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Earlier today and on Monday afternoon, Brett McMurphy of Action Network and Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported that Utah State will be leaving the Mountain West Conference and joining the PAC-12 in 2026.
The PAC-12 will continue to search for at least one more school (with a football program) in order to meet the eight-member minimum that is required for the conference to reach Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) status.
Both McMurphy and Dellenger have also reported that Memphis, Tulane and South Florida have all declined invitations from the PAC-12 and will remain in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).
Meanwhile, Dellenger has suggested that UConn could also be in consideration to join the PAC-12. However, it's possible that the union between both parties would only apply to football rather than basketball and all other sports.
From a distance running perspective, the introduction of Utah State to the PAC-12 gives the conference another program that has, for the most part, been fairly competitive on the grass. Both the Aggie men and women last qualified for the cross country national meet (as a team) in the fall of 2021. The season before that, at the 2021 NCAA Winter XC Championships, the USU men secured a head-turning 11th place finish.
While Utah State's distance program is making a slow and tedious climb back into the national relevance in cross country, the Aggies will continue to battle many of their current Mountain West rivals alongside Washington State, Oregon State and any other newcomers that the PAC-12 is able to recruit.
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Multiple reports on Monday night indicated that both the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and Air Force had originally recommitted to stay as members of the Mountain West Conference. However, with Utah State pulling out to join the PAC-12, that same recommitment deal to stay with the Mountain West fell one signature shy of its eight-member quota, effectively nullifying the agreement.
Per Dellenger, bylaws for the Mountain West Conference state that it would take nine votes from member institutions in order to dissolve the conference. Should UNLV and Air Force opt join a different conference (the latter likely being dependent on the decision of the former), then that would leave the Mountain West Conference with seven now-departed members.
In theory, losing both UNLV and Air Force would leave only two more votes from the remaining five members of the Mountain West -- Wyoming, Hawaii, San Jose State, Nevada and New Mexico -- in order for the conference to officially dissolve. If that were to happen, then exit fees for the soon-to-be-former Mountain West schools would be waived.
It was also reported by McMurphy that Gonzaga had accepted an offer to join the PAC-12. However, multiple reports have challenged that headline, stating that, while both sides have had discussions, no official offer has been made or accepted. Should Gonzaga venture to the PAC-12, it is possible that it would only be their basketball program that makes the move.