Overnight the Mountain West conference went from 11 schools to just seven, with the Pac-12 swooping in and stealing Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Colorado State starting in 2026.
The four additions give the Pac-12 six total schools, with two more required to reach the NCAA minimum. The Pac-12 has plenty of options to finalize their lineup of teams, which could include coming back to the Mountain West to try and land UNLV and Nevada.
Whether that happens or not, the Mountain West now has work to do to ensure it remains a viable – and strong – athletic conference moving forward.
Unfortunately, as long as the Pac-12 is publicly known to be hunting for new teams, convincing marquee programs to join the Mountain West will be tricky.
Still, there are quite a few teams out there that make sense for the Mountain West to pursue, and we have broken them up into three distinct categories:
American Athletic Conference
The Mountain West will no doubt look at programs in the American Athletic Conference, although those teams will almost certainly wait and see if the Pac-12 will come calling first. Memphis feels like a strong candidate to get a call from the new-look Pac-12, and even if they don’t the Tigers may opt to stay where they are and wait to see if a power conference – perhaps the Big 12 – will scoop them up in the next round of realignment.
Tulane and Tulsa are also expected to be on the Pac-12’s radar, but if neither of them gets an invite the Mountain West should make a strong push to bring them on board. Tulsa would give the conference a footprint in Oklahoma, while Tulane would give them a big media market in New Orleans.
However, Texas is arguably the most important state for any conference to have inroads, especially a football-focused league like the Mountain West, which makes UTSA, Rice, and North Texas all appealing options.
UAB is a bit of a wildcard option here, but Birmingham is a big market and the Blazers have had success recently – although they’d be on a bit of an island geographically unless they join alongside Tulsa or Memphis.
Conference USA
If the state of Texas is the priority, both UTEP and Sam Houston make a ton of sense for the Mountain West. UTEP has been in Conference USA since 2005, although the Miners have struggled to sustain success with just one season over .500 in conference play since 2006.
Sam Houston is much newer to the FCS level, having gone 3-9 in 2023 and off to a 1-1 start so far in 2024. They’d be a bit of a gamble addition, but one that could pay off handsomely if the team can grow over in Huntsville.
Additionally, despite a disastrous couple of years for New Mexico State in football and men’s basketball, the Aggies are a logical target for the Mountain West so they can pair them with New Mexico for a local in-state rivalry.
FBS Programs
FBS additions are probably a last resort for the Mountain West, but if North Dakota State and South Dakota State are interested and available this would be well worth looking into.
The likely outcome here would be bringing the two programs in as football-only members, which is a seamless transition since they are currently football-only in the Missouri Valley and in the Summit League for everything else.
A few other FBS programs that could be targeted for the Mountain West include a trio of teams in the Big Sky Conference: Eastern Washington, Montana State, and Northern Arizona.
The next round of realignment is contingent on how the Pac-12 approaches finalizing their conference, the Mountain West appears likely to be in the driver’s seat for some decent programs in desirable media markets – which will help ease the sting of losing four of the biggest brands the league has ever had.