Great West Football Conference

The Great West Conference is an NCAA college athletic conference. Formerly a football-only conference, in 2008 it became an all-sports conference. It is a member of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA).

Cal Poly, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, South Dakota State, Southern Utah, and UC Davis began conference play in the Great West Football Conference in 2004. St. Mary's (CA) was slated to join the conference, but dropped football prior to the 2004 season. In 2005 Cal Poly was the conference's first participant in the NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) playoffs.

Northern Colorado left the GWFC to join the Big Sky Conference for all sports for the 2006 season. On March 7, 2007, North Dakota State and South Dakota State announced that they would leave the conference after the 2007 season and join the Gateway Football Conference in 2008;[1] by the time the two schools joined, the Gateway Conference renamed itself the Missouri Valley Football Conference. On August 2, 2007 the University of North Dakota and the University of South Dakota announced that they would be joining the Great West Conference in 2008.

Former members

 * North Dakota State University (Missouri Valley Football Conference), 2004–2007
 * University of Northern Colorado (Big Sky Conference), 2004–2005
 * South Dakota State University (Missouri Valley Football Conference), 2004–2007