New Mexico, Air Force, and NDSU took care of business against weak opponents so no movement.

UTEP and NIU looked terrible against some P4 teams, so stay near or at the bottom.

Hawaii's offense is growing more concerning and no longer like contenders, but a team fighting to get to a bowl game. Moved down a tier.

San Jose State proved they're more than just feisty and may just make a bowl, moved up a tier.

Nevada looked great week 1, but think I'll need to see more than one good week before I feel good moving them up.

Wyoming looked okay the first half, but not great overall. Left them in the fighting for a bowl for now but on watch for a potential drop.

UNLV showed they're a step above Hawaii this season, but I'm not feeling great about their passing game and defense still. Hawaii's poor offense saved UNLV from this being a much closer game.

UC Davis looked impressive and probably a real threat for the Montana schools and would make my contender tier for the Big Sky conference, just below the Montana schools.

College Game Day asks the "Thousands at Gameday if anyone knows that NIU joined the MW"? Then responds "Oh one person" and proceeds to laugh. I saw JY post this on twitter, and now it's starting to pick up momentum with other college football accounts calling out Gameday for their perceived SEC or large school bias. Thoughts?

https://x.com/TBM_JY/status/2096263044221259918

Part 1 has the other MWC schools, link in comments

Part 2 has the remaining MWC schools, link in comments

Was debating about bringing back a weekly poll, but felt making a weekly tier list would be easier to keep up with. Do you feel like the teams are in the right tier? If not, then who would move and where to?

Ags are going to have a local over the air CBS affiliate broadcast their non-national broadcast games, I’m presuming using the same feed as the Big Sky’s ESPN+ deal.

It includes the one of the top FCS matchups of the season — when Montana comes to town in a few weeks — and is a way to get around the Big Sky’s seeming requirement to use Montana commentary in their games’ streams.

UCD has done these deals before and I’m wondering if it’s signaling similar deals for MW+ games in hoops and eventually football

NIU gamethread for the match at Iowa this Labor Day weekend.

Kind of what we expected. The QB position says "OR" but it appears it will be Jalen Macon and/or Tyger Dickens. I wouldn't be surprised to see both play.

Macon broke his hand last year right before the season started and missed nearly the entire year, even in the few games he played at the end of the season they were saying his hand still wasn't fully healed. NIU ended up playing a walk-on sophomore QB all of last season as a result (that QB since transferred to S. Dakota St) and he wasn't any good. They occasionally played a true freshman at QB but he wasn't ready and it showed.

The QB position has far more depth and experience than last year's roster and a new OC (Tony Petersen) who played in this past season's FCS title game.

The WR room is deep and experienced. Starting RB Telly Johnson is now the #1 RB after being the backup to Antario Brown and Chavon Wright the last two years. He's on the preseason Doak Walker watchlist.

Week 1 NIU Game Notes:

https://niuhuskies.com/documents/2026/9/1/NIUFB26_-_Iowa_-_Full_Release.pdf

Week 1 NIU Press Conference:

https://www.youtube.com/live/qNPCJ3iiQ6k?is=BCqzJjS-1Po9yUDI

With week 0 over with, how are you feeling about the teams that played and the conference in general?

For me:

San Jose State: More life in the offense than I expected, but still only see them as a step above the bottom of the conference.

UNLV: Same as last year, high potential offense with a limited defense(but better than last year).

NDSU: A legitimate conference contender out of the gate, and one of the few conference hopefuls to contend for a play off spot. Also looked good in every part of the game (offense, defense, etc..)

Hawaii: Looked rough and still rusty from the off season. Offense looks to have some potential, but the QB really needs to get more consistent and in sync with the receivers. May have overestimated them as potential conference dark horse contender, and could be just an above average team in conference.

UC Davis: Look a bit sloppy and careless (nearly choked to Portland State), but should improve and potentially fight for a playoff spot.

MWC: Playoff hopes took a big hit with UNLV and Hawii's loses, but New Mexico and NDSU still have a good shot if things fall our way.