Earlier this week, the Mountain West Conference officially added North Dakota State to its football conference. Nevada’s athletic director Stephanie Rempe was quoted as noting that the ball got rolling on the shock realignment news only 10 days prior to the addition of the Bison. As a result, it might be a minute before we see the 2026 Mountain West schedule.
The new Pac-12, however, announced their 2026 schedule on Wednesday with an unusual twist. First off, yes readers, we do intend to cover both
western-based conferences. We’ll have more on that in the coming months. The schedule is out and fans of these Pac-12 programs can start their travel plans. Well, almost all of their travel plans. John Canzano posted the schedule below.
The twist I was referring to? You’ll notice on the far right hand side of the graphic features a “flex” week during Week 13. For the 2026 season, the Pac-12 only has 8 football programs, making a traditional 8-9 conference slate impossible. We knew the conference would need to either add a 5th out-of-conference game, very difficult to do when schedules are made so far in advance, or shake things up. The conference chose the ladder option.
Instead of adding another out-of-conference game, the Pac-12 members will play someone within the conference twice. These games will, “be considered a non-conference matchup for standings.” So no sweating Week 13, if Team X is 7-0 in the conference standings and in line to host the conference championship game, the Week 13 contest will not threaten their position.
There are projected matchups as of now for the Week 13 flex, Boise State traveling to Utah State for example, but the league has the right to swap them for another opponent come that week, with the justification being that the matchups will be in the best interest of the league. That will certainly generate some discussion.
Let’s say reigning Mountain West champion Boise State is in first place and at the front of the Group of 6 playoff race with a 10-2 record, their place in the conference championship solidified but, in a neck-and-neck battle with the AAC’s Tulane (again, all hypothetical). Would the conference match Boise State up with the toughest opponent possible to boost their metrics? Or the weakest possible opponent to maintain a prettier win total? When this decision is made, will the Pac-12 give us a reasoning for their decisions in a statement, press conference?
Also, is this going to be the norm for the conference going forward? An annual Week 13 occurrence? Or is it merely a solution to the 7-game conference slate program in 2026?
Whatever be the case, this is some outside the box thinking by the Pac-12 that makes them unique compared to the rest of the FBS. I’m somewhat reminded of the old ESPN BracketBusters that were discounted in 2012, a TBD scheduling across college basketball during the regular season. That’s the closest scheduling mechanism I can think of when comparing to this Week 13 flex.
There will likely be two schools of thought to this news: people who will see this as an innovative approach, one other football conferences might consider to protect their own interests, or as a slightly embarrassing solution to the problems created by the 7-game conference slate. After all, it is highly unusual having to play an opponent twice during the regular season in college football.
What do you think, fans of western Group of 6 football? Is this a cool idea? Strange? Heck, even mildly humiliating? Comment below.
