The Mountain West conference is reportedly "amid a significant push to keep its core of eight schools together, which includes one-time payments of guaranteed money to the schools," according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

The guaranteed payments to all eight schools appear to be an effort to stave off any approaches from the Pac-12, which already poached Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State and San Diego State.

Those payments also include "large payments" to UNLV and Air Force as rumors circulate that the former is being pursued by the Pac-12 and the latter by the American Athletic Conference.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, meanwhile, reported Monday that the Mountain West has reportedly "tried to convince members to sign a grant of rights (the conference does not have one)."

A grant of rights would essentially tether a team's television rights to its conference's media rights deal. In the ACC, both Florida State and Clemson have sued the ACC in an effort to remove themselves from a grant of rights that lasts through 2036.

"If I were a school in the league I wouldn't sign it," an industry source told Dodd on Sunday regarding a potential Mountain West grant of rights. "They don't need a grant of rights right now. I wouldn't sign a grant of rights until I know who is going to be in the league."

The Pac-12's effort to remain in existence—the six-team conference has until the 2026 season to get to eight schools to qualify for automatic berths into college championships and the College Football Playoff—has created a whirlwind of potential movement around the college landscape.

The conference reportedly has its eyes on Memphis, Tulane, USF, UTSA, UNLV and Utah State, while the AAC is hoping to lure Air Force and UNLV to its conference in an effort to keep schools like Memphis and Tulane.

The stakes are high—the expanded playoff format will include automatic berths for the five highest-rated conference champions. Generally, four of those berths will be expected to go to SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC schools, leaving a fifth automatic berth up for grabs.

So the Pac-12, AAC and Mountain West now appear to be engaged in a battle to be viewed as the fifth strongest conference in the sport, which would obviously give them a leg up on securing a regular playoff berth.

The Mountain West already lost its four strongest football schools—having even more schools poached by the Pac-12 and AAC could make it very difficult for the conference to ever secure that fifth automatic playoff seed.