New Mexico State University officially joins Conference USA

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- New Mexico State University has officially made the jump to Conference USA.

New Mexico State football has been an independent program for several years, and is now back in contention for a conference championship.

NMSU is joined by Jacksonville State, Liberty, and Sam Houston St in this move to C-USA.

This also marks the first time since 1961 that NMSU and UTEP will be in the safe conference

ABC-7 spoke with NMSU Athletic Director Mario Moccia about what this move to C-USA means for the university and all NMSU Athletes.

"Now we're a member of the CFP, right? There's only ten conferences out of the 32 that can say you've got the Power 5 and the Group of 5. We're now in a Group of 5 conference, Conference USA. So with that for the football program, you've got both alliances right? We've got about six or seven bowl tie-ins, but also importantly, we can play for a conference championship in the sport of football, which is huge! But maybe the biggest thing and this is where all the student athletes come in...we get to share in that CFP money." said Moccia.

NMSU and UTEP will faceoff on November 18th, at 7 p.m. at the Sun Bowl.