This week is Week Zero of the College Football Season, thus kicking off the 2023 season with a handful of games.
But the main story surrounding college football is all the realignment that has taken place or will take place next year.
For the 2023 season, BYU (an Independent) will join the Big Twelve Conference, as will Cincinnati, Houston, and Central Florida (all of whom were members of the American Athletic Conference). Former Conference USA members Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, Texas-San Antonio, and UAB will join the American Athletic Conference. Independents Liberty and New Mexico State will join Conference USA, as will Jacksonville State and Sam Houston (both of which were from the Division I FCS Subdivision.
In the future, Kennesaw State (a Division I FCS Independent) will be joining Conference USA. In addition, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah will be leaving the Pac-12 Conference for the Big Twelve Conference. Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington will leave the Pac-12 Conference for the Big Ten Conference. Oklahoma and Texas will leave the Big Twelve Conference for the Southeastern Conference.
Money is the main reason such realignment is taking place. But not too many people are happy about these changes. Not just because of the tradition within college football (i.e. the rivalries), but because of the scheduling changes and the increased travel.
Scheduling is going to be a real pain in the neck, particularly for the schools in the Big Ten and SEC, both of which will have sixteen teams in the future. I should mention that during the 1990s, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) had sixteen teams (and thus two divisions with eight teams). But half of the schools left the WAC after three seasons and formed their own conference- the Mountain West Conference. Will the Big Ten and SEC fare any better?
Travel will also be a problem. For instance, once Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington join the Big Ten, they will have to travel long distances across the country in order to face their opponents, and vice versa. Such longer travel across time zones every year might take its toll on the schools in question.
In conclusion, I believe that the realignment that is taking place (as well as the realignment that took place in the past decade) should be reversed. I also believe that conferences should have no more than twelve schools.
At any rate, enjoy the season.
