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WAC

The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States]] with mber institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah and Washington along with the Midwest state of Illinois and the Southern state of Texas.

Due to most of the conference's football-playing members leaving the WAC for other affiliations, the conference discontinued football as a sponsored sport after the 2012–13 season and left the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A). The WAC thus became the first Division I conference to drop football since the Big West in 2000. The WAC then added men's soccer and became one of the NCAA's eleven Division I non-football conferences.[1] The WAC underwent a major expansion on July 1, 2021, with four schools joining. The conference reinstated football at that time and will compete in the Football Championship Subdivision. On July 1, 2022, one non-football school (Chicago State) will leave, and another FCS football school (Southern Utah) will join.[2][3][4]

Current Teams[]

These are the football programs of the WAC in 2021:

Team Location Stadium
Abilene Christian Wildcats Abilene, Texas Wildcat Stadium
Dixie State Trailblazers St. George, Utah Trailblazer Stadium
Lamar Cardinals Beaumont, Texas Provost Umphrey Stadium
Sam Houston State Bearkats Huntsville, Texas Bowers Stadium
Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks Nacogdoches, Texas Homer Bryce Stadium]]
Tarleton State Texans Stephenville, Texas Memorial Stadium

The conference will add the Southern Utah Thunderbirds as a full member in 2022.

Previous Teams[]

Team Location Stadium
Idaho Vandals Moscow, Idaho Kibbie Dome
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Ruston, Louisiana Joe Aillet Stadium
New Mexico State Aggies Las Cruces, New Mexico Aggie Memorial Stadium
San Jose State Spartans San Jose, California Spartan Stadium
Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners San Antonio, Texas Alamodome
Texas State Bobcats San Marcos, Texas Bobcat Stadium
Utah State Aggies Logan, Utah Romney Stadium

Seasons[]

  • 2012 season

By Year[]

Season Champion Conference Record
1962 New Mexico 2-1-1
1963 New Mexico 3-1
1964 Arizona 3-1
New Mexico 3-1
Utah 3-1
1965 BYU 4-1
1966 Wyoming 5-0
1967 Wyoming 5-0
1968 Wyoming 6-1
1969 Arizona State 6-1
1970 Arizona State 7-0
1971 Arizona State 7-0
1972 Arizona State 5-1
1973 Arizona 6-1
Arizona State 6-1
1974 BYU 6-0-1
1975 Arizona State 7-0
1976 BYU 6-1
Wyoming 6-1
1977 Arizona State 6-1
BYU 6-1
1978 BYU 5-1
1979 BYU 7-0
1980 BYU 6-1
1981 BYU 7-1
1982 BYU 7-1
1983 BYU 7-0
1984 BYU 8-0
1985 Air Force 7-1
BYU 7-1
1986 San Diego State 7-1
1987 Wyoming 8-0
1988 Wyoming 8-0
1989 BYU 7-1
1990 BYU 7-1
1991 BYU 7-0-1
1992 BYU 6-2
Fresno State 6-2
Hawaiʻi 6-2
1993 BYU 6-2
Fresno State 6-2
Wyoming 6-2
1994 Colorado State 7-1
1995 Air Force 6-2
BYU 6-2
Colorado State 6-2
Utah 6-2
1996 BYU 8-0
1997 Colorado State 7-1
1998 Air Force 7-1
1999 Hawaiʻi 5-2
Fresno State 5-2
TCU 5-2
2000 TCU 7-1
UTEP 7-1
2001 Louisiana Tech 7-1
2002 Boise State 8-0
2003 Boise State 8-0
2004 Boise State 8-0
2005 Boise State 7-1
Nevada 7-1
2006 Boise State 8-0
2007 Hawaiʻi 8-0
2008 Boise State 8-0
2009 Boise State 8-0
2010 Nevada 7-1
Boise State 7-1
Hawaiʻi 7-1
2011 Louisiana Tech 6-1
2012 Utah State 6-0

By School[]

School Total Outright Shared
BYU 19 13 6
Boise State 8 6 2
Arizona State 7 5 2
Wyoming 7 5 2
Colorado State 3 2 1
Air Force 3 1 2
Hawaiʻi 4 1 3
Fresno State 3 0 3
New Mexico 2 2 0
Arizona 2 0 2
TCU 2 0 2
Utah 2 0 2
Louisiana Tech 2 2 0
San Diego State 1 1 0
Nevada 2 0 2
Utah State 1 1 0
UTEP 1 0 1
Schools in bold are Current Members of the WAC


Championship games (1996–1998)[]

The Western Athletic Conference staged a conference title football game during the three years (1996-98) the league consisted of sixteen members. During this time, the league was split into two divisions, Pacific and Mountain, with eight teams in each division. The top finisher in each division played for the championship, which was held at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. When conference membership was cut in half in 1999 with the formation of the Mountain West Conference, the title game was discontinued and the league did away with the two-division format. The rankings next to a given team's name represent the last AP poll prior to the game being played. ABC Sports televised all three games.

Year Winner Score Opponent
1996 #6 BYU 28-25 (OT) #20 Wyoming
1997 #20 Colorado State 41-13 New Mexico
1998 #17 Air Force 20-13 BYU

Division alignments (1996–1998)[]

Pacific Division

  • BYU
  • Fresno State
  • Hawaii
  • New Mexico
  • San Diego State
  • San Jose State
  • Utah
  • UTEP

Mountain Division

  • Air Force
  • Colorado State
  • Rice
  • SMU
  • TCU
  • Tulsa
  • UNLV
  • Wyoming
  1. Irv Moss. "WAC to drop football after 2012 season, commissioner Hurd says", The Denver Post, August 20, 2012. 
  2. Template:Cite press release
  3. Martinez, Quinton. "Four Texas schools announce departure from Southland Conference for WAC", January 14, 2021. 
  4. Dean, Richard. "Why the Texas four left for the Southland for the WAC", January 14, 2021. 
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