Western Athletic Conference football


The Western Athletic Conference sponsored football and crowned a champion every year from 1962 to 2012. Once considered one of the best conferences in college football, steady attrition from 1999 to 2012 forced the WAC to drop football after fifty-one years.

Former members

The WAC has 26 former football-playing members.
TeamFirst SeasonLast SeasonWAC TitlesCurrent Primary Conference
Air Force Falcons198019983Mountain West
Arizona Wildcats196219772Pac-12
Arizona State Sun Devils196219777Pac-12
Boise State Broncos200120108Mountain West
BYU Cougars1962199819IND
Fresno State Bulldogs199220113Mountain West
Colorado State Rams196719983Mountain West
Hawaii Warriors197920114Big West
Idaho Vandals200520120Big Sky
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs200120122C-USA
UNLV Rebels199619980Mountain West
Nevada Wolf Pack200020112Mountain West
New Mexico Lobos196219982Mountain West
New Mexico State Aggies200520120Independent
Rice Owls199620040C-USA
San Diego State Aztecs197819981Mountain West
San Jose State Spartans199620120Mountain West
SMU Mustangs199620040The American
TCU Horned Frogs199620002Big 12
UTEP Miners196720041C-USA
UTSA Roadrunners201220120C-USA
Texas State Bobcats201220120Sun Belt
Tulsa Golden Hurricane199620040The American
Utah Utes196219982Pac-12
Utah State Aggies200520121Mountain West
Wyoming Cowboys196219987Mountain West

Conference championships

By year

SeasonChampionConference record
1962New Mexico2–1–1
1963Arizona State3–0
1964Arizona3–1
1964New Mexico3–1
1964Utah3–1
1965BYU4–1
1966Wyoming5–0
1967Wyoming5–0
1968Wyoming6–1
1969Arizona State6–1
1970Arizona State7–0
1971Arizona State7–0
1972Arizona State5–1
1973Arizona6–1
1973Arizona State6–1
1974BYU6–0–1
1975Arizona State7–0
1976BYU6–1
1976Wyoming6–1
1977Arizona State6–1
1977BYU6–1
1978BYU5–1
1979BYU7–0
1980BYU6–1
1981BYU7–1
1982BYU7–1
1983BYU7–0
1984BYU8–0
1985Air Force7–1
1985BYU7–1
1986San Diego State7–1
1987Wyoming8–0
1988Wyoming8–0
1989BYU7–1
1990BYU7–1
1991BYU7–0–1
1992BYU6–2
1992Fresno State6–2
1992Hawaii6–2
1993BYU6–2
1993Fresno State6–2
1993Wyoming6–2
1994Colorado State7–1
1995Air Force6–2
1995BYU6–2
1995Colorado State6–2
1995Utah6–2
1996BYU8–0
1997Colorado State7–1
1998Air Force7–1
1999Hawaii5–2
1999Fresno State5–2
1999TCU5–2
2000TCU7–1
2000UTEP7–1
2001Louisiana Tech7–1
2002Boise State8–0
2003Boise State8–0
2004Boise State8–0
2005Boise State7–1
2005Nevada7–1
2006Boise State8–0
2007Hawaii8–0
2008Boise State8–0
2009Boise State8–0
2010Boise State7–1
2010Nevada7–1
2010Hawaii7–1
2011Louisiana Tech6–1
2012Utah State7–0

By team

Championship game

The Western Athletic Conference staged a conference title football game during the three years 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 the Las Vegas Valley. When conference membership was cut in half in 1999 with the formation of the Mountain West Conference, both the championship game and two-division format were discontinued. All participants in the three title games were among the defections to Mountain West.
Below are the results from all WAC Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game. ABC Sports televised all three games.

Results by team

Bowl games

The first bowl game appearance by a WAC team was at the 1964 Liberty Bowl, where Utah defeated West Virginia of the Southern Conference, 32–6.
The WAC had conference tie-ins with various bowl games during its history, including:
The WAC champion received an automatic berth in one of the five Bowl Championship Series bowl games if they were the highest ranked non-automatic qualifying conference champion and either of the following:
By qualifying under the first criterion above, Boise State landed a berth in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, and Hawaii received a bid to play in the 2008 Sugar Bowl. In 2009, the Mountain West champion TCU Horned Frogs received the automatic BCS bid by finishing higher than Boise State in the final BCS rankings. However, Boise State received a BCS at-large bid and defeated TCU in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. In three BCS bowl games, the WAC recorded two wins and one loss. In addition to those three teams that played in BCS bowls, four other WAC teams qualified for a BCS berth but were not selected to play in a BCS bowl game: TCU in 2000 and Boise State in 2004, 2008, and 2010.

Rivalries

Notable football rivalries involving WAC teams are listed below. Records are not limited to years that the WAC was active.

Divisional alignment

Starting in 1996, the 16 conference members were divided info four pods, each with four teams. Two pods comprised the Pacific Division, and the other two pods were the Mountain Division. Pod one would always compete in Pacific, while pod four would always compete in Mountain. The other two pods were scheduled to swap divisions every two years, with the new alignment to take effect in even-numbered years. The pods and divisional alignment were discontinued after 1998.