San Diego State became the nineteenth university since 2004 to leave the Big East Conference and retained its membership in the conference it had called home since 1999. San Diego State joined Boise State, who made its announcement on December 31st, early this morning in returning to the Mountain West Conference after backing out of a projected move east. The Mountain West will feature twelve members and is expected to have two divisions and a conference championship game for the 2013 football season. According to sources, one will consist of members in the Pacific and Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zones (Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State and UNLV) and the other in the Mountain Time Zone (Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, Utah State and Wyoming). The Big East retains ten members for the 2013 football season after departures by Boise State, Pittsburgh, San Diego State and Syracuse, additions of Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, SMU and Temple, and current members Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers and South Florida.
The future of the Big East is uncertain, while the future of the Mountain West looks much brighter. The Mountain West may remain at twelve members, but reports have linked the conference with Houston, SMU, Tulsa and UTEP. There's instability within the Big East following the loss of fifteen members in the past two years and the lack of a much-needed television deal. East Carolina, Navy and Tulane are expected to join the conference between 2014 and 2015 with the departures of Rutgers, Louisville and the eight Catholic institutions (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova). According to reports, the Big East is looking to add either Massachusetts or Tulsa to become a twelve team conference like the Mountain West. The roller coaster of conference realignment is still in full throttle.
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