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| Championships & awards | ||
| History | ||