Boise State, Colorado State among 4 schools joining Pac-12, leaving Mountain West | News, scores, highlights, stats & rumors

The Pac-12 confirmed Thursday that it has reached agreements with Mountain West Conference programs Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State to join the revamped Pac-12.

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger was the first to report the news, and ESPN’s Pete Thamel and The Athletic’s Chris Vannini later confirmed that the four MWC schools would join the Pac-12, joining remaining schools Oregon State and Washington State.

Brett McMurphy of The Action Network noted that the aforementioned MWC teams will officially join the Pac-12 in 2026.

While the four Mountain West teams joining the Pac-12 provide a solid foundation for a revitalized conference, the Pac-12 must add at least two more members to be recognized as an official FBS conference.

The Mountain West Conference will receive $111 million in exit fees as a result of the departures, McMurphy said. Each team will have to pay the MWC $17 million, which the Pac-12 is expected to “help offset,” plus the Pac-12 will have to pay the Mountain West another $43 million as part of a scheduling agreement between the conferences.

Both USC and UCLA announced in 2022 that they would leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. When the Pac-12 failed to reach a suitable television deal, a mass exodus ensued.

Last year, Oregon and Washington announced they wanted to join the Big Ten; Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah said they wanted to join the Big 12; and California and Stanford decided to go to the ACC.

That left Oregon State and Washington State as the last Pac-12 schools standing. With not enough time to rebuild the conference for the 2024 football season, they decided to join the Mountain West by scheduling six MWC teams each this season.

Last week, ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura reported that the Pac-12 and Mountain West failed to reach an agreement to extend their schedules beyond the 2024 season.

Bringing in Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State is a major win for the Pac-12 in terms of moving closer to Power Five status again.

Boise State is the biggest acquisition, as the Broncos have long been among the best teams in college football, despite not coming from the top conferences.

They went undefeated and defeated Oklahoma in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. Since 1999, they have had 18 double-digit winning seasons.

It’s unclear which other schools the Pac-12 could target to achieve official conference status, but the American Athletic Conference has several programs that could be attractive, including Memphis and Tulane.