The Pac-12 is up to nine schools for the 2026-27 athletics season: current members Oregon State and Washington State, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State of the Mountain West, Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference and Texas State of the Sun Belt.

Texas State is joining the Pac-12, giving the rebuilding conference the eighth football-playing school it needed to maintain its status as an FBS conference.

A dozen years passed before the Pac-12 considered another Texas school — but it wasn’t the Longhorns or Aggies. During the purgatory period of 2022-23, after USC and UCLA announced their move to the Big Ten, then-commissioner George Kliavkoff put SMU in the crosshairs, along with San Diego State.