College Football Realignment: The Super Conference Blueprint

With Brigham Young University proposing to leave the Mountain West Conference to become Independent, the thought of conference realignment was brought up again. For those who do not remember this summer let me catch you up.

In the beginning of June the Big 12 commissioner- Dan Beebe- was on the verge of loosing most of the Big 12 conference to the Pac 10 and Big Ten. Stories were circling that Texas, Colorado, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State were going to the Pac 10.

The Big Ten were going to gain Missouri and Nebraska. Then, Texas A&M started to back out of the Pac 10 move and started talking about moving to the South Eastern Conference.  

While the Big 12 was dissolving, other conferences were about to lose teams as well. From the Big East, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, or Rutgers was on the Big Ten or Atlantic Coast Conference radar. Notre Dame was being courted by the Big Ten as well.

However, when the smoked cleared and everyone put their heads in check; most of the schools stayed put and the thought of a Bowl Championship Series conference having 16 teams was on hold.

But some schools left, as Nebraska announced plans to go to the Big Ten. Colorado and Utah (from the MWC) announced plans to play in the Pac 10.

The smaller MWC conference added teams this summer that rivals their strength of conference to a BCS conference like the Atlantic Coast Conference or Big East. Although they did lose Utah, they added a pre-season top five in Boise State.

What the MWC is doing right now is making their little mid-major conference into a super conference.

With the possible departure of BYU it opens the MWC to add more teams to their conference. This new super conference could add the following schools: Houston, Nevada, Fresno State, and UTEP to go along with Boise State. If BYU stays then the conference gains (with the addition of the other five above named schools) a BCS automatic bid.

Looking at what the MWC is doing, shows what the college football landscape could look like in six years when the ABC/ESPN television contract ends with the Big 12. So let's jump into the DeLorian and punch it to 88 miles per hour to see what the four new BCS 16 team super conferences will look like.

The Big Sixteen:

With the addition of Nebraska in 2011 the Big Ten will be at 12 teams. But in six years they will have added four more teams thus forcing them to rename their conference the Big Sixteen. Come 2016 we could see the addition of these schools:

Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Cincinnati, and Rutgers

All these schools are close in proximity to the current Big Ten schools and bring either a good basketball program, or recent/past success in football. Accept for Rutgers, which brings the New York City/ New Jersey market. 

The South Eastern Conference:

The best football conference in America resides in the south. Take a team like Auburn or South Carolina, which is a seven or eight team in the tough SEC, drop them in the ACC and they are a potential conference champions. In five years the ACC get's raided by the SEC and they add these teams:

Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Georgia Tech

Before you go and kill me for adding five teams and pushing it to 17 wait and continue reading.

But with the addition of FSU and Miami they could join the same division as Florida and Alabama. Think about that; those four teams making a new division and playing one another every season.  

The Pac 16:

As I noted above, the Pac 10 almost became the Pac 16 setting off this domino affect that you are reading about now. Now they get their four extra teams to join them in:

Fresno State, Texas Christian University, Air Force, and Boise State

The MWC that just added all these schools is raided by the big money and BCS possibilities of the Pac 10. The question that surrounds this new conference is how they decide who goes where for the divisions?

And finally the fourth super conference in 2016:

IA Independents aka The Texas Conference:

The Big 12 dies in 2016 as Texas leaves the conference and takes most of the Big 12 conference with them as the Texas Conference looks like this:

Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, BYU, Army, Navy, Arkansas, Notre Dame, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Houston, Southern Methodist University, and Baylor.

This complete conference overhaul of the Big 12 starts when the current ABC/ESPN television contract ends and the Texas network beings. Already in this new conference you have Notre Dame with their exclusive television deal with NBC and BYU with their network.

Add on the announcements of the Notre Dame vs. Texas games that are scheduled to begin in 2015 and BYU vs. Texas starting in 2011 and it looks as if the wheels are starting to turn in favor of this new Texas conference.

The University of Texas puts a strangle hold on all the major Texas college football programs in the state and adds a former rival in Arkansas as they leave the SEC.

Not to mention that Dallas Cowboys owner and graduate of the University of Arkansas, Jerry Jones, get's to host a conference championship game again in his stadium.

Will all these schools split from their conferences to make up these super conferences? I would put money on yes if the money is right. But it is fun to think of these new 16 team conferences coming to life. Not to mention, that this could lead to a college football playoff.

Who would you want to see go where in these 16 team conferences?

Thanks for reading and you can follow me on my twitter feed http://twitter.com/tjmcaloon