On this note (and @Dan feel free to move!), how would people rearrange the conferences if they had a magic wand? I have not yet successfully lobbied my wife to let us spend hundreds of dollars on a PS5, but I understand you can do custom conferences in EA College Football 25?? It got me thinking about what I would want. I imagine this would depend heavily on when each of us came to age as a fan (for example, I have zero memory of the Southwest Conference, so a team like Arkansas seems perfectly at home to me in the SEC). Here is my back-of-the-napkin shot, which I tried to keep "somewhat" realistic.I've stopped trying to guess what will happen, and have started dreaming of what I want to happen.
...
All in all, return to normalcy while embracing the future. Zero shot it happens.
North Carolina seems to be missing.On this note (and @Dan feel free to move!), how would people rearrange the conferences if they had a magic wand? I have not yet successfully lobbied my wife to let us spend hundreds of dollars on a PS5, but I understand you can do custom conferences in EA College Football 25?? It got me thinking about what I would want. I imagine this would depend heavily on when each of us came to age as a fan (for example, I have zero memory of the Southwest Conference, so a team like Arkansas seems perfectly at home to me in the SEC). Here is my back-of-the-napkin shot, which I tried to keep "somewhat" realistic.
One note is that I actually LIKE the conference championship game, as I attended twice with my Iowa friends in Indy, and it's legitimately such a fun event. Braggin' Rights vibe. I also tried to put noticeable changes from the last decade or so in italics (e.g., Notre Dame to the Big Ten and BYU to the Pac-12) and/or just changes that would be very significantly historically (e.g., Army and Navy to the Big East). CCG = conference championship game for football, and BT = basketball tournament.
BIG TEN
*** The original 10 teams, baby! I either was going to add Notre Dame or remove Penn State, and I decided I actually thought it would be cool to have a legitimately respected college football conference in the northeast, so I shipped them both there ... stay tuned! ***
CCG: Indianapolis, IN and Chicago, IL (rotating)
BT: Indianapolis, IN and Chicago, IL (rotating)
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
Wisconsin
SEC
*** 12 teams with the old East/West divisions pre-Mizzou and A&M ***
CCG: Atlanta, GA
BT: Nashville, TN and Atlanta, GA (rotating)
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
PAC-12
*** Keep the original Pac Ten but add Utah and BYU to get to 12 ***
CCG: Santa Clara, CA (Levi's) and maybe rotating to Inglewood, CA (SoFi)?
BT: Los Angeles (likely that new Clippers arena?)
Arizona
Arizona State
BYU
Cal
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Washington State
BIG XII
*** Original Big Eight plus the four Texas schools to get to 12 ***
CCG: Arlington, TX (AT&T)
BT: Kansas City, MO and Dallas, TX (rotating)
Colorado
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
TCU
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
ACC
*** 10-team conference with the original teams ***
CCG: Charlotte, NC
BT: Charlotte, NC
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Maryland
Miami (FL)
NC State
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
BIG EAST
*** 12-team conference mostly in the Northeast but with a Cincinnati-Louisville-West Virginia pod added to round it out. Selfishly, I would like this to shift the center of Notre Dame's bandwagon fan base farther to the Northeast (rather than Chicago) over time, haha. ***
CCG: East Rutherford, NJ (MetLife) or Yankee Stadium if they are feeling gimmicky
BT: New York, NY (Madison Square Garden)
Army
Boston College
Cincinnati
Louisville
Navy
Notre Dame
Penn State
Pitt
Rutgers
Syracuse
UConn (assumes a future where they are FBS)
West Virginia
You're right. WTF happened to it?North Carolina seems to be missing.
That's a lot of bowl games for two teams. Those kids are going to be exhausted. But, at least, it's only 2 seasons. /sWazzu and Oregon State will retain their postseason opportunities through the Pac-12's previous bowl agreements and that will continue through the 2025 season. The Pac-12 has agreements with the Holiday Bowl, Independence Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, LA Bowl, Sun Bowl, Alamo Bowl, and the ESPN bowl pool. The Rose Bowl is now part of the CFP and will host a quarterfinal and semifinal each season.
The transition from USC to Nebraska is disproportionately short. This commercial should be at least 10 minutes long and should be protested.
I think you're right. And I know it's a pipe dream...but, I hope when that day comes, every conference that's making real money (B1G, SEC, B12) tells ND "too little, too late". That would be freaking hilarious.ND has always been an automatic immediate take, but I don't see them being ready to join yet. They're going to stay "independent" until the pain (scheduling, financial) becomes too much to bear.
I think you're right. And I know it's a pipe dream...but, I hope when that day comes, every conference that's making real money (B1G, SEC, B12) tells ND "too little, too late". That would be freaking hilarious.
Itās a shame that the rules committee ended up nixxing the additional criteria ā¦ I thought we had a distinct advantage at the 10th tiebreaker, where the head coaches would have a face off challenge with the winner determined by who could chug the most beers in a 4 hour period.
Big Ten Announces New Football Tiebreaking Procedures
Big Ten Announces New Football Tiebreaking Proceduresbigten.org
I agree, but............I've stopped trying to guess what will happen, and have started dreaming of what I want to happen.
Add two teams in the eastern portion of the United States... Feasible.
Move to 10 game conference schedule... reasonable.
Create four, 5-team divisions centered around geography... conference will most assuredly screw this part up, but we push on:
West
USC
UCLA
Oregon
Washington
Nebraska
Western Central
Minnesota
Iowa
Wisconsin
Northwestern
ILLINOIS
Eastern Central
Michigan State
Michigan
Indiana
Purdue
Ohio State
Eastern
Penn State
Maryland
Rutgers
North Carolina
Florida State
Play everyone in your division once per year, along with an out of division rival (for us, Purdue). Then rotate the other 3 divisions in some mix matchy way each year for your other half of the conference schedule... makes sense, once every 3 years a home and away with Purdue perhaps?
Give me a 2 round conference championship game featuring only the 4 division winners, please... okay, complete pipe dream, OSU and Michigan would raise a fit.
That's Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Purdue on the schedule every year, reasonably close, original Big Ten schools. Oh, and just for the historical legacy, the Western Central and Eastern Central ARE the true Big Ten.
All in all, return to normalcy while embracing the future. Zero shot it happens.
I see what you did thereā¦I agree, but............
*** I'd change the Division names to Pacific 5, Big Ten West, Big Ten East and ACC
*** Over time, I'd merge the two midwestern Divisions into a single mega Division, or conference if you will, of 10 teams
*** Simultaneously, then expand/grow the East and West divisions into their own conferences, with ~10 teams each.
Why are we represented by a pair of green clover-shaped-lens eyeglasses?Realignment: The past, present and future battle for college football supremacy
Mapping out the major realignments in college football ahead of the 2024 season, how we got here and what's next.www.espn.com
Good question. Some intern presumed that was Notre Dame I'm guessing.Why are we represented by a pair of green clover-shaped-lens eyeglasses?
Interesting who made the cut here...wonder what their decision criteria was? Maybe just straight largest markets for potential sales, or maybe a tie in to programs that have beverage contracts to sell their product at campus stadium events?
Bud Light rolls out limited-edition college football team cans: See which 26 teams made the cut
Bud Light is celebrating the return of college football season with limited-edition college team cans. Here's which teams' cans you can buy.www.usatoday.com
Unofficial, baby!Why are we represented by a pair of green clover-shaped-lens eyeglasses?
Link does not get past the paywall for me, too bad.What teams are helped and hurt by conference realignment. Spoiler: doesn't help Illinois. Long URL allows you to read for free (for now).