At the same time, the Utes' historic rival, BYU, will become a football independent and join the West Coast Conference in other sports.
In the 2011 season, Boise State joined from the WAC, while three other WAC members, Fresno State, Hawaiʻi and Nevada, have accepted invitations to join the MW in 2012.
TCU won its second Mountain West Conference Championship during an undefeated regular season.
TCU beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
Mountain West teams finished 4–1 in bowl games in 2011, the best record out of all conferences[86] to win the Bowl Challenge Cup for the second consecutive year.