2004 Mountain West Conference football season

2004 Mountain West Conference football season
LeagueNCAA Division I-A
Sportfootball
Number of teams8
2005 NFL Draft
Top draft pickQB Alex Smith, Utah
Picked bySan Francisco 49ers, 1st overall
Regular season
Season championsUtah
  Runners-upNew Mexico
Top scorerSteve Savoy (102 points)
Football seasons
← 2003
2005 →
2004 Mountain West Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 4 Utah $   7 0     12 0  
New Mexico   5 2     7 5  
BYU   4 3     5 6  
Wyoming   3 4     7 5  
Air Force   3 4     5 6  
Colorado State   3 4     4 7  
San Diego State   2 5     4 7  
UNLV   1 6     2 9  
  • $ – Conference champion and BCS representative as top non-AQ school to meet automatic qualification criteria
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2004 Mountain West Conference football season was the sixth since eight former members of the Western Athletic Conference banded together to form the Mountain West Conference. It was the last season of the conference's original eight-team line up, as Texas Christian University (TCU) had agreed to join the conference for the 2005 season. Utah won the conference championship in 2004, the Utes' third title since the league began in 1999. On the strength of their perfect 11–0 record in the regular season, Utah became the first team from a BCS non-AQ conference to be invited to a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl when they accepted an invitation to play Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl.

Utah Utes fans rush the field and carry the goalpost after defeating rival BYU, completing a perfect regular season, and becoming the first BCS Buster by clinching a spot in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl (hence the sombrero).
UCLA vs. Wyoming in the 2004 Las Vegas Bowl