Welcome to episode 49.5 (episode 50 needs one more week to be perfect)! We have a mountain of portal news to cover, with new landing spots for stars like Lamont Butler and Rytis Petraitis, to the John Tonje chronicles! We also hit you with the most important updates from the CFB spring transfer window, and we end the show by going over both of the players from the Mountain West that got drafted into the NFL, along with all of the players who have been signed as undrafted free agents! Enjoy, and make sure to tune in for an awesome episode 50!

Welcome back, everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! We had our first bowl game of the year go down, with Boise State getting knocked around by Washington in the LA Bowl. We’ll talk about what went wrong for the Broncos, and what this showing tells us about their 2026 prospects, and then we’ll shift to the hardwood for another Mountain West basketball update! We’ll go over the seven teams that have set themselves apart from the rest of the pack as contenders to watch as conference play begins, complete with their best players and wins so far. After that, we’ll talk about the most notable stories surrounding the transfer portal, and then we’ll end the show with a preview and prediction for the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, with Bryson Barnes and Utah State taking on Washington State on the blue turf in Boise. Lots of show to get through this week, let’s dive right in!

Quick plug before we get started, last week I released my transfer portal team of the year! It featured 78 players across all three teams, each of them getting a write-up on their journey to the Mountain West, along with an honorable mention section and overall trends that I found during the process. In total, it spans four parts and over 20,000 words, so don’t feel like you have to read all of it, but maybe scroll through and look at the stories of some of your favorite players from 2025! Did you know that New Mexico star edge rusher Keyshawn James-Newby was originally more focused on his engineering degree than his football career? Or that Fresno State linebacker Jadon Pearson played for five different schools and 25% of the Mountain West? There’s a million fun facts like that throughout the series, so please check that out!

Show Notes:

1. Boise State no match for Washington in LA Bowl: What went wrong, & what's the QB plan for 2026?
2. MW Basketball: Top 7 Contenders, complete w/ top players and wins
3. Top 3 Portal Stories of the week: Wide receivers, Rams exodus, and UNLV locking in
4. Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Washington State vs. Utah State) Preview/Prediction

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on Apple Podcast/Spotify, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Our CFB transfer portal tracker is now LIVE, find that here and keep an eye out for daily updates. Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here for the entire 2025 football season!

Welcome back everyone to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! In the much-anticipated title bout, Boise State knocked out UNLV by TKO to win their third straight Mountain West championship game. We’ll break down how the Broncos did it, what went wrong for the Rebels, as well as if there was a path for those Rebels to sneak into the College football playoff if they had come away with the win. Then, we’ll switch gears to bowl season, as all seven bowl games featuring Mountain West teams have been announced. We’ll go through those, and then we’ll go over my award votes for this season, which will be officially released on the site later this week, with highlights like players, transfers, and coach of the year! To end the show, you’ll hear a preview and prediction for Boise State’s bowl game, which will be going down against Washington on Saturday night! No time to waste, let’s dive in!

Real quick, I just want to say thank you to every single person out there that has listened to the podcast over the years, we just broke the 10,000 listen mark, which is just absurd. I’m blessed to have this platform, so thank you to all of you out there, and thank you to Mountain West Connection for allowing me to fulfill my dream of rambling on the internet.

Show Notes:

1. Boise State completes the three-peat: How they did it, what went wrong for UNLV
2. Hypothetical: Could UNLV have snuck into the CFP with a win?
3. Times/Previews for all 7 Mountain West bowl games!
4. Jack's picks for 2025 Mountain West Season Awards
5. LA Bowl (Boise State vs. Washington) Preview/Prediction

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on Apple Podcast/Spotify, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here for the entire 2025 football season!

Welcome back everyone to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! The final week of the regular season was utter chaos, as New Mexico stunned San Diego State in double overtime to send us to a four way tie for first. After the computers crunched numbers for two days, it was announced that the conference championship would be between Boise State and UNLV, leaving the Lobos and Aztecs on the outs. I have a lot of thoughts on how this tiebreaker stuff went down, so we’ll start the show there, and then we’ll talk about the absolute classic that was San Diego State versus New Mexico, because that truly was the game of the year in the Mountain West. After that, we have our first head coaching hire of the offseason, with Colorado State officially tabbing UConn head coach Jim Mora as their next showrunner. We’ll talk about what that means for the direction of the Rams program going forward, and then we’ll end the show with a preview and prediction for the Mountain West championship game with UNLV travelling to the Blue Turf to take on two-time defending champion Boise State. Massive episode this week, let’s dive right in!

Note: If you like the show, please leave a rating for the show on whatever app you're listening on, it really helps us out!

Show Notes:

1. How the (Mountain) West was won: Lobos upset leads to four way tie, Boise & UNLV get the nod
2. Opinion: The current tiebreaker rules need to go NOW!
3. New Mexico beats San Diego State in 2OT for biggest win in school history: Full recap of the insanity
4. Colorado State swipes Jim Mora from UConn: Résumé, UConn renaissance, Grade
5. Mountain West Championship Game Preview/Prediction: Rebels trying to break the curse, Broncos attempting to go out on a three-peat!

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on Apple Podcast/Spotify, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here for the entire 2025 football season!

Welcome back everyone to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! Our pool of six contenders vying for the Mountain West championship has been cut to four, with UNLV knocking out Hawaii in impressive fashion, and Fresno State stumbling in the second half to lose to Utah State. The show begins right where it should, with the four conference championship scenarios you need to know for this weekend. We’ll break down each potential path, from the straightforward to the ridiculously complicated, along with my best explanation of the "computer rankings tiebreakers". Then, we’ll talk about UNLV’s big win and Fresno’s tough loss, before previewing the final game of the week for the regular season, with San Diego State travelling to Albuquerque to take on New Mexico with a spot in the title game on the line. No time to waste this week, let’s dive in!

Note: If you like the show, please leave a rating for the show on whatever app you're listening on, it really helps us out!

Show Notes:

1. Scenario #1: San Diego State and Boise State make things simple
2. Scenario #2: San Diego State hosts, Aggies send UNLV to 3rd straight title game
3. Scenario #3: New Mexico hosts! Computers pick between UNLV/SDSU
4. Scenario #4: Four way tie for 1st!?
5. CHAOS SCENARIO: CONSUME WITH CAUTION
6. UNLV handles Hawaii, keeps championship hopes alive
7. Fresno State falters in second half to Utah State
8. San Diego State @ New Mexico Preview/Prediction

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on Apple Podcast/Spotify, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here for the entire 2025 football season!

Welcome back, everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! With two weeks left in the 2025 season, let’s take a special look at all six of the teams that still are in the running to hoist the Craig Thompson Trophy, which includes Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV! You’ll hear a montage of each team’s top moments of the year, and then we’ll go over what has to happen for them to make the conference championship, and the exact odds of that happening. After running through all of that, we’ll end the show with a preview and prediction of the de facto elimination game going down on Friday night between Hawaii and UNLV. Super exciting episode this week, let’s dive in!

Note: If you like the show, please leave a rating for the show on whatever app you're listening on, it really helps us out!

Show Notes:

1. San Diego State: Season recap, path to the championship, odds to host/make/miss
2. Fresno State: Season recap, path to the championship, odds to make/miss
3. Boise State: Season recap, path to the championship, odds to make/miss
4. New Mexico: Season recap, path to the championship, odds to make/miss
5. Hawaii: Season recap, path to the championship, odds to make/miss
6. UNLV: Season recap, path to the championship, odds to make/miss
7. MW Championship Game Prediction
8. Hawaii @ UNLV Preview/Prediction

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on Apple Podcast/Spotify, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here for the entire 2025 football season!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! Week 10 delivered one of the most unexpected results of the year, with Hawaii not only upsetting San Diego State, but dismantling them by 32 points! We’ll break down how Timmy Chang and the Rainbow Warriors pulled it off, what went wrong for the Aztecs, and where both teams go from here as they continue to battle for the conference championship. Then, we’ll do an award race check-in, to see who has the inside track for the most prestigious titles in the Mountain West, followed by a segment on each team’s most important player to retain for the 2026 season. We’ll end the show with a preview and prediction for the consequential matchup of Boise State and San Diego State, who are both coming off of humbling losses but are just a win away from potentially locking in hosting rights. Big time episode this week, let’s dive right in!

Note: If you like the show, please leave a rating for the show on whatever app you're listening on, it really helps us out!

Show Notes:

1. Hawaii dismantles San Diego State: How did the Rainbow Warriors do it? What's next for the Aztecs?
2. Award Race Check-In: OPOY, DPOY, STPOY, COTY, Freshman OTY, Transfer OTY
3. Each team's MOST IMPORTANT player to retain for 2026!
4. Boise State @ San Diego State Preview/Prediction

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on Apple Podcast/Spotify, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here for the entire 2025 football season!

Welcome back everyone, to the Hike’s Peak podcast, thank you for coming back to the mountain! We had our most upset-filled week of the season, with New Mexico stunning UNLV, Fresno State stomping Boise State, and San Jose State outgunning Hawaii, all of those going down on the road! We’ll break down all three of those contests, complete with analysis and what’s next for the fallen squads, and then we’ll switch gears to the hardwood, as basketball season is officially upon us! To get you started, I have a brief explanation for what you can expect from all 12 teams, including the newcomer, Grand Canyon. After that, we’ll end the show with a preview and prediction for a titanic matchup between Hawaii’s high-powered offense and San Diego State’s historically dominant defense. No time to waste, let’s dive in!

Show notes:

1. New Mexico stuns UNLV to move to 6-3. What's next for both squads?
2. Fresno State capitalizes on Maddux Madsen injury to stomp Boise State. Are the Bulldogs back? Is Boise down for the count?
3. San Jose State wins boat race against Hawaii? Can the Rainbow Warriors regroup? Is it "too little, too late" from the Spartans?
4. CBB Preview: 30 seconds on all 12 team's outlook for '25-'26 (yes, we talk about Boise State's loss to D2 Hawaii Pacific...) (Grand Canyon INCLUDED!)
5. San Diego State @ Hawaii Preview/Prediction

If you enjoy the episode, consider rating it 5 stars, leaving a review on Apple Podcast/Spotify, or sharing the podcast with one friend who you think would enjoy it! It would help us immensely if you took the time out of your day to help the show! Make sure to check out the depth chart tracker for football and basketball, available to all for free and updated as soon as news breaks! Thank you for coming back to the mountain, and we hope you’ll make the trek back up here for the entire 2025 football season!