Examining the Super Conferences If Texas, Oklahoma, A&M Went to ACC, Pac-12, SEC

If you were to believe everything the media has been reporting these days, it would seem that college football chaos is on the horizon.

With the rumors that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are looking into joining the Pac-12, everyone is now waiting for the conference realignment wave to wash away all that we know and love about college football.

Superconference.

We keep hearing that word over and over again.

That’s the future, so they say.

Well, if we really are headed to superconferences, then which conference will hold all the power?

The Moves

Texas A&M has already been accepted into the SEC, making them the conference’s 13th team. All that’s holding up the move is the threat of legal action by a small contingent of Big 12 schools, spearheaded by Baylor.

Oklahoma is rumored to be very interested in a move to the Pac-12, and the Sooners would likely take Oklahoma State with them.

If the two Oklahoma schools opt to exit, the Big 12 will crumble, and Texas, the conference’s other power program, will be left looking for a home.

The Longhorns will get to choose between the Pac-12, the ACC and the Big Ten.

Given that Texas’ top priority is to hold onto the new Longhorn Network, it would seem that the ACC would be the best fit.

So it begs the question, if all of these moves actually do play out, which superconference will be the strongest?

1. The SEC

Right now, the SEC is the definitive power conference in college football.

Until someone can come in and break the conference’s BCS title streak, there’s just no way you could say any other conference is superior.

Adding Texas A&M certainly strengthens the conference's crop, even though the Aggies won’t just walk in and rub elbows with the conference’s elite teams right from the get go.

There’s a pecking order in the SEC, and as it stands now, Auburn, LSU, Alabama and Florida are all on their own level.

You have to work your way up and win a title before you get to call those teams your equal.

Texas A&M will join the "We’ve been making some noise lately" group, which includes Arkansas, Mississippi State and South Carolina.

Some day, the Aggies could get to that top level, but it’s going to take sustained success.

With the Aggies in the mix, that means that out of the 13 teams in the conference, nine have already been ranked in the polls at some point this season.

That’s the kind of depth that no other conference can contend with.

Usually a conference is either top-heavy with a few great schools or deep with a lot of consistent second tier teams.

The SEC is both.

2. The Pac-12

Deep down, you have to believe that Larry Scott would love to be the commissioner of college football’s first superconference.

Scott thought he had it done last year, before things fell apart at the 11th hour.

Now, after signing the richest television deal in college sports, Scott is looking to strengthen his product.

The rumor is that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are both mulling over a future in the Pac-12 and adding two current Top 10-ranked teams to the mix certainly wouldn’t hurt the conference’s credibility.

Bringing in both Oklahoma schools would solidify the Pac-12 South Division.

The school’s north division already has Oregon and Stanford to battle it out, and it’s good that the South is adding an infusion of legitimacy.

The future of the Pac-12 is definitely bright and Scott’s conference will be a major player on the college football scene for years to come.

3. The ACC

With the resurgence of Florida State and the year in and year out consistency of Virginia Tech, the ACC is lucky to have two big-name schools to build around.

The downward slide that Miami has taken in recent years has had an effect on the ACC’s overall pizazz, but this is still a conference that deserves respect.

The ACC is loaded with solid coaching staffs who have their programs on the rise.

The only problem is, the ACC champion has to start getting it down in BCS bowl games if they want to help out the conference's national reputation.

Texas is certainly a school that’s won its fair share of big bowl games in the past, and although the Longhorns have had to deal with a bumpy road recently, their track record speaks for itself.

Will Things Change?

If the Pac-12 expands to 14 teams and the ACC and the SEC both expand to 13 teams, don’t expect the moves to stop there.

The Pac-12 probably wouldn’t mind stretching things out all the way to 16 teams and both the ACC and the SEC will eventually have to find a 14th team to balance the league out.

Depending on who goes where, the strength of each conference will fluctuate and we the college football landscape could shift even more dramatically than we're expecting.