Please disable your Ad Blocker to better interact with this website.

Opinion

College Football Realignment

Recently the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas announced that they would be moving from the Big Twelve Conference to the Southeastern Conference (SEC).  Such a move would increase the number of schools in the SEC to sixteen, and reduce the number of schools in the Big Twelve to eight.

In my opinion, such moves not only deplete the Big Twelve of its powerhouses, but forces both the Big Twelve and SEC schools to undergo a series of rescheduling.  In addition, are such moves necessary?

The way I see it, here is how each conference should be comprised in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which includes bringing back the Big East and Southwest Conferences:

Atlantic Coast Conference:  Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Miami.

Big East Conference:  Boston College, Syracuse, Army, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple, West Virginia, Navy, and Virginia Tech.

Big Ten Conference:  Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Southeastern Conference:  Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Arkansas, and LSU.

Mid-American Conference:  Ohio, Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami-OH, Akron, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Ball State, and Northern Illinois.

Big Twelve Conference:  Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Colorado, Colorado State, and Air Force.

Southwest Conference:  Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Christian University (TCU), Texas Tech, Baylor, SMU, Houston, Rice, UTEP, North Texas, Texas State, and Texas-San Antonio (UTSA).

Pac-10 Conference:  Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California, Stanford, USC, and UCLA.

Mountain West Conference:  Wyoming, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Idaho, Boise State, Utah, Utah State, BYU, Nevada, UNLV, San Diego State, San Jose State, Fresno State, and Hawaii.

American Athletic Conference:  Cincinnati, Louisville, Marshall, East Carolina, Central Florida, South Florida, Memphis, UAB, Southern Mississippi, and Tulane.

Conference USA:  Massachusetts, Connecticut, Liberty, Old Dominion, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Florida International (FIU), Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, and Louisiana Tech.

Sun Belt Conference:  Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Troy, South Alabama, Arkansas State, Louisiana, and Louisiana-Monroe.

If such a realignment took place, the only conferences that would have divisions (and hence championship games) would be the Southeastern Conference, the Big Twelve Conference, the Mid-American Conference, the Southwest Conference, and the Mountain West Conference.

And that’s the way it should be.

 

Andrew Linn

Andrew Linn is a member of the Owensboro Tea Party and a former Field Representative for the Media Research Center. An ex-Democrat, he became a Republican one week after the 2008 Presidential Election. He has an M.A. in history from the University of Louisville, where he became a member of the Phi Alpha Theta historical honors society. He has also contributed to examiner.com and Right Impulse Media.

Related Articles