Although nothing is official yet, multiple sources told The Salt Lake Tribune that Utah State will join the MWC next year and that an official announcement could come in 7-10 days. The Aggies have been a member of the WAC since 2005.
USU athletics director declined to call it a “done deal,” but did tell the Tribune that “things have progressed even since yesterday.”
The San Jose State Spartans are also expected to receive an invitation to join the Mountain West, the San Jose State Mercury News reported on Sunday. Their invitation could come this week with a formal announcement to follow afterwards.
With San Jose State and Utah State now rumored to be moving on, the WAC’s days as a football conference could be numbered. Over the weekend, news broke that new WAC member UTSA was likely headed to Conference USA, along with the possibility of Louisiana Tech.
That would leave the WAC with just three football members: Idaho, New Mexico State and Texas State. With the Sun Belt possibly losing FIU and North Texas to C-USA, they could snap up two of those three. Idaho and New Mexico State were members of the SBC from 2001-04.
With the most recent news, here is what Conference USA and the Mountain West could look like for football in 2013:
Conference USA
East Carolina, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UTEP, UTSA
Mountain West
Air Force, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming