College Football Realignment: Which Rumored Scenarios Just Won't Happen?

Are you as burnt out on the college football realignment talk as I am?

For the last month, there has been so much said about superconferences and their effect on collegiate athletics, and you know what, up until now, it’s all basically been a bunch of hot air. 

The Pac-12 is not expanding, the Big 12 is not dying and college football is not collapsing. 

All of the reports and rumors that we heard about a superconference structure turned out to be just a big waste of time. 

Sure, we could see superconferences in college football some day, but that day is certainly not tomorrow. 

Even though the realignment rumor mill has slowed down since Larry Scott announced that the Pac-12 will not be expanding, that hasn’t stopped many self-appointed experts from weighing in with their scenarios and predictions about what is going to happen. 

You have to ask yourself, though, are these rumored scenarios based off of reality, or are they just fabricated?

Let’s take a look at four highly discussed rumors and see if there’s any ounce of truth to them.

The Big East will Collapse

The Big East is on life support right now, and with just six football schools remaining, it simply can’t afford any more teams jumping off the ship.

Syracuse and Pittsburgh are already gone, and Rutgers, Connecticut, West Virginia and Louisville have reportedly explored their options. 

Right now, the future doesn’t look all that promising for the Big East, and the options for replacements aren’t all that overwhelming.

Can schools like Central Florida, Temple and Air Force really save the Big East? 

Even if it remains intact, it’s hard to see a conference with that kind of competition keeping its automatic BCS bid.

Notre Dame Will Join the ACC

Notre Dame has made it clear that it loves being an independent football school, but in these ever-changing times of college football realignment, it could be a wise move to find a conference home and have future stability. 

If Notre Dame does join a conference, it will likely either be the Big Ten or the ACC, but you have to wonder if a pompous school like Notre Dame would want to be just another face in the crowd in a potential 16-team league. 

The ACC would have to come up with quite a package to entice the Irish to give up on a big revenue-generating television contract with NBC.

No school loves the color of green as much as Notre Dame and it could be difficult to work out a deal with a conference that nets them the type of profits they’re earning now.  

The SEC will add a 14th Team

The SEC has officially welcomed Texas A&M as its 13th member, just as long as Baylor and no other Big 12 schools threaten legal action. 

The Aggies’ arrival means that the conference now has an unbalanced number of teams in its two divisions. 

The SEC is the most powerful conference in college football, and it certainly doesn’t need to keep expanding, but balancing out the field of play could be a good idea. 

The No. 1 target for the 14th spot sounds like it's Missouri, but we’ll have to wait and see if that actually comes to fruition.

Who Will the Big 12 Add?

After so much wasted talk about the possibility of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech all making the move to the Pac-12, it now looks like the Big 12 will regroup and try to work out a plan to stay together for the long haul. 

It'll wave goodbye to Texas A&M, who is headed off to the SEC. 

The conference can’t afford to lose Missouri to the SEC as well, but it would probably be in the Tigers' best interest to stay put at this point. 

Soon enough, the invitations for the Big 12 party will be sent out. 

TCU, Louisville, BYU and Air Force should all have their mailboxes ready. 

In the end, I think it will be TCU and Louisville who have the best shot to become the newest members of the Big 12.

But, you also have to remember that, just because the conference survived for now, it’s still far from stable at this point.