College football realignment rolls on again this year with a few changes. On Wednesday, July 1, those conference changes for the 2026 season officially take effect.
Five changes this season affect the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The most significant change affects the Pac-12, as the league officially becomes an eight-member circuit. Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State, and Washington State officially compose the league.
Louisiana Tech and UTEP depart Conference USA. Louisiana Tech heads for the Sun Belt Conference, with UTEP bound for the Mountain West. This leaves Conference USA as a 10-team circuit. Northern Illinois leaves the MAC for the Mountain West, with Sacramento State jumping from FCS to replace them. The Mountain West loses five schools (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State) to the Pac-12, replacing them with Northern Illinois, UTEP, and FCS power North Dakota State. The sixth new Pac-12 club, Texas State, departs the Sun Belt, with Louisiana Tech replacing them.
Below is a look at the conference alignment for the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2026:
ACC
Leaving: None
Joining: None
2026 Lineup (17): Boston College, California, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, NC State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
AMERICAN
Leaving: None
Joining: None
2026 Lineup (14): Army, Charlotte, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Memphis, Navy, North Texas, Rice, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, USF, UTSA
BIG 12
Leaving: None
Joining: None
2026 Lineup (16): Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, Utah, West Virginia
BIG TEN
Leaving: None
Joining: None
2026 Lineup (18): Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Washington, Wisconsin
CONFERENCE USA
Leaving: Louisiana Tech, UTEP
Joining: None
2026 Lineup (10): Delaware, FIU, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Middle Tennessee, Missouri State, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, WKU
FBS INDEPENDENTS
Leaving: None
Joining: None
2026 Lineup (2): Notre Dame, UConn
MAC
Leaving: Northern Illinois
Joining: Sacramento State
2026 Lineup (13): Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Ohio, Sacramento State, Toledo, UMass, Western Michigan
The Sacramento State Hornets join the MAC for the 2026 campaign, replacing the Mountain West-bound Northern Illinois Huskies.
MOUNTAIN WEST
Leaving: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State
Joining: North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, UTEP
2026 Lineup (10): Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, San Jose State, UNLV, UTEP, Wyoming
The Mountain West lost five teams to the rebuilding Pac-12 in 2026 — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State. The league backfilled those spots with FCS power North Dakota State, Northern Illinois of the MAC, and UTEP of Conference USA.
Pac-12
Leaving: None
Joining: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State
2026 Lineup (8): Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State, Washington State
The Pac-12 have added the six teams outlined above to compose an eight-team group for 2026.
SEC
Leaving: None
Joining: None
2026 Lineup (16): Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
SUN BELT
Leaving: Texas State
Joining: Louisiana Tech
2026 Lineup (14): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Troy, ULM
The Texas State Bobcats are now part of the new-look Pac-12. The league added Louisiana Tech from CUSA to replace them for 2026 and beyond.
As mentioned above, North Dakota State and Sacramento State are moving up from the FCS to the FBS and joining new leagues for the 2026 season. But those aren’t the only changes in the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Big Sky adds Southern Utah and Utah Tech from the WAC, while Villanova and William & Mary enter the Patriot League. Tennessee Tech departs the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) for the Southern Conference.
Chicago State will play its first season of football in the NEC, while Villanova and William & Mary’s football programs will depart the CAA and join the Patriot League.
Additionally, the UAC (United Athletic Conference) forms an eight-team circuit, composed mainly of prior UAC and Western Athletic Conference (WAC) schools, along with a Division II school — West Florida — moving up to join the league. Abilene Christian, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, Tarleton State, West Florida, and West Georgia will compose the new-look league.
Finally, Saint Francis U. departed the FCS ranks and dropped to Division III.
View Comments (22)
Appreciate you organizing this and making it simple to follow.
I concur. Great easy layout. Good job by this website that gives good service as to scheduling practices.
Here are some FCS-to-G6 upgrades that need to happen:
CUSA: Add Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton, Western Carolina
MAC: Add Illinois State, Youngstown State
MW: Add North Dakota (football only)
Sun Belt: Add Eastern Kentucky, McNeese
In addition, one existing G6 school, New Mexico State, should change its conference affiliation from CUSA to the MW, and one existing FBS independent, UConn, should join the MAC for football only.
Then the following non-football schools should join G6 conferences as non-football members:
American: Add Charleston (SC)
MAC: Add Cleveland State, Robert Morris (technically RMU plays football, but that sport would remain in FCS)
MW: Add Point Loma (a D-II upgrade), UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara (the latter two are currently scheduled to join the WCC, but would be better fits in the MW since the WCC currently comprises only private schools)
Pac-12: Add Saint Mary's (to restore conference significance in their rivalry with Gonzaga)
I am blessed & happy that conferences & football programs are not part of FBS schedules so they do not have listen to Z-Alignment(Z-Man).
Pardon I have call you Z-Alignment since it's a very high interest to you however I have zero interest in it & I highly respect conferences & programs in football.
I am moderating all comments now so everyone is on a short leash. Keep it civil and no personal attacks or your comment will be deleted.
Nostrowrongus srikes again
No to all other than St. Mary’s to the PAC 12.
Z-Man, Please, Please leave FCS programs alone & they are excellent where they are & let them decide which conference would suit them best.
Stop responding to every Z-Man post about realignment. They are just suggestions, the NCAA is not reading this website and taking recommendations from some unknown person named Z-Man or Dan NW-IL-MI.
And a note to ALL: I'm heavily moderating and will delete inflammatory and/or unnecessary comments.
Charleston to the American would be useful for instance as it evens the conference at 14 basketball schools which is helpful for scheduling.
The additions for football would allow the conferences making the additions to have the following Thanksgiving weekend match-ups:
CUSA:
Delaware-Liberty
FIU-Jacksonville State
Kennesaw State-Western Carolina
Middle Tennessee-Western Kentucky
Missouri State-Tarleton
Sam Houston-Stephen F. Austin
MAC:
Akron-Kent State
Ball State-Western Michigan
Bowling Green-Toledo
Buffalo-Sacramento State
Central Michigan-Eastern Michigan
Illinois State-Youngstown State
Miami (OH)-Ohio
UConn-UMass
MW:
Air Force-Wyoming
Hawaii-San Jose State
Nevada-UNLV
New Mexico-New Mexico State
North Dakota-North Dakota State
Northern Illinois-UTEP
Sun Belt:
Appalachian State-Coastal Carolina
Arkansas State-Southern Miss
Eastern Kentucky-Marshall
Georgia Southern-Georgia State
James Madison-Old Dominion
Louisiana Tech-ULM
Louisiana-McNeese
South Alabama-Troy
In additional, the G6 conferences only loading up in basketball on this list can do these games for Thanksgiving weekend:
American:
Army-Temple
Charlotte-East Carolina
Florida Atlantic-South Florida
Memphis-UAB
Navy-Tulane
North Texas-Tulsa
Rice-UTSA
Pac-12 (these games would get played twice a year as part of an 8-game conference schedule, but the locations of the Thanksgiving weekend match-ups would alternate every year.:
Boise State-Utah State
Colorado State-Texas State
Fresno State-San Diego State
Oregon State-Washington State
And you could put Grand Canyon into the same division with the Phoenix Suns to start up cross-town rivalry!
Don’t know if the LA Tech thing was a typo or not and it was supposed to say C-USA. Yes, they were a member of the Sun Belt in the past a long time ago but not for football.
LA Tech left the Sun Belt for the WAC in 2001 just as the former was beginning football sponsorship. For years they had issues with ULM. Which is why I considered it shocking that LA Tech accepted the invite to rejoin. I thought the Sun Belt was going to add Sam Houston despite them just joining FBS in 2023 in order to maintain a presence in Texas, as Texas State was the only school from that state in the SBC.
Andrew's Correct.
I hope it was a typographical error.
LATech started their FB Program in 1975 in the Southland Conference.
They were never members of the SunBelt till 2026.
They were Big West Conf. & Independent from the 1990s - Y2K.
They accepted an invite from Independent to the Western Athletic Conf. in 2001. When the WAC was destroyed by the Mountain West Conf. In 2012 LA Tech. accepted C-USA's Invite. In 2025 LA Tech treated Conference USA like the MW treated the WAC.
The Bulldogs r now Sunbelt members.
My Information = From:
Sports Reference College Foot Ball
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/louisiana-tech/index.html
If the FCS-to-FBS transition penalty was abolished, the D2/D3-to-FCS transition penalty should be too.
Amen, Brother.
The n.c.a.a. =:
a respecter of Trust 4 Universities: 68 of them.
Property(ies), Possessions, Preeminence, Pride, Power, Prominence over the 70 Dependent Universities.
Thats All 138 NIL FB Unis in 2026.
Saint Francis University left the NEC for Division III
SFA did have a strong interest in moving up, but stadium and money issues changed their minds.
Pac-12 did ask St. Mary's but they declined with long term money concerns, me I think they want to see what WCC is without Gonzaga basketball.
The school to watch is Tarleton State as both MWC and Pac-12 have had conversations with them about moving up. But if UC-Davis decides to move up their football, they will be going into MWC.
What happened to Utah being destined for the Big 10?
They hate you too much to leave!!! LOL
_If_ that happens, it'll be in several decades and not soon.