San Diego State Aztecs Throw Monkey Wrench into Mountain West Standings

The San Diego State Aztecs defeated the Boise State Broncos sending chaos into the chase for the Mountain West title. A monkey wrench was tossed into the conference standings leaving any observer confused as to the multitude of possibilities.

As of today the Fresno State Bulldogs truly control their destiny if they do indeed win out. If that happens the Bulldogs will be 7-1 along with the Aztecs in Mountain West play. Assuming Boise State wins out they would also be 7-1. Each would have a 1-1 record against each other.

This scenario would leave a tie among the top teams. However, San Diego State would have a win against the presumed 5-3 Air Force Falcons as would Fresno State. Boise State does not play Air Force. With BSU eliminated from the conversation the Bulldogs have the tie break over SDSU because of head to head record. Got it?

Of course that is but one scenario. Many scenarios are still highly possible. In other words, figuring each scenario and who the conference champ might be would be similar to Daffy Duck explaining the path to Planet X.

In simpler terms, San Diego State would need Fresno State to lose one of their remaining games. With the Nevada Wolf Pack and Air Force left on the Dogs schedule, that is a possibility, which would give the Mountain West edge to the Aztecs.

For a little clarification here is the official tie break formula from the Mountain West rule book  Try to read the explanation as slow as possible or risk going cross-eyed.

6.3.4 Ties Between Three or More Teams. If three or more teams tie for a position, the combined record of each of the tied teams against the other teams involved in the tie shall be compared until an advantage is gained. If the multiple tie still exists, each of the tied teams’ records against the team occupying the highest position in the standings shall be compared, continuing down through the standings until the tie is reduced to a two-team tie, at which time the procedure shall revert to the two-way tie breaking procedure, until the tie is broken.

Now you have a grasp on the proceedings I’ll steal a line from our pal Daffy, “Well I wish you would explain it to me sometime buster.”

Where’ s Porky Pig when you need him.

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James Gomez is a Pac-12 and Mountain West columnist for Rant Sports and member of the Football Writers Association of America. You can follow James on Twitter as well.