12 MWC teams could become part of Pac-2 as Mountain West plays safe to avoid Pac-12 like collapse in latest wave of conference realignment

The Mountain West could join the Pac-12 in football to keep the conference alive, as per recent statements made by stakeholders.

The Pac-12 was decimated when schools left the conference last year to work on a new media rights deal. With only Oregon State and Washington State left in the Pac-12, the schools will be playing a Mountain West football schedule for the next two years.

According to Washington State athletic director Pat Chun, working with the MWC was something the schools needed to do to give them time.

“We have some certainty for the next two years, and that gives us time,” Chun said.

For the Mountain West, commissioner Gloria Nevarez says working with the Pac-12 for a reverse merger made sense.

“The survival and protection of the league was a priority,” Nevarez told The Athletic. "We wanted to make sure what happened to the Pac-12 didn’t happen to us. They’re great schools. They look like us and have a lot of nonconference games with us anyway.”

Chun, meanwhile, says a reverse merger with the Mountain West is certainly an option for Washington State and Oregon State.

“I would only read into it as an option,” Chun said of a full Mountain West merger. “We want to go through every foreseeable option for both schools.”

According to some sources in The Athletic article, expect Oregon State and Washington State to eventually give in and accept the reverse merger with the Mountain West Conference.

Pac-12 schools given a two-year grace period

With only Oregon State and Washington State left in the Pac-12, the conference is given a two-year grace period by the NCAA to figure out their situation.

The football programs will play at least six MWC games in 2024, while other sports will spend two years in the West Coast Conference.

With that, Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes spoke to The Athletic and says the school is deciding its next steps.

“Times like this, we pull together and we fight together and it’s sort of galvanized us,” Barnes said.

“That’s what it’s done. I’m sort of built in a different way. This stuff energizes me. As much as folks say it’s an impossible task, it’s not. … We intend to be a Power 5 program in the future. Whether that’s build back or join an existing conference, that’s our goal. Our sight is laser-focused on that.”

Right now, the most likely outcome for the remaining Pac-12 schools and the 12 MWC schools is to have a merger and remain a Power 5 conference.