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(NOTE: This article was updated on September 26, September 29, October 2 and October 15)
Utah State on Monday (September 26) added its name to the list of teams leaving the Mountain West for the PAC-12. Later in the week, on Thursday, September 29, the remaining seven schools signed a letter of understanding to remain in the Mountain West. The end result is that, on July 1, 2026, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State will become members of a re-tooled PAC-12, alongside Oregon State and Washington State.
The Mountain West was seeking to add Texas State from the Sun Belt to get back to eight teams, but that school opted to stay in the Sun Belt.
UTEP, however, announced on October 1 that will leave CUSA, effective July 1, 2026, and join the Mountain West.
On October 15, Hawaii agreed to become a full-time member.
Per a press release on the pac-12.com website on September 12 which can be found here.... "the conference Board of Directors voted unanimously to admit Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University-Fresno, and San Diego State University, four respected institutions celebrated for their achievements in both academics and athletics, to the Pac-12 Conference effective July 1, 2026. Competition will begin for all conference sports in the 2026-27 academic year."
That would give the conference six teams, but reduce the Mountain West to eight schools. Obviously, a lot more is going to happen over the next several months as the PAC-12 needs to hit 8 teams in order to reestablish itself under an agreement with the NCAA. The Mountain West could still exist with 8 members, but more poaching is likely - if not by the PAC-12, then possibly by the Big 12.
There is also still plenty of disenchantment in ACC-land, led by two of the biggest football marquee value schools, Clemson and Florida State.
The PAC-12 had been reduced to just Oregon State and Washington State after USC and UCLA began an exodus by joining the B1G in a move that was announced in July of 2022. Oregon and Washington eventually followed. Colorado announced its move back to the Big 12 in July of 2023, and that conference later plucked other gems from the PAC-12 yard sale, picking up Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. Cal and Stanford then found a home in the ACC.
The Mountain West and PAC-12 reached an agreement to have each MWC school play one of the remaining PAC-12 schools this season, and reduce the number of MWC games to 7 per school. It was announced in early September that the agreement was not renewed for 2025.
For awhile, the smart money had the Oregon State and Washington joining the Mountain West, and possibly just rebranding the conference.
In the PAC-12 press release, commissioner Teresa Gould, who has only been serving in that capacity since March 1 of this year, stated. “We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes. I am thankful to our board for their efforts to welcome Boise State University, Colorado State University, California State University, Fresno, and San Diego State University to the conference. An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”