The Utah State Aggies will join the Pac-12 Conference in 2026, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports on Monday.
If the move is finalized, that will bring the rebuilding Pac-12’s membership roster up to seven schools. Oregon State and Washington State are the lone members of the Pac-12 through next season, but four other Mountain West teams — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State — will officially join the Pac-12 in 2026.
NCAA bylaws state that Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences must have a minimum of eight teams, so the Pac-12 will still need to add at least one additional school to meet that threshold. The league has a two-year grace period, per NCAA bylaws, so it can play under the minimum this season and in 2025.
Where will the Pac-12 look now? Per Dellenger, the UNLV Rebels are at the top of the list for a move, and the Air Force Falcons have also had serious discussions with the AAC. Those two exits would cause the Mountain West to fall below the eight-team threshold.
UNLV’s exit would likely send Air Force into more serious negotiations with the American Athletic Conference. AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti has been in discussion with the school now for more than a week about acquiring, at the very least, the Air Force football program as a partial member to join military brethren Navy and Army.
If it agrees to leave, Air Force would be the seventh member to exit the conference. According to Mountain West bylaws, support from nine of the 12 football members is necessary to dissolve the conference.
In short, two of the five remaining Mountain West members — Wyoming, Hawaii, San Jose State, Nevada and New Mexico — would have to vote in support of dissolution.
Stay tuned as more news will surely break today.
U.C.L.A. and U.S.C. going to the Big Ten is one of the worst things to ever happen in college football.
Dittos, Harvey Cotton
UCLA, USC & the Big18g10 Leadership with the support of da Ohio StateU.-UMI who have received 99% of that Conference’s TRUST 6, TRUST 5 Collusion Playoff Invites & BCS, LLC Invites B 4 that.
Harvey Please just let it go.
Harvey, you’re not wrong!
Would you prefer that they’d have gone to the SEC instead? Because USC definitely wasn’t staying in the Pac to keep on receiving much less TV money than schools in the P2.
As A Big Ten Fan I am blessed & happy that two Los Angeles Area Schools UCLA & USC are in that Conference.
Harvey is in title to his own opinion & I have zero concerns to what he said.
There was talk about Sacramento State wanting to join either the MW or PAC.
Technically the Oklahoma and Texas move to the SEC was the first domino in this whole wave of realignment
I happy that Texas & Oklahoma will continue to play at Texas State Fair now members of SEC.
Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC makes WAY more sense than USC and UCLA in the Big Ten.
Dan J. pardon to disagree with your comments as fan of Northwestern, Illinois & Michigan I really like giving UCLA & USC along with Washington & Oregon a chance in Big Ten Conference & hopefully all four will succeed.
Have a safe & happy day Dan J.
@ Dan J Maybe, but the Oklahoma and Texas move to the SEC pushed the consolidation of the Power Conferences which has cascade and impacted all of FBS. USC/UCLA to the B1G likely does not happen if Texas and Oklahoma don’t move to the SEC.
I have been waiting all night to say this;
The new PAC St Conference
Oregon State
Washington State
Boise State
San Diego State
Fresno State
Colorado State
Utah State
If Hawaii changed their name to Hawaii State could the be accepted in the PAC St Conference??
The whole thing is bad and frankly, unnecessary. When does it end? You can’t tell me this new Pac 12 is better than the existing MWC. Just because Washington and Oregon State “used to be in a power conference,” does not make this new Pac 12 a power conference.
That said, did the MWC, and their commissioner, draw too hard a line in the sand. They thought the Beavers and the Cougs would come begging , but instead, played hard ball and now they’re the ones getting raided.
Had the MWV absorbed WSU and OSU under the Pac 12 names, this would not be happening. A 14-team Pac 12/MWC combination would be better than two leagues of 8–if the MWC can survive.
I hope the MWC doesn’t convince Montana, Montana State, North Dakota State and South Dakota State to move up and join. That’s just not a good idea, but we could certainly see it happening, couldn’t we?
Who said it’s supposed to be a power conference? Why should the Pac-7 split their money with schools unwilling to invest in athletics? Why would any FCS team move up to a worse conference, with more difficult recruiting, with farther teams, that costs more, with a zero percent chance at national championships?
Would suck to see Mtn West dissolve but yeah if UNLV goes to Pac-12 and Air Force to AAC, Reno and San Jose would want to go to the Pac-12 to join their state rivals and thus be the 8th and 9th votes needed to dissolve. I would suspect New Mexico would want to join NM State in Conf USA. If travel costs were such a factor in the AAC schools staying put, they’d take Wyoming over Hawaii and Hawaii could go to Conf USA or MAC.
I’m pulling for two Northern California Bay Area athletic programs Stanford & California return back to PAC 12.
In addition to UNLV, the Pac12 (Pac10?) would be wise to invite two additional Mountain West teams (Nevada, Hawaii?) even if those two teams are deemed less desirable than the others, if this would save millions in exit fees and the $10M-12M per team they agreed to in the 2024 scheduling deal. A 10-team Pac10 could have each team play all 9 league opponents every year. Half of the league (those visiting Hawaii) is eligible to play in Week Zero (and could host the other half) giving the league exposure when college football fans are anxious to watch games, providing great exposure without competition.
This will be interesting. I don’t imagine the Pac-7 will stay at 7. They’ll want at minimum 8. With UNLV and Air Force staying in the MWC, and Tulane and Memphis staying in the AAC, it will be tough to get another member. Maybe Texas State? If UNLV and/or AF decide to go to the Pac-7, the MW will be down to 4-5 schools (SJSU, Nevada, Wyoming, and UNM. I don’t include Hawaii, who is a football-only member). At that point, I feel like they would have to add the Montanas and NMSU & UTEP.
UNLV isn’t staying.