Washington State football releases its 2024 football slate

Welcome to the Mountain-Pac-West.

Washington State released its 2024 football schedule Thursday with a heavy slate of Mountain West Conference competition in store for the Cougars.

The scheduling partnership between Washington State, Oregon State and the Mountain West has come to fruition after 10 teams announced they will leave the Pac-12 Conference next year, leaving just the Cougars and Beavers remaining in the league.

WSU will face eight Mountain West foes, Portland State, Texas Tech, Washington and Oregon State with many of the dates and all the times yet to be announced.

Here’s how it breaks down:

MWC agreement

The partnership between the WSU, OSU and the MWC calls for six games — three home, three away — between the conference’s schools and the “Pac-2” schools.

WSU already contracted games against San Jose State (Sept. 21) and San Diego State (TBA), bringing its total MWC opponents to eight — nearly a full Mountain West schedule.

The other six are home games against Utah State, Wyoming and Hawaii and road contests at Boise State, New Mexico and Fresno State. Dates and times for those games will be announced by the Mountain West in the coming months.

The scheduling alliance had previously been announced earlier this month.

WSU and OSU will pay approximately $14 million to the MWC next year as part of the deal, per multiple reports, including word from WSU athletic director Pat Chun.

Since the Cougars and Beavers are not official members of the MWC, they will not be eligible for the conference championship.

WSU and OSU are still hopeful they can rebuild the Pac-12. They have two years to function as a two-team conference while they conduct an ongoing legal battle against the conference’s 10 departing teams over conference funds and control of the Pac-12’s assets.

Texas Tech headlines non-MWC opponents

WSU will open the season Aug. 31 at Gesa Field against Portland State of the Football Championship Subdivision.

The premier “nonconference” game will follow when it hosts Texas Tech of the Big 12 on Sept. 7. The Red Raiders are 6-6 this season heading into Saturday’s Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl against Cal.

Next year’s game will be the first between the two schools since 1964.

The Cougars’ only official conference game will be Nov. 23 at Oregon State in Corvallis.

Apple Cup moves up in the schedule

Keeping the Apple Cup against Washington was a big priority for WSU and UW as the Huskies move on to the Big Ten Conference next year.

The rivalry game was moved up to Sept. 14 instead of its usual spot in late November.

The game will also be held at a neutral site at Lumen Field in Seattle — the home of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders FC.

What it means

The Cougars no longer have to worry about knowing who they will play next season — in football at least.

There are reports the MWC and Pac-2 schools are also considering scheduling partnerships in basketball and other sports, although those details have not been publicly announced.

WSU was able to pull out a slate with a full six-game home schedule, a mix of FCS and Power Five foes, regional competition and maintain its biggest rivalry game.

That’s about the best the Cougars could’ve asked for in the short term following the recent collapse of their conference.

2024 football schedule

Times and some dates to be announced at a later date

Aug. 21: vs Portland State

Sept. 7: vs Texas Tech

Sept. 14: vs Washington (Lumen Field, Seattle)

Sept. 21: vs San Jose State

Nov. 23: at Oregon State

TBA home: Utah State, Wyoming, Hawaii

TBA road: San Diego State, Boise State, New Mexico, Fresno State.

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.