College Football Realignment (Again!)

[The Choc]

Okay there was a thread about this a while ago but I figured Id just start a new one. Not even sure if there are any college football fans here anymore but I really have no other outlet for this anyway. In the past I believed eventually we'd have 4 Conferences with 16 teams each. However now I believe it will be an even smaller group. Two major conferneces, The Big 10 and the SEC (essentially a Northern and a Southern Conference) who will have roughly 24 teams each. I started to think this could happen sooner than people think when I read that 7 ACC teams, Virginia, Virginia Tech, UNC, NC State, Clemson, Florida State and Miami had banded together in an attempt to see if they can get out of their release clause and leave the ACC early. Now none of these schools would join in this effort unless they were quite sure they had their next landing spot sewn up. 

So just for fun, here is how I can see it shaking out. These aren't 100% exact predictions more of an approximation of what could be:

The Big 10

East

Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, Notre Dame*, North Carolina*, Virginia*

A star indicates a school that is either not currently in or not already scheduled to join a conference. I think this division works because ND has always looked east with their conference affiliations. The Big 10 is not appealing to them because as a small school with a small alumni base plauing all their games in a small area of the midwest isn't feasible to long term success. However in this division theyd be on the East Coast twice a year, in the NY metro area every other year. ND does not want to join something like this but in the end will be forced to and this works for them. UNC and VIrginia fit the Big 10 in alot of ways. From a quality standpoint you have 2 big fish in ND and PSU. UNC and Virginia have potential going forward and I believe being in a better football league could unlock one or both of those into being better football schools. 

 

Central

Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern

Pretty straightforward here. Six current Big Ten schools. Have 2 big time football programs and a solid third in Michigan State. Purdue is up and down. Indiana and Northwestern year in and year out will have their work cut out.

 

MidWest

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Iliinois, Nebraska, Colorado*

Mostly straightforward again. Five current Big Ten schools. Colorado may not be the fit here, there are other directions they could go. This makes sense though as I think having a team that could bringing Denver into the fold makes alot of sense. Not really great from a football perspective but there is potential. Having said that this would likely be the worst of any of the divisions I will propose here.

 

West

USC, UCLA, Stanford*, Oregon*, Washington*, Utah*

Basically this is picking apart the carcass of the Pac 12.  USC and UCLA are already going to the Big 10. Stanford being in SF and their academic prestige makes a ton of sense. The other 3 spots schools will be fighting for their place here. I could see Arizona in over one of the other 3. Utah is maybe the least attractive tv wise but they've been the best program lately so Ive included them.

 

SEC

East

Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Clemson*, Miami*, Florida State*, 

This would be a really fun division, alot of great matchups. In terms of depth this could be the best division here. In fact it could be too good.

North

Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Virginia Tech*, NC State*, West Virginia*

Probably the weakest SEC dicision. Tennessee though has alot of potential, Kentucky has comitted more to football lately. Other than Vandy the other schools have shown the ability to compete.

South

Alabama, Auburn, Ol Miss, Mississippi State, LSU, Missourri

Another monster division. Not too much to say here, its mostly the current SEC West

West

Arkansas, Texas A&M, Texas, Oklahoma, TCU*, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State*

Very much the old SWC. Would be alot of good, competitive football here.

 

Now there are a few fairly prominent schools here left out, but I think thats going to happen. Could Baylor get themselves in over TCU or Okalahoma State? Perhaps. Could Boston College sell themselves as bringing a big city like Boston to the mix? Maybe. I do however think something like what ive put forth here is going to happen. I also think the 2 conferences band together to sell TV rights and will pretty much only play each other. Perhaps a schedule where teams play everyone in their division every year for 5 games and then one game each against a team from every other division for 7 more for a total of 12? Maybe some arrangement to allow for some out of division rivalry games to continue yearly like ND-USC?

For the playoffs itd be simple. 12 teams total. Six from each conference. The top 2 division winners in each conference get a bye, the next 2 and 2 wildcards meet in the first round. Based on last year it would have looked something like this based on what I've put here.

 

Big 10 seedings

1-Michigan (Central Champ), 2-Utah (West Champ), 3-Penn State (East Champ), 4-Purdue (MidWest Champ), 5-Ohio State (WC), 6-USC (WC)

SEC seedings 

1-Georgia (East Champ), 2-TCU (West Champ), 3-Tennessee (North Champ), 4-LSU (South Champ), 5-Alabama (WC), 6-Florida State (WC)

 

Potentially youd have this. A solo game on a Friday primetime and then a triple header Saturday each of the first 2 weeks. So think:

Friday Night: Alabama-LSU

Saturday: Noon: Ohio State-Purdue,  4 PM: Florida State-Tennessee, 8 PM: USC-Penn State

Then week 2 potential matchups of: Ohio State-Michigan, Penn State-Utah, Alabama-Georgia, Tennessee-TCU

 

I mean what college football fan wouldn't be glued to their tv for weekends like that?

 

[Gamevet]

It would be cool to have those Texas A&M and Texas rivalries again. It's been sorely missed.