NCAA Conference Realignment

[venture]

Just putting this under a new subject header since we are apparently getting ready to go into another major realignment.

Pittsburgh & Syracuse are leaving the Big East to go to the ACC.
Big East & ACC officials confirmed this off record: http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssport...32522/32035225

Some of the other rumored/confirmed moves going on...

- Texas A&M to the SEC
- Oklahoma & Oklahoma State to the PAC 12 (OU regents discuss this Monday)
- Texas has contacted the ACC, but nothing more advanced yet
- Up to 8 other schools have contacted the ACC about joining

If the Big East loses two schools to the ACC, this could pretty much wipe that conference out as well. That means TCU is now up for grabs again. Could this perhaps allow a new "super" conference to form between the Big East & Big 12 with the remaining members? Just something to think about.

[venture]

So just a random thought here to go with the potential implosion of the Big East. I mentioned that the Big East & Big 12 could combine in a way to form a new 14-member conference. This takes a few things into consideration...

- A&M goes to the SEC
- OU and OSU go to PAC-12(14)
- Syracuse & Pitt go to the ACC

Once that is done, begin forming a new conference to retain the BCS bid. Old Big 12 schools would be Missouri, KSU, ISU, KU, TTU, and Texas in the West Division - joined by TCU. In the East Division are other Big East schools Louisville, Cincy, South Florida, UConn, Rutgers, and WVU. To even it out, I'm thinking pulling in UCF from CUSA which would be replaced by Baylor that wouldn't be retained.

This would make a fairly decent basketball conference and football should still be fairly competitive.

This could probably going a million different ways as well. In this scenario we would have 4 conferences with 14 teams...the new Big 12/Big East combo, ACC, MAC (goes to 14 next year) and PAC-14. SEC would be at 13 and likely go to 14. Big Ten is at 12, CUSA at 12, Sun Belt at 10, MWC at 10, and WAC at 7. Could see further consolidation between WAC & Sun Belt with some spill over to either MWC or CUSA.

[Kokopelli]

Texas doesn’t want to be a member of the ACC nor will they hop on the schooner and hitch a ride to the PAC- x. What Texas really wants is to be a member of the B1G, the only problem is the B1G doesn’t want to be seen as the reason that the Big12 dissolved.
However if the Big12 were to dissolve then Texas could join the BIG and everybody could have a clear conscience. At that point both Texas and Notre Dame would join the B1G and the B1G would accommodate both schools and their networks.

Here is a link from the Northwestern Wildcats forum discussing the rumor.

http://northwestern.rivals.com/showm...id=901&style=2

[Kokopelli]

The cold hard truth is that as long as Texas is in the herd there won’t be harmony in the Big12. Additionally Texas will not give up the TLN to save the Big12, they would modify it to join the B1G but not to save the Big12.

Being in the PAC without Texas doesn’t make any sense and would severely hurt the recruiting efforts in the state of Texas for both OU and OSU. Yes there would be California recruits but when you only play in that state once every 5 or 6 years how long does it take to develop.

It is probably to late for this but here goes anyway.

The Big12 should boot the Longhorns from the conference now before the TAMU joins the SEC. . Keeping TAMU in the fold would preserve the Texas recruiting pipeline for all remaining schools plus they would be the big dog Texas school in the league.

Yeah I know the locales of the Big 12 schools aren’t all that exciting or glamorous but we do know how to play football. Since its inception the Big12 has been the second best conference in the nation. Even now down by two members the Big12 has five teams in the Top 25 and Mizzou is just outside the door. Kansas is rebuilding and not that far removed from an Orange Bowl appearance. With Tuberville at the helm, Texas Tech will be back knocking on the door in short order Even Iowa State is starting to play decent ball and filling their stadium. Not to shabby for a rag tag collection of schools in fly-over country.

Without Texas the Big12 would have harmony and a lot to offer potential members. BYU, possibly TCU, Houston and even New Mexico if we were to go to 14 or 16 teams.

But we should be bold and target Arkansas and LSU. Yeah, yeah no one leaves the SEC but the SEC is also looking east coast for expansion without the Aggies in the fold all of their expansion would be east; Florida State, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia have been discussed. Perhaps that eastward expansion, the lack of the Longhorns along with new harmony in the Big12 might give LSU and Arkansas incentive to look next door.

Without Texas the Big12 could have a bright future right here in the middle of the country and as they say there is no place like home.

[venture]

I think we also need to remember, this isn't just about football and can't limit our thinking to only that. We have to look at academic match ups and the benefits from other spots. Looking at my new Big 12/Big East mash up...it would be pretty decent when it comes to basketball.

[Just the facts]

I think we also need to remember, this isn't just about football and can't limit our thinking to only that. We have to look at academic match ups and the benefits from other spots. Looking at my new Big 12/Big East mash up...it would be pretty decent when it comes to basketball.

It is 99.99% football. There was an article out a couple of weeks ago about the PAC-12 giving up on the academics and 'other sports' point of view. They finally realized football drives everything. It has also become very clear that OU does not want to be in the same conference with Texas.

[venture]

It is 99.99% football. There was an article out a couple of weeks ago about the PAC-12 giving up on the academics and 'other sports' point of view. They finally realized football drives everything. It has also become very clear that OU does not want to be in the same conference with Texas.

Hmm true. Forgot about that article.

So did some more thinking...and there really isn't any way conferences can get realigned with out some pretty big overlap in regions. Plus this whole thing is going to come down to which conferences survive. Big East is in bigger trouble now than the Big 12...well maybe equal. There is a very good chance we'll see at least 2 conferences completely vanish in this.

So here is my new guessing list - which of course can be changed a million ways.

Big 14 (old Big 12 & Big East)
Div 1 - BYU, Southern Miss, Oklahoma, South Florida, TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma St.
Div 2 - Louisville, Cincinnati, Kansas St., Missouri, Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa St.

Sun Belt
Div 1- La.-Monroe, Troy, M. Tenn. St., North Texas, W. Kentucky, La.-Lafayette
Div 2 - Arkansas St., S. Alabama, Fla. Atlantic, Univ TX San Ant, Texas State, Louisiana Tech

Atlantic Coast
Div 1 - Florida St., N. Carolina St., Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami (Fla.), Georgia Tech
Div 2 - Connecticut, Boston College, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Virginia, Duke, Syracuse, Pittsburgh

Conference USA
Div 1 - Rutgers, East Carolina, Marshall, UAB, Memphis, Navy, Army
Div 2 - SMU, UCF, Tulsa, Tulane, Rice, Baylor, FIU

Big Ten
Div 1 - Michigan St., Ohio St., Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn St., Illinois, Michigan
Div 2 - Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana, Nebraska, Northwestern, Texas, Notre Dame

Mid American
Div 1 - Temple, Ohio, Miami (Ohio), Kent St., Buffalo, Akron, Umass
Div 2 - Toledo, Northern Illinois, W. Michigan, Ball St., C. Michigan, E. Michigan, Bowling Green

Pacific 14
Div 1 - Fresno St., Stanford, California, UCLA, Arizona, USC, Arizona St.
Div 2 - Washington, Washington St., Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Boise St., Oregon St.

Mountain West
Div 1 - Air Force, Colorado St., New Mexico, UTEP, Wyoming, New Mexico St., Houston
Div 2 - Hawaii, Idaho, San Diego St., Nevada, UNLV, San Jose St., Utah St.

SEC
Div 1 - South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Maryland
Div 2 - LSU, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi St., Mississippi, Texas A&M, Auburn

[Kokopelli]

Except for its basketball schools the Big East is dead.
Pittsburg and Syracuse are off to the ACC. Expect them to be joined by 3 or 4 other BE members; Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida and West Virginia depending on who the ACC loses. Louisville and 1 other school could be left out of the super conferences.
Connecticut and Rutgers are most likely heading to the B1G once it gears up the expansion machine.

The ACC will lose from 1 to 3 schools to the SEC with the first being Florida State.
The other possible loses could be Clemson, Duke North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech with NC State being an outside shot. If they lose only 2 the most likely second school would be Virginia Tech or Virginia.
For additions; if they only lose Florida State then most likely we see South Florida, West Virginia and Cincinnati joining Pittsburg and Syracuse in the move.
If they lose 2 schools then Louisville would be added. If they lose 3 schools they will be looking for one more school to get up to 16 teams total. Do not count on Texas as being the 16th member as they are headed elsewhere, most likely the B1G.

The SEC and the B1G will add 4 schools to get to 16 teams and these 2 and the Big12 is where the surprises will happen.

The SEC wants to be closer to Tv markets in the northeast so their preference would be 3 schools from the ACC plus TAMU. If they end with only 2 ACC schools then Missouri could very well be the 4th school.

The B1G will be very patient in their additions as a lot is at stake. The easy additions would be Connecticut and Rutgers to strengthen their northeastern markets and to give Penn State some neighbors. The long shot option to those two would be Kansas and Missouri. The other 2 will be the biggest prizes in the reshuffling, this is where they could get what they have wanted for years - Notre Dame. That leaves 1 spot that eventually will go to Texas.

That leaves the west and this is the area where strong arguments could be made that there should be 5 super conference not just four.

The big question is does the PAC really want Tx Tech without Texas. If so it could be Kansas, OU, OSU and Tx Tech to the PAC with Missouri heading to the SEC, if not Missouri could replace Tech as the 4th school to head west. Then the really big question is can Tech as the lone Texas school really help OU and OSU maintain that Texas recruiting pipeline.
If the four Big12 schools join the PAC that would leave Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas State searching for a new home. Then the only questions remaining are whether the last conference is named Big 12, Mountain West or something new and who are the members.

[dcsooner]

Hmm true. Forgot about that article.

So did some more thinking...and there really isn't any way conferences can get realigned with out some pretty big overlap in regions. Plus this whole thing is going to come down to which conferences survive. Big East is in bigger trouble now than the Big 12...well maybe equal. There is a very good chance we'll see at least 2 conferences completely vanish in this.

So here is my new guessing list - which of course can be changed a million ways.

Big 14 (old Big 12 & Big East)
Div 1 - BYU, Southern Miss, Oklahoma, South Florida, TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma St.
Div 2 - Louisville, Cincinnati, Kansas St., Missouri, Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa St.

Sun Belt
Div 1- La.-Monroe, Troy, M. Tenn. St., North Texas, W. Kentucky, La.-Lafayette
Div 2 - Arkansas St., S. Alabama, Fla. Atlantic, Univ TX San Ant, Texas State, Louisiana Tech

Atlantic Coast
Div 1 - Florida St., N. Carolina St., Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami (Fla.), Georgia Tech
Div 2 - Connecticut, Boston College, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Virginia, Duke, Syracuse, Pittsburgh

Conference USA
Div 1 - Rutgers, East Carolina, Marshall, UAB, Memphis, Navy, Army
Div 2 - SMU, UCF, Tulsa, Tulane, Rice, Baylor, FIU

Big Ten
Div 1 - Michigan St., Ohio St., Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn St., Illinois, Michigan
Div 2 - Purdue, Minnesota, Indiana, Nebraska, Northwestern, Texas, Notre Dame

Mid American
Div 1 - Temple, Ohio, Miami (Ohio), Kent St., Buffalo, Akron, Umass
Div 2 - Toledo, Northern Illinois, W. Michigan, Ball St., C. Michigan, E. Michigan, Bowling Green

Pacific 14
Div 1 - Fresno St., Stanford, California, UCLA, Arizona, USC, Arizona St.
Div 2 - Washington, Washington St., Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Boise St., Oregon St.

Mountain West
Div 1 - Air Force, Colorado St., New Mexico, UTEP, Wyoming, New Mexico St., Houston
Div 2 - Hawaii, Idaho, San Diego St., Nevada, UNLV, San Jose St., Utah St.

SEC
Div 1 - South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Maryland
Div 2 - LSU, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi St., Mississippi, Texas A&M, Auburn

The Big 14 you propose would be a horrible conference alignment for OU, both academically and athlethically.

[venture]

The Big 14 you propose would be a horrible conference alignment for OU, both academically and athlethically.

Mmmkay. And you would propose?

[betts]

The Big 14 you propose would be a horrible conference alignment for OU, both academically and athlethically.

Agree completely. We're far better off in the PAC-whatever.

[dcsooner]

Mmmkay. And you would propose?

OU needs to improve its academics in fact and reputation while maintaining its substantial atheletic prowess. I submit that either the BIG 10 or PAC 12 would both be better that the current Big 12 or any other alignment to include the SEC. the caliber of schools and athletics in both those conferences exceed all but the ACC maybe in academics.

[BlackmoreRulz]

Culturally I think the state schools are a better fit in the Big 10+2

[venture]

Culturally I think the state schools are a better fit in the Big 10+2

I would think if we are making an argument of Big 10 vs. PAC-12 for OU/OSU...from a fan/student perspective then Big 10 would be better. Want to travel to a road game? You are looking at a one day drive to all except for PSU. You also only have to deal with a 1 hour time difference. Going west you have a much longer drive and also the difference of two time zones. I can't really see many getting excited to having conference games start at 10PM more often than 11AM.

[Kokopelli]

Culturally I think the state schools are a better fit in the Big 10+2

The B1G (Big10 +2) has rejected the schools because neither is a member of the AAU. And they are not changing their mind so its not an option.

[dcsooner]

The B1G (Big10 +2) has rejected the schools because neither is a member of the AAU. And they are not changing their mind so its not an option.

I read that and that means OU and OSU need to change the concept of the State built by Football but built by outstanding academic prowess while maintaining its athletic dominance. It can be and is done by institutions across the nation. MI, ND, USC, Ohio State, Cal,Texas to name a few. Sad that we are rejected by a football conference because we rank 105th in US News and World Report as an academic institution. If the PAC 10 accepts us we should bolt in a hurry to not only solidify the football situation but place us among some of the elite academic institutions in the West AZ,CAL,Wash, and spur us to greater excellence academically.

[Kokopelli]

Sadly all of this reshuffling has nothing to do with academics, whats best for the students or fans, logic, or even common sense. Is all about dollars and tv markets. Personally I think it all sucks pond water. And with my opinion and $5. you can buy a cup of coffee at any Starbucks in America.

[venture]

News reports tonight have the following...

- Movement again of an OU, OSU, TX, TTU batch going to the PAC. Meetings tomorrow should shed light on it.
- UConn is applying for membership of the ACC.

So it appears it will likely be a run to 16 teams and the ACC is making their move to be the first.

[ljbab728]

News reports tonight have the following...

- Movement again of an OU, OSU, TX, TTU batch going to the PAC. Meetings tomorrow should shed light on it.
- UConn is applying for membership of the ACC.

So it appears it will likely be a run to 16 teams and the ACC is making their move to be the first.

Yes, it looks Texas and the PAC 12 are getting things worked out with the Longhorn Network. If that happens expect the change to take place for all 4 schools. I see the spectulation for a new 16 team conference is that there would be four 4 team pods with the former Big 12 schools being in one pod. The four teams would play each other every year and rotate the other schools in a 9 game conference season. The two teams with the best conference record would meet in the championship game.

[hughmo]

Unless Bebee can miraculously land a TV deal for all teams in the current Big12, there is no way this conference is going to stay intact. Bebee essentially played the ace up his sleeve last year with the UT LHN, that made Texas happy which subsequently caused OU and OSU to decide to stay. However, it seems like Texas A&M's unhappiness with the outrageously unbalanced deal has finally prompted OU to standup and say no more Longhorn following. IMO Bebee looked like an idiot last year trying to scramble to piece a deal together to keep the Big12 going. Some in the media praised the guy like he was some kind of savior or magician, however the rabble over all of this has been and will always be money. Why should Texas have more power than KSU, or OSU receiving more money than Baylor? Again IMO conferences should divide up shares from their conference network equally, however, the programs that are successful and appear in post-season play should be able to keep 100% of the profits from their success. Everyone seems so concerned about Pac-? travel and gametimes, but honestly is this really that huge of an issue? Most fans that would pay close to $500 to take a roadtrip to College Station or Ames Iowa would be just as happy to pay $350 for airfare to Spokane, WA, or Portland, OR. As far as tv times, I'm sure the PAC-? administration would make sure to schedule earlier game times between eastern division and western division teams. I highly doubt you'd be seeing an OU game kickoff later than 8pm cst.

[Just the facts]

With so many teams resuffling then entire conference scene needs to be reset. There are 120 FBS teams which is enough for 7 16-team leagues and 8 teams left over. We should just take the 7 teams with most AP/BCS national championships and let them start picking their conferences one team at a time (sort of like a draft).

Here is the order they would pick in
1) Notre Dame
2) Alabama
3) Ohio St
4) USC
5) Oklahoma
6) Miami
7) Nebraska

They keep picking until 8 teams are left. Those 8 team form their own conference and the next 8 schools to move to the FBS have to join that conference.

Round 1:
Notre Dame selects Purdue
Alabama selects Auburn
Ohio St selects Michigan
USC selects UCLA
Oklahoma selects OSU
Miami selects Florida
Nebraska selects Iowa

14 more rounds to go but Nebraska selects first this time and we go up the list (changing directions after every round).

[venture]

Actually it is 124 teams...since we have 4 new ones coming in next year. So that gives 12 left over...and can probably find 4 more from FCS to bring up (Delaware, App St, Montana, etc). That would give 8 conferences and pretty good setup for a playoff system.

[Just the facts]

Round 2:

Nebraska/Iowa selects Missouri
Miami/Florida selects Georgia
Oklahoma/OK State selects Kansas
USC/UCLA selects Stanford
Ohio St/Michigan selects Penn St
Alabam/Auburn selects Texas
Notre Dame/Purdue selects Louisville


13 rounds to go. Next up Notre Dame/Purdue/Louisville

[Just the facts]

Round 3:

Nebraska/Iowa/Missouri selects Wisconsin
Miami/Florida/Georgia selects Tennessee
Oklahoma/OK State/Kansas selects Arkansas
USC/UCLA/Stanford selects Cal
Ohio St/Michigan/Penn St selects Michigan st
Alabama/Auburn/Texas selects Florida St
Notre Dame/Purdue/Louisville selects Kentucky

12 rounds to go. Next up Notre Dame/Purdue/Louisville/Kentucky

[Just the facts]

Round 4:

Notre Dame/Purdue/Louisville/Kentucky selects Indiana
Alabama/Auburn/Texas/Florida St selects LSU
Ohio St/Michigan/Penn St/Michigan St selects Pittsburg
USC/UCLA/Stanford/Cal selects Arizona
Oklahoma/OK State/Kansas/Arkansas selects Texas A&M
Miami/Florida/Georgia/Tennessee selects South Carolina
Nebraska/Iowa/Missouri/Wisconsin selects Illinois

11 rounds to go. Next up Nebraska/Iowa/Missouri/Wisconsin/Illinois