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NCAAF College Football Week 14 LIVE 10m ago The Broncos' win over UNLV in October gives them the advantage of hosting the conference championship game. Loren Orr / Getty Images Tiebreakers were one of the major storylines on the final Saturday of college football’s regular season. The ACC featured a five-way tie for second place, with 7-5 Duke eventually receiving a bid to the ACC title game thanks to having a stronger conference schedule than the four teams it was tied with. Tulane and Navy had the same record in the American Athletic Conference, but the Green Wave made it to the championship because it was ranked higher (24) in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings, setting up a de facto CFP play-in game with North Texas. Advertisement A CFP berth isn’t at stake in the Mountain West title game, but the conference is responsible for the wackiest tiebreaker scenario of them all. Entering play this weekend, there was a possibility for a four-way tie between Boise State, New Mexico, San Diego State and UNLV. And that’s exactly what happened. With the Lobos’ win over the Aztecs, the Broncos’ nail-biting victory over Utah State, and UNLV’s win over Nevada on Saturday night, the four squads finished the regular season in a four-way deadlock atop the Mountain West standings with 6-2 conference records. The first Mountain West tiebreaker to determine the title game participants is a head-to-head comparison, but the four teams did not all play each other this season. So, in a throwback to the BCS era of college football, a computer determined that Boise State and UNLV earned the right to play for the conference championship on Dec. 5, in a rematch of last season’s title game. The four-way tie was broken through a composite average of four metrics: Connelly SP+, ESPN strength of record, KPI and Sport Source rankings. Here’s a breakdown of each of those college football measurement tools. Connelly SP+ was created by ESPN writer Bill Connelly. In a 2024 article, he described the metric: “SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. ” ESPN strength of record provides an estimate of how impressive a team’s win-loss mark is, based on its strength of schedule and which games produced wins and losses. KPI places a rating on each game on a team’s schedule. Each contest is measured from +1. 0 (best win) to -1. 0 (worst loss), based in large part on the opponent, location and point differential. The compilation of every game’s score represents a school’s KPI, and rankings are formed from that number. Advertisement Finally, the Sport Source model aims to evaluate the performance of head coaches and coordinators through a combination of metrics, including offensive and defensive efficiency, turnover margin and strength of schedule. Once the two participants in the title game were determined, a traditional head-to-head tiebreaker was used to determine the host of the championship game. Boise State’s 56-31 win over UNLV in October grants them a home game on the blue turf of Albertsons Stadium. Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, Mountain West partisans on social media reacted to the computer rankings for the four teams. As one might imagine, some fans were less than thrilled to see where their teams landed. Some were begging the computer to look at their school’s overall body of work. New Mexico linebacker Jaxton Eck chimed in, as his team hoped to reach the Mountain West title game for the first time in program history. Someone tell the computers the Lobos have won 6 in a row https: //t. co/tt YU00y Kz8 — Jaxton Eck (@jaxtonjay) November 29, 2025 A Utah State fan predicted that Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez would find a way to put New Mexico and UNLV into the championship game because those programs are remaining in the conference, while Boise State and San Diego State will join the Pac-12 next season. That prediction didn’t pan out, and the conference’s computer-led tiebreaker helped insulate the Mountain West from accusations that the outcome favored any particular agenda. Boise State is 2-1 against this group. SDSU is 1-1 UNLV is 1-2. New Mexico is 2-1. To me it Should be Boise State hosting New Mexico. But don’t worry, Gloria will find a way so that it’s UNLV and New Mexico to “own the PAC”. https: //t. co/Fo CZnpc WMG — P5 Battle Cattle Fan (@Battle Cattle Fan) November 29, 2025 The winner of the 2025 Mountain West Championship Game won’t be able to leapfrog the eventual AAC champions to claim the Group of 5’s automatic bid to the Playoff, so this year’s contest might lack some of the significance of last year’s, when Ashton Jeanty and Boise State sealed a CFP berth by defeating UNLV. Even so, the Broncos and Rebels have to be thankful that the computers decided to order a rematch. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Jordy Fee-Platt is a Trending Writer for The Athletic. Before joining The Athletic, Fee-Platt was the Broadcasting and PR Associate for the Hudson Valley Renegades, High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. He has also been a writer and editor for Hoops HQ, a college basketball website. Jordy is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Cronkite School, where he covered Phoenix pro sports, including the 2023 World Series. He hails from San Francisco, CA. Follow Jordy on Twitter @jfeep