For Paid Subscribers: 4 MW Schools Set to Ditch Conference for PAC-12 - Will This Affect NM State, UNM & UTEP? + Stats Never Lie: Fresno State - NMSU

Big News Out of College Sports Tonight

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This Column will have commentary about the breaking news tonight about the conference realignment and how it may affect NM State and UNM behind the paywall (The news will be free for everyone to read. After my commentary I will have my premium article below, “Stats Never Lie” which breaks down the football game upcoming by the numbers.

Let’s get into it!

Breaking News: Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State, and Fresno State set to ditch Mountain West for PAC-12 in 2026.

For those of you who follow college sports, realignment is the talk of the town ALWAYS. I still freak out seeing Arizona in the Big XII or SMU and CAL in the ACC. It’s weird. But I am getting older, so everything gets weirder as you age.

Well, this next big of news is not weird. According to Ross Dellenger and Brett McMurphy, among other people, The PAC-12 (I know, we like to have fun and call them the PAC-2) will invited Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Fresno State to join the conference in the 2026-27 school year, which means one lame-duck year in the MW.

This is no doubt stunning news that will continue the domino effect in college sports, but the close proximity of the schools to NM State makes me and others wonder the long-term viability of CUSA if some schools, if any, will be targets for expansion to the Mountain West. (More on that later.)

The stunning thing is the amount of money that the MW will receive. $111 Million to let these 4 teams go. PAC-12 pays MW $43 million for taking these teams, and each team will pay $17 million which will be subsidized by the PAC-12. That conference will look for 2 more schools to reach the required 8 to maintain FBS conference status (they had a grace period this year).

UNLV is long-rumored to join them, being a major media market, and a burgeoning home for college sports, which includes the football title game in January and a future Final Four.

The other? Hard to say. San Jose State is the SF media market, which has millions of people. But there’s certainly going to be a lot of buzz surrounding a team like Gonzaga to join, despite not having football to shore up basketball.

Make no mistake, this is a HUGE story for Western College sports, and we will continue to all watch to see what’s next because the PAC-2 is now tentatively the PAC-6, and they need 2 more to be a real boy again.

One thing I haven’t heard, and one name that was omitted from this news cycle is UNM. I have thoughts on them, and in turn, NM State and UTEP. Here’s my take:

Commentary: I am not sure NM State and UTEP can both benefit by this news. Here’s why.

The Aggies are in year 2 of CUSA, and it is going well for the most part. Soccer, Volleyball and of course football shined last season, and the hope is all those sports plus the legacy that is the basketball team will shine again. Although the Aggies and UTEP are locked into CUSA, there are always provisos that allow one to buyout their membership. I believe the Aggies signed a 5 year grant of rights deal with CUSA, which would put them seemingly out of play until 2028.

While I don’t believe for a second they couldn’t leave if they didn’t want to and/or paid money for it, this news that guts the Mountain West a lot, with possible more to come may or may not impact NM State and the school 40 miles away UTEP.