Just some thoughts on conference expansion

[AUApostle 7,791]

1 hour ago, AURex said:

The merger of Big10 with PAC12 does make sense in one way. Schools from these two conferences were playing each other every year anyway. So they already have a bond in athletics. It also makes a lot of sense for the PAC12 schools, because the PAC12 was about to sign off on a really devastating media deal that would have essentially erased PAC12 schools from most televisions nationally and offered much less in terms of $$ than any other conference. I'm sure these schools did the math and decided it made sense to jump.

Much different for the PAC12 teams going to Big12. There has never been a collaboration or ties between these schools and the Big12. Still, with 4 PAC12 teams jumping to the Big12, it at least makes more sense regionally.

As for Stanford and Cal-Berkley, boy they are in a bind. These are elite academic institutions, and although their top 2 sports have been up and down over the years, they are both really strong in Olympic and Directors Cup sports. So they'd be a natural fit in the Big10.

But as of the moment, the PAC12 has a guaranteed spot in the expanded CFB Playoff. If the 4 remaining schools stick with the PAC12 and then the PAC12 pulls in some of the better programs out there like Boise State, Utah State, Fresno State, San Diego State, UNLV ....... most likely Oregon State, Cal, or Stanford would reach the CFP every year.

Personally, I've always thought the private schools ought to form their own conference.
Northwestern
Duke
Vanderbilt
Stanford
Boston College
Tulane
BYU
TCU
Baylor
Wake Forest
That's a pretty good 10 member conference. Add in the 3 military academies and Notre Dame, that's a blockbuster conference.

Call it NERRD -- the National Elite Rock-N-Roll Division. hahaha You saw it here first!

 

 

 

Throw Miami in there?

[IronMan70 3,322]

Personally, I think it makes the most sense for the rest of the country to set up the conferences the way the SEC has done so they make sense regionally. It would be better for the teams, fans and players. The top level of college football would have 4 regional super conferences.

1. NEC- Northeast Conference

2. SEC- Southeast Conference 

3. NWC- Northwest Conference

4. SWC- Southwest Conference

[toddc 13,197]

1 hour ago, IronMan70 said:

Personally, I think it makes the most sense for the rest of the country to set up the conferences the way the SEC has done so they make sense regionally. It would be better for the teams, fans and players. The top level of college football would have 4 regional super conferences.

1. NEC- Northeast Conference

2. SEC- Southeast Conference 

3. NWC- Northwest Conference

4. SWC- Southwest Conference

That would make too much sense and therefore it’ll never happen. 😝 

[AURex 2,262]

7 hours ago, IronMan70 said:

Personally, I think it makes the most sense for the rest of the country to set up the conferences the way the SEC has done so they make sense regionally. It would be better for the teams, fans and players. The top level of college football would have 4 regional super conferences.

1. NEC- Northeast Conference

2. SEC- Southeast Conference 

3. NWC- Northwest Conference

4. SWC- Southwest Conference

Need a conference for the center of the country

MEC -- Middle Earth Conference

 

[AUwent 3,841]

Alright, here's my proposal. Trying to preserve as much history as I can, but some logistics (realistic number of teams in each conference) forced me to make a few concessions (several OOC rivalry games--Red River, etc.). I did the Pac, the old SWC and Big 8 teams, and the original B1G and SEC. That left 22 teams remaining, and as much as I wanted to leave the original 10 in both the aforementioned conferences to play in a round robin every year, a 22 team conference just wasn't realistic--and when I tried dividing those 22, it resulted in Penn State having for all intents and purposes an entire league to itself. So I gave four of the remaining 22 to the SEC, four to the B1G (including Notre Dame), and the rest got their own conference (the ACC). I decided not to put Clemson, FSU and Miami in the SEC because I'm trying to have some iota of parity between conferences. Conferences can either be 3 permanent opponents with two pairs of 5 rotating or 5 permanent opponents with two pairs of 4 rotating.

 

Atlantic Coastal

Boston College

Clemson

Duke

Florida State

Georgia Tech

Louisville

Maryland

Miami FL

North Carolina

North Carolina State

Pennsylvania State

Pittsburgh

South Carolina

Syracuse

Virginia

Virginia Tech

Wake Forest

West Virginia

 

Big Eighteen

Colorado

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Michigan

Michigan State

Minnesota

Missouri

Nebraska

Northwestern

Ohio State

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Purdue

Wisconsin

 

Pac-12

Arizona

Arizona State

Brigham Young

California-Berkeley

California-Los Angeles

Oregon

Oregon State

Southern California

Stanford

Utah

Washington

Washington State

 

South Eastern

Alabama

Arkansas

Auburn

Baylor

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

Louisiana State

Mississippi

Mississippi State

Tennessee

Texas

Texas A&M

Texas Christian

Texas Tech

Vanderbilt

Edited August 21, 2023 by AUwent

[TigerPAC 1,030]

2 hours ago, AUwent said:

Alright, here's my proposal. Trying to preserve as much history as I can, but some logistics (realistic number of teams in each conference) forced me to make a few concessions (several OOC rivalry games--Clemson/USCe, Florida/FSU, Virginia/VT, etc.). I did the Pac, the old SWC and Big 8 teams, and the original B1G and SEC. That left 22 teams remaining, and as much as I wanted to leave the original 10 in both the aforementioned conferences to play in a round robin every year, a 22 team conference just wasn't realistic--and when I tried dividing those 22, it resulted in Penn State having for all intents and purposes an entire league to itself. So I gave four of the remaining 22 to the SEC, four to the B1G (including Notre Dame), and the rest got their own conference (the ACC). I decided not to put Clemson, FSU and Miami in the SEC because I'm trying to have some iota of parity between conferences. Conferences can either be 3 permanent opponents with two pairs of 5 rotating or 5 permanent opponents with two pairs of 4 rotating.

 

Pac-14

Arizona

Arizona State

Boise State

BYU

UC-Berkeley

UCLA

Colorado

Oregon

Oregon State

USCw

Stanford

Utah

Washington

Washington State

 

Big 14 West

Arkansas

Baylor

Houston

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Missouri

Nebraska

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Texas

Texas A&M

TCU

Texas Tech

 

Big 14 East

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Michigan

Michigan State

Minnesota

Northwestern

Notre Dame

Ohio State

PSU

Pittsburgh

Purdue

West Virginia

Wisconsin

 

ACC

Boston College

UCF

Cincinnati

Clemson

Duke

FSU

Maryland

Miami FL

North Carolina

North Carolina State

Rutgers

Syracuse

Virginia

Wake Forest

 

SEC

Alabama

Auburn

Florida

Georgia

Georgia Tech

Kentucky

LSU

Louisville

Mississippi

Mississippi State

USCe

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Virginia Tech

I like it, if it’s necessary and seems as if it is. 

[woodford 3,751]

I hate it all but could possibly see it revert within the decade or next. Sankey has already come out and stated the Playoff will need tweaking. I don't like the guy, but he is right. Permanent auto bids in the Playoff could reverse conference expansion IMO but I'm not sure that will remedy the business incentives.

Unfortunately, these conferences, TV execs, university presidents, and AD's care more about money than winning or producing a great product.

Those of us who have our heels dug in the ground and won't bend to "progress" are called ignorant and old-fashioned. In about a decade you're going to wish we had our way. 

[AUwent 3,841]

Alternate proposal: 70 teams, 10-team conferences (all 1998 BCS conf teams + all 2023 P5 teams + either Memphis or SMU):
 

ACC
UCF
Clemson
Duke
FSU
GT
Miami FL
North Carolina
NCSU
USCe
Wake Forest

 

Big East (unfortunately, this would probably be a pretty weak conference--PSU would love this)
Boston College
Maryland
PSU
Pitt
Rutgers
Syracuse
Temple
Virginia
VT
WV

 

Big Ten
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
Wisconsin

 

"Mid America East"
Arkansas
Baylor
Cincy
Houston
Louisville
Memphis OR SMU
Texas
TAMU
TCU
TTU

 

"Mid America West"
BYU
Colorado
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Utah

 

Pac-10
Arizona
Arizona State
UC-Berkeley
UCLA
USCw
Stanford
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
WSU

 

SEC (just further cements why the "Big Six" are so named...15 of the 25 NCs since the BCS began...)
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Tennessee
Vanderbilt

Edited August 22, 2023 by AUwent

[aucanucktiger 1,896]

Kinda sad to see traditions die but IMHO expansion is just not that big of a deal. First, lose the antiquated names (southeast, pac, Atlantic, etc) which are now just silly. Otherwise it's major universities with monster endowment$ flying 18 - 22 year old student athletes across country a couple times each season, plus an hour or two flight each way a couple more times, over a four month period. Frankly, mostly exciting adventures if you're that age.

[AUINSY 2,273]

47 minutes ago, aucanucktiger said:

First, lose the antiquated names (southeast, pac, Atlantic, etc)

I don’t care what people name conferences as long as there’s no number in the name which will change in 2-4 years anyways 

[gr82be 14,935]

Just saw where the ACC has voted to add Stanford, Cal and SMU next season. 

 

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/38304694/sources-acc-votes-invite-stanford-cal-smu

[woodford 3,751]

1 hour ago, gr82be said:

Just saw where the ACC has voted to add Stanford, Cal and SMU next season. 

 

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/38304694/sources-acc-votes-invite-stanford-cal-smu

I like it. This probably means the SEC isn't expanding anytime soon. Idk why the ACC can't sit down with ND and the networks and offer a lucrative deal to become a full-time member. That could save them down the road. If you have Notre Dame schools probably are not going to want to leave you in the future. ND, FSU, Miami, Stanford, UNC, Duke, UVA, Clemson, Cal. Those are big name athletic programs and/or universities. That's not too far from the SEC/B1G.

Oh, not to mention the ACC is the only conference now with Florida, Georgia, Texas, and California recruiting. You'd be a fool to leave (that is if you actually care about winning).

As much as I hate expansion, I think I can live with this for the next decade or so.

Edit: I would've gone after Tulane as well but that's just me 

Edited September 1, 2023 by woodford