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If you’ve been flustered by the nonstop reshuffling of college conferences and are having trouble keeping track of which schools are competing in which conference, we’ve got you covered.
With the news that Texas State is reportedly taking the final steps to leave the Sun Belt and join the Pac-12 Conference, here is where every notable Texas school stands ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Texas and Oklahoma made their way to the SEC and are entering their second season in the conference. Leaving the Big 12 behind, Texas and Oklahoma were a package deal. After a long stretch of stability, Texas and OU heading to the SEC was the first domino in the wave of realignment that swept college athletics over the last handful of years.
Texas A&M has been a member of the SEC since 2012.
Following the departures of Texas and Oklahoma, the Big 12 added several new schools, including: Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, BYU, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah.
The local Big 12 schools like Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU and Oklahoma State have remained in the conference and shown no signs of a potential exit.
SMU is the lone local school in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
As the Pac 12 continued to crumble, the ACC decided to get in on the action.
The conference added SMU from the American Athletic Conference and pulled Stanford and California as a package deal from the Pac-12. The Mustangs thrived in their first year in the ACC, as SMU made it to the ACC Championship game and College Football Playoff in its first football season with the conference.
When the Big 12 plucked Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston from the AAC, the conference needed to replenish its memberships.
It added North Texas, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, UAB, Rice and UTSA ahead of the 2023 season. UTSA did flirt with the Pac-12 in 2024, but announced its intentions to stick with the AAC.
Sam Houston State made the jump from the WAC to Conference USA in 2023 as a part of the school’s transition from being a FCS program to a FBS program.
UTEP is currently in Conference USA, but is set to join the Mountain West in 2026.
The Mountain West added UTEP amid a flurry of exits from the conference that included Boise State, San Diego State, Utah State, Fresno State and Colorado State. Each of those schools bolted for the Pac-12 and will join the conference in July 2026.
Leftover in the Mountain West are Air Force, UNLV, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State and Hawaii. The conference has also added Grand Canyon and UC Davis as non-football members and Northern Illinois as a football-only member.
Texas State is reportedly joining a Pac-12 that looks significantly different than it did in the past. The Bobcats are set to join the Pac-12 beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
After all of its members except Washington State and Oregon State left, the conference has been rebuilding to the best of its abilities. The aforementioned five Mountain West schools that left for the Pac-12 brought the conference to seven members, the Pac-12 added Gonzaga as a non-football member and Texas State is set to become the eighth football member of the conference.
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At this point in time, opting out of bowl games is nothing new, but Texas is going to have more opt-outs in the Citrus Bowl against Michigan than many—self included—expected. This problem pales in comparison to what’s going on in Ann Arbor, but the amount of lost experience will be something for Texas to overcome, primarily on defense.
As the Longhorns continue to build for the future, one of their targets is four-star prospect Neimann Lawrence. The Miami native is one of the best quarterbacks in the 2028 class and is attracting interest from some of the nation’s top programs. On Monday, Lawrence revealed the schools that have stood out so far, including the Longhorns.
While Mondays update was encouraging, Texas was not the only school Lawrence mentioned. He also highlighted Michigan, Miami, Ohio State, Texas A&M, and Tennessee. That is not an easy list of schools to go to battle with; the Longhorns have time to make themselves stand out.
Currently, the Miami Northwestern High star is ranked as the fourth-best quarterback in is class by 247Sports. They also rank him as the ninth-best player from Florida and the 39th-best player in the nation. With collegiate debut still over a year away, those rankings could change.
At the moment, the Longhorns do not have a commitment in the 2028 class, but they have made offers to some of the top recruits. That includes Brysen Wright, Jalanie George, Jamarios Canton, Micah Rhodes, and King Pitts. Landing any of those players would give Texas a bright future.
With a decision still months away, Lawrence will be a player to watch. A lot could change as his recruitment continues, but it is a good sign for Texas that they are standing out early on in the process.
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. – An Orange County photographer is speaking out after he was deported as he was heading to Texas to photograph a wedding.
What they’re saying:
“I was trying to do it the right way, the legal way and it just feels like they don’t care about that,” said Adan Caceres.
Caceres came to the United States under asylum in 2014, fleeing a violent El Salvador.
“My mom’s sister was murdered and she was thrown in front of our house. She also was abused sexually before they murdered her and then my brother and I were threatened by the gangs,” said Caceres.
He says he never received the deportation order that was issued in 2018 and only learned about it in 2023. He then started the process of reopening his case.
“I was paying my taxes. I’m a business owner, I’m a wedding photographer. I’m also married,” said Caceres.
In October, Caceres was going through security at John Wayne Airport, heading to a job in Texas, when he was detained. He says from Santa Ana, he was sent to the Adelanto Detention Center then one in El Paso, Texas where he says the conditions were inhumane.
“We’re not even asking ‘hey let us out’ we’re asking for water, we’re asking for us to be able to use the restroom, these are basic human rights,” said Caceres.
He says now that he’s back in the country he once fled, he’s most concerned about his wife back in Orange County.
“I was providing a lot of income for our household and now my wife has to take care of all of those things on her own; paying car insurance, the rent, all the bills,” said Caceres.
Caceres says he had no criminal history and feels he was on the path to citizenship when it was ripped away from him, leaving his future with his family uncertain.
“I don’t know if I’m going to see them. I don’t know when I’m going to see them,” said Caceres.
The other side:
FOX11 reached out to the Department of Homeland Security asking about Caceres’ case but had not heard back at the time this story aired.
The Source: Information for this story came from an interview with Adan Caceres.
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