There has been plenty of conference realignment in the last few years. There are several teams joining the Mountain West in 2026. Here is the new Mountain West team in 2026.
North Dakota State Bison
Previous Conference: Missouri Valley Conference (FCS)
City: Fargo, North Dakota
North Dakota State has played college football since the 1800s, but is now making the jump to the FBS. They won small college national championships in the 1960s. After succeeding, they won five Division II national championships from 1983 to 1990. They moved up to the FCS level and have since won 10 national championships at that level from 2011 to 2024.
The Bison will play in the Mountain West Conference to start their journey in the FBS. With several of the teams in the conference joining the new Pac-12 conference, they made the offer for North Dakota State to make the jump to the FBS.
Tim Polasek has been the coach for the past two seasons and has only lost three games overall. He won one national championship at the FCS level. While that is likely not going to happen at the FBS level, the Bison should be competitive in the Mountain West. They return eight starters, have added some transfers and have done a great job of player development. With the Mountain West going through a transition period, they can take advantage.
Northern Illinois Huskies
Previous Conference: MAC
City: Dekalb, Illinois
Northern Illinois first competed in football in 1899. They joined the MAC in 1975, but bounced around conferences for a while before going back to the MAC in 1997 and staying through the 2025 season. The Huskies will join the Mountain West in football only this season.
With several of Mountain West teams joining the Pac-12, it opened up some availability in the conference and Northern Illinois benefitted from that and received the invite. Even though they don’t match up too closely to other teams in the conference geographically, the Huskies decided to make the jump.
Thomas Hammock has a 35-47 record as head coach of Northern Illinois with a mix of good and bad years. He has a very notable win over Notre Dame, which came in the 2024 season. The Huskies only retained three starters and may not have brought in enough talent to compete in the Mountain West this season.
UTEP Miners
Previous Conference: C-USA
City: El Paso, Texas
UTEP started the football program in 1914. They were a member of the Border Conference and Independent before joining the WAC in 1968. In 2005, they joined Conference-USA, where they have played since.
While the Miners haven’t had teh greatest football success, they fit much better geographically with some of the teams in the Mountain West more than they did with most of C-USA.
The Miners have four starters back, all on defense, from a team that won two games last season. Scotty Walden has won just five games in his two seasons as head coach and now will face a jump in competition. New talent can help, but it may take a few years for UTEP to adjust to the competition in the MWC.
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