Oregon State, Washington State football teams will play Mountain West schedule in 2024
The Mountain West Conference and Pac-12 remnants Oregon State and Washington State announced a scheduling agreement Friday for the 2024 football season.
The 12 football members of the Mountain West will play seven games against conference opponents in 2024, plus an eighth game against either the Cougars or Beavers, for a total of four home and four away games. However, the games against OSU and WSU will not count toward the league standings, and neither of those teams will be eligible for the league championship game.
Boise State is already scheduled to host Oregon State next season, so the Broncos likely will go on the road to face Washington State.
“This is a unique and unprecedented opportunity for Oregon State and Washington State to play against highly competitive Mountain West football programs in 2024,” Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a news release. “The scheduling agreement will expand the Mountain West footprint and enhance our national brand, while providing our student-athletes with new opportunities, all in line with our strategic priorities.”
Nevarez said Friday that adding quality opponents will only help Mountain West teams, especially with the College Football Playoff expanding next year. The six highest-ranked conference champions earn an automatic bid.
“The CFP is based on an entire body of work, not just conference play,” she said. “Anytime we can add really good opponents to strengthen our champion’s schedule, I think it’s a win.”
Nevarez wouldn’t comment on whether the agreement comes with a future promise of Oregon State and Washington State joining the Mountain West or the conference merging with those two schools for a new Pac-12. She also wouldn’t comment on the financial aspects of the deal, but she said any money would go into a pot and be distributed among teams after any expenses are withdrawn.
Mountain West Deputy Commissioner Bret Gilliland said the conference is working on putting the football schedule together and will release matchups soon. He also said the conference’s two-year scheduling rotation will not be reset.
Instead, one conference game will be removed from each team’s schedule to make room for the additional games. Gilliland said a long list of factors was taken into account when deciding which conference games were removed, including regional rivalries, protected games, travel, competitiveness and inventory for TV.
As part of the Mountain West’s scheduling rotation, which was adopted last year, Boise State plays New Mexico and Utah State every season. That will not change, Gilliland said. He also said the conference has been working on its 7+1 model for about six weeks, and administrators went through about 17 models before settling on the right one.
“As we all know, when you work in the scheduling space, every piece that you move creates a trickle down effect,” he said. “Our goal was to make it as least disruptive as possible to our member institutions.”
Gilliland said neither Oregon State nor Washington State had a say in which teams they play and when. He also said Mountain West teams don’t have a say in which game will drop off their schedule.
“It won’t be perfect for every single team, but we’ll be as fair and equitable as we possibly can,” Gilliland said.
