The Great West Football Conference is down to three teams — 2006 Great West champion North Dakota State and runner-up South Dakota State officially accepted an invitation to join the Gateway Football Conference today.

The move, which will take place starting with the 2008 season, leaves the Great West with just three teams: Southern Utah, Cal Poly and UC Davis.

“It’s not good for the Great West initially,” said SUU athletic director Ken Beazer. “But we do have some other institutions out there on the radar.”

With Western Kentucky deciding to move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I), Gateway members Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Youngstown State were left with a six-game conference schedule.

After starting initial talks this fall, the conference finally agreed on the two-team addition Monday.