There are more reports that are coming out that are saying that the Mountain West will be adding San Jose State and Utah State. The latest comes from Tony Jones who covers Utah State for the Salt Lake Tribune and he is reporting that while nothing is official but an invite should be announced within 10 days.
Utah State athletic director Scott Barnes mentioned that things have moved quickly in regards to moving to the Mountain West, and another reason that this looks official is that Barnes will be in Phoenix for the annual Mountain West spring meetings.
The move would take place for the 2013 football season and would include all sports and solvel the Mountain West's problem of having only seven non-football playing members.
This also means that the WAC is essentially done since Louisiana Tech and Texas San Antonio are also linked to joining Conference USA. This also puts into question where Boise State will send their non-football playing teams who are expected to join the WAC in 2013, so there may need to be some maneuvering to find a home for those teams.
As for what this does to the Mountain West it would mean that they would have 10 football members, and with the WAC about to die perhaps the Mountain West grabs some remaining WAC schools, or maybe even grab UTEP who has been rumored to join the Mountain West.
All this really does if they stay at 10 teams makes them a solid and stable league with no threat of losing teams to a more prestigious conference. If they go to 12 with a combination of UTEP or WAC cast offs that would give the league maybe a few extra million for more live content to sell and host a championship game.
Staying at 10 teams is awkward for scheduling and determining a conference champion because nine conference games is never going to happen with Air Force who already has two pre scheduled games with Navy and Army.
Out of the teams that the Mountain West could have added there were few options, but I do think that going after Texas-San Antonio would have been a better option than San Jose State.
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