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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Western Athletic Conference announced Thursday that Utah State and New Mexico will be joining the league in July 2005.
The WAC, which lost three schools last week to Conference USA, said in a release that Utah State and New Mexico State had accepted invitations go leave the Sun Belt Conference for the WAC.
A conference call was scheduled for 4 p.m. MDT.
Utah State, located about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City in Logan, Utah, has been with the Sun Belt only a year. The Aggies had been an independent since the Big West dropped football after the 2000 season.
Adding Utah State and New Mexico State -- both known as the Aggies -- will give the WAC nine schools. Adding a tenth to round out the number remained a possibility, although no announcement was made Thursday.
The Atlantic Coast Conference started a nationwide shakeup this fall by getting Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech to leave the Big East for the ACC. Last week, Rice, Tulsa and Southern Methodist became the latest schools to switch by going from the WAC to C-USA.
With the addition of Utah State and Louisiana State, the new WAC lineup will include Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, Louisiana Tech and San Jose State.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
