Editor’s Note: This story has been updated from its previous version to include a quote from Boise State associate athletic director.

Only weeks into the season, the PAC realignment saga hits again – #BackThePac. 

“A year ago, we pledged to do everything in our control to fight for the best path forward for Oregon State. We explored countless options, mindful of preserving our history while forging our future. Beavers are builders, and today we usher in a new era,” Athletic Director Scott Barnes released in a statement. 

Four teams have confirmed their move to the PAC-12 in the 2026-27 season, including Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State, all teams currently in the Mountain West Conference. 

“For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics. We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes,” PAC-12 commissioner Teresa Gould released in a statement on September 12th. “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.”

The minimum number of teams that can be in a conference for it to stay alive is eight, so the search for more teams will continue, needing at least two more to stay as a conference.

“We are ecstatic to be joining the PAC-12 conference,” San Diego State athletic director John David Wicker said in a statement. “While we are grateful to be a founding member of the Mountain West with 26 years of success in the conference, we are excited at what lies ahead with these new opportunities. We will continue to compete for conference championships on the field and to graduate leaders in the community.”

The NCAA has a rule where if something like this happens, the conference gains a two-year grace period to regain teams, or fully disband. They have until July of 2026 to get the teams they will need.

“We believe the Pac-12 Conference and its historic and tradition-rich brand provide powerful opportunities to take us into the next era of college athletics,” Boise State associate athletic director Chris Kutz said. “The Pac-12 puts us in a strong position for competitive excellence and revenue generation going forward, which has a direct and positive impact on the student-athlete experience at Boise State.”

The predictions were more in favor of the opposite happening, the two remaining PAC-12 schools leaving and joining the MW fully, but after a turn of events, each school will be spending over 17 million dollars each to join the 108 years of history that envelopes the PAC-12, with roughly 110 million being spent total in financial payments for conference exist.

Gloria Nevarez, Mountain West commissioner posted a statement on the events, stating that, “Our board of directors is meeting to determine our next steps. The Mountain West has a proud 25-year history and will continue to thrive in the years ahead.”

As of now, there hasn’t been any speculation about a name change, as there may not be twelve teams, but we have seen in other conferences that they don’t change their name when they have a differing number of teams than in their conference name. 

Examples of these are the BIG Ten bolstering 18 teams, and the BIG 12 holding 16. The only difference is that the BIG Ten changed their name once, from the BIG Nine to the BIG Ten over 100 years ago in 1916. The PAC-12 went from the Pacific Coast Conference, to Athletic Association of Western Universities, to PAC-8, then PAC-10 then PAC-12 in the same span. 

For the MW, the teams that decided to depart have been their most decorated, especially in football. 

Boise State 

• Highest winning percentage in bowl games among the conference(Need at least five bowl games to qualify)
• Won a national championship at the NJCAA level in 1958
• Won a national championship at the NCAA Division l-AA level in 1980

San Diego State

• Won three straight national championships from 1966-68 at the NCAA College Division level

Fresno State

• Second most bowl game appearances behind Air Force with 28

Colorado State

• 1-1 on the season after having to open the year facing #2 Texas on the road