(01-15-2015 04:09 PM)ken d Wrote: It would be borderline P5/P6, and not far below the current Big 12.
If the SWC had stayed together, what would have happened?
The SEC would still need a 12th member. My guess is they would have added West Virginia. So the Big East still would have collapsed when the ACC raided them, and it might have collapsed earlier.
The SEC never would have gone to 14, so Missouri would still be in the Big 12. But the Big 10 and PAC still would need 12th members. My guess is they still would have added Nebraska and Colorado, and those schools still would have accepted.
So the Big 8 would be:
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State
Missouri
So the Big 8 would need to add members to stay a power conference. They could add Cincinnati, Louisville, and Memphis. That would be a superpower basketball conference, but the football side would be way behind the other 5. So my guess is that the political considerations tying OU and KU to OSU and KSU get thrown away and the SWC adds Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri to get to 12.
So it would still be a P5, but you'd have KSU, OSU, and ISU on the outside instead of Rice, Houston, and SMU.