A Look At A Common Sense Conference Re-Alignment For College Football

College football is in a conference turmoil at the moment and it seems as if the Pac 10 is consolidating powerhouse football programs that they took from the Big 12, and creating a super conference out west.

The problem is that they are bringing schools from the central time zone to the west coast and it makes no sense, well it makes perfect sense financially and since we all know that’s what really matters we can leave it at that.

Oklahoma State for example, projected to join the Pac-10, is 1,200 miles from UCLA, the Pac 10 should just change its name to the West of the Mississippi 10, or 16 now I guess.

I want to make it clear from the start that I did not remove any team from a BCS conference out of any other BCS Conference, I did however bring in several schools who are in "mid majors" to fill out the remaining teams in certain conferences.

If college football made realignment a common sense thing, not based on money and based on location of schools, I believe the outcome would look something like this…

ACC

This conference should stay the way it is now with the following teams:

Boston College, Clemson, Duke, FSU, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia, Va Tech, and Wake Forest.

There are a few bottom feeders here but anyone who thinks the ACC is some sort of cakewalk should look at the fact that Miami has yet to win its first ACC title.

Big Ten

The Big Ten is always hyped as a great conference, a No.2 behind the SEC if you will. But they haven't been lately and the fact that their season ends weeks before other title contenders does not help their cause, plus it just looks silly naming a conference Big Ten when there are 11 teams in it. Nebraska has agreed to join them, and I think this is the best way for the conference to look:

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin and ADD Iowa State.

Yes I know Nebraska already agreed to join, this is my opinion on how conferences should be and is very much so based on geographical locations.

Big East

The Big East is the smallest (currently) BCS conference and has drawn much crticism from fans and the media with regards to its automatic BCS bid, especially since Miami and VTech ran off to the ACC.

Assuming the Big East remains intact, it should add teams to be able to have a conference championship game just as all other conferences do. This is my opinion of how it should look:

Uconn, Louisville, Pitt, Rutgers, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia, Cincinnati and they should add Notre Dame (already in the Big East for all other sports) Memphis (Imagine them in the Big East Basketball cirlces), Tulane and Central Florida.

Tulane basically to round out the conference, could take Marshall as well. UCF is the 3rd largest university in the nation with 53k+ students, and an ever growing alumni base. New on campus facilities include new softball stadium, new arena, new on campus football stadium as well as the only indoor football practice facility in the state.

Big 12

The Big 12 is probably history. Before I finish this article they may not even have any teams left at all. The problem is that they are splitting up huge rivalries and shipping them out west to a conference that does not make sense geographically.

The best way the Big 12 could look is like this: Baylor, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M.

As I previously moved Iowa State to the Big 10, the BIg 12 should grab TCU to fill this empty slot and round it off geographically.

SEC

The SEC is widely considered the best football conference in the land. They were the first ones to have a conference title game and are always considered higher when it comes to the polls.

This conference should remain unchanged since it is already the top dog in the land.

However I am counting down the days to be able to tell all the SEC fans around me they are no longer on top and they like us all have to look up at the Pac 10 (or pac16 whatver they end up naming it).

The possible addition of Texas A&M makes no difference really to the SEC when it comes to better competition. The possible addition of FSU and or Miami is something I do not wish for, it would be impossible to come out of here undefeated, much like whats gonna happen out west.

Pac 10

The reason for all this turmoil is the Pac 10 and its attempt to steal away several teams from the Big 12. I just have a problem having a conference named anything Pacific when they are planning to bring in 4-6 teams from the central time zone. They will however become the top conference as soon as Texas and Oklahoma sign on the dotted line.

In my made up ideal world of correct conference geography I would have the Pac 10 this way:

Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

PLUS the addition of Utah and Boise State.

This gives them 12 teams and just as all other conferences, a conference title game. Adding Utah and Boise basically hushes the debate about automatic bids for BCS games when it comes to "mid majors"