Let’s break it. Rip everything down and start over. Slash and burn.
The college conference system is broken. So, despite my powerless position in fandom, I am resolute to fix this debacle. The NCAA can thank me later.
The first and largest problem I notice is the relation between the physical location of universities and their subsequent conferences. Most conferences were designed by collecting nearby colleges into tight-knit sections. But over the course of history, these relationships have not always lasted. New, cute couples have emerged, leaving the previous commonsense rationale at the altar.
Location, check.
Next, there is a problem of conference’s gross expansion into super-conferences. This tragedy seems inevitable, and opposes the original tight-knit community feel conferences were born from.
Size, check.
Third, there is this annoying habit of schools (here’s looking at you Big East) only playing one sport in a conference. A giant conference in basketball (16 teams) cuts itself in half (8 teams) for football season. It does not match the catastrophe of the other two problems, but it makes a quick and simple fix almost impossible.
But, I will try. Sound effect, Knuckle crack. Let’s get to work.
RE-ALIGNED CONFERENCES
SEC
Florida
Florida State
Miami (Fla.)
South Florida
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Alabama
Auburn
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Big (Not) 12
Texas
Texas Tech
Baylor
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Arkansas
LSU
Kansas
Kansas State
Pac 12
Arizona State
Arizona
California
Colorado
Oregon
Oregon State
Southern California
Stanford
UCLA
Utah
Washington
Washington State
Midwest (new conference means more TV revenue)
Nebraska
Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern (should be Basketball only)
Missouri
DePaul (Basketball only)
Marquette (Basketball only)
Big Ten (West Virginia is the odd ball)
Indiana
Purdue
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Michigan
Michigan State
Notre Dame
Kentucky
Louisville
West Virginia
ACC (w/ Tennessee)
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Duke
Wake Forest
Virginia
Virginia Tech
South Carolina
Clemson
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Big East (unless it is football season)
Syracuse
Boston College
Rutgers
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Maryland
Connecticut
Providence (Basketball only)
St. John’s (Basketball only)
Seton Hall (Basketball only)
Villanova (Basketball only, but that will change)
Georgetown (Basketball only)
The first thing to notice is that the Pac 12 got it right. They did not even change. All 12 team are the closest 12 to the west coast. Much respect.
I tried to keep rivalries intact, but I am sure there were some necessary sacrifices that will force nonconference games into a bloody brawl (Illinois, you are lucky the Illinois/Indiana border is a divider).
Location had the most influence in the new conferences, but this still had its issues. Tennessee is not on the Atlantic coast, but they are in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Including West Virginia in the Big Ten including sounds weird, but numbers and location dictated the oddity.
Size and numbers forced the creation of a new conference in the western Midwest (which probably should be called the Central Conference). The other conferences are relatively strong, but the Midwest Conference is demonstrably weak. It is kind of sad, but there had to be a loser in all of this.
The third problem, schools only playing one sport in a conference, was the most difficult to cultivate a solution for. I forced Notre Dame into conference football and considered knocking Northwestern out of football altogether (it should happen anyway). Creating a basketball-only conference was another possibility, but it felt contrived.
Finally, I decided to force one of the five remaining Big East basketball only schools to start a Division I football program. Villanova was the easy choice because they have the most famous football alums – Brian Westbrook, formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Howie Long, the former Raider and current Fox analyst.
I thought about adding teams like TCU, BYU, Memphis or East Carolina but that was too much speculation even for me. I simply worked with what I was given, folks.
This new alignment would bring more parity to conferences. And satisfy most of the conference’s need for television revenue. Again sorry Midwest, but you got Chicago so don’t cry too much.
The SEC is still the best football conference, but they are not leaps and bounds above everyone else.
The Big 12 got better and stopped more teams from jumping ship like Colorado and Nebraska last year. They are not the best football (SEC) or basketball (Big Ten) conference, but still top notch in both.
Pac 12 is the same lineup, but everyone else evening out works in their benefit. They can now compete with any conference in either sport.
Midwest has some very nice schools, just nothing spectacular. The lack of the prime programs is a concern, but hopefully teams will step up. And who knows — Boise St. is still out there.
The Big Ten Conference becomes the best basketball conference and owns a solid football tradition, as long as Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan break out of their ridiculous slumps.
ACC is a quality football conference with the additions of Tennessee and South Carolina, but their single most concerning quality persists – they have very good teams, but their lack of depth hurts them. Teams talented in one sport are subpar in the other, except North Carolina State, which has not been a contender for decades, and should be recommended for the Northwestern treatment.
The Big East is the trickiest of them all. Rolling from 8 to 12 teams in the two sports is questionable, but they have a vaunted (although not the best anymore) basketball lineup. They may be the worst football conference (still), but at least their pecking order has not changed.
There is no perfect solution, the college conference alignment is royally…what’s the word I’m looking for…oh well, I’ll remember it later. This would solve some of the issues created by the splitting of unhappy domestic partnerships and the random hookups that ensue. I blame you, television contracts.
Speculation is fun. Now, on to the Bowl system and football playoffs.
