The Mountain West Conference is in deep discussions about adding UTEP, an obvious target for the league both from both a geography and tradition standpoint, as a full member, sources told ESPN on Monday,

Each conference has seven schools for football, one short of the eight necessary to be recognized as an official conference

The Mountain West is looking to add a new member, and Texas State appears to be an emerging target, according to a report from ESPN's Pete Thamel. This comes as the conference received signed commitments from its seven existing members: Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, Wyoming and Hawaii.

The Mountain West Conference is in serious discussions with UTEP about joining the league as the parties near a potential deal in the latest round of conference realignment on the West Coast, sources familiar with the talks confirmed to CBS Sports.

Conference realignment chaos continues and this time UTEP is said to be in the mix of universities that could be changing conferences. Ever since the Pac-12 snagged four universities from the Mountain West Conference and left the MWC in need of new members,