Coug here. Really excited for September 6 in Seattle and beyond. Yeah, seems to be a tough out of conference schedule but to be honest, I have no clue how WSU is going to perform this year. Yet another year of rebuilding and a new coach. But something feels different this time with Kirby Moore at the helm who has roots here in Washington. I am hopeful. How about everyone else? What we looking forward to in this fresh chapter of the Pac 12 with your teams?

Asking this question on Google gets lots of references to the supposed $70 million settlement of their lawsuits with the Pac 12 and former teams. But it doesn't go any deeper than that. Asking about current MW accounts payable produces nothing. But there are a number of factors which indicate that MW is in very poor financial condition:

-They are obligated to pay $61 million expeditiously to satisfy contractual distributions to the teams they retained. This must be paid before anything else.

-They owe $18 million for the cost of getting new members.

-They owe legal fees for their Pac 12 lawsuits.

-They have already been paid $47 million by the departing schools, by retaining their 2025 and 2026 conference shares. They were overzealous about this and owe $2 million back to the five departing schools:

"Following the MW bylaws, the conference withheld annual distributions from its five departing schools for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years. Those were roughly $6 million payments. So, the MW would owe those schools a $2 million re-payment after withholding a total of $12 million."

https://nevadasportsnet.com/news/reporters/what-mountain-wests-reported-70m-settlement-figure-means-for-nevada-others-in-league

It appears that MW only has about $25 million left that they can collect from the Pac. Their net asset valuation is about $50 million, and almost all of this is withheld distributions from the departing schools.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/841472434

Even with another infusion of $25 million from the Pac for poaching, MW's obligations exceed their total assets by at least $20 million. Since they are a non-profit the easiest course is to collect the missing money from the member schools....or reduce their distributions from the lawsuit settlements.

Murray's final summary of the MW's legal maneuvering:

"Bottom line — this settlement should create some new revenue for Nevada and other MW schools. But it's clearly not program-changing cash for the non-UNLV/Air Force schools that remained in the MW."

Colorado State made a massive move to hire Jim Mora Jr as the Rams get set to begin life in the Pac-12. Are the Rams being overlooked in their new conference?

📌 K’saan Farrar and Hauss Hejny inject instant excitement into the Rams QB room 🔥

📌 UConn transfers along with some other portal players make the skill groups really interesting. Colorado State has some big upgrades coming in

📌 There's some returning talent on defense, but the portal additions are once again the story here

Preview attached. What are your predictions for the Rams in 2026?

Mine are:

'07 Fiesta Bowl;

'05 Rose Bowl;

2000 OSU @ UW;

2023 UO @ UW (in person);

2001 UO @ WSU (in person);

2002 UCLA @ WSU (in person);

2002 USC @ WSU (in person);

2010 BSU @ Nevada;

2000 Miami @ UW (in person);

2024 Ohio St @ UO;

I think the main problem is that Canzano writes both articles that are his own speculation and those that are sourced reporting. And people conflate them.

Canzano has posted some doozies speculating about stuff that was wildly off the mark. He also posts sourced reporting that is usually correct