Mountain West football roundup: New Mexico stuns UCLA at Rose Bowl

Lobos improve to 2-1 under first-year head coach Jason Eck

New Mexico Lobos head coach Jason Eck. | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Five of the Mountain West’s 12 football teams were idle last week, including top contenders Boise State and UNLV. 

Led by a pair of first-year head coaches, New Mexico and Utah State scored the biggest wins of the weekend for MWC teams. 

The Lobos (2-1) erupted for 21 fourth-quarter points on Friday in a 35-10 road thrashing of UCLA (0-3). In the first MWC game of the 2025 season, Utah State (2-1, 1-0) quarterback Bryson Barnes accounted for five total touchdowns in a 49-30 home victory over Air Force (1-1, 0-1) on Saturday. 

New Mexico head coach Jason Eck downplayed the Lobos’ breakthrough victory at the Rose Bowl. 

“We’re going to play better teams than UCLA,” said Eck, who went 26-13 in three seasons at Idaho before taking the New Mexico job. “I know they’re a Power Four team, but there’s going to be a lot of teams we play that are better than UCLA. It’s not (like) we just beat Ohio State or something, who’s ranked No. 1. We’ve got to keep getting better and improve in a lot of areas on our team.”

The Bruins, who fell to UNLV 30-23 on Sept. 6, fired head coach DeShaun Foster on Sunday. 

Aug 30, 2025; Pasadena, California, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach DeShaun Foster watches game action against the Utah Utes during the second half at Rose Bowl. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Utah State piled up 473 yards of total offense in an impressive victory over Air Force. 

Barnes finished 17 of 22 passing for 287 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions while running for 44 yards and three scores. 

“We are off to a good start, but that is just what it is: a start,” first-year Utah State head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “We aren’t perfect, but we play hard.”

The Falcons will look to bounce back on Saturday with a home game against Boise State. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Mountain time. 

Fresno State (3-1) and Hawaii (3-1) both picked up easy home victories over FCS programs. The Bulldogs took down Southern 56-7 while the Rainbow Warriors earned a 23-3 win over Portland State. 

Fresno State quarterback E.J. Warner, the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame member Kurt Warner, fired four touchdowns in the victory. 

Nevada (1-2) surrendered 14 points in the final six and a half minutes to fall at home to Middle Tennessee State, 14-13. 

Wyoming’s (2-1) strong start to the season hit a road bump against Utah. The Utes held Wyoming to 229 yards of total offense in a dominant 31-6 victory in Laramie.