That's pretty much my theory as well. I know this would be better in that Reel-Line-Mint thread, but here me out... In 2015, Notre Dame's contract with NBC expires and after 4 straight subpat seasons for the Irish, NBC decides not to renew the contract. This pretty much forces Notre Dame's hand and allows them to finally join the Big Ten, which retains it's name despite having 12 members (The Atlantic 10 also does this, but with 14 members). The division format goes like this: East: Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue West: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin The Big Ten also announces that it'll rotate the Big Ten Championship Game between Chicago's Soldier Field and Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium. This means that four of the six BCS conferences now have 12 members. This leaves the Pac-10 and the Big East all by themselves, but they cannot resist the temptation of the money a conference championship game can bring. The Pac-10 makes it's move first. Of couse, any and all moves have to get past Stanford because of it's status as the education big fish in that pond. After some considertations, the Pac-10 decides to stay within it's Pacific Coast region and takes two California schools: Fresno State from the WAC and San Diego State from the Mountain West. The Pac-10's division format goes as follows: North: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State South: Arizona, Arizona State, Fresno State, San Diego State, UCLA, USC The Pac-10 announce that it'll host their championship game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. The Big East is in the biggest pickle because of the options it has to grow to 12 teams. There are three scenarios that appear in my theory: Scenario 1: Get four of the non-football schools to start programs (Providence, Seton Hall, Marquette, Depaul) Scenario 2: Get Army and Navy, then ask both Villanova and Georgetown to make the move to FBS football Scenario 3: Get Army and Navy, take Temple back from the MAC and then add either Eastern Carolina or Central Florida to join. Scenario 1 is the least probable of the three, not the mention the most expensive because you're asking four schools to start a FBS football program, which takes 2-3 years and lots of money to pull off. This one probably won't happen. Scenario 2 has the Big East adding Army and Navy as associate members for football only. Then, they would ask both Villanova and Georgetown, both current Big East members in other sports, to make the move to FBS football. Again, this takes time and money for this to happen, even more so with Georgetown since they are currently in the Patriot League for FCS football and the Patriot League doesn't give out scholarships in that sport. This one won't happen either. Scenario 3 starts like Scenario 2, but they also add Temple as a third associate member. Then they look at Conference USA and think about either East Carolina or Central Florida. Considering they already have USF as a member, UCF joins the Big East and the conference splits into these divisions: North: Army, UConn, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple South: Central Florida, Cincinnati, Louisville, Navy, South Florida, West Virginia Now, as for the Non-BCS conferences: -Mountain West stays at 8 schools -MAC stays at 12 schools -Conference USA adds Louisiana Tech from the WAC to replace Central Florida -Sun Belt stays at 10 schools (Unless Arkanasas-Little Rock and Denver add football programs, but that isn't likely) -WAC is in danger with 7 schools. They end up taking Sacramento State after they decide to move up after the school gets money to expand Hornet Stadium to reach FBS standards. Again, this is all theory. None of this could happen or even all of it. Just take what I said with a grain of salt.