Conference Realignment: What 10 Conferences for All 120 Teams Would Look Like

College Football does not need superconferences!

There, I said it.

After being led to believe that we were about to watch college football Armageddon unfold right before our very eyes, it turns out that the whole expansion chaos theory was way off base.

Well, at least for now anyways.

The Pac-12 is not expanding, the Big 12 is still breathing and the only major moves we got out of all of this were Texas A&M to the SEC and Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC.

Yes, things will probably change in the near future, and yes, we’ll probably be back in this same position next year, but at least for now, we can all take a much-needed deep breath.

It’s impossible to tell what the future holds, but like I said, we can make this work without superconferences.

To prove my point, here’s a look at a 10-conference structure that would include all 120 FBS teams.

ACC

The ACC was riding the proactive horse as all of this was unfolding and the conference made a big splash by adding Pittsburgh and Syracuse, moving the total number of schools up to 14.

The question is, are they done yet?

If you’ve been listening to the whispers, you know that Connecticut and Notre Dame have both been linked to the ACC recently.

If the ACC does indeed snag the Irish and the Huskies and bump up to 16 teams, it would make the league the country’s first true superconference.

ACC Atlantic Division

1. Boston College

2. Connecticut

3. Maryland

4. Notre Dame

5. Pittsburgh

6. Syracuse

7. Virginia

8. Virginia Tech

ACC Coastal Division

1. Clemson

2. Duke

3. Florida State

4. Georgia Tech

5. Miami

6. North Carolina

7. North Carolina State

8. Wake Forest

Big East Conference

It’s not a great time to be affiliated with the Big East right now.

After losing Pittsburgh and Syracuse, the conference is now on life support with just six football schools remaining, and there's a possibility it could lose more.

As if that's not enough, it sounds like TCU, who was expected to join next year, could be eying the Big 12 instead.

If the Big East has a plan for survival, it’s going to take some drastic measures that include stretching the term "East" a little bit.

So who will the conference target?

Take a look.

Big East Conference

1. Air Force

2. Central Florida

3. Cincinnati

4. East Carolina

5. Louisville

6. Navy

7. Rutgers

8. South Florida

9. Temple

10. West Virginia

Big 10 Conference

Although the Big 10 could look into adding schools such as Notre Dame and Rutgers, it’s likely that the conference will stand pat with 12 teams.

Adding Nebraska was a big move and this conference has enough power programs to feel comfortable right now.

The only thing I ask is that the Big 10 do something about those terrible division names.

Big 10 Legends Division

1. Iowa

2. Michigan

3. Michigan State

4. Minnesota

5. Nebraska

6. Northwestern

Big 10 Leaders Division

1. Illinois

2. Indiana

3. Wisconsin

4. Ohio State

5. Penn State

6. Purdue

Big 12 Confernce

So as it turns out, all of those "Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are definitely heading to the Pac-12" rumors were a little overblown.

Oh well.

For the second-straight year the Big 12 survived another disaster, even though the conference is now down to nine teams after the loss of Texas A&M.

That means it’s time to start sending invitations out.

TCU and BYU should be expecting them in the mail quite soon.

Big 12 Conference

1. Baylor

2. BYU

3. Iowa State

4. Kansas

5. Kansas State

6. Oklahoma

7. Oklahoma State

8. TCU

9. Texas10. Texas Tech

Pac-12 Conference

Oh that Larry Scott.

Just when you think he’s about to send the college football world into chaos, he pulls a fast one on all of us and says thanks, but no thanks.

Let’s check in next summer and see if he’s still singing that same tune.

Pac-12 North

1. California

2. Oregon

3. Oregon State

4. Stanford

5. Washington

6. Washington State

Pac-12 South

1. Arizona

2. Arizona State

3. Colorado

4. UCLA

5. USC

6. Utah

Southeastern Confernce

The SEC has already officially accepted Texas A&M as its 13th member.

The conference knows, however, that it won’t be fair to have unequal divisions, which is exactly what will happen once the Aggies join the West.

That’s probably why we’ve been hearing the "Missouri to the SEC" chatter heating up lately.

It’s a move that makes a lot of sense for a lot of different reasons.

All you would have to do is bump one of the current West schools like Auburn over to the East to make it fit.

SEC East

1. Auburn

2. Florida

3. Georgia

4. Kentucky

5. South Carolina

6. Tennessee

7. Vanderbilt

SEC West

1. Alabama

2. Arkansas

3. LSU

4. Mississippi

5. Mississippi State

6. Missouri

7. Texas A&M

Conference-USA

Conference-USA has to be wary of the Big East swooping in and stealing away some of its high-profile programs, like Central Florida and East Carolina.

If that happens, the conference has the option of staying at 10 teams or go looking for a few replacements.

Adding Army, a former conference member before going independent in 2004, in the East would make sense, and throwing a bone to New Mexico to round out the West division could also be a wise move.

East

1. Army

2. Marshall

3. Memphis

4. Southern Miss

5. Tulane

6. UAB

West

1. Houston

2. New Mexico

3. Rice

4. SMU

5. Tulsa

6. UTEP

Mid-American Conference

Since no major conferences seem to be looking to poach any of the mediocre teams from the MAC, the only real big departure that the conference has to worry about is Temple leaving for the Big East.

While it would certainly hurt to lose the Philadelphia market, since there are 13 teams right now, losing Temple would actually help balance out the league.

East

1. Akron

2. Bowling Green

3. Buffalo

4. Kent State

5. Miami (Ohio)

6. Ohio

West

1. Ball State

2. Central Michigan

3. Eastern Michigan

4. Northern Illinois

5. Toledo

6. Western Michigan

Mountain West Conference

I know most people probably don’t really care all that much, but why isn’t there more attention being paid to the impending doom facing the Western Athletic Conference?

The WAC already lost Boise State to the Mountain West before the start of this season, and it's set to lose its three biggest remaining schools–Fresno State, Hawaii and Nevada next year.

What would be the most sensible option is for the four remaining west coast teams to join the Mountain West and for Louisiana Tech to join the Sun Belt.

I know the Mountain West has been talking to Conference-USA about joining forces for a football conference championship, but it still remains to be seen if that will come to fruition or not.

North

1. Boise State

2. Colorado State

3. Idaho

4. Nevada

5. Utah State

6. Wyoming

South

1.Fresno State

2. Hawaii

3. New Mexico State

4. San Diego State

5. San Jose State

6. UNLV

Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt conference currently ranks dead last in the FBS pecking order. While teams like Troy and Middle Tennessee have remained stable programs over the years, this is a conference as a whole that hasn't received any national attention, and if you asked most fans to name the nine members, they probably couldn't.

While it won't improve the strength of the conference too much, adding Louisiana Tech, a school that is currently an odd geographical fit in the WAC, would at least round the conference out to 10 teams and help even things out a bit.

1. Arkansas State

2. Florida Atlantic

3. Florida International

4 .Louisiana-Lafayette

5. Louisiana Monroe

6. Louisiana Tech

7. Middle Tennessee

8. North Texas

9. Troy

10. Western Kentucky