Pump the brakes on more conference realignment for right now.
On Friday morning, Yahoo’s Pete Thamel first reported, and multiple other outlets soon followed, that Colorado State and Air Force will not be going to the American Athletic Conference after all and will instead stay in the Mountain West Conference.
AAC commissioner Mike Aresco released a statement shortly after the reports indicating that no formal invitations to join the conference had been sent to schools.
These reports come just three days after multiple outlets reported that the two schools were in advanced talks to join the AAC as soon as next week.
Friday’s reports come a day after news broke that Boise State and San Diego State will also be staying in the MWC for the time being. On Tuesday in the reports about Colorado State and Air Force going to the AAC, indications were that BSU and SDSU had been contacted about joining that conference, but both had rejected the idea, with BSU reportedly holding out for an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference.
All of this news is a huge win for the MWC, which would have been in grave danger of becoming greatly diminished as a conference. It will take a huge hit if BSU does indeed get an invite from the Big 12 anytime soon, but for now, it appears a very good conference will remain intact.