Conference Realignment: The New School Chapter

Approximately two years ago, I wrote an article on Bleacher Report entitled "Conference Realignment: Return of the Old School". In that article, I hypothesized what the next conference realignment (predicted for the decade of the 2010s) would look like if conference size were capped (by the NCAA, natch) at ten members (and conference championship games eliminated).

Needless to say, the events of the summer have made the article even more far-fetched than it had been previously. In particular, the distinct possibility that the Pac-10 would become a 16-team conference threatened to rearrange the entire FBS landscape.

Being a hypothetical, "what-if" (or why the eff not?) kind of sports fan, I felt it necessary to revisit my idea with an eye to recent developments. Therefore, I present this slideshow as an appetizer for my article "Conference Realignment Revisited: Revenge of the New School". It is a summary of the notable new members of each of the ten conferences (of twelve members each).

Enjoy!

1 of 10: ACC

South Florida moves from the Big East (which should be called the Big NORTH-East) to the ACC, where it rightfully belongs... and where it can measure up to Miami and/or Florida State every year, depending on the division it's in.

2 of 10: Big East

Boston College returns to the Big East, where it belongs... and also renews its rivalry with new Big East member Notre Dame (pictured above). The Irish will be in the same division with the Eagles, as well as new conference members Army and Navy, in order to allow for the key non-conference games to fill the four available slots. A resurgent Temple (too good for the MAC) fills out the 12-team conference.

3 of 10: Big 10 Plus Two

Nebraska plugs the remaining hole in the Big 10 + 1, finally allowing for the possibility of that conference championship game at Soldier Field in December. Wait, what?

4 of 10: Big 12

Big Twelve: So, Nebraska and Colorado have left? No problem. TCU is looking for a quality conference, as the Mountain West faces turmoil and possible dissolution. And for every strong program, a weaker program is needed (i.e. Texas Tech and Baylor). So why not TCU's bitter rival SMU?

That brings the conference back to full strength, though two teams would have to shift to the North Division. Perhaps Oklahoma and Oklahoma State; that way the Sooners could meet the Longhorns in the conference championship game...

5 of 10: C-USA

New Mexico State is a close rival to existing C-USA member UTEP. Bring in rival New Mexico from the Mountain West and Utah State from the WAC and the C-USA stays at 12 members (having lost SMU, Tulsa, and UAB).

6 of 10: Mid-American

With a maximum conference size of 12, the MAC will have to lose a member. Bye-bye, Temple. The Owls play half the prospective Big East members anyway (shown here vs. Navy).

7 of 10: Mountain-WAC

Neither the MWC nor the WAC, it's a hybrid of the remaining schools, yet making (for the most part) geographical sense. Perennial doormat Utah State has decamped to C-USA, while TCU and Utah have both found greener pastures. It's safe to say that Boise State (which is already moving to the Mountain West in 2011) and BYU would be placed in separate divisions in order that they have a chance to meet in the conference championship (in Denver, perhaps?).

8 of 10: Pac 12

Welcome to the Utah Utes, Pac-10. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. Of course, that team in the next state over to the east, some "Buffaloes", are also coming, in order that there can be a Utah invi... uh, conference championship game.

9 of 10: SEC

If it ain't broke, don't fix it... well, in this case, those mortgage-based derivatives really shook things up for a while, huh?

Go about your business, move along to the next slide. No changes. Nothing to look at here. ;-)

10 of 10: Sun Belt

Ah, the conference of ch...

...umps.

Actually, not too much is wrong with the Sun Belt. The bottom of FBS is still FBS... but, it's kind of the equivalent of the Kansas City Royals or the Washington Nationals getting to stay in the major leagues.

The existing nine-team conference adds in-state rival Louisiana Tech (pictured in action vs. another in-state rival) from the WAC to join Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe. Tulsa and UAB are added from C-USA, and presumably would be favorites to win their respective divisions.