The Conference of "State" schools, Pac-12 adds four new programs to the conference

It's official, the Pac-12 has grown from a two-pack to a six-pack overnight. The Conference of Champions, currently comprised of Oregon State and Washington State, has added four new members.

Fresno State, Boise State, San Diego State, and Colorado State announced on Thursday, Sept. 12, that they would be joining the Pac-12 ahead of the 2026 athletic season.

The Pac-12 fell apart following the departures of Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten, who were quickly joined by UCLA and USC.

The departures of those four programs was followed by Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Arizona State jumping ship and climbing aboard the Big 12 while Cal and Stanford left for the ACC.

Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould, who took over in February of this year, has spent the last seven months working to reconfigure and reconstruct the conference that used to lay claim to the most national titles in the country.

While the four state programs might not add the same number of trophies or rings to the trophy case, but it does get the conference one step closer to regaining its status as an FBS conference.

To have bowl eligibility a conference must have eight athletic departments with a football program. The addition of the four programs boosts the Pac-12 to six football programs, leaving space and the need for two additional schools.

People are already tossing around the ideas of UNLV and Nevada or Memphis and Wyoming clambering aboard but for now, only time will tell what fate awaits the Conference of Champions.

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