Mountaintop View 10-29-26. Conference Realignment, Top MBB Players, Bowl Projections, Maxwell Award, Kellen Moore.

Catch the latest news and links for the day as we get closer to football games.

Mountain West additions have been mixed.

Chris Murray looks at how the new MW football teams are faring this season. He states that while North Dakota State has proven they belong, the other additions have struggled. UTEP and Northern Illinois only have 1 win between them, and that was the Miners’ win over lowly Texas Southern. At least they will get another win when they play each other to end the year. Murray highlights the lowlights both on and off the field for those teams and the Mountain West itself. But at the end of the day, the MW did enough to surivive conference realignment, which wasn’t always a sure thing.

Top 76 MBB Players in 2026-27 Season

SI ranked the top players entering the men’s basketball season. Jake Hall is at #76, and then there is a big gap until Mason Falslev at 44th. At 36th is Massamba Diop of Gonzaga and his teammate Braden Huff is 7th.

College Football New Bowl Projections

This week, NDSU is listed in the Potato Bowl, Texas State in Puerto Rico, and Oregon State in the Independence Bowl. Also, New Mexico goes to the Poinsettia, which likely isn’t accurate. Fresno State and UNLV will play in the New Mexico Bowl, which is also interesting, while Wyoming goes to Hawaii. Elsewhere, Air Force will play in the Arizona Bowl and Boise State to the CFP.

Two Beavers named to Maxwell Award Watchlist

Kellen Moore will be back in Boise this weekend

On The Horizon:

Today – How the West’s best teams keep players home

Today – The Jason Eck Effect