When the Mountain West Conference scrambled to keep its membership intact following a high-profile poach job by the Pac-12, leadership faced an existential choice on how to rebuild. According to reporting from NevadaSportsNet, the conference ultimately chose stability over ceiling, a decision that has defined the conference through the middle of the college football season.
The FCS Road Not Taken
The strategic blueprint looked entirely different on paper a year prior. When the Mountain West reshuffled its membership, analysts pointed directly toward the Football Championship Subdivision as a rich, untapped talent pool. Conferences are ultimately judged by football performance because that singular sport drives media money, national coverage, fan engagement, and conference-wide respect.
That realization led to a specific hypothesis: elite FCS programs could make the jump and immediately elevate an FBS league. Yet the Mountain West leadership prioritized low-ceiling, established FBS schools over high-risk, high-reward FCS powerhouses during a frantic 100-day window.
The league brought in UTEP and Northern Illinois as football additions, alongside non-football and affiliate members like Hawaii, Grand Canyon, and UC Davis. Later, North Dakota State entered as a football-only affiliate. The results on the field since that rollout reveal a stark operational divide.
Evaluating the Ledger
North Dakota State immediately proved it belongs at the FBS level. Reaching bowl eligibility by winning six of its first seven games, the Bison’s only losses came against preseason Mountain West favorites New Mexico and UNLV on the road, both decided by less than a touchdown following late pick-sixes. Attendance, fan interest, and play quality skyrocketed in Fargo, validating a $12.5 million conference entrance fee and a $5 million NCAA fee.
Meanwhile, the established FBS newcomers tell a different story.
| Team | Record | FBS Record | Point Differential |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota State | 6-1 | ||
| UTEP & Northern Illinois | 1-13 | 0-12 | -364 |
That combined 0-12 record against FBS competition, featuring a deficit of 30.3 points per game, has acted as an anchor on the conference. UTEP sits at 176th and Northern Illinois at 182nd in the latest Sagarin ratings, trailing dozens of FCS programs. UTEP posted just two winning seasons in the twenty years preceding the move, while Northern Illinois arrived as an awkward one-sport geographic outlier.
Market Reach Versus Gridiron Depth
The rationale behind the early invitations centered heavily on media footprints. Securing proximity to Chicago, Sacramento, Honolulu, and El Paso served as an attempt to salvage a $45 million per year media-rights target, even though the final television agreement fell short of that figure. Bringing in programs near major population centers checked administrative boxes, but it diluted the conference’s on-field profile.
A different path remained wide open. Montana State, South Dakota State, and Montana continue to dominate the FCS division. Montana State defeated Nevada on the road by 13 points, while South Dakota State pushed Big Ten opponent Northwestern to the limit, trailing by just two points late in the fourth quarter. Pairing those Dakotas and Montanas with North Dakota State would have placed the Mountain West nearly on par with the new Pac-12 in terms of football depth.
Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez noted in 2025 that multiple FCS programs possessed the capability to step up. Initial hesitation stemmed from fears that Power Four conferences would block further FCS-to-FBS transitions. Those fears evaporated when North Dakota State and Sacramento State made the jump with minimal regulatory resistance.
The Modern Balance Sheet
Conferences are not purely football operations, and scheduling logistical balance across Olympic sports remains a valid administrative challenge. Luring Grand Canyon away from the West Coast Conference stands out as a master stroke, instantly positioning the Antelopes near the top of the conference’s athletic department hierarchy.
The fact that the Mountain West survived the Pac-12 raid as a viable FBS entity remains an administrative triumph. Yet the data shows that aiming for high-level FCS programs instead of extending invitations to struggling FBS programs would have yielded a markedly stronger football product. The blueprint for expansion worked brilliantly in North Dakota, but faltered in El Paso.
