From the Article:
How it will go
1. Notre Dame partially to the ACC. Notre Dame generally gets what it wants, and even when the dominoes began falling toward the demise of the Big East -- the Fighting Irish's non-football partner -- and the importance of association with one of the big five leagues, the Irish maintained a sliver of their cherished football independence by compromising with the ACC. The entire college football world would be better off had Notre Dame and the Big Ten finally put their differences aside, but instead now we get five games against ACC opponents (eventually; it's four this year) while the Irish are free to continue their independent scheduling for seven games. Notre Dame won't be a factor in the ACC standings, but its association with the ACC gives it a connection with the league's bowl lineup, strengthening its postseason opportunities in the playoff era after being stuck without a guaranteed tie-in last season. The result was the best of both worlds from the Notre Dame perspective: Maintain a place in the power structure, while also maintaining its own power with its NBC TV deal and flexible national scheduling. The loss of the Notre Dame-Michigan rivalry will be an undesirable byproduct, but adding rotating games against Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech and Clemson is a decent consolation.
2. Louisville to the ACC. Louisville enters the ACC's Atlantic division at an interesting time of change. It secured its place in the upper tier of the sport's power structure, completing a successful run as the athletic department thrives and reaches new heights. But now the football team must do two important things: Replace Teddy Bridgewater, and smoothly transition from the successful Charlie Strong to the second act of Bobby Petrino. And it must do so in what's now the stronger ACC division, at least at the top, with Florida State and Clemson winning the last three conference titles. There's no reason to believe Louisville will have a difficult transition, though. The athletic department has been on the upswing for years, and the last time Petrino was in Louisville the Cardinals finished 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl. Given that emergence, Louisville to the ACC seems to be one of the best fits out of all this reshuffling.
3. Maryland to the Big Ten. Good luck with recruiting, Maryland. The D.C. area is relatively fertile ground, but the Terrapins face a monumental task in trying to keep the best players home. They now share the Big Ten East division with Ohio State -- the best program in the north with national pull, Urban Meyer as head coach and now the region's best recruiter, new defensive line coach Larry Johnson -- and Penn State, who lost Johnson but hired head coach James Franklin, a recruiting force who was previously Maryland's coach-in-waiting (plus, former Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen was hired as Rutgers' offensive coordinator). The good news is that the Terps' current roster is in its best shape of the Randy Edsall era, which began with a rash of transfers and over the last two years has been plagued by an injury epidemic. They can't compete for a division title this year, but fueled by the returns of receivers Stefon Diggs and Deon Long, there's hope to pull off a surprise or two. If not, Edsall -- who has improved from 2-10 to 4-8 to 7-6 in three years -- could be on shaky ground.
4. Rutgers
How It's Going
1. Texas A&M
2. Missouri
3. Nebraska
4. Pittsburgh in the ACC. Nobody has done anonymous mediocrity quite like Pitt since the turn of the century. Even when the Panthers made their one BCS appearance, in 2004, they finished 8-4 and became the first team to lose to a non-AQ team in a BCS bowl when they were demolished by Utah. The last four years, they've finished 27-25, with three BBVA Compass Bowls followed by the Little Caesars Bowl. The revolving door of coaches has settled on Paul Chryst for now, though, and despite the loss of all-everything defensive tackle Aaron Donald, he has some talent to work with in a wide-open ACC Coastal in which everyone but Virginia could conceivably win the division. With a pair of potential star sophomores on offense in wideout Tyler Boyd and running back James Conner, there is some hope that the Panthers emerge from this rut in the next year or two.
5. Syracuse in the ACC. The Orange are currently in a similar situation to Pitt, only they face a steeper road to a division title in the Atlantic with Florida State, Clemson and Louisville. The good news is that Doug Marrone rescued them from the perilous Greg Robinson era, and Scott Shafer at least kept the ship steady in his first year in the jump to the ACC, going 7-6 with a Texas Bowl win. Of course, Syracuse lost to Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech by a total score of 164-17, so clearly the Orange are not ready to compete for a division title yet.
6. TCU
7. Utah
8. Colorado
9. West Virginia in the Big 12. It all seemed like a reasonable idea back in the fall of 2011. The Mountaineers were on their way to their 10th straight bowl appearance, a Big East title and a 70-point effort against Clemson in the Orange Bowl, with a rising star coach in Dana Holgorsen. They even looked fantastic halfway into their Big 12 debut season in 2012 … and then everything collapsed. Since opening the 2012 season 5-0, capped by the WAC-style thriller against Baylor, West Virginia has gone 6-14. It even lost to Kansas and Iowa State last year within the conference, on top of a 37-0 embarrassment against Maryland. Holgorsen is still a bright offensive mind, but his time as a head coach may be nearing its end. That doesn't mean the long-term West Virginia/Big 12 marriage can't work, but in hindsight, we're left to wonder if the conference would have been better off inviting Louisville.
http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/col...d/8458323/
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Indy Star: Ranking Conference Realignment Moves
