College football season is almost upon this. With all the rivalries, traditions, and camaraderie, it is more of a past time than Major League Baseball. However, not all is well with the collegiate gridiron.
Over the past two decades, a lot of realignment has been occurring with college football’s Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division 1-A). While some realignment has made sense (e.g. the formation of the now-debunked Big East Conference in the early 1990s), other realignment seems awkward (e.g. West Virginia in the Big Twelve Conference). Such moves will wind up resulting in longer trips for conference road games, not to mention an increase in travel costs.
Here is the current list of conferences and the teams that comprise them: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/standings
I believe that when it comes to forming a conference, it should be comprised of schools within a certain region. And therefore, here is my list of conferences and their teams.
First, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It would be consist of Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Miami.
Next, the Big East Conference should be revived, and consist of Massachusetts, Boston College, Connecticut, Army, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and Navy.
Then, there is the Big Ten Conference, which could consist of Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) would still be two divisions, with Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in the East Division, and Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State, LSU, and Arkansas in the West Division.
Conference USA would consist of Marshall, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, East Carolina, Central Florida, South Florida, UAB, Southern Mississippi, and Tulane.
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) can still consist of two divisions, with Ohio, Bowling Green, Miami-OH, Kent State, Akron, and Toledo in one division, while the other division consists of Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Ball State, and Northern Illinois.
The Sun Belt Conference can consist of Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Georgia State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Troy, South Alabama, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, and Arkansas State.
The Southwest Conference can be revived, and have two divisions, with the North Division consisting of North Texas, TCU, SMU, Baylor, Texas Tech, and UTEP, while the South Division consisting of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, Texas-San Antonio, Houston, and Rice.
The Big Twelve Conference can still consist of two divisions, with Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Colorado, Colorado State, and Air Force in the North Division, while the South Division will consist of Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Tulsa.
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) should be revived, and be comprised of two divisions. The Mountain Division will consist of Wyoming, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Utah, Utah State, BYU, and Idaho. The Pacific Division will consist of Boise State, Nevada, UNLV, San Jose State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Hawaii.
