Break Up The SEC: Conference Realignment Needed

It's time to break up the SEC.  It’s just too dominant. Unless you live in Los Angeles or Austin, or you’ve been in a coma for the last few years, you know it to be true. 

I submit that we must realign all the FBS conferences. Oh, you can keep the current conferences for sports with real championships, I am only talking about the top level of college football. Realigning based on geography, though, won’t help.  That’s how we got into this mess. Besides, we don’t need to align geographically anymore. Those alignments were created when it took a three day train ride to get from Chicago to Los Angeles.  If geography isn’t a reason, then what is the basis for realignment? Nicknames, of course! I mean if you want to find out who is really top dog, put all the dogs in one conference, and let them play.

So let’s start with the dogs. Start with the Bulldogs and Huskies, and gee, no Poodles or Dobermans, so we’ll expand slightly and bring in the Wolves. Since “Lobos” is Spanish for Wolves, that means New Mexico too.

Canine Conference

Fresno St.	Bulldogs
Georgia	Bulldogs
Louisiana Tech	Bulldogs
Mississippi St	Bulldogs
Connecticut	Huskies
Northern Illinois	Huskies
Washington	Huskies
New Mexico	Lobos
Nevada	Wolf Pack
North Carolina St	Wolf Pack
Arkansas St	Red Wolves

It seems to me that Georgia is the obvious choice for now, but a decade ago, Washington would have been top dog.  NC State and Fresno St. will keep it interesting. 

Well, if we start with Dogs, then we’ll try Cats next. Let’s see, Lions, Tigers, Wildcats . . . wait a second, there’s too many felines for one conference. We’ll start with the big cats.

Large Feline Conference

Brigham Young	Cougars
Houston	Cougars
Washington St	Cougars
Penn. St	Nittany Lions
Florida Atlantic	Panthers
Pittsburgh	Panthers
Auburn	Tigers
Clemson	Tigers
Louisiana St	Tigers
Memphis	Tigers
Missouri	Tigers

Now, this conference has some competition! Penn St. and  LSU might be best this year, but Auburn, Clemson, Missouri, and BYU have been top 20 teams recently, and Pitt and Wazzu have been to BCS bowls.

There’s not enough remaining felines for another conference, but there are a bunch of other small to mid-size mammals that are looking for a conference, so we’ll fill out the conference with them.

Small Mammal Conference

Arizona	Wildcats
Kansas St	Wildcats
Kentucky	Wildcats
Northwestern	Wildcats
Cincinnati	Bearcats
Ohio	Bobcats
Wisconsin	Badgers
Oregon St	Beavers
Minnesota	Gophers
Arkansas	Razorbacks
Michigan	Wolverines

I think we’re looking at a real cat fight (pun intentional) for the title in this conference.  The only BCS team in this group last year was Cincinnati, and with Oregon St. and Wisconsin in the running, and Michigan bound to improve, this could be almost anybody’s race.

With the dogs, cats and smaller mammals out of the way, let’s get the big mammals together.  Here we have the right number to do two divisions. Bears and Horses are in one division. Cows,  Bison, and Sheep in the other.

Large Mammal Conference - Bovine & Ovine Division
	Colorado St	Rams
	Buffalo	Bisons
	Colorado	Buffaloes
	Southern Florida	Bulls
	Texas	Longhorns
	Marshall	Thundering Herd
Large Mammal Conference - Ursine & Equine Division
	Baylor	Bears
	California	Bears
	Calif. - Los Angeles	Bruins
	Boise St	Broncos
	Western Michigan	Broncos
	Southern Methodist	Mustangs

  As of right now, Texas has to be the favorite to win their division, and face off against Cal or Boise St.in the CCG. In the BCS era, though, UCLA, Colorado and Marshall have been ranked in the top 10, so this is a fluid conference.

With the mammals taken care of, it’s time to look skyward. This conference is really for the birds – Birds of Prey, that is. Now, technically, Iowa’s teams are not named after a bird of prey, but their mascot and logo are, so they’re in.  Again we have the needed count for two divisions.

Birds of Prey Conference - Eagle & Owl Division
	Boston College	Eagles
	Eastern Michigan	Eagles
	Southern Miss.	Eagles
	Florida Internat’l	Owls
	Rice	Owls
	Temple	Owls
Birds of Prey Conference - Hawk & Falcon Division
	Kansas	Jayhawks
	Miami (Oh)	Red Hawks
	Louisiana-Monroe	War Hawks
	Iowa	Hawkeyes
	Air Force	Falcons
	Ball St	Falcons

I see Kansas and Iowa battling it out in one division, while Southern Miss and Boston College go at it in the other. 

Next we’ll put the rest of the birds with the reptiles, amphibians and the lone insect in the Other Animal conference. Again, “Hokies” are imaginary, but the mascot is a bird

Other Animals Conference

Florida	Gators
Texas Christian	Horned Frogs
Maryland	Terrapins
Georgia Tech