Now that Realignment appears to be over for the major FBS conferences, I thought it would be interesting to compile all of the changes in major conference (BCS AQ or equivalent) membership over the years. I include the ACC, Big Ten, Big 8, Big 12, Pac 12 (PCC/AAWU/P8/P10), SEC, SWC and Big East.

I started in 1953, the year that the ACC began play rather than deal with the SoCon before that. 1953 is also the year that Michigan State joined the Big Ten.

I don't include the Ivy League. The formation of the league in 1956 represented a deemphasis on athletics by its members (e.g., only two ranked football teams in the final AP poll since the league was formed). Of course, since its formation as a formal league, it has had a constant membership.

I also don't include the WAC or its variations. I concede that from about 1968 through 1977 the WAC could have been classified as a major conference. It was probably better than the ACC through this period. However, its strength was too reliant on a single school, Arizona State, which it lost to the Pac 10 in 1978.

I note that there have been very few periods of inactivity. The longest have been from 1979 through 1991 (12 years), 1996 through 2004 (8 years), 2005 through 2011 (6 years) and 1966 through 1972 (6 years). With the College Football Playoff scheduled to be in place for 12 years, and 4 of the 5 major conferences having GORs, it will be interesting to see whether we now enter another inactive period.

(05-06-2013 03:06 PM)orangefan Wrote:  Now that Realignment appears to be over for the major FBS conferences, I thought it would be interesting to compile all of the changes in major conference membership over the years. I include the ACC, Big Ten, Big 8, Big 12, Pac 12 (PCC/AAWU/P8/P10), SEC, SWC and Big East.

I started in 1953, the year that the ACC began play rather than deal with the SoCon before that. 1953 is also the year that Michigan State joined the Big Ten.

I don't include the Ivy League. The formation of the league in 1956 represented a deemphasis on athletics by its members (e.g., only two ranked football teams in the final AP poll since the league was formed). Of course, since its formation as a formal league, it has had a constant membership.

I also don't include the WAC or its variations. I concede that from about 1968 through 1977 the WAC could have been classified as a major conference. It was probably better than the ACC through this period. However, its strength was too reliant on a single school, Arizona State, which it lost to the Pac 10 in 1978.

I note that there have been very few periods of inactivity. The longest have been from 1979 through 1991 (12 years), 1996 through 2004 (8 years), 2005 through 2011 (6 years) and 1966 through 1972 (6 years). With the College Football Playoff scheduled to be in place for 12 years, and 4 of the 5 major conferences having GORs, it will be interesting to see whether we now enter another inactive period.

Awesome job.

Wow, I didn't know that FBS only consisted of P1G, B12, SEC, ACC, BE, B8, PAC12. I thought there were another 5-6 conferences that are also in FBS.

(05-06-2013 03:16 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  Wow, I didn't know that FBS only consisted of P1G, B12, SEC, ACC, BE, B8, PAC12. I thought there were another 5-6 conferences that are also in FBS.

Fair observation. I will have to make tracking changes to all FBS conferences a project for another day. For today, I focused on those that are/have been BCS AQ or equivalent.

(05-06-2013 03:16 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  Wow, I didn't know that FBS only consisted of P1G, B12, SEC, ACC, BE, B8, PAC12. I thought there were another 5-6 conferences that are also in FBS.

Here it is with all conferences beginning in 1982, the year that all DI-A schools and conferences had to meet division requirements. A separate tab for AQ conferences remains, which includes years from 1953 forward. This is football only.

A couple of notes. 1996 appears to be the record year -- 32 of 111 FBS schools changed conferences, not even including former members of the Big 8 who joined the Big 12.

The 2004-2005 realignment resulted in 22 of 119 FBS schools changing conferences.

The 2011-2015 currently has 44 of 129 schools changing conferences over 5 years, 4 of which will change conferences twice (UTSA, Tex.St., NMSU and Idaho). There could still, of course, be more.

The period between 2005 and 2011 was one of the slowest periods for realignment in the 34 years charted. I would be surprised if we don't see a similar quiet period starting in 2015.