Before I dive in, let me review my key priorities when creating these scenarios:
- Conferences that are based on historic rivalries and conference affiliations, geography, and program strength.
- Single round-robin conference scheduling, forgoing the need for unbalanced schedules and divisions, protected rivalries, or conference championship games.
- A postseason system that respects the historic role of bowl games while still producing a clear national champion.
The second point seems to create a natural limit to conference size: if schools need to play a single-round robin schedule, then conferences need to realistically be no bigger than 10 schools to allow a 9-game conference schedule in a 12-game season. However, a thought occurs to me: if we've gotten rid of conference championship games, there's no reason we couldn't lift the cap of regular season games to 13. After all, there is plenty of precedent for this (take a look at Hawaii for instance). Hell, the 2002 national champions, Ohio State, played a 13-game regular season (starting with a kickoff classic). A 13-game schedule allows for one extra conference game, thus enabling conferences to expand to 11 schools. This opens up a whole new realm of realignment scenarios.
And one such scenario is exactly what I'm putting forward here. The framework is simple: 12 conferences of 10 or 11 schools, playing 9- or 10-game single round-robin conference schedules within a 13-game regular season schedule. The 12 conferences are divided into two tiers of six each: automatic qualifiers (the "power" conferences) and non-automatic qualifiers (non-"power" conferences). Yes, I'm bringing back the BCS, albeit a modified version. The wrinkle here is that while there will still be five BCS bowls, they will now be followed by a plus-one #1 vs #2 national championship game, based on post-bowl rankings.
So, without further ado, here is the new conference alignment:
Automatic Qualifying Conferences
Big Ten
Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa
Pac-10
Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - that's essentially the approach I took with these two conferences. These are what I consider the "classic" alignments for these conferences. While I could have added another school to either conference, there were no other schools that ended up making sense here in the grand scheme of things; as we'll see below, Penn State notably is integral to another conference. Biggest benefits of these alignments: 1) the Big Ten actually has 10 schools again; 2) the imbalance between the Big Ten East and Big Ten West is eliminated; 3) the California schools are not split between divisions.
SEC
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU
Moving to an 11-team alignment resolves a long-standing problem for me: where to put South Carolina. South Carolina really does work well in the SEC in my eyes, and their inclusion here does not disrupt the power structure of the conference in a meaningful way. Otherwise this is essentially the "classic" SEC alignment of the '70s and '80s. No rivalries are split by divisions, which is a big plus for a conference chock-full of them.
ACC
Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami (FL)
The ACC tends to be a challenging conference in these scenarios, and greatly benefits from the 11-team alignment. This is actually the roster the ACC had for exactly one season - 2004 - following the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech but prior to Boston College joining. The ACC is by far the conference most improved by the removal of divisions, with its ridiculous Atlantic/Coastal split. This particular alignment is great because it keeps the Virginia-Virginia Tech and Miami-Florida State rivalries together. Also of note: the return of Maryland.
Big 11
Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
This to me is where things really start to get interesting. Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas A&M are all restored to their rightful home, rekindling traditional conference rivalries with Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas respectively. Arkansas feels like a natural fit, rejoining three former SWC rivals; their presence here also allows the SEC to stay at 11 without them. Meanwhile, capping this conference at 11 fixes one of the biggest problems with the old Big 12: the imbalance between the North and South divisions.
Big East
Boston College, Connecticut, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple*, Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Army*, Navy*, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Georgetown
What college football realignment scenario is complete without bringing back the Big East? I really like this version. Six of the eight founding football members are here, excluding Miami and Virginia Tech, who I feel do fit better in the ACC. Notre Dame and Penn State take their place as the anchors of the conference, and frankly both are stronger historically, have better rivalries, and are closer geographically (while Notre Dame is obviously in the Midwest, it is culturally a Northeastern school). I like having the trio of UConn, Rutgers and Temple together; even though they are the weakest AQ schools in this alignment, their location in the major New York and Philadelphia media markets provides a lot of value. Army and Navy round out the conference nicely, bringing plenty of tradition in the form of their own rivalry game and their respective rivalries with Notre Dame. Of note: the Backyard Brawl is back as a conference game.
While Notre Dame obviously loses its independent status by joining the Big East, this is probably the best conference scenario you can come up with for them. Four of its biggest rivals would be conference games here: Pitt, Boston College, Army and Navy, while the rest of the games would strengthen the school's Northeast ties. The Irish can also still play three non-conference games in this scenario, potentially against USC, Stanford, and a Big Ten opponent to preserve its other biggest rivalries; Notre Dame can afford to play a strong non-conference schedule, with the weaker conference games against UConn, Rutgers and Temple. (Penn State, for its part, gets Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia as major conference rivals now.)
The Big East does retain its basketball pedigree in this scenario; Temple, Army and Navy are here for football only, while Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova and Georgetown are still non-football members. The 13 basketball schools are well-positioned to play an 18-game conference schedule by playing 6 home-and-home matchups and 6 single matchups a year.
Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa
Pac-10
Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - that's essentially the approach I took with these two conferences. These are what I consider the "classic" alignments for these conferences. While I could have added another school to either conference, there were no other schools that ended up making sense here in the grand scheme of things; as we'll see below, Penn State notably is integral to another conference. Biggest benefits of these alignments: 1) the Big Ten actually has 10 schools again; 2) the imbalance between the Big Ten East and Big Ten West is eliminated; 3) the California schools are not split between divisions.
SEC
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU
Moving to an 11-team alignment resolves a long-standing problem for me: where to put South Carolina. South Carolina really does work well in the SEC in my eyes, and their inclusion here does not disrupt the power structure of the conference in a meaningful way. Otherwise this is essentially the "classic" SEC alignment of the '70s and '80s. No rivalries are split by divisions, which is a big plus for a conference chock-full of them.
ACC
Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami (FL)
The ACC tends to be a challenging conference in these scenarios, and greatly benefits from the 11-team alignment. This is actually the roster the ACC had for exactly one season - 2004 - following the addition of Miami and Virginia Tech but prior to Boston College joining. The ACC is by far the conference most improved by the removal of divisions, with its ridiculous Atlantic/Coastal split. This particular alignment is great because it keeps the Virginia-Virginia Tech and Miami-Florida State rivalries together. Also of note: the return of Maryland.
Big 11
Nebraska, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
This to me is where things really start to get interesting. Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas A&M are all restored to their rightful home, rekindling traditional conference rivalries with Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas respectively. Arkansas feels like a natural fit, rejoining three former SWC rivals; their presence here also allows the SEC to stay at 11 without them. Meanwhile, capping this conference at 11 fixes one of the biggest problems with the old Big 12: the imbalance between the North and South divisions.
Big East
Boston College, Connecticut, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple*, Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Army*, Navy*, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova, Georgetown
What college football realignment scenario is complete without bringing back the Big East? I really like this version. Six of the eight founding football members are here, excluding Miami and Virginia Tech, who I feel do fit better in the ACC. Notre Dame and Penn State take their place as the anchors of the conference, and frankly both are stronger historically, have better rivalries, and are closer geographically (while Notre Dame is obviously in the Midwest, it is culturally a Northeastern school). I like having the trio of UConn, Rutgers and Temple together; even though they are the weakest AQ schools in this alignment, their location in the major New York and Philadelphia media markets provides a lot of value. Army and Navy round out the conference nicely, bringing plenty of tradition in the form of their own rivalry game and their respective rivalries with Notre Dame. Of note: the Backyard Brawl is back as a conference game.
While Notre Dame obviously loses its independent status by joining the Big East, this is probably the best conference scenario you can come up with for them. Four of its biggest rivals would be conference games here: Pitt, Boston College, Army and Navy, while the rest of the games would strengthen the school's Northeast ties. The Irish can also still play three non-conference games in this scenario, potentially against USC, Stanford, and a Big Ten opponent to preserve its other biggest rivalries; Notre Dame can afford to play a strong non-conference schedule, with the weaker conference games against UConn, Rutgers and Temple. (Penn State, for its part, gets Pitt, Syracuse and West Virginia as major conference rivals now.)
The Big East does retain its basketball pedigree in this scenario; Temple, Army and Navy are here for football only, while Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova and Georgetown are still non-football members. The 13 basketball schools are well-positioned to play an 18-game conference schedule by playing 6 home-and-home matchups and 6 single matchups a year.
Non-Automatic Qualifying Conferences
WAC
BYU, Utah, Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado, Colorado State, New Mexico, UTEP, Baylor, TCU, SMU
Nine of these schools played together simultaneously in the WAC from 1996-99; however, this is a much tighter geography than that version, whose collapse led to the birth of the MWC. The two new schools here, Colorado and Baylor, are both left out of the Big 12 to allow for the Big 11 alignment described above. Colorado actually has geographic rivalries with Colorado State and Utah here, which it lacked in the Big 12, while Baylor stays together with SWC rivals TCU and SMU. Also of note: the Holy War restored as a conference game.
Now, this would be a somewhat controversial alignment, as four schools here currently play in Power Five conferences but would lose that status; Colorado and Baylor might be particularly unhappy, as longstanding major conference programs. On the flip side, this is one hell of a non-power conference. Colorado, BYU, and SMU have all won national championships; Utah and TCU both won BCS bowls; Utah and Baylor both won Power 5 conference championships this season. This conference would almost certainly be "BCS-busting" on a regular basis.
Metro
Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Houston, North Texas, Tulsa, Tulane, Southern Mississippi, UAB, Central Florida, South Florida, Wichita State, VCU
Seven of the eleven football schools currently play in the AAC (along with Wichita State for basketball), though this conference has a much more coherent geography. Louisville was a founding AAC member before leaving for the ACC, while North Texas and UAB are future members. Seven of these programs played in the Missouri Valley Conference when it sponsored football (including Wichita State), while eight played in the non-football Metro (including VCU). All eleven football schools have played in CUSA at some point. The Metro name seems appropriate here, as all but Southern Miss play in major urban areas.
This is another likely "BCS-buster" conference: Cincinnati is in the CFP this year; Memphis, Houston, and UCF have also all played in New Year's Six bowls; Louisville won two BCS bowls.
Basketball-wise, the 13-team conference would use the same scheduling format described above for the Big East.
Big West
Hawaii, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, UNLV, Nevada, Boise State, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State
All of these programs played football in the Big West at one point or another, except Hawaii, who is actually a current non-football member. The Big West joins the Big Ten and Pac-10 as the only 10-team conferences in this alignment. Idaho is restored as an FBS school, giving Boise State an in-state rivalry. Of note: the entire West division of the MWC is represented here. Boise State is clearly the strongest program here, and the most likely BCS-buster.
Sun Belt
UTSA, Texas State, Rice, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Troy, South Alabama
Atlantic South
Marshall, Liberty, Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Charlotte, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic, Florida International
The rest of the current Sun Belt and CUSA schools are divided up geographically between these two conferences, along with Liberty and ECU (joining old rivals App State and Marshall). Several ascendant programs can be found here, including UTSA, Louisiana, App State, and Coastal.
MAC
Akron, Kent State, Ohio, Miami (OH), Bowling Green State, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State, Northern Illinois
The weakest conference, this is essentially the current MAC minus Buffalo, excluded to get the MAC down to 11 schools.
Independents
Buffalo, Massachusetts
These are the only two FBS schools left without a conference home. Both schools would likely struggle to fill a full 13-game schedule. I anticipate a lot of matchups against MAC, Big East, and FCS schools.
Bowl Games
The bowl games effectively fall into five categories. The first are the BCS bowls. The champions of the six AQ conferences get bids to designated games, while the next four highest ranked schools get at-large bids. As noted above, the rankings are rerun after the bowl games, and the #1 and #2 teams would then play each other in a national championship game played in Los Angeles. Compared to the current playoff system, this makes more bowls and schools relevant for the championship, likely three or four games in a given year. Non-AQ schools who make a BCS bowl would also get a legit shot at getting to the top two and playing for a title if they can beat an AQ champion.
Rose Bowl (Rose Bowl - Pasadena, CA): Pac-10 vs Big Ten
Fiesta Bowl (Cardinals Stadium - Glendale, AZ): Big East vs At-Large
Cotton Bowl Classic (Cowboys Stadium - Arlington, TX): Big 11 vs At-Large
Sugar Bowl (Louisiana Superdome - New Orleans, LA): SEC vs At-Large
Orange Bowl (Dolphin Stadium - Miami Gardens, FL): ACC vs At-Large
BYU, Utah, Wyoming, Air Force, Colorado, Colorado State, New Mexico, UTEP, Baylor, TCU, SMU
Nine of these schools played together simultaneously in the WAC from 1996-99; however, this is a much tighter geography than that version, whose collapse led to the birth of the MWC. The two new schools here, Colorado and Baylor, are both left out of the Big 12 to allow for the Big 11 alignment described above. Colorado actually has geographic rivalries with Colorado State and Utah here, which it lacked in the Big 12, while Baylor stays together with SWC rivals TCU and SMU. Also of note: the Holy War restored as a conference game.
Now, this would be a somewhat controversial alignment, as four schools here currently play in Power Five conferences but would lose that status; Colorado and Baylor might be particularly unhappy, as longstanding major conference programs. On the flip side, this is one hell of a non-power conference. Colorado, BYU, and SMU have all won national championships; Utah and TCU both won BCS bowls; Utah and Baylor both won Power 5 conference championships this season. This conference would almost certainly be "BCS-busting" on a regular basis.
Metro
Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Houston, North Texas, Tulsa, Tulane, Southern Mississippi, UAB, Central Florida, South Florida, Wichita State, VCU
Seven of the eleven football schools currently play in the AAC (along with Wichita State for basketball), though this conference has a much more coherent geography. Louisville was a founding AAC member before leaving for the ACC, while North Texas and UAB are future members. Seven of these programs played in the Missouri Valley Conference when it sponsored football (including Wichita State), while eight played in the non-football Metro (including VCU). All eleven football schools have played in CUSA at some point. The Metro name seems appropriate here, as all but Southern Miss play in major urban areas.
This is another likely "BCS-buster" conference: Cincinnati is in the CFP this year; Memphis, Houston, and UCF have also all played in New Year's Six bowls; Louisville won two BCS bowls.
Basketball-wise, the 13-team conference would use the same scheduling format described above for the Big East.
Big West
Hawaii, San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, UNLV, Nevada, Boise State, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State
All of these programs played football in the Big West at one point or another, except Hawaii, who is actually a current non-football member. The Big West joins the Big Ten and Pac-10 as the only 10-team conferences in this alignment. Idaho is restored as an FBS school, giving Boise State an in-state rivalry. Of note: the entire West division of the MWC is represented here. Boise State is clearly the strongest program here, and the most likely BCS-buster.
Sun Belt
UTSA, Texas State, Rice, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Troy, South Alabama
Atlantic South
Marshall, Liberty, Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Charlotte, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic, Florida International
The rest of the current Sun Belt and CUSA schools are divided up geographically between these two conferences, along with Liberty and ECU (joining old rivals App State and Marshall). Several ascendant programs can be found here, including UTSA, Louisiana, App State, and Coastal.
MAC
Akron, Kent State, Ohio, Miami (OH), Bowling Green State, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State, Northern Illinois
The weakest conference, this is essentially the current MAC minus Buffalo, excluded to get the MAC down to 11 schools.
Independents
Buffalo, Massachusetts
These are the only two FBS schools left without a conference home. Both schools would likely struggle to fill a full 13-game schedule. I anticipate a lot of matchups against MAC, Big East, and FCS schools.
Bowl Games
The bowl games effectively fall into five categories. The first are the BCS bowls. The champions of the six AQ conferences get bids to designated games, while the next four highest ranked schools get at-large bids. As noted above, the rankings are rerun after the bowl games, and the #1 and #2 teams would then play each other in a national championship game played in Los Angeles. Compared to the current playoff system, this makes more bowls and schools relevant for the championship, likely three or four games in a given year. Non-AQ schools who make a BCS bowl would also get a legit shot at getting to the top two and playing for a title if they can beat an AQ champion.
Rose Bowl (Rose Bowl - Pasadena, CA): Pac-10 vs Big Ten
Fiesta Bowl (Cardinals Stadium - Glendale, AZ): Big East vs At-Large
Cotton Bowl Classic (Cowboys Stadium - Arlington, TX): Big 11 vs At-Large
Sugar Bowl (Louisiana Superdome - New Orleans, LA): SEC vs At-Large
Orange Bowl (Dolphin Stadium - Miami Gardens, FL): ACC vs At-Large
National Championship Game (Los Angeles Stadium - Inglewood, CA) - #1 vs #2
For the rest of the bowls, order of preference is based on descending order through the rankings to produce the strongest matchups. Every AQ conference is guaranteed at least two bowl berths against other AQ schools, as follows:
Citrus Bowl (Citrus Bowl - Orlando, FL) - SEC vs Big Ten
Hall of Fame Bowl (Tampa Community Stadium - Tampa, FL) - SEC vs Big Ten
Peach Bowl (New Atlanta Stadium - Atlanta, GA) - SEC vs ACC
Gator Bowl (Jacksonville Municipal Stadium - Jacksonville, FL) - Big East vs ACC
Tangerine Bowl (Citrus Bowl - Orlando, FL) - Big East vs AQ At-Large
Alamo Bowl (Alamodome - San Antonio, TX) - Big 11 vs Pac-10
Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas Stadium - Paradise, NV) - Pac-10 vs Big 11
For the rest of the bowls, order of preference is based on descending order through the rankings to produce the strongest matchups. Every AQ conference is guaranteed at least two bowl berths against other AQ schools, as follows:
Citrus Bowl (Citrus Bowl - Orlando, FL) - SEC vs Big Ten
Hall of Fame Bowl (Tampa Community Stadium - Tampa, FL) - SEC vs Big Ten
Peach Bowl (New Atlanta Stadium - Atlanta, GA) - SEC vs ACC
Gator Bowl (Jacksonville Municipal Stadium - Jacksonville, FL) - Big East vs ACC
Tangerine Bowl (Citrus Bowl - Orlando, FL) - Big East vs AQ At-Large
Alamo Bowl (Alamodome - San Antonio, TX) - Big 11 vs Pac-10
Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas Stadium - Paradise, NV) - Pac-10 vs Big 11
Each non-AQ conference is also guaranteed at least one berth against an AQ school, with designated matchups as follows:
Holiday Bowl (Aztec Stadium* - San Diego, CA) - Big West vs Pac-10
Sun Bowl (Sun Bowl - El Paso, TX) - WAC vs Big 11
Music City Bowl (The Coliseum - Nashville, TN) - Sun Belt vs SEC
Bluebonnet Bowl (Texans Stadium - Houston, TX) - Metro vs Big East
Motor City Bowl (Lions Stadium - Detroit, MI) - MAC vs Big Ten
Queen City Bowl (Panthers Stadium - Charlotte, NC) - ASC vs ACC
Non-AQ schools also have designated bowl berths against other non-AQ schools. Note that the Aloha Bowl gives preference to Hawaii as its Big West representative:
Heart of Dallas Bowl (Cotton Bowl - Dallas, TX) - Metro vs WAC
Liberty Bowl (Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium - Memphis, TN) - Metro vs Sun Belt/ASC/MAC/Ind.
Copper Bowl (Arizona Stadium - Tucson, AZ) - Big West vs WAC
Aloha Bowl (Aloha Stadium* - Honolulu, HI) - Big West vs MAC
Independence Bowl (Independence Stadium - Shreveport, LA) - Sun Belt vs ASC
Copper Bowl (Arizona Stadium - Tucson, AZ) - Big West vs WAC
Aloha Bowl (Aloha Stadium* - Honolulu, HI) - Big West vs MAC
Independence Bowl (Independence Stadium - Shreveport, LA) - Sun Belt vs ASC
Lastly, both the WAC and Metro get bowl berths against at-large opponents, AQ or non-AQ:
All-American Bowl (New Birmingham Stadium - Birmingham, AL) - Metro vs At-Large
New Mexico Bowl (University Stadium - Albuquerque, NM) - WAC vs At-Large
The bowl games are mostly based on the most prestigious and longest-running games and sites, and are mainly based at NFL and non-campus stadiums across the Sun Belt (south of the 36th parallel). Bowl sites in northern cities, non-football facilities, and on-campus stadiums, as well as duplicate bowls in the same city, are mostly eliminated, with a few notable exceptions.
Overall, the number of bowl games is significantly cut down, with only 25 bowls and 50 bids. Eligibility is tightened by requiring seven wins against FBS schools. If a conference cannot fulfill its designated tie-ins, those bids can be replaced by at-large schools. Reaching a bowl game would be a more significant accomplishment than it is today; only about a third of schools would make a bowl game, compared to two-thirds now. Again, the goal here is to make the postseason feel a bit more meaningful and return to its original role as a showcase of the nation's best programs.
Notes: Bowls and stadiums are referred to by their non-sponsored names. Aztec Stadium and Aloha Stadium are currently under construction.
