Conference Realignment: 5 Things We'll Miss Most as College Landscape Changes

The Texas A&M Aggies are heading to the SEC, and an ominous cloud is looming over the college football world as the conference alignment as we know it will soon undergo a massive shift.

While some think that this will merely effect scheduling, the toll of it will take on the greatest and most passionate sport in the world will be considerable.

Here are the five things we will miss most when conference realignment has significantly altered the college football landscape.

Loss of Classic Rivalries

Conference realignments have already killed certain rivalries over the years. The West Virginia Mountaineers and Virginia Tech Hokies battle for the Black Diamond Trophy hasn't happened since 2005 thanks to the ACC's initial raid, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Missouri Tigers won't play this season for the first time since 1948.

The fierce rivalries are one of the things that distinguishes college football, and who knows how many the super conference system could disrupt. The "Backyard Brawl" (Pittsburgh Panthers vs. West Virginia), Lone Star Showdown (Texas A&M Aggies vs. Texas Longhorns) and "Red River Shootout" (Texas vs. Oklahoma Sooners) all come to mind. 

Inter-Conference Competition

As a fan of the Virginia Tech Hokies, I can honestly say that in any given non-conference game involving an ACC team, I am heavily rooting for the ACC team (unless of course it's UVA).

Conference pride is an integral part of college football. Big 12 teams want Big 12 teams to win, Big East teams want Big East teams to win. Bowl games and big non-conference games affect the way people see each conference—fans are well aware of this.

If the college football landscape shifts to 16-team conferences, I'm not certain the inter-conference competition would remain. It would be diluted, at the least. With so much shifting, teams wouldn't have the same loyalty and belonging with respect to their conference.

The Excitement of Bowl Games

The much-maligned bowl season has its fair share of detractors. However, hard-core college football fans still love bowl games, and they won't be the same.

With a super-conference model, you don't have to be a math major to figure out the number of possible conference matchups. Also, the Bowl Challenge Cup will be severely watered down. No one loses sleep over the cup, but it's another aspect of conference rivalry that makes the games interesting.

With a four conference system, I imagine the numerous calls for a playoff will eventually engender a four-team, single-elimination method (the four being the conference champions) of deciding the national championship. Thus, bowls will disappear (or exist in the background as consolation prizes).

The Local Nature of College Football

If you look at a United States map with the current conference affiliation of schools, you'd notice that the major conferences are limited to a certain region. With realignment, that will not be the case.

Certain teams are used to playing each other regularly. North Carolina State plays North Carolina, UCLA plays Stanford, Texas plays Texas Tech.

Super conferences would have the effect of eliminating the familiarity bred by teams playing the same local teams every year.

Marquee Non-Conference Games

With 16-team conferences, it seems likely that teams will end up playing more than the current eight regular season conference games. Also, with more competitive conferences, teams will almost certainly be less inclined to schedule tough non-conference games. 

When games like the Ohio State Buckeyes vs. the Miami Hurricanes and the Oklahoma Sooners vs the Florida State Seminoles were scheduled before, they were marquee games. Now, even if they are still scheduled, they will be indistinguishable from the big games these massive conferences will present on a regular basis.