| WAC football champions | |
|---|---|
| Conference Football Champions | |
 Western Athletic Conference Logo | |
| Sport | Football |
| Conference | Western Athletic Conference |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Played | 1962–2012, 2021–2022 |
| Current champion | Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks Abilene Christian Wildcats |
| Most championships | BYU Cougars (19) |
| Official website | WACSports.com Football |
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) 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.[1]
On January 14, 2021, the WAC announced its intention to reinstate football as a conference-sponsored sport at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level, as well as the addition of five new members to the conference in all sports, including football.[2] The new members announced include: Abilene Christian University, Lamar University, Sam Houston State University, and Stephen F. Austin State University, all currently of the Southland Conference (SLC), along with Southern Utah University, currently of the Big Sky Conference. Original plans were for all new members to join in July 2022, but after the SLC expelled its departing members, the WAC moved the arrival of those four schools and the relaunch of football to July 2021. Southern Utah's entry remained on the 2022 schedule.[3][4] The WAC football league also included Dixie State University (renamed Utah Tech University in 2022) and Tarleton State University, both of which played as FCS independents in 2020–21 after having moved from NCAA Division II to the WAC for non-football sports in July 2020. The conference also announced that it will most likely add another football-playing institution at a later date. The conference has been speculated to move back up to the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in the future following the reestablishment of the football conference at the FCS level.[5]
On the same day, news broke that The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), a non-football playing member of the conference, had committed to create an FCS football program by 2024.[6] At the time, the program would most likely have competed as part of the newly-reinstated WAC football conference.
For its first two planned seasons in 2021 and 2022, the relaunched WAC football league was branded as the ASUN–WAC (or WAC–ASUN) Challenge, with the WAC establishing a temporary football partnership with the ASUN Conference. The ASUN eventually started its own FCS football league in 2022. Under the partnership, three FCS programs that joined the ASUN in July 2021 played alongside current WAC members.[7][8]
The ASUN–WAC partnership was renewed for the 2022 season after the start of FBS transitions by ASUN member Jacksonville State and WAC member Sam Houston rendered both ineligible for the FCS playoffs, also dropping both conferences below the 6 football members needed to qualify for an automatic berth in the FCS playoffs.[9] The WAC's playoff-eligible membership soon dropped further to 3, after Incarnate Word backed out of its planned move from the SLC to the WAC[10] and Lamar, which had announced it would leave the WAC in 2023 to return to the SLC, accelerated this move to 2022.[11]
The 2022 season proved to be the last for the WAC as a standalone football conference. On December 20, 2022, the ASUN and WAC jointly announced that they would fully merge their football conferences effective with the 2023 season under the tentative name of ASUN–WAC Football Conference. The ASUN is contributing Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, and North Alabama to the new league, with the WAC contributing Abilene Christian, Southern Utah, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton, and Utah Tech. UTRGV, which put off the start of its football program to 2025, will join at that time. The merged conference will play a six-game schedule in 2023 before adopting a full round-robin in 2024.[12][13]
- ^ "Western Athletic Conference considers becoming a non-football league". July 3, 2012.
- ^ "WAC Announces Expansion, Plans to Reinstate Football" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
- ^ Blum, Sam (January 14, 2021). "As WAC announces addition of 5 schools, Frisco-based Southland Conference left in no man's land". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
- ^ "WAC Announces Expedited Entrance for Four Texas Institutions" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
- ^ Deaver, Colin. "Reports: WAC football to return in 2022, rise to FBS later in decade". KTSM.com. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
- ^ Jeyarajah, Shehan. "UTRGV commits to add FCS football by 2024". Dave Campbell's Texas Football. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
- ^ "ASUN, WAC Conferences Announce Football Partnership for 2021" (Press release). ASUN Conference. February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
- ^ "From the Commissioner's Desk: @ASUN_Football Update" (Press release). ASUN Conference. February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
- ^ "ASUN and WAC Renew Football Alliance" (Press release). ASUN Conference. May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
- ^ "University of the Incarnate Word Staying in the Southland Conference" (Press release). Southland Conference. June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
- ^ "Lamar University Prepares for Early Move to Southland Conference" (Press release). Southland Conference. July 11, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
- ^ "@ASUN_Football and WAC Release 2023 Schedule" (Press release). ASUN Conference. December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ "ASUN And WAC Unveil 2023 Football Schedule" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.