The Mountain West is in serious dialogue to add FCS powerhouse North Dakota State as a football-only member starting this coming season

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Not much of a conference now that the Pac 12 gutted it.

If a deal is reached with North Dakota State, the Mountain West will have 10 football-playing members for 2026 — two football-only programs in NDSU and Northern Illinois, as well as Air Force, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, Wyoming and other new full members Hawaii and UTEP.
 


OmahaGopher said:
Who cares? Go jackoff on bisonville. That conferenceis turning into crap.
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No, it's interesting. I've been anticipating this for years. It's a biggish school, the flagship school for its state, lots of football success, with a rabid and irrational fanbase. I've thought for years that their natural eventual fit is the Big 12.
 


howeda7 said:
Not much of a conference now that the Pac 12 gutted it.

If a deal is reached with North Dakota State, the Mountain West will have 10 football-playing members for 2026 — two football-only programs in NDSU and Northern Illinois, as well as Air Force, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, Wyoming and other new full members Hawaii and UTEP.
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It makes more sense than it perhaps did before given that the MW definitely leans further on the Mountain half of its name after realignment. With Wyoming, Air Force and NIU travel is more doable than it previously would have been with trips to San Diego and whatnot (though Hawaii trips sound brutal). I’d assume the MW would likely be lobbying to get South Dakota State to tag along as well.
 






howeda7 said:
Not much of a conference now that the Pac 12 gutted it.

If a deal is reached with North Dakota State, the Mountain West will have 10 football-playing members for 2026 — two football-only programs in NDSU and Northern Illinois, as well as Air Force, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, Wyoming and other new full members Hawaii and UTEP.
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I hadn't followed the PAC12 realignment much. Didn't realize just how much their realignment was going to make the MW into a joke of a conference. Yikes.

What would it take to get into CFP discussion? Undefeated plus needing at least one quality P4 win? I can't see how going undefeated with a meh OOC sniffs the CFP.
 
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pharmacygopher said:
I hadn't followed the PAC12 realignment much. Didn't realize just how much their realignment was going to make the MW into a joke of a conference. Yikes.

What would it take to get into CFP discussion? Undefeated plus needing at least one quality P4 win? I can't see how going undefeated with a meh OOC sniffs the CFP.
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They wouldn’t be eligible for post season for a while anyways


PAC 12
Boise state 9-5
Colorado State 2-10
Fresno state 9-4
Oregon state 2-10
Utah state 6-7
San Diego state 9-4
Texas state 7-6
Washington state 7-6

51-52

Mountain west
Northern Illinois 2-9
UTEP 2-10
Air Force 4-8
Hawaii 9-4
Nevada 3-9
New Mexico 9-4
San Jose state 3-9
UNLV 10-4
Wyoming 4-8

46-65

I still don’t get why northern Illinois left the mac for this.
I also feel at some point Air Force may try to shift to the American to be with army and navy.
 






Some guy said:
Perhaps

I think st Thomas will be in the A10 or big east before NDSU is big 12

If NDSU is in the big 12 in the next 10 years it means the big 12 isn’t a power 4 league any more
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I'd bet UST folds their football program before they'd move up in competition.
 



everybody knows my name said:
No, it's interesting. I've been anticipating this for years. It's a biggish school, the flagship school for its state, lots of football success, with a rabid and irrational fanbase. I've thought for years that their natural eventual fit is the Big 12.
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I too think it is interesting. Looks like a good mix of teams that have had success. Isn't UND the state flagship university?
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
It will be a reality shock for Bison fans who wont be able to delude themselves into thinking they could have won the CFP if they werent in FCS.
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My MiL (from ND) is so delusional. She once was at my place while I was watching a Bama game about a half decade ago. Bama was ranked 2 or 3 at the time, and she kept talking about the Bison being #1. Zero awareness of the difference between FBS and FCS, and there was no hope in explaining it to her. She would just refute my claims by showing me the Bison #1 ranking on her phone...outside of my MiL, there's not many Bison fans who think they could ever compete for a CFP. Theres definitely some, but I'd say that percentage of fans is maybe at 3%.

As a Twin Cities transplant living in Fargo, I would be very happy with NDSU moving to FBS. Might even get me interested. I've never been to a game, I've maybe spent a total of 3 hours watching them on TV since moving here 10 years ago, and own no Bison apparel. But having an FBS team in my neighborhood would be great. The fanbase here has grown very bored with the success at the FCS level, and I think a move to FBS would reignite the fanbase. I do think they are a good enough program to live in those lower divisions and make a couple top 25 appearances.
 
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PMWinSTP said:
I too think it is interesting. Looks like a good mix of teams that have had success. Isn't UND the state flagship university?
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Its a bit of a toss up, but most would probably give it to NDSU for their athletics success.

UND has slightly larger enrollment. UND also has maybe a slight nod in academics, but both are very good in that area, just in separate fields. NDSU for STEM, UND for aerospace and law.
 

Some guy said:
Would make high school football in Minnesota look better as they’ll recruit the same guys they are now but all of a sudden the state of Minnesota will produce a ton more FBS players per year
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They won’t get very far if they keep that old recruiting strategy.
 


skauma said:
Its a bit of a toss up, but most would probably give it to NDSU for their athletics success.

UND has slightly larger enrollment. UND also has maybe a slight nod in academics, but both are very good in that area, just in separate fields. NDSU for STEM, UND for aerospace and law.
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NDSU for agriculture/animal/vet, which granted falls a lot under the S of STEM you already mentioned, but I view it as more its own thing apart from the usual hard science and eng/technology fields than not.

Brings in USDA research money, like every state's ag school does. (Think every state gets similar research funding for their ag schools.)

UND law/med. Both have engineering, both have business.
 


Some guy said:
They wouldn’t be eligible for post season for a while anyways


PAC 12
Boise state 9-5
Colorado State 2-10
Fresno state 9-4
Oregon state 2-10
Utah state 6-7
San Diego state 9-4
Texas state 7-6
Washington state 7-6

51-52

Mountain west
Northern Illinois 2-9
UTEP 2-10
Air Force 4-8
Hawaii 9-4
Nevada 3-9
New Mexico 9-4
San Jose state 3-9
UNLV 10-4
Wyoming 4-8

46-65

I still don’t get why northern Illinois left the mac for this.
I also feel at some point Air Force may try to shift to the American to be with army and navy.
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Bold: I have a feeling that the gears were set in motion some years ago based on ideas that made a lot more sense with the MW configuration from before.

Now, it doesn't make a ton of sense to me. They're saying that being the MAC limits their revenue potential. Again, this kind of language feels like it makes more sense with the previous MW config ... not so much now.
 

Border Gopher said:
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American is closer to what the new Pac 12 will be. I'd say the nP12 is maybe going to be the best of the G6 (P12, MW, MAC, CUSA, SB, AAC).

CUSA is at the bottom. Sun Belt maybe a quarter step up, new MW and MAC maybe a half step up, if that.
 

howeda7 said:
Not much of a conference now that the Pac 12 gutted it.

If a deal is reached with North Dakota State, the Mountain West will have 10 football-playing members for 2026 — two football-only programs in NDSU and Northern Illinois, as well as Air Force, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, Wyoming and other new full members Hawaii and UTEP.
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Wyoming and New Mexico were OG founding members of the WAC with Utah, BYU, Arizona, and Arizona State.

They were part of the OG group that left to form the Mountain West in the first place, to get away from the lower schools that were in the WAC at the time it had ballooned to 16 teams.

How they have fallen ...
 

ergopher said:
It makes more sense than it perhaps did before given that the MW definitely leans further on the Mountain half of its name after realignment. With Wyoming, Air Force and NIU travel is more doable than it previously would have been with trips to San Diego and whatnot (though Hawaii trips sound brutal). I’d assume the MW would likely be lobbying to get South Dakota State to tag along as well.
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It would make sense if they hadn't already added Northern Illinois as a football-only member.

NDSU and SDSU left the old North Central conference together and then formed the (stop gap) Great West conference along with UC Davis (now joining the new MW as a full member) and Cal Poly. Created the Dakota Marker trophy, which hasn't been much of a rivalry other than a couple of short lived periods where SDSU had success.

NDSU would love nothing more than to take them with ... but not sure I see it happening because of NIU.
 

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