FBS Conference Shuffling

[ST_Lawson]

And apparently there's now a rumor that the MAC is interested in bringing in Western Kentucky.


 

[ST_Lawson]

Ok folks, time to spin up the realignment roulette wheel and see where everyone lands.

The PAC is set to add at least 4 teams...Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, and Colorado State. That will bring them to 6 teams, so they'll need at least two more to get to the minimum of 8 required by the NCAA to qualify as a FBS conference: https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... oin-pac-12
I've seen people mention Air Force and UNLV as possible further additions, or possibly some of the more southwestern (in the TX/NM/AZ region) mid-level FBS schools from places like the AAC (UNT, Rice, UTSA) or C-USA (like UTEP).

If they do not pull anyone else from the Mountain West, then the conference is down to 7 full members (6 of which play football), plus a football affiliate in Hawai'i, which might neccessitate pulling up a team or two from the top of the FCS. Once the PAC figures out who all they're picking up, I would not be surprised to see the MWC target Montana/Montana State, and/or possibly NDSU/SDSU.

The new $5 million "move-up fee" that the NCAA has instituted for teams moving from FCS to FBS shouldn't be much of an obstacle, with each of the departing MWC teams having to pay ~$18 million each, as the MWC could just redirect some of that to pay off any move-up or exit fees for FCS teams joining them. Here's a good article talking about some of the options for the MWC: https://herosports.com/fcs-pac-12-rebui ... fect-bzbz/

[wiu712]

This appears to be a very dishonorable move by the Pac 2:  Oregon State and Washington State.

They are attacking the conference (Mountain West) that gave them a temporary football home in 2024.

[ST_Lawson]

Apparently things are moving pretty fast (or at least, were yesterday): https://www.actionnetwork.com/ncaaf/con ... n-west-aac
Utah State is now officially going to the PAC, UNLV and Air Force re-evaluating their options. Strong rumors of Gonzaga also joining the PAC.

As it stands right now:

Moving into Monday night, the departure of Utah State from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 means the Pac-12 and the Mountain West each have seven football members — for now — committed in 2026.The NCAA requires a minimum of eight members for FBS conferences, meaning both leagues still need to add at least one other football member.

So, the MWC is probably looking at at least one member to bring in, possibly more...assuming the conference survives this. If UNLV ends up joining the PAC, and Air Force goes to either the PAC or the AAC (they'd end up being a western "outlier" there, but they would also be in the same conference with Army and Navy for football), then I'd look for the MWC to go ahead and invite a few FCS schools in the region.
Montana and Montana State are in strong position to get interest, as are UC Davis and Sacramento State. NDSU and SDSU stand an outside chance at getting looked at as well, but they're a bit further out of the way.

EDIT - Sounds like UNLV and Air Force are sticking with the MWC, at least for now. That still leaves the MWC with 6 full teams, so they need two more to continue to be a conference. That could be one of the FCS pairs of UC Davis/Sacramento State or Montana/Montana State, but I think that they'll at least start by looking at New Mexico State and UTEP out of CUSA. Not that geography matters that much anymore, but the furthest west CUSA teams outside of those two are Louisiana Tech and Missouri State (as of next year), with most of the teams being in the eastern time zone. NMSU and UTEP have a longstanding rivalry and are ~40 miles apart. NMSU and UNM also have a rivalry going back to 1894 which would become a conference game if they joined. It sounds like in the past UNM has been against adding NMSU and UTEP because they have a lot of overlap in their media markets, but if it's presented to them as a choice between NMSU/UTEP and bringing up a couple of FCS teams, they might agree to it.

 

[ST_Lawson]

Gonzaga to the PAC is official
https://x.com/pac12/status/1841131125135319407

Also, it sounds like UTEP is leaving CUSA for the Mountain West. Also, Tarleton State (FCS, currently in the WAC, located in Stephenville, TX) is in heavy discussions with the MWC.

[ST_Lawson]

UTEP to the Mountain West is official: https://fbschedules.com/utep-to-officia ... e-in-2026/

There's also a group that put out a "Super League" that would include the top 72 schools in FBS: https://fbschedules.com/proposed-colleg ... -unveiled/
Seems pretty unlikely at this point and was more of a way to get ahead of some recent negotiations between the Big 10 and SEC to maybe break off and do their own thing.

[ST_Lawson]

Apparently NIU is considering joining the Mountain West for football. Seems pretty dumb to me, but what do I know...I still think that something called the "Atlantic Coast Conference" shouldn't have schools in California.

https://x.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1866678637539495953

[wiu712]

Would the MAC allow Northern Illinois to stay as a non-Football member ???

[leatherneckcountry]

UC Davis will also be joining the MW as a non football member 

[ST_Lawson]

UC Davis will also be joining the MW as a non football member 

 

Yup, although this is not as big of an impact as a full Big Sky member moving football. UC Davis is an affiliate member of the Big Sky for football only and currently play the rest of their sports in the non-football "Big West Conference". So at this point, they're just moving non-football sports to the Mountain West and keeping football in the Big Sky, at least for now.

Would the MAC allow Northern Illinois to stay as a non-Football member ???

 

I think your guess is as good as mine on this one.