When the Mountain West put out its 2017 football schedule, a final weekend matchup between Fresno State and Boise State likely didn’t raise any red flags. The Bulldogs were coming off a 1-11 season, the Broncos a 10-3 season. The chances of them meeting again the following week in the conference championship game were not good.
But that is what happened, setting up a nightmare scenario for the conference when the Bulldogs won that final regular-season game and despite having an identical 7-1 record in league play and a head-to-head victory had to go play the title game in Boise.