Editing Mountain West Conference (section)

===Early–2010s realignment===
{{See also|2010–2013 Mountain West Conference realignment}}
On June 11, 2010, [[Boise State University]] agreed to join the conference as its tenth member. On June 17, 2010, Utah announced it would be leaving the Mountain West to join what would become the [[Pac-12 Conference]]. On August 18, 2010, amidst rumors that BYU was considering leaving the Mountain West to go independent in football and rejoin the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports, the Mountain West Conference officially extended invitations to [[California State University, Fresno]] (Fresno State) and the [[University of Nevada, Reno]] (Nevada). Both schools accepted and would become the tenth and eleventh members of the league.<ref name=ESPN>{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=5735144 |title=Fresno State, Nevada to remain in WAC until 2012 |work=ESPN |date=2010-10-28 |access-date=2013-08-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Adelson |first=Andrea |title=Utah State turned down invite to MWC |url=https://www.espn.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/24908 |access-date=2013-08-09 |work=ESPN}}</ref> BYU announced on August 31, 2010, that it would leave the Mountain West Conference and go Independent in football and become a member of the [[West Coast Conference]] (WCC) in other sports starting in 2011.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=5517305 |title=BYU to leave Mountain West Conference, join West Coast Conference in all sports except football |work=ESPN |date=2010-09-01 |access-date=2013-08-09}}</ref> On November 29, 2010, TCU announced all athletic teams would move to the [[Big East Conference (1979–2013)|Big East Conference]] effective in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/40416658/ns/sports-college_football/ |title=Big East Gets Bigger, Adds TCU For 2012 Season |first=Stephen |last=Hawkins |work=NBCSports.MSNBC.com |date=2010-11-29 |access-date=2010-11-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201011523/http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/40416658/ns/sports-college_football/ |archive-date=December 1, 2010}}</ref> (Less than a year later, on October 10, 2011, TCU announced it would not join the Big East but would join the Big 12, home to fellow former SWC members [[Baylor University|Baylor]], [[University of Texas at Austin|Texas]], [[Texas Tech]], and formerly [[Texas A&M]], in 2012 instead.)<ref name="TCUBig12">{{cite news|url=http://gofrogs.cstv.com/genrel/101011aad.html|title=TCU Accepts Invitation To Join Big 12 Conference|publisher=[[TCU Horned Frogs|TCU Athletic Department]]|date=October 10, 2011|access-date=October 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012192118/http://gofrogs.cstv.com/genrel/101011aad.html|archive-date=October 12, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> On December 10, 2010, the [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]] accepted a bid to become the 10th member of the conference for football only.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/40611296/ns/sports-college_football/ |title=Hawaii Joins Mountain West Conference
 |first=Jaymes |last=Song |agency=Associated Press |work=NBCSports.MSNBC.com |date=2010-12-10 |access-date=2010-12-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213141604/http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/40611296/ns/sports-college_football/ |archive-date=December 13, 2010}}</ref> These changes would leave the Mountain West Conference with 10 teams for the 2012 football season.

During the era of football's [[Bowl Championship Series]] (BCS), which was replaced by the [[College Football Playoff]] (CFP) in 2014, the MW champion qualified for a BCS bowl four times after the BCS formula was tweaked to allow teams from non-BCS conferences to play in BCS bowls if ranked in the top 12. However, two of the three schools that qualified are no longer with the conference.

On October 14, 2011, the Mountain West and C-USA announced a plan for a football only alliance.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/7102822 |title=Mountain West, Conference USA announce football-only alliance |work=ESPN |date=2011-10-15 |access-date=2013-08-09}}</ref> On February 13, 2012, the two leagues announced that both conferences would be dissolving after the 2012–13 season to reform into one conference with at least 15 members for all sports, and a 16th team, [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]] as a football-only member.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/02/13/mwc.merger.ap/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216035601/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/02/13/mwc.merger.ap/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 16, 2012 | work=CNN | title=MWC, C-USA to form new league | date=February 13, 2012}}</ref> However, when the two conferences discussed their plans with the NCAA, they were told that due to NCAA rules, they would forfeit substantial revenues. Specifically, the new conference would receive only one automatic bid to NCAA championships; at least one of the former conferences would lose future revenue distributions from the NCAA men's basketball tournament; and at least one former conference would not be able to collect exit fees from any members that departed to join the new conference.<ref name="McMurphy 2012-04-17">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/conference-usa-mountain-west-merger-unlikely/ |title=Conference Mountain West merger "unlikely" |first=Brett |last=McMurphy |publisher=CBSSports.com |date=April 17, 2012 |access-date=April 21, 2012}}</ref> As a result, the Mountain West and C-USA backed away from a full merger. In late March of that year, the commissioners of both conferences stated that all 16 schools had entered into binding agreements to form a new "association",<ref name="McMurphy 2012-03-28">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/new-c-usa-mwc-league-will-be-completed-by-early-june |title=New C-USA, MWC league will be completed by early June |first=Brett |last=McMurphy |publisher=CBSSports.com |date=March 28, 2012 |access-date=April 10, 2012}}</ref> although the Mountain West and C-USA would have apparently remained separate legal entities.<ref name="McMurphy 2012-04-17"/> In the end, this alliance never materialized due to both conferences soon adding new teams.

On May 2, 2012, [[San Jose State|San José State]] and [[Utah State]] agreed to join the conference for the 2013–14 academic year. On December 31 of that year, Boise State announced that it had backed out of its previously announced move to the Big East for football and the Big West for other sports, and would remain in the MW.<ref name="McMurphy 2012-12-31">{{cite news |last=McMurphy |first=Brett |date=December 31, 2012 |title=Boise State spurns Big East |url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8796807 |access-date=December 31, 2012 |work=ESPN}}</ref>

On January 16, 2013, San Diego State accepted an offer to remain/return to the Mountain West Conference in all sports. Keeping SDSU in the conference gave the Mountain West 12 football members, allowing for a [[Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game|championship game]] to be held. The first championship game took place on December 7, 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dodd |first=Dennis |date=January 16, 2013 |title=Mountain West planning title game with 'addition' of SDSU |url=https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/mountain-west-planning-title-game-with-addition-of-sdsu |access-date=August 5, 2024 |work=CBS Sports}}</ref>