Texas State to join the Pac-12, allowing it to qualify as FBS conference

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — The Pac-12 officially has its eighth football-playing member. The conference announced on Monday that Texas State will join the newly reformed league starting in the 2026-27 athletics season.

The addition of Texas State brings the Pac-12’s membership up to nine schools: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Utah State, Washington State and Texas State. The conference had been working to add an eighth football program for the past several months in order to qualify it as a Football Bowl Subdivision conference.

Gonzaga, while known as one of the nation’s elite basketball programs, does not have a football team. Texas State — located in San Marcos, about halfway between Austin and San Antonio — will depart the Sun Belt Conference, where it has been a member since 2013.

“Texas State has shown a commitment to competing and winning at the highest level as well as to providing student-athletes with a well-rounded college experience academically, athletically and socially,” Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould said in a news release.

The Bobcats competed in their first-ever bowl games in 2023 and ‘24, winning the First Responder Bowl both years. They went 16-10 across those two seasons, and they’re one of just 15 teams with a bowl win in each of the past two seasons.

Statistically, the Bobcats’ football program ranks behind only Boise State in the new Pac-12. In 2024, out of 134 FBS programs, Texas State ranked 62nd in FPI (behind only Boise State at 27th) and 48th in ESPN’s SP+ rankings (behind only Boise State at 29th). Over the past two seasons combined, Texas State has ranked 15th in rushing offense (197.9 yards per game) and 25th in passing offense (269.8 yards per game), making it the only FBS team to rank in the top 25 of both categories.

The men’s basketball program’s most recent postseason appearance was a first-round loss in the NIT in 2022. Texas State has also thrived across the board in non-revenue sports, earning the Sun Belt’s Vic Bubas Cup in three of the past four years, which is awarded to the conference’s top-performing athletic department.

The Bobcats won five Sun Belt championships in 2024, including the softball regular season title and volleyball tournament championship.

“Texas State is thrilled to enter a new era in college athletics as the newest member of the new Pac-12 Conference,” Texas State Director of Athletics Don Coryell said in a news release. “This milestone offers an incredible opportunity to elevate our programs, compete at the highest level, and pursue excellence on a national stage.”