One Mountain West AD has chimed in on the recent string of realignment moves.

With the Pac-12 losing 5 more teams on Friday, the league is now down to 4 committed members for 2024. Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State will mull their options, and some have speculated programs out of the Mountain West Conference could be potential targets for the Pac-12.

At least one AD out of the MWC is not interested in the idea. In a conversation with Ryan Thorburn of the Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming AD Tom Burman called on teams in the league to stick together and avoid being “fooled into thinking there’s something greater out there.”

Historically, the Pac-12 has received designation as a Power 5 conference, but Burman claims it’s only a matter of time until that is removed. Once that designation is removed, it will “change its financial model dramatically” in Burman’s opinion.

“I would say this in the Mountain West Conference, if we all would stay together and not be fooled into thinking there’s something greater out there and joining a Power 5 league because the Pac-12, no matter who they add, is not going to be an Autonomous 5 league for very long,” said Burman. “It’s clear and everybody around the country is talking about that. It’s just a matter of time and that will change its financial model dramatically, in my opinion, speaking for Tom Burman. So, I think that’s clear.

“We all need to stay together. The four (Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, Wyoming) along the Front Range and Utah State need to stay together.”

What happens to the bowls?

To go along with Burman’s assessment, college football insider Brett McMurphy reported Monday morning that all 5 bowls with current Pac-12 tie-ins have begun discussions about conference affiliation for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. That is far from surprising with the entire future of the conference suddenly up in the air coming out of the weekend.