Due to the Western Athletic Conference being " raided " by the Mountain West Conference , Conference USA , and the Sun Belt Conference , it was initially unknown what path the WAC would take . After these moves , the WAC was down to only two football programs for the 2013 season &ndash; New Mexico State University and the University of Idaho . Since the WAC was not be able to sponsor football for the 2013 season ( eight teams are needed for a conference to sponsor football at the FBS level ) ; NMSU and Idaho became FBS independents for the 2013 season before becoming football-only members of the Sun Belt in 2014
FBS independents
NCAA Division I FBS independent schools
2010–13 Western Athletic Conference realignment