The Mountain West has opted not to extend its scheduling partnership with Oregon State and Washington State for the 2025 season. The decision creates uncertainty for the remaining Pac-12 schools as both sit without a long-term conference home.
The “Pac-2” agreed to a 7+1 scheduling contract that allowed MWC schools to play seven conference games and one of the two Pac-12 schools for the 2024 season. The contract included an option that could push the deal through 2025, but it required both sides to agree.
“The football scheduling arrangement with Oregon State and Washington State was a one-year agreement,” the MWC said in a statement to the Associated Press. “For the 2025 season, the Mountain West and its member institutions are moving forward with their conference and nonconference schedules. Our focus remains on the current season and our exceptional teams.”
Despite watching the other 10 members leave, Oregon State and Washington State opted to stay in what is legally still the “Pac-12” in order to recoup payments and benefits to the historic league. The schools are now in control of a $265 million “war chest” of funds, which include payments like Pac-12 basketball units, CFP money and bowl payouts.
The Pac-12 technically has two years to reach the minimum number of eight teams to fulfill NCAA regulations. The prevailing wisdom has been that the schools could then join the Mountain West after collecting as much residual money as possible. However, the Mountain West’s decision to distance itself from the two schools makes the situation far more complicated.
“I don’t know if the Mountain West thinks they need these two schools, honestly,” Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould said in July. “I would imagine if and when these conversations ever take place it’s going to be based in part on the economics of the decision and what they bring to the table… there is so much riding on that in terms of future media rights, recruiting decisions, all those things.”
Oregon State has six nonconference games scheduled for the 2025 season, including Texas Tech, California and rival Oregon. Washington State has five with San Diego State, Virginia and Washington among them. Still, pulling together a 12-game FBS schedule on short notice will be a monumental task for two teams that will, for all intents and purposes, compete as FBS independents in 2025.
