The Big East is doing quite well without football. Sponsoring it was what got it in trouble the first time around and I doubt the Catholic schools have any sort of appetite to try it again
Interestingly, I think it's definitely possible that the Big East would have survived the football vs. Catholic school divide had it decided to sponsor football a decade earlier.
Yeah, pretty much. I think the Big East rejecting Penn State in 1982 may unintentionally be the most consequential realignment decision of any.
If Penn State joins the Big East in 1982, suddenly the door is now open sooner for not just the eastern independents that would go on to form the original Big East football conference, but also for Florida State and South Carolina, among others. Not saying they would have necessarily had interest, but that possibility would've been on the table. Keep in mind that Joe Paterno/Penn State had a dream of these schools all being in a conference together.
And besides that, the Big East sponsoring football sooner may have given schools like UConn and Villanova more time to ramp their programs up, which could have shifted the power balance between football and basketball schools before it became too late.
I know this is very /r/HistoricalWhatIf, but it's the narrative I choose to believe.
Maybe that happens, but I mean, basketball and football could never coexist in the Big East. The hoops schools created the Big East and 6 years later had 3 teams in the Final Four, back when March Madness was the college cash cow. The basketball schools were always going to be told to shut up and sit down in the back of the bus.
I think that even if Penn State had joined in 1982, they would have had the same treatment that Miami — then THE hottest brand in cfb — received when they joined as the big dog in 1990.
I feel the only thing that would have been different is that while Miami fought behind the scenes, JoePa would have been very public about the football-basketball civil war. He had spent decades battling the stigma against Eastern football. After climbing that mountain, there’s no way he would have politely accepted second-class citizenship in the Big East.
But that’s the thing about historical fiction: Everybody’s view is correct.
That said, I absolutely loved the rise of the Big East. From “Who tf is Georgetown?” in 1979 to running home to watch Bog East games in January ‘84 to witnessing THE new supreme conference bouncing ACC teams out of the tourney, that was an incredible six-year journey.
Long live the Big East.
My memory was a little off. It was in the late '80s and early '90s where basketball had the upper hand.
From '84 to '91, the CFA, the Pac-10 and the Big Ten (collectively making up all the marketable teams and conferences) signed deals totaling $350 million. ([Source](https://econsultsolutions.com/a-clash-of-tradition-and-economics-how-changing-media-markets-shape-the-college-football-landscape/)) That's $43.75 million a year for 8 years.
By 1985, CBS was paying $55 million a year to broadcast the NCAA tournament ([Source](https://www.sportsbroadcastjournal.com/how-cbs-snared-the-ncaa-tourney-rights-from-nbc-40-years-ago-in-a-competitive-world-of-3-networks/)). And that was just or March Madness. Schools/conferences also had regular-season TV deals. Football teams got bowl payouts with the
The difference is $11 million a year, which seems like nothing in today's world where a conference can make $1 billion.
But back then, $11 million was a LOT of money in the '80s, when people were astounded that football coaches made [$500,000 a year](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1982/05/24/bryants-450000-tops-us-coaches/1b13cfe5-b766-4dcc-b1a6-f058796f3936/).
Your football numbers look off. The SEC was out earning the tourney.
https://www.espn.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=4750560
I mean VT wasn't a full member of the Big East until they had basically left so any future was them splitting football and basketball more.
>The SEC was out earning the tourney.
How so? In 1985, the tourney received $55 million from CBS. That year the SEC distributed a little more than $9.3 million in football money to its schools (a total of $934,000 per school), according to that link. Nice find, btw. Bookmarked.
I feel like South Carolina was always going to join the SEC unless Arkansas had decided to join the Big 8 alongside Texas, A&M and Tech/UNM/BYU/Utah.
However FSU to the Big East would have been very realistic if Penn State was already a member. I doubt the Bug East would have split up considering how 4 of the biggest names in the 90s were members: Penn State, FSU, Miami and Virginia Tech. BC, Pitt, WVU, Syracuse, UConn, Nova and Rutgers makes for a pretty solid league. I'd imagine they get a better deal than what the ACC can get too. If that's the case, do they poach the ACC Maryland to make it 12 and get the championship game?
I mean, except for the SEC. Sure, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas are on the periphery of the Southern region, but they still qualify IMHO as long as those teams are in the Eastern part of the states which they are.
Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri aren’t part of the southeast geographically or culturally. Arkansas is kind of on the fringe. (Lexington is too but they’re an original member so they get a free pass.)
Eastern Oklahoma and Texas have some very southern things about them.
Missouri is in the middle of a lot of features so culturally always and never fits.
Arkansas and Kentucky have Southern elements.
Columbia, Missouri isn’t even close to the south geographically. It’s more B1G than SEC. The only Texas school that could really claim to be culturally southeastern would probably be A&M (and maybe Houston back in the Trans-Am and coke days).
The current number and distribution of FBS programs (and upcoming FBS programs) would be perfect for regionalism. You could have 14 conferences of 9-10 teams that play every other team in their conference every year (no need for championship game), and a 16-team playoff: top 8 conference champs plus 8 at-larges.
**Southwest**: Texas, A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Houston, TCU, SMU, Arkansas, Oklahoma, OK State
**Big 12/8/Whatever**: Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa State, Colorado, Utah, BYU, Boise State, Colorado State (or other MW school)
**Big East**: Virginia Tech, Miami, Pitt, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers, Penn State, BC, West Virginia
**ACC**: Virginia, Maryland, Duke, UNC, NC State, Wake, Clemson, South Carolina, Georgia Tech, Florida State
**Big 10**: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin
**SEC**: Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU
**Pac 10**: Arizona, ASU, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State
**Independent**: Notre Dame
**AAC**: UConn, Temple, Memphis, South Florida, Central Florida, Rice, East Carolina, Tulane, Tulsa
**Mac East**: Delaware, UMass, Buffalo, Army, Navy, Marshall, Miami OH, Akron, Kent State, Ohio
**Mac West**: Missouri State, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Bowling Green
**CUSA**: Old Dominion, JMU, Liberty, Charlotte, App State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State
**Sun Belt**: FAU, FIU, South Alabama, Troy, UAB, Jacksonville State, Southern Miss, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe
**Border Conference**: Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Texas State, UTSA, Sam Houston, UTEP, New Mexico, New Mexico State
**Mountain West**: Utah State, Air Force, Nevada, UNLV, Wyoming, Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Hawaii
I've always wanted to rebuild the SWC as an FCS conference.
SFA, Lamar, ACU, Tarleton, UIW, UT RGV, Texas A&M Commerce, HCU, UT Arlington, A&M Corpus, Central Arkansas, Arkansas Little Rock.
I always thought it was super dumb to fly Pac-12 banners/bumper stickers. Obviously it was awesome to get invited, but fly the U flag. Everyone knows what conference you’re in. Petty ass fans.
The Big 12 is eventually going to gobble up all non-P2 / non-G5 programs and have pods which will be the revised versions of the PAC#, SWC, and Big East
From your mouth to God's ears. Let's add Oregon State, Washington St, Stanford, Cal, for the PAC, along with the 4 corner schools, then separate out UCF, Cincy & WV from the SWC schools and add PITT, Louisville, NC State and VT. That brings us to 24 teams. Would also take Miami if we could get them
My custom conferences in CFB25 are going to include a SWC with Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, TCU, Baylor, Houston, SMU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Arkansas. Such a satisfying group of teams to band together imo.
Please keep in mind that these are just my own personal conferences, and I in no way think they will make everyone else happy. They will never see the light of day outside of my own PS5, but my custom conferences will be:
SOUTHEAST
* Alabama
* Auburn
* Georgia
* Florida
* Tennessee
* Vanderbilt
* Ole Miss
* Mississippi State
* LSU
* Kentucky
SOUTHWEST
* Texas
* Texas Tech
* Texas A&M
* TCU
* Baylor
* Houston
* SMU
* Oklahoma
* Oklahoma State
* Arkansas
NORTH
* Ohio State
* Michigan
* Michigan State
* Penn State
* Indiana
* Purdue
* Illinois
* Northwestern
* Maryland
* Rutgers
MIDWEST (not a great name, I know)
* Minnesota
* Wisconsin
* Iowa
* Iowa State
* Kansas
* Kansas State
* Nebraska
* Colorado
* Utah
* BYU
WEST
* Oregon
* Oregon State
* Washington
* Washington State
* USC
* UCLA
* Cal
* Stanford
* Arizona
* Arizona State
EAST
* Florida State
* Miami
* UCF
* North Carolina
* Duke
* Virginia
* Georgia Tech
* Boston College
* Syracuse
* Notre Dame
CENTRAL
* Virginia Tech
* West Virginia
* Cincinnati
* Louisville
* Pitt
* NC State
* Wake Forest
* South Carolina
* Clemson
* Missouri (Mizzou just doesn't fit in the MW where they belong, and they're impossible to place otherwise. This is the best I can do for them)
There's no way everybody would be happy with that, but I am dead set on 10 team conferences where everybody plays everybody, and the geography dictates that some teams get separated.
>(Mizzou just doesn't fit in the MW where they belong, and they're impossible to place otherwise. This is the best I can do for them)
I disagree:
Mizzou -> Midwest
Wisconsin -> North
Notre Dame -> North
Maryland & Rutgers -> East & Central (you pick which)
Instead of East/Central, I'd consider:
Atlantic:
* FSU
* Miami
* UCF
* UNC
* NC State
* Duke
* Wake Forest
* Georgia Tech
* South Carolina
* Clemson
Northeast:
* Boston College
* Syracuse
* Pitt
* WVU
* Cincinnati
* Louisville
* Maryland
* Rutgers
* Virginia
* Virginia Tech
I feel like PSU belongs with Pitt, but I need to think more about how to set that up.
Without geeking out on this too much, I should have mentioned there are a lot of groups of teams that I really don't want to break up. Wisconsin/Iowa/Minnesota, VT/WVU/Pitt/Louisville/Cincinnati, etc. That makes it a lot more difficult to get Mizzou where I want them. I also just like PSU with OSU, UM, and MSU more than Pitt, though I can see either one.
Again though, just my own inconsequential take on conferences. Ask 100 people to realign everything and you'll get 100 different answers lol.
That's all valid. I'm partly prioritizing Rutgers/Maryland back to the East Coast scene, and trying to save the Border War.
>Ask 100 people to realign everything and you'll get 100 different answers lol.
Absolutely. The geographic distribution of schools makes it too complicated to find a simple solution without either breaking up some rivalries and/or making some geographically weird conferences.
Texas, Texas A&M, Houston, Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU, New Mexico, Arizona, Arizona State, USC, and UCLA. That's 11 teams. Throw in UTEP, NMSU, or SDSU and you've got a pretty good, regional, southwest conference.
I mostly support this because it would increase the chances of the Big 8 reforming. By taking the Texas/California schools away from the SEC/B10, it would cause the media payouts in both of those conferences to plummet enough that us midwestern schools may want to go back home.
Edit - And yeah, 8 schools is probably too small nowadays. May need to be 10 or 12, in which case the most logical additions would be Air Force, Iowa (if we can pull them from the B10), Wyoming, and one other (Utah, BYU, Minnesota, or Illinois \[in my dreams\]).
If Mizzou and Oklahoma leave the SEC for a renewed Big 8, we’re taking Arkansas with us. Fayetteville is much more like Oklahoma and Missouri than it is Mississippi or Alabama
Ever since I found out that Fayetteville is right in the extreme northwest corner of the state, I've wondered why they haven't been in discussion for being a Big12 school. Heck, it looks like they're just as close to Lincoln, Nebraska as they are to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
For the longest time, it was because the power brokers in the state were in Little Rock - which is right near the Delta and feels much more Southern than NWA. But the influx of Walmart vendors from all corners of the nation (and a huge effort to get DFW kids to go to UA) has changed NWA into this weird vibe of a smaller version of Dallas with a Midwestern and Southern blend.
Because why would anyone leave the SEC? Our state was/is in a good spot where we can culturally fit in either the SEC, old SWC or big XII. The school is in the upper NW but the whole state supports it(thank God for frank broyles) and little rock and central Arkansas are the most populated area of the state.
It's the weird thing about Arkansas; NWA is more like Oklahoma and Missouri (and Texas), but Little Rock on south is more like Louisiana and Mississippi.
I bet you in about 10-15 yrs the SEC will implode and the westernmost teams will do exactly this.
This conference would absolutely dominate:
Tex, A&M, Txtech, TCU, SMU, Baylor, OK, OKst, Ark, LSU, Houston.
We are also on the verge of a peak opportunity to revive the Big East, but regionalism is dead in college athletics and it won't happen.
The Big East is doing quite well without football. Sponsoring it was what got it in trouble the first time around and I doubt the Catholic schools have any sort of appetite to try it again
Interestingly, I think it's definitely possible that the Big East would have survived the football vs. Catholic school divide had it decided to sponsor football a decade earlier.
You mean if big Eastern independents such as Penn State and Syracuse, et al, had been a part of the original, 1979 Big East?
Yeah, pretty much. I think the Big East rejecting Penn State in 1982 may unintentionally be the most consequential realignment decision of any. If Penn State joins the Big East in 1982, suddenly the door is now open sooner for not just the eastern independents that would go on to form the original Big East football conference, but also for Florida State and South Carolina, among others. Not saying they would have necessarily had interest, but that possibility would've been on the table. Keep in mind that Joe Paterno/Penn State had a dream of these schools all being in a conference together. And besides that, the Big East sponsoring football sooner may have given schools like UConn and Villanova more time to ramp their programs up, which could have shifted the power balance between football and basketball schools before it became too late. I know this is very /r/HistoricalWhatIf, but it's the narrative I choose to believe.
Maybe that happens, but I mean, basketball and football could never coexist in the Big East. The hoops schools created the Big East and 6 years later had 3 teams in the Final Four, back when March Madness was the college cash cow. The basketball schools were always going to be told to shut up and sit down in the back of the bus. I think that even if Penn State had joined in 1982, they would have had the same treatment that Miami — then THE hottest brand in cfb — received when they joined as the big dog in 1990. I feel the only thing that would have been different is that while Miami fought behind the scenes, JoePa would have been very public about the football-basketball civil war. He had spent decades battling the stigma against Eastern football. After climbing that mountain, there’s no way he would have politely accepted second-class citizenship in the Big East. But that’s the thing about historical fiction: Everybody’s view is correct. That said, I absolutely loved the rise of the Big East. From “Who tf is Georgetown?” in 1979 to running home to watch Bog East games in January ‘84 to witnessing THE new supreme conference bouncing ACC teams out of the tourney, that was an incredible six-year journey. Long live the Big East.
Can you show me some numbers that basketball was bigger than football. That just runs counter to how I understand this
My memory was a little off. It was in the late '80s and early '90s where basketball had the upper hand. From '84 to '91, the CFA, the Pac-10 and the Big Ten (collectively making up all the marketable teams and conferences) signed deals totaling $350 million. ([Source](https://econsultsolutions.com/a-clash-of-tradition-and-economics-how-changing-media-markets-shape-the-college-football-landscape/)) That's $43.75 million a year for 8 years. By 1985, CBS was paying $55 million a year to broadcast the NCAA tournament ([Source](https://www.sportsbroadcastjournal.com/how-cbs-snared-the-ncaa-tourney-rights-from-nbc-40-years-ago-in-a-competitive-world-of-3-networks/)). And that was just or March Madness. Schools/conferences also had regular-season TV deals. Football teams got bowl payouts with the The difference is $11 million a year, which seems like nothing in today's world where a conference can make $1 billion. But back then, $11 million was a LOT of money in the '80s, when people were astounded that football coaches made [$500,000 a year](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1982/05/24/bryants-450000-tops-us-coaches/1b13cfe5-b766-4dcc-b1a6-f058796f3936/).
Your football numbers look off. The SEC was out earning the tourney. https://www.espn.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=4750560 I mean VT wasn't a full member of the Big East until they had basically left so any future was them splitting football and basketball more.
>The SEC was out earning the tourney. How so? In 1985, the tourney received $55 million from CBS. That year the SEC distributed a little more than $9.3 million in football money to its schools (a total of $934,000 per school), according to that link. Nice find, btw. Bookmarked.
I feel like South Carolina was always going to join the SEC unless Arkansas had decided to join the Big 8 alongside Texas, A&M and Tech/UNM/BYU/Utah. However FSU to the Big East would have been very realistic if Penn State was already a member. I doubt the Bug East would have split up considering how 4 of the biggest names in the 90s were members: Penn State, FSU, Miami and Virginia Tech. BC, Pitt, WVU, Syracuse, UConn, Nova and Rutgers makes for a pretty solid league. I'd imagine they get a better deal than what the ACC can get too. If that's the case, do they poach the ACC Maryland to make it 12 and get the championship game?
I mean, except for the SEC. Sure, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas are on the periphery of the Southern region, but they still qualify IMHO as long as those teams are in the Eastern part of the states which they are.
Columbia is smack dab in the middle of Missouri. Two hour drive to the eastern and western state lines.
I guess what I mean is that as long as the Texas teams are not in El Paso or somewhere, I would say they qualify as Southeastern.
Sounds reasonable to me.
Columbia is more than two hours from the western state line.
Not for me in the 12 years I lived there.
Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri aren’t part of the southeast geographically or culturally. Arkansas is kind of on the fringe. (Lexington is too but they’re an original member so they get a free pass.)
Eastern Oklahoma and Texas have some very southern things about them. Missouri is in the middle of a lot of features so culturally always and never fits. Arkansas and Kentucky have Southern elements.
Columbia, Missouri isn’t even close to the south geographically. It’s more B1G than SEC. The only Texas school that could really claim to be culturally southeastern would probably be A&M (and maybe Houston back in the Trans-Am and coke days).
OU is in Norman which is about smack in the middle of the State. It’s actually the westernmost FBS program in Oklahoma.
The current number and distribution of FBS programs (and upcoming FBS programs) would be perfect for regionalism. You could have 14 conferences of 9-10 teams that play every other team in their conference every year (no need for championship game), and a 16-team playoff: top 8 conference champs plus 8 at-larges. **Southwest**: Texas, A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Houston, TCU, SMU, Arkansas, Oklahoma, OK State **Big 12/8/Whatever**: Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa State, Colorado, Utah, BYU, Boise State, Colorado State (or other MW school) **Big East**: Virginia Tech, Miami, Pitt, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers, Penn State, BC, West Virginia **ACC**: Virginia, Maryland, Duke, UNC, NC State, Wake, Clemson, South Carolina, Georgia Tech, Florida State **Big 10**: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin **SEC**: Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU **Pac 10**: Arizona, ASU, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State **Independent**: Notre Dame **AAC**: UConn, Temple, Memphis, South Florida, Central Florida, Rice, East Carolina, Tulane, Tulsa **Mac East**: Delaware, UMass, Buffalo, Army, Navy, Marshall, Miami OH, Akron, Kent State, Ohio **Mac West**: Missouri State, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Bowling Green **CUSA**: Old Dominion, JMU, Liberty, Charlotte, App State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State **Sun Belt**: FAU, FIU, South Alabama, Troy, UAB, Jacksonville State, Southern Miss, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe **Border Conference**: Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Texas State, UTSA, Sam Houston, UTEP, New Mexico, New Mexico State **Mountain West**: Utah State, Air Force, Nevada, UNLV, Wyoming, Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Hawaii
Army fan here. HELL NO!
College football is really going to regret losing regionalism.
Maybe the Big East (basketball) conference can sponsor and obtain naming rights of CUSA (or even ACC)!
Football is what killed the BE v1. Why would it want to revive the sad days where it was grabbing misfit programs to keep football going
The Sunbelt style conference is the path forward if you aren't a super conference imo
BEFC+Metro+Penn State+Notre Dame=Eastern Super League
Seems like those teams would LUV that opportunity……… I’ll be here all week everyone!
I've always wanted to rebuild the SWC as an FCS conference. SFA, Lamar, ACU, Tarleton, UIW, UT RGV, Texas A&M Commerce, HCU, UT Arlington, A&M Corpus, Central Arkansas, Arkansas Little Rock.
What if, and this is hypothetical, Pacific Life Insurance bought the naming rights to the BIGXII and renamed it the PACXII
No. Ute fans will change their PAC 12 bumper stickers to Big Lots! 12 stickers and they will like it!
I always thought it was super dumb to fly Pac-12 banners/bumper stickers. Obviously it was awesome to get invited, but fly the U flag. Everyone knows what conference you’re in. Petty ass fans.
The SWC with NIL would be like Charlie Sheen if cocaine and prostitution were legalized.
No one is ready for the SMU dynasty.
The Big 12 is eventually going to gobble up all non-P2 / non-G5 programs and have pods which will be the revised versions of the PAC#, SWC, and Big East
From your mouth to God's ears. Let's add Oregon State, Washington St, Stanford, Cal, for the PAC, along with the 4 corner schools, then separate out UCF, Cincy & WV from the SWC schools and add PITT, Louisville, NC State and VT. That brings us to 24 teams. Would also take Miami if we could get them
Can we come?
I too, watch Josh Pate
My custom conferences in CFB25 are going to include a SWC with Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, TCU, Baylor, Houston, SMU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Arkansas. Such a satisfying group of teams to band together imo.
Trash, the Oklahoma schools belong in the Big 8.
Fair, but I have other plans for that group of teams.
What are those plans?
Please keep in mind that these are just my own personal conferences, and I in no way think they will make everyone else happy. They will never see the light of day outside of my own PS5, but my custom conferences will be: SOUTHEAST * Alabama * Auburn * Georgia * Florida * Tennessee * Vanderbilt * Ole Miss * Mississippi State * LSU * Kentucky SOUTHWEST * Texas * Texas Tech * Texas A&M * TCU * Baylor * Houston * SMU * Oklahoma * Oklahoma State * Arkansas NORTH * Ohio State * Michigan * Michigan State * Penn State * Indiana * Purdue * Illinois * Northwestern * Maryland * Rutgers MIDWEST (not a great name, I know) * Minnesota * Wisconsin * Iowa * Iowa State * Kansas * Kansas State * Nebraska * Colorado * Utah * BYU WEST * Oregon * Oregon State * Washington * Washington State * USC * UCLA * Cal * Stanford * Arizona * Arizona State EAST * Florida State * Miami * UCF * North Carolina * Duke * Virginia * Georgia Tech * Boston College * Syracuse * Notre Dame CENTRAL * Virginia Tech * West Virginia * Cincinnati * Louisville * Pitt * NC State * Wake Forest * South Carolina * Clemson * Missouri (Mizzou just doesn't fit in the MW where they belong, and they're impossible to place otherwise. This is the best I can do for them) There's no way everybody would be happy with that, but I am dead set on 10 team conferences where everybody plays everybody, and the geography dictates that some teams get separated.
I like your setup. That's also gonna be 34 independents. That ought to be a fun dynasty.
I'm going to figure out those conferences at some point. I'm thinking about 2 big 17-team conferences with a North/South or East/West setup of sorts.
>(Mizzou just doesn't fit in the MW where they belong, and they're impossible to place otherwise. This is the best I can do for them) I disagree: Mizzou -> Midwest Wisconsin -> North Notre Dame -> North Maryland & Rutgers -> East & Central (you pick which) Instead of East/Central, I'd consider: Atlantic: * FSU * Miami * UCF * UNC * NC State * Duke * Wake Forest * Georgia Tech * South Carolina * Clemson Northeast: * Boston College * Syracuse * Pitt * WVU * Cincinnati * Louisville * Maryland * Rutgers * Virginia * Virginia Tech I feel like PSU belongs with Pitt, but I need to think more about how to set that up.
Without geeking out on this too much, I should have mentioned there are a lot of groups of teams that I really don't want to break up. Wisconsin/Iowa/Minnesota, VT/WVU/Pitt/Louisville/Cincinnati, etc. That makes it a lot more difficult to get Mizzou where I want them. I also just like PSU with OSU, UM, and MSU more than Pitt, though I can see either one. Again though, just my own inconsequential take on conferences. Ask 100 people to realign everything and you'll get 100 different answers lol.
That's all valid. I'm partly prioritizing Rutgers/Maryland back to the East Coast scene, and trying to save the Border War. >Ask 100 people to realign everything and you'll get 100 different answers lol. Absolutely. The geographic distribution of schools makes it too complicated to find a simple solution without either breaking up some rivalries and/or making some geographically weird conferences.
I hope I’m wrong, but I swear I read that you could modify current conferences, but couldn’t create customized ones…
Sure, but I’ll just “modify” the current ones to have the lineups I want.
8/10 With Rice 10/10
I’m just gonna make it 1988 again. Bring back the SWC/Big 8/PAC 10, cut the SEC and B1G back down to size.
I’ll be kicking OU and texas out of the SEC immediately. 🦵 💨
That’s the Aggie way. Can’t beat them, make sure you don’t have to play them 😂
Weird flex considering we joined the SEC.
I'm still annoyed that the stadium the Rams and Chargers play in isn't called Dodge Stadium.
Texas, Texas A&M, Houston, Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU, New Mexico, Arizona, Arizona State, USC, and UCLA. That's 11 teams. Throw in UTEP, NMSU, or SDSU and you've got a pretty good, regional, southwest conference. I mostly support this because it would increase the chances of the Big 8 reforming. By taking the Texas/California schools away from the SEC/B10, it would cause the media payouts in both of those conferences to plummet enough that us midwestern schools may want to go back home. Edit - And yeah, 8 schools is probably too small nowadays. May need to be 10 or 12, in which case the most logical additions would be Air Force, Iowa (if we can pull them from the B10), Wyoming, and one other (Utah, BYU, Minnesota, or Illinois \[in my dreams\]).
I doubt Texas and OU are leaving this toxic of a marriage at this point. The excuse to join the sec is renewal of old rivalries with A&M and Arkansas
replace new mexico with arkansas and it would be fun. hard pass on utep, nmsu, and sdsu
That does make historic sense.
If Mizzou and Oklahoma leave the SEC for a renewed Big 8, we’re taking Arkansas with us. Fayetteville is much more like Oklahoma and Missouri than it is Mississippi or Alabama
Why on Earth would Mizzou and OU do that?
To play Nebraska every season of course
Dont want that smoke
I'd be happy with that! But I suspect Arky fans would rather be in the proposed SWC.
We're in.
I love the sound of this thread. Sounds like the band is getting back together! Return to smaller regional conferences!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Ever since I found out that Fayetteville is right in the extreme northwest corner of the state, I've wondered why they haven't been in discussion for being a Big12 school. Heck, it looks like they're just as close to Lincoln, Nebraska as they are to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
For the longest time, it was because the power brokers in the state were in Little Rock - which is right near the Delta and feels much more Southern than NWA. But the influx of Walmart vendors from all corners of the nation (and a huge effort to get DFW kids to go to UA) has changed NWA into this weird vibe of a smaller version of Dallas with a Midwestern and Southern blend.
Because why would anyone leave the SEC? Our state was/is in a good spot where we can culturally fit in either the SEC, old SWC or big XII. The school is in the upper NW but the whole state supports it(thank God for frank broyles) and little rock and central Arkansas are the most populated area of the state.
It's the weird thing about Arkansas; NWA is more like Oklahoma and Missouri (and Texas), but Little Rock on south is more like Louisiana and Mississippi.
Hook this to my veins.
Inshallah bring me the Metro Conference. I know this won’t happen, but I like to dream.
Speaking for the ACC, you can have SMU.
While we’re at it, let’s revive the PAC12 as well.
But it would be the "Southwest" conference, not "South West"
[https://twitter.com/D3vJaVu/status/1801335783636296029](https://twitter.com/D3vJaVu/status/1801335783636296029)
Take my upvote please!
I bet you in about 10-15 yrs the SEC will implode and the westernmost teams will do exactly this. This conference would absolutely dominate: Tex, A&M, Txtech, TCU, SMU, Baylor, OK, OKst, Ark, LSU, Houston.
They’re fighting off a hostile takeover from an activist investor right now so the timing is perfect imo