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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Cloakacola on 2025-07-26 18:20:42+00:00.
When it comes to the league hierarchy of today, one conference’s rise and fall that always intrigues me is the WAC. Founded in 1962, its charter members were Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming. They stayed together for 16 years (adding Colorado State and UTEP along the way) until Arizona and ASU departed for the PAC-8/10 in 1978. The first four are now P4 programs and have actually come nearly full circle reuniting in the Big 12, while New Mexico, Wyoming, CSU, and UTEP never made it to a power conference.
While Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, and Utah didn’t always have their current status either, it is interesting to me that the majority of the WAC’s charter members have built their programs up to their current state and have found national success along the way. Is there a timeline where UA and ASU don’t leave the conference and instead help build the WAC’s prestige to be another western conference on-par with the PAC-8? Perhaps NM, CSU, UW, and UTEP are more competitive than in our timeline? Or would it ultimately succumb to conference realignment where the top programs are picked off in favor of TV contracts and market value?