Realignment 2021: UT, OU to SEC; UH, UCF, UC, BYU to Big 12

luckiestman

Son of the Harpy
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Jul 15, 2005
32,618
I was thinking about the SEC when I was out for one of my nightly walks and I think there is an analogue for what is happening but you all know college football better than I do so I am curious what you think.

Prior to internetting days, you could chat about amateur wrestling, occasionally catch it on ESPN2, or wait for the Olympics. I remember having a lot of discussions about foreign wrestlers; Russians and Iranians in particular. One thing we would often talk about is that the competition to win the trials to represent the Soviet Union was harder than winning the Olympics. What I was thinking about the other night is: Is the SEC the Soviet Union of College Football? I say yes, but I am willing to be wrong.
 

Awesome Fossum

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Jul 20, 2005
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In the past 10 years, we've twice had BCS/CFP Champions from the SEC who failed to win the SEC Championship (2011 and 2017 Alabama). So yeah, that's a pretty good comparison.
 

Awesome Fossum

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All sports members -- Stony Brook was already playing CAA football; Monmouth and Hampton are joining for everything. Interesting that Albany remains just a football member. I wonder which party wasn't interested in the other for the other sports.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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All sports members -- Stony Brook was already playing CAA football; Monmouth and Hampton are joining for everything. Interesting that Albany remains just a football member. I wonder which party wasn't interested in the other for the other sports.
Albany

They don't want to go travel so much to VA. (and NC). They do have Maine and UMBC with America East but everyone else is pretty much within a 3 hour drive. UNH is 3 1/2
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
Footy-style promotion/relegation would solve so much and is fe facto what happens, even before conferences realign officially. Non traditional powers like, say, USF/UCF, or Gonzaga in hoops, get “promoted” in the most important league, the Good TV $Pot$ League, while the sucky power conference teams, like Kansas football, never appear anywhere and get bad non conference games that will never push a top conference game off TV - de facto “demotion.”

Might as well make it official. Send the bottom two from the SEC down to the second- tier Big XII, snd send the best two Big XII sides up to the SEC. At the bottom, Big XII’s bottom two drop to the Sun Belt, who send their best two up, etc. if you wanted to have fun with it you could go down from FBS to FCS to Div II and all the way to NESCAC, so in theory Bowdoin or Colby could one day play Bama in the Sugar Bowl.
 

canderson

Mr. Brightside
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Jul 16, 2005
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Harrisburg, Pa.
Makes sense to bolt from the PAC which is awful and fairly irrelevant now in the new world of CFB. But I'd think the B10 would need Utah/Colorado/the Arizona schools to make this work schedule-wise.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
Here will be the new alignment:

Supreme League


Alabama Crimson Tide

Arizona Wildcats

Arizona State Sun Devils

Arkansas Razorbacks

Auburn Tigers

Baylor Bears

Boston College Eagles

BYU Cougars

California Golden Bears

Cincinnati Bearcats

Clemson Tigers

Colorado Buffaloes

Duke Blue Devils

East Carolina Pirates

Florida Gators

Florida State Seminoles

Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Houston Cougars

Illinois Fighting Illini

Indiana Hoosiers

Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa State Cyclones

Kansas Jayhawks

Kansas State Wildcats

Kentucky Wildcats

Louisville Cardinals

LSU Tigers

Memphis Tigers

Miami (FL) Hurricanes

Michigan Wolverines

Michigan State Spartans

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Missouri Tigers

NC State Wolfpack

Nebraska Cornhuskers

North Carolina Tar Heels

North Texas Mean Green

Northern Illinois Huskies

Northwestern Wildcats

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Ohio Bobcats

Ohio State Buckeyes

Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Old Dominion Monarchs

Ole Miss Rebels

Oregon Ducks

Oregon State Beavers

Penn State Nittany Lions

Pittsburgh Panthers

Purdue Boilermakers

Rice Owls

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

San Diego State Aztecs

San Jose State Spartans

SMU Mustangs

South Alabama Jaguars

South Carolina Gamecocks

South Florida Bulls

Southern Miss Golden Eagles

Stanford Cardinal

Syracuse Orange

TCU Horned Frogs

Temple Owls

Tennessee Volunteers

Texas Longhorns

Texas A&M Aggies

Texas State Bobcats

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Toledo Rockets

Troy Trojans

Tulane Green Wave

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

UAB Blazers

UCF Knights

UCLA Bruins

UMass Minutemen

UNLV Rebels

USC Trojans

UTEP Miners

UTSA Roadrunners

Utah Utes

Utah State Aggies

Vanderbilt Commodores

Virginia Cavaliers

Virginia Tech Hokies

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Washington Huskies

Washington State Cougars

West Virginia Mountaineers

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

Western Michigan Broncos

Wisconsin Badgers

Wyoming Cowboys


Independent

UConn Huskies
 

JFK35

New Member
Jun 12, 2022
110
North Shore
As a Buckeyes fan I love the Big Ten getting big name programs - it adds to our clout while still keeping tOSU the heavy power in the conference - because despite last years fluke Michigan B1G title and the addition of USC - the B1G is still Ohio States world and everyone else is playing in it

Meanwhile though this ND talk is nonsense. That school is as delusional as it gets so they’ll play with fire again and stick independent and it’ll be delicious for all CFB fans when they get burned.

With that said - the Big Ten will be the TV deal everyone wants - even over the SEC if they DID land ND

of the two qualities conferences look for in programs to add is TV market - I actually think BC would be a good team to pair with NDin that regard…

It would give the Big Ten yet another Top 10 market - already having 1-4 and 8.
 
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OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
The B10 “having” NYC is lolz. Rutgers football is at Major League Lacrosse level mindshare. The only person who knows who the Rutgers QB is is his mom.
 

JFK35

New Member
Jun 12, 2022
110
North Shore
The B10 “having” NYC is lolz. Rutgers football is at Major League Lacrosse level mindshare. The only person who knows who the Rutgers QB is is his mom.
Thats totally fair but that’s not ALL they’re concerned about in that regard. They want the B1G Network on NYC area cable systems.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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Oct 23, 2001
10,229
As a Buckeyes fan I love the Big Ten getting big name programs - it adds to our clout while still keeping tOSU the heavy power in the conference - because despite last years fluke Michigan B1G title and the addition of USC - the B1G is still Ohio States world and everyone else is playing in it

Meanwhile though this ND talk is nonsense. That school is as delusional as it gets so they’ll play with fire again and stick independent and it’ll be delicious for all CFB fans when they get burned.

With that said - the Big Ten will be the TV deal everyone wants - even over the SEC if they DID land ND

of the two qualities conferences look for in programs to add is TV market - I actually think BC would be a good team to pair with NDin that regard…

It would give the Big Ten yet another Top 10 market - already having 1-4 and 8.
I wouldn't be too sanguine about USC coming your way. They seem pretty committed to using their financial resources to get back to the top. $110 million for Lincoln Riley. $3.5 million NIL deal to entice Jordan Addison away from Pitt. Another big NIL deal for their QB. They're not going to settle for mediocrity any more.
 
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OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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The 718
I wish it had the regulation aspect.
Well, sometimes there is self-relegation, when a school decides that it doesn't want to try to compete. U. of Chicago took itself out of the Big Ten. The Ivy League, which had nationally ranked football teams as late as the late 60's (early 70's?), essentially demoted itself to the college football second tier by declining to give athletic scholarships and maintaining academic standards for athletes (these are wink-wink worked around when desired, but the majority of top talent isn't making the cut still).

more should, than do, but it happens.
 

canderson

Mr. Brightside
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Jul 16, 2005
39,430
Harrisburg, Pa.
Well, sometimes there is self-relegation, when a school decides that it doesn't want to try to compete. U. of Chicago took itself out of the Big Ten. The Ivy League, which had nationally ranked football teams as late as the late 60's (early 70's?), essentially demoted itself to the college football second tier by declining to give athletic scholarships and maintaining academic standards for athletes (these are wink-wink worked around when desired, but the majority of top talent isn't making the cut still).

more should, than do, but it happens.
UConn still pays football sooooooo
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
UConn still pays football sooooooo

....but a) they righted the ship this year, and b) there was at least non-frivolous talk of abandoning it, or going to FCS, etc., right?

re: b): they're not a powerhouse, but .500 and going to a crap bowl puts them solidly mid-table, right?
 

canderson

Mr. Brightside
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Jul 16, 2005
39,430
Harrisburg, Pa.
....but a) they righted the ship this year, and b) there was at least non-frivolous talk of abandoning it, or going to FCS, etc., right?

re: b): they're not a powerhouse, but .500 and going to a crap bowl puts them solidly mid-table, right?
Ya but before this year they were basically the worst D1 football program in the country, right? So if we had regulation they'd last year move back up to D1.
 

Doug Beerabelli

Killer Threads
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....but a) they righted the ship this year, and b) there was at least non-frivolous talk of abandoning it, or going to FCS, etc., right?

re: b): they're not a powerhouse, but .500 and going to a crap bowl puts them solidly mid-table, right?
A comparison, using final 2022 1-131 ranking by College Football News (stat/formula based, not opinion based):

112 Boston College (3-9)
2022 CFN Season Score: 2.49
2022 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 74
2022 CFN Preseason Ranking: 45
2021 CFN Season Score: 88
Best Win: NC State 21-20
Worst Loss: Virginia Tech 27-10

83 UConn (6-7)
2022 CFN Season Score: 7.07
2022 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 91
2022 CFN Preseason Ranking: 131
2021 CFN Season Score: 129
Best Win: Fresno State 19-14
Worst Loss: Ball State 25-21

To BC's credit, if there was relegation, and UConn was so relegated in 2021, BC would have had one less loss last season.
 

Awesome Fossum

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The analogy is cute as far as it goes; I think trying to stretch it too far is not useful. UConn didn't move from the American to independence because they wanted to "self relegate" their football program, they did it because they wanted to play Big East basketball and the American wouldn't let them stay as a football-only.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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Oct 23, 2001
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The Ivy League, which had nationally ranked football teams as late as the late 60's (early 70's?), essentially demoted itself to the college football second tier by declining to give athletic scholarships and maintaining academic standards for athletes (these are wink-wink worked around when desired, but the majority of top talent isn't making the cut still).
The last time Yale had a nationally ranked team was in 1968, the year of the infamous 29-29 loss to Harvard. I think that was also the last Ivy League team to be nationally ranked.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
The analogy is cute as far as it goes; I think trying to stretch it too far is not useful. UConn didn't move from the American to independence because they wanted to "self relegate" their football program, they did it because they wanted to play Big East basketball and the American wouldn't let them stay as a football-only.
No, few schools voluntarily drop a weight class without external pressure.

But even without formal conference moves, there is essentially elevation to/from the top tier in football and men’s hoops - it’s called “being chosen for national TV” (and being scheduled by other schools accordingly). Boise in football and Gonzaga, to name a couple, did well enough for long enough to build national reputations and get TV like they were, say, top half B1G schools, without necessarily switching leagues. Certainly every season there are a few non P5 school that get better TV than the dregs (historically) like Vandy, Indiana footblall, and Kansas (until very recently).
 

Awesome Fossum

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Jul 20, 2005
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Austin, TX
Pac 12 targeting SDSU and SMU.

The Pac-12 is inching closer toward remaining a 12-school conference following the departures of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten in the summer of 2024.

The university presidents discussed SMU and San Diego State as expansion candidates during a meeting last week and approved commissioner George Kliavkoff taking the next step in the complicated process of adding membership, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting.

Sources emphasized that the approval was informal in nature — the presidents did not vote to add specific schools — but expansion is viewed as highly likely.

Kliavkoff attended an SMU basketball game on Wednesday night as part of a campus visit, according to the Dallas Morning News.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/02/09/pac-12-expansion-process-moves-forward-with-smu-and-san-diego-state-as-top-targets/