Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[McCall]

Here's how I believe is the best possible way for all 5 power conferences going to 16 schools and yet all 5 surviving. Just a thought. Some school placements in conferences are just to fill a final spot, such as UMass in the ACC and UNLV in the Pac-12. Not really suggesting they'd end up there. And the Pac-12 additions are desperation picks if they are unable to secure any or all of the Oklahoma/Texas-4 schools. I also combined the Mountain West and Conference USA/Big East into one 24 school conference.

Michigan and Ohio State are NOT going to be in the same division. Not sure why people think they are going to be in the same division... it doesn't make sense.

As for the Big East... I don't see UCONN or Cinci NOT being added to either the Big XII or ACC. Yes, both have rather small stadium compared to Texas and Oklahoma... but they have access to NFL size stadiums that can hold the huge fan base of the big boys. Whether they go to the ACC or Big XII or what is going to depend on what the B16 TEN and SEC do.

Hold your horses there. I didn't say this is how they should be divided. I just divided them for the sake of dividing them. They can divide them however they want.

And I think UConn and Cincy will both end up in the ACC. I think the Big 12 would prefer having Florida State/Clemson, they're a much more attractive duo, and if they get them, the ACC would swoop in and swipe up UConn and Cincy to fill those spots.

[Island_Style]

Not bad. Only change that I would make is switch Miami to the Big12 instead of UCF. Fox really likes Miami. Miami is one of the strangest beasts in sports. No one shows up but everyone watches on TV. Miami vs Texas and Oklahoma has ratings potential for Fox. Plus they would like to own FSU vs Miami. Another ratings draw.

[dfwabel]

As for the Big East... I don't see UCONN or Cinci NOT being added to either the Big XII or ACC. Yes, both have rather small stadium compared to Texas and Oklahoma... but they have access to NFL size stadiums that can hold the huge fan base of the big boys. Whether they go to the ACC or Big XII or what is going to depend on what the B16 TEN and SEC do.

A couple of major issues with them using NFL stadiums, regardless of where they fallout.

UConn: Rentschler Field seats 40K, so it is already larger than some ACC venues already and if there is a sellout near the capacity of the smaller BigXII ones like Baylor and TCU. New Baylor is also set to be only 45K. Secondly, Gillete Stadium already has a NCAA tenant in UMass for four games/year through 2016. Adding UConn would give the stadium, four fall tenants (Patriots, MLS's Revolution, UMass, and UConn).

Lastly and most importantly, Rentschler Field is owned by the State of Connecticut. Millions of dollars would actually leave the state.

Cincinnati: Mike Brown does not work well with others. Look at their lease with Hamilton County. While Nippert is one of the smallest stadiums in the AQ schools, the school has not drawn well there since they played Ohio State in 2002. They had Oklahoma there in 2010 in front of 58K, but the games there in 2011 failed to draw more than 48K. 48K was not good enough financially for them to host games there, according to their AD.

[hailstateunis]

Here's my idea of how it could turn out. You have 8 conferences with 16 teams each. That means 128 teams, only one more FCS team (Appalachian St. in this case) would need to move up for this to work. The playoffs could work two different ways. You could have all 8 conference champions for a 8 team playoff, or you could add 8 at large bids to that and have a 16 team playoff.

The ACC kinda falls apart here with teams going to the SEC, Big Ten and Big XII. They get back to 16 by gaining some of the remaining big east schools and some C-USA schools. A few Sun Belt teams go to the C-USA while the others join the MAC.

[rams80]

Meanwhile in basketball the Missouri Valley Conference is meeting to discuss a possible Creighton departure and WHAT ARE YOU DOING EVANSVILLE?! GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR SAYING HORIZON LEAGUE AND GET BACK IN YOUR SEAT!

[Raysfan12]

Here's my idea of how it could turn out. You have 8 conferences with 16 teams each. That means 128 teams, only one more FCS team (Appalachian St. in this case) would need to move up for this to work. The playoffs could work two different ways. You could have all 8 conference champions for a 8 team playoff, or you could add 8 at large bids to that and have a 16 team playoff.

The ACC kinda falls apart here with teams going to the SEC, Big Ten and Big XII. They get back to 16 by gaining some of the remaining big east schools and some C-USA schools. A few Sun Belt teams go to the C-USA while the others join the MAC.

First things first, why would Louisville and Southern Mississippi go to the Big XII? Louisville already has a commitment to the ACC and So. Miss should stay at C-USA. Secondly, The ACC wouldn't lose any teams to realignment just yet. Finally, Notre Dame would never join a conference. All criticism aside, there might be a few changes to be made and it would look plausible.

[Philsphan]

Here is my prediction...

Big Ten adds UNC and UVA

SEC adds NC State and Virginia Tech

Big XII adds BYU and Florida State

ACC adds Connecticut and Cincinnati as full members and Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova and St. John's as non-football members

Miami

Clemson

Georgia Tech

Wake Forest

Duke

Syracuse

Connecticut

Boston College

Pittsburgh

*Notre Dame

Louisville

Cincinnati

*Marquette

*Georgetown

*Villanova

*St. John's

[McCall]

G'Town, Marquette and the other Big East non-FBS schools are forming their own conference. None of them are joining another established conference, at least not one with football schools.

[hailstateunis]

Here's my idea of how it could turn out. You have 8 conferences with 16 teams each. That means 128 teams, only one more FCS team (Appalachian St. in this case) would need to move up for this to work. The playoffs could work two different ways. You could have all 8 conference champions for a 8 team playoff, or you could add 8 at large bids to that and have a 16 team playoff.

The ACC kinda falls apart here with teams going to the SEC, Big Ten and Big XII. They get back to 16 by gaining some of the remaining big east schools and some C-USA schools. A few Sun Belt teams go to the C-USA while the others join the MAC.

First things first, why would Louisville and Southern Mississippi go to the Big XII? Louisville already has a commitment to the ACC and So. Miss should stay at C-USA. Secondly, The ACC wouldn't lose any teams to realignment just yet. Finally, Notre Dame would never join a conference. All criticism aside, there might be a few changes to be made and it would look plausible.

This senario would happen several years in the future in which the ACC gets raided by the other conferences. Louisville would go to the more stable conference. I'll give you that Southern Miss isn't likely to join any of the big 4, but once their football team gets back on track, Texas- San Antonio and all the other C-USA newcomers won't stand a chance. And the only reason I put Notre Dame in a conference is for the 8 conferences, 16 teams per conference thing to work.

[DaytonBlue]

I think the ACC will look like this after its raided:

-I think NC/Duke will want to stay together. So Big 10 takes Ga. Tech and Virginia, Big 12 takes FSU and Clemson, and SEC takes NCST and Va Tech

Football:

ACC North: UConn, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, BC, Louisville, Cincinnati, Temple

ACC South: Memphis, Duke, UNC, Wake, UCF, USF, Miami

Basketball: play each school once plus teams in your pod a second time (16 games total)

Pod 1: ND, Pitt, Syracuse

Pod 2: UConn, BC, Temple

Pod 3: Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis

Pod 4: UNC, Duke, Wake

Pod 5: UCF, USF, Miami

Top 12 make tourney.

I know they won't want Memphis, USF, UCF, but academic/prestige considerations will no longer matter as they are just trying to survive.

Boise St., SDSU, Houston, SMU go to Mountain West. ECU, Navy, and Army go to MAC for football only. Big East name goes to the Catholic 7.

So this whole thing basically just gets rids of Big East and WAC football.

[McCall]

I think the ACC will look like this after its raided:

-I think NC/Duke will want to stay together. So Big 10 takes Ga. Tech and Virginia, Big 12 takes FSU and Clemson, and SEC takes NCST and Va Tech

Football:

ACC North: UConn, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, BC, Louisville, Cincinnati, Temple

ACC South: Memphis, Duke, UNC, Wake, UCF, USF, Miami

Basketball: play each school 2x plus teams in your pod once

Pod 1: ND, Pitt, Syracuse

Pod 2: UConn, BC, Temple

Pod 3: Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis

Pod 4: UNC, Duke, Wake

Pod 5: UCF, USF, Miami

I know they won't want Memphis, USF, UCF, but academic/prestige considerations will no longer matter as they are just trying to survive.

Boise St., SDSU, Houston, SMU go to Mountain West. ECU, Navy, and Army go to MAC for football only. Big East name goes to the Catholic 7.

So this whole thing basically just gets rids of Big East and WAC football.

ACC will still have better options than Memphis and UCF. Plus they won't do 3-team pods. Most conferences are going away from divisions in basketball. And why would they play teams in their pods only once then every other team twice? Doesn't make sense.

Plus Navy and Army can do better than the MAC.

[Philsphan]

Here's what I would do to fix this:

Football:

North: Notre Dame, Navy, Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Connecticut

South: Miami, Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, Louisville, Cincinnati

Basketball: play each school once (15 games total) Pods kind of unessecary

Pod 1: Miami, Wake Forest, Duke, UNC

Pod 2: Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, Butler

Pod 3: Georgetown, Villanova, Syracuse, Pittsburgh

Pod 4: Connecticut, Boston College, St. John's, Notre Dame

All teams make Tournament

ACC acquires the right use MSG for the premier conference tournament in college basketball.

Catholic 7 never forms. Providence, Seton Hall and DePaul join the A10.

Big East goes on under the name of the Big American Conference. (UCF, USF, East Carolina, Temple, Memphis, Tulane, SMU, Houston, Boise State, San Diego State)

[McCall]

One of the reasons the Catholic 7 are leaving is because of football running the conference. Don't think any of them would run right back into the same situation.

[Philsphan]

One of the reasons the Catholic 7 are leaving is because of football running the conference. Don't think any of them would run right back into the same situation.

It's much different when the football schools in your conference are Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami, etc. The Catholic basketball schools didnt have a problem with football in the Big East until they started adding UCF, Boise State and Tulane.

[McCall]

One of the reasons the Catholic 7 are leaving is because of football running the conference. Don't think any of them would run right back into the same situation.

It's much different when the football schools in your conference are Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami, etc. The Catholic basketball schools didnt have a problem with football in the Big East until they started adding UCF, Boise State and Tulane.

No that was just the last straw. It's been brewing up for some time.

[ESTONES6]

One of the reasons the Catholic 7 are leaving is because of football running the conference. Don't think any of them would run right back into the same situation.

It's much different when the football schools in your conference are Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami, etc. The Catholic basketball schools didnt have a problem with football in the Big East until they started adding UCF, Boise State and Tulane.

Yeah but is some crappy football better than no football at all? Sure, basketball is the OTHER money making sport in college, but its a football dominated country. So even if you add ECU and Boise State, wouldn't it be beneficial to get SOME football revenue while still having a premier basketball conference as opposed to a premier basketball conference and NOT football revenue?

[dfwabel]

One of the reasons the Catholic 7 are leaving is because of football running the conference. Don't think any of them would run right back into the same situation.

It's much different when the football schools in your conference are Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami, etc. The Catholic basketball schools didnt have a problem with football in the Big East until they started adding UCF, Boise State and Tulane.

Wrong, Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence and Georgetown all had a problem with the addition of Virginia Tech, Rutgers, WVU, and Temple as full members. That is why it took VT until 2000 to be a full member. In case you don't remember, the Catholic 7 also did not like it when they went to two divisions for the 1995-96 season,

[Lights Out]

One of the reasons the Catholic 7 are leaving is because of football running the conference. Don't think any of them would run right back into the same situation.

It's much different when the football schools in your conference are Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami, etc. The Catholic basketball schools didnt have a problem with football in the Big East until they started adding UCF, Boise State and Tulane.

Uh, Boise is hardly on the same level as UCF or Tulane. They would have been the only strong football school in the conference, really.

[rams80]

One of the reasons the Catholic 7 are leaving is because of football running the conference. Don't think any of them would run right back into the same situation.

It's much different when the football schools in your conference are Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami, etc. The Catholic basketball schools didnt have a problem with football in the Big East until they started adding UCF, Boise State and Tulane.

Yeah but is some crappy football better than no football at all? Sure, basketball is the OTHER money making sport in college, but its a football dominated country. So even if you add ECU and Boise State, wouldn't it be beneficial to get SOME football revenue while still having a premier basketball conference as opposed to a premier basketball conference and NOT football revenue?

Well the football schools that left were also their premier basketball schools, so the remaining schools kind of had a problem because their RPI was about to go in the toilet since they can't say "look at how many good teams we lost to".

[ESTONES6]

One of the reasons the Catholic 7 are leaving is because of football running the conference. Don't think any of them would run right back into the same situation.

It's much different when the football schools in your conference are Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami, etc. The Catholic basketball schools didnt have a problem with football in the Big East until they started adding UCF, Boise State and Tulane.

Uh, Boise is hardly on the same level as UCF or Tulane. They would have been the only strong football school in the conference, really.

Boise would fall victim to the same thing that happens to all these mid majors that step up a conference. They get beat up and worn out through the course of the season. Yes, they are still good teams, but they don't put up the undeafeated seasons or 1 or 2 loss seasons. Sure Boise would be an upgrade, but its not like you are getting one of the heavy hitters.