A Total Different NCAA

I have been postponing writing about the crazy stuff going on in college football, but since the dominoes have started to fall now is the time. Before I go into my predictions of how the whole system will shake out, lt me say a quick word about the status quo. Obviously the teams could care less, but the conferences are nearly perfect as they are. Granted, they were small changes that needed to be made. Boise State moving to the Mountain West was a move that needed to be made. But overall, the system was good as it stood. Without further ado, here are my predictions for the new conferences when the dust settles (Note: These predictions are neither what I expect to happen nor what I want to happen. Rather, they are a combination of both of these things. )

The New Pac-10 [Pac-16]

Arizona

Arizona State

Cal

Oregon

Oregon State

Stanford

UCLA

USC

Washington

Washington State

Texas

Oklahoma

Texas Tech

Oklahoma State

Colorado

This conference set-up is almost a forgone conclusion. Unless something crazy happens in Texas this weekend, come Tuesday the Pac-10 will become the Pac-16 [Can they really call themselves Pac if they stretch all the way to Texas?].

The New Big 10 [Big 16]

Ohio State

Iowa

Penn State

Michigan

Michigan State

Northwestern

Nebraska

Wisconsin

Purdue

Minnesota

Illinois

Indiana

Missouri

Notre Dame

Syracuse

Rutgers

The first part of the new Big 10 is also already decided. Nebraska joined today and even though they haven't been offered yet, Missouri can't be far behind. With Nebraska on board, the Big 10 then has two main goals left, capture Notre Dame and the New York City market. The NYC problem comes first and will help bring in Notre Dame. By bringing on Rutgers and Syracuse (both of which are AAU schools), the Big 10 gets Gotham and brings down the Big East simaltaneously. And Notre Dame has said they will remain independent as long as the Big East is viable. However, with the Big East failing, Notre Dame will be forced to align itself with the Big 10 [which may very well keep the name Big 10 post-expansion since they have actually have had 11 members for 20 years].

The New SEC

Alabama

Arkansas

Auburn

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

LSU

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

South Carolina

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Texas A&M

Florida State

Miami

Clempsun [Clemson]

This is the first of my really speculative picks. It seems fairly likely that Texas A&M will join the SEC, leaving the conference at 13 members. Since conferences work better with even numbers and the Big 10 and Pac-10 will have 16 members, the SEC will forced to expand as well. And with the exception of the North Carolina schools, they will have their pick of the ACC. I picked FSU, Miami, and Clemson to go because they have a larger national audience and are more SEC -like than Georgia Tech.

The New ACC

Boston College

Duke

Georgia Tech

Maryland

North Carolina

NC State

Virginia

Virginia Tech

Wake Forest

Connecticut

Pittsburgh

South Florida

Poor, poor ACC. Under this scenario, they've had three of their flagship programs robbed. Luckily, the dead Big East had some members available for the taking. Connecticut is the best fit because they have a great basketball team and even though the ACC is a second rate football conference, no amount of expansion will kill their dominance of basketball. Pitt and South Florida round out the ACC because they are a better fit than any of the other Big East teams. Plus, USF makes up for some of the Florida market the ACC lost when FSU and Miami bolted for greener (as in $) pastures.

The New Big 12/ Mountain West/ Big East [The Big Mountain East Conference]

Baylor

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Cincinnati

Louisville

West Virginia

TCU

BYU

Utah

Memphis

Boise State

Of all my picks, this conference is the least likely. There is no unifying geographical area or type of school. In fact, the only thing these schools have in common is they are the losers of the conference realignment [except for Memphis who will sieze this opportunity to jump into the BCS]. Still, all of these teams joining forces is the surest way to guarantee they all stay athletically relevant. If they don't, some of these teams will surely end up on the outside looking in.

Obviously, the BCS will need to evolve to accomodate these conference changes [The best part of the move to 16 team conferences is that they make a playoff that much easier]. Since one automatic bid over 16 teams is too little, the new BCS will feature 2 automatic bids for the SEC, Pac-16, and Big-16. Because they are smaller (and weaker), the ACC and Big Mountain East will have 1 automatic bid. The other two bids will be decided through the same rules currently employed by the BCS.