(11-24-2018 08:42 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  True. I was more focused on creating a plausible scenario where all but 1 of the Big East football schools would have been consolidated into a P5. The end result for the G5 is a pretty nice 14 member C-USA who has to contend with a 10 member MWC for the NY6 slot.

WAC football maintains Idaho, NMSU, Utah St, San Jose St and at least one or possibly two of UTSA, LA Tech, and Texas St.

That's not enough members for the WAC to stay in FBS. And I would expect the MWC to pick off USU and SJSU as they did in our timeline, especially since there is no 10-team power conference to push for deregulation of CCGs.

A future P4x18 scenario:

Big 18
American: Baylor, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, South Florida, Temple, West Virginia
Metropolitan: TCU, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Miami-FL, Connecticut, Boston College
National: Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Central Florida, Wake Forest, Kansas State

Big Ten
East: Duke, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia
Central: Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Purdue, Maryland
West: Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota

Pac-18
East: Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech
North: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
South: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah

SEC
East: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech
South: Auburn, Georgia, Clemson, Kentucky, NC State, South Carolina
West: LSU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Missouri, Ole Miss, Arkansas

Conference schedules are 9 games across the board. For the Big 18, Big Ten, and SEC, each year, a team plays its own division as well as a protected crossover and a rotating crossover in each of the other 2 divisions. In those conferences, the teams are listed in the same order as their protected crossovers (e.g., Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin play each other annually, as do Alabama, Auburn, and LSU). It takes 10 years for 2 full conference playthroughs -- worse than the current Big Ten's 6 years, but better than the current ACC and SEC's 12 years.

In the Pac-18, the only protected crossovers are for the California schools; all others rotate. Thus, in a 12-year span:

1) Each East Division team plays each division mate 12 times, each non-California team in either of the other divisions 5 times, and each California team twice.
2) Each non-California team in the North or South Division plays each division mate 12 times, each East Division team 5 times, and each team in the other division 3 times.
3) Each California team plays each division mate and each other California team 12 times, each East Division team twice, and each non-California team in the other division 3 times.

In each conference, I tried to make the average football strength of all the divisions as close as possible while still retaining important rivalries. For the Big 18, I gave each division 1 Florida and 1 Texas school to ensure equal access to recruiting in those states.

(11-25-2018 11:00 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-24-2018 08:42 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  True. I was more focused on creating a plausible scenario where all but 1 of the Big East football schools would have been consolidated into a P5. The end result for the G5 is a pretty nice 14 member C-USA who has to contend with a 10 member MWC for the NY6 slot.

WAC football maintains Idaho, NMSU, Utah St, San Jose St and at least one or possibly two of UTSA, LA Tech, and Texas St.

That's not enough members for the WAC to stay in FBS. And I would expect the MWC to pick off USU and SJSU as they did in our timeline, especially since there is no 10-team power conference to push for deregulation of CCGs.

Maybe the MWC decides it needs 12 and takes that pair.

The remaining WAC schools would need to expand or find FB only affiliates to keep football alive.

(11-26-2018 07:49 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(11-25-2018 11:00 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-24-2018 08:42 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  True. I was more focused on creating a plausible scenario where all but 1 of the Big East football schools would have been consolidated into a P5. The end result for the G5 is a pretty nice 14 member C-USA who has to contend with a 10 member MWC for the NY6 slot.

WAC football maintains Idaho, NMSU, Utah St, San Jose St and at least one or possibly two of UTSA, LA Tech, and Texas St.

That's not enough members for the WAC to stay in FBS. And I would expect the MWC to pick off USU and SJSU as they did in our timeline, especially since there is no 10-team power conference to push for deregulation of CCGs.

Maybe the MWC decides it needs 12 and takes that pair.

The remaining WAC schools would need to expand or find FB only affiliates to keep football alive.

FB-only affiliates won't help with FBS. You need at least eight full, FB-playing members. WAC football, at least at the FBS level, is still doomed.

(11-25-2018 11:00 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-24-2018 08:42 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  True. I was more focused on creating a plausible scenario where all but 1 of the Big East football schools would have been consolidated into a P5. The end result for the G5 is a pretty nice 14 member C-USA who has to contend with a 10 member MWC for the NY6 slot.

WAC football maintains Idaho, NMSU, Utah St, San Jose St and at least one or possibly two of UTSA, LA Tech, and Texas St.

That's not enough members for the WAC to stay in FBS. And I would expect the MWC to pick off USU and SJSU as they did in our timeline, especially since there is no 10-team power conference to push for deregulation of CCGs.

Idaho maybe go back to Big Sky. This would open up MVFC to do a football merger with the WAC.

San Jose State
New Mexico State
Utah State
UTSA
Texas State
North Dakota State
South Dakota
South Dakota State
Western Illinois
Illinois State
Southern Illinois
Indiana State
Youngstown State

One of the Texas schools leave for C-USA which would bring the WAC down to 12. Utah State leaves, you get North Dakota join. San Jose State leaves? Would a James Madison join as football only?

(11-26-2018 04:56 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  A future P4x18 scenario:

Big 18
American: Baylor, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, South Florida, Temple, West Virginia
Metropolitan: TCU, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Miami-FL, Connecticut, Boston College
National: Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Central Florida, Wake Forest, Kansas State

Big Ten
East: Duke, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia
Central: Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Purdue, Maryland
West: Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota

Pac-18
East: Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech
North: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
South: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah

SEC
East: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech
South: Auburn, Georgia, Clemson, Kentucky, NC State, South Carolina
West: LSU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Missouri, Ole Miss, Arkansas

Conference schedules are 9 games across the board. For the Big 18, Big Ten, and SEC, each year, a team plays its own division as well as a protected crossover and a rotating crossover in each of the other 2 divisions. In those conferences, the teams are listed in the same order as their protected crossovers (e.g., Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin play each other annually, as do Alabama, Auburn, and LSU). It takes 10 years for 2 full conference playthroughs -- worse than the current Big Ten's 6 years, but better than the current ACC and SEC's 12 years.

In the Pac-18, the only protected crossovers are for the California schools; all others rotate. Thus, in a 12-year span:

1) Each East Division team plays each division mate 12 times, each non-California team in either of the other divisions 5 times, and each California team twice.
2) Each non-California team in the North or South Division plays each division mate 12 times, each East Division team 5 times, and each team in the other division 3 times.
3) Each California team plays each division mate and each other California team 12 times, each East Division team twice, and each non-California team in the other division 3 times.

In each conference, I tried to make the average football strength of all the divisions as close as possible while still retaining important rivalries. For the Big 18, I gave each division 1 Florida and 1 Texas school to ensure equal access to recruiting in those states.

Looking at this again, I actually think Notre Dame would be more attracted to the Big 18 than the Big Ten, despite the presence of so many G5 callups. The Big 18 covers a larger geographic area (including Florida and Texas) and contains several of ND's rivals (BC, Miami, Pitt). Annual games against Miami and Houston should be more than enough to compensate for dropping Stanford as an annual opponent in terms of recruiting. This would mean that the Big Ten would bring in GT for #18. For the Big 18, I also dropped Connecticut for football and Temple altogether, while adding football-onlies BYU and Boise State and non-football Wichita State.

Big 18
American: Baylor, Boise State*, BYU*, South Florida, Wake Forest, West Virginia
Metropolitan: Houston, Boston College, Notre Dame, Miami-FL, Syracuse, Pittsburgh
National: TCU, Kansas State, Louisville, Central Florida, Memphis, Cincinnati
Non-FB: Connecticut, Wichita State

Big Ten
East: Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, Penn State, Virginia
North: Indiana, Michigan, Rutgers, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue
West: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa, Illinois

Pac-18
East: Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech
North: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
South: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah

SEC
East: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech
South: Auburn, Georgia, Clemson, Kentucky, NC State, South Carolina
West: LSU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Missouri, Ole Miss, Arkansas

The schedule structure for each of the conferences is the same as described above.

Annual non-conference matchups:

BYU/Utah
Cincinnati/Miami-OH
Colorado/Colorado State
Duke/Wake Forest
Florida State/Miami-FL
Georgia/Georgia Tech
Houston/Rice
Iowa/Iowa State
Kansas/Kansas State
Kentucky/Louisville
Navy/Notre Dame
NC State/North Carolina
Nebraska/Oklahoma
Notre Dame/USC
Penn State/Pittsburgh
SMU/TCU
Texas/Texas A&M
Virginia/Virginia Tech

(11-30-2018 04:16 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(11-26-2018 04:56 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  A future P4x18 scenario:

Big 18
American: Baylor, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, South Florida, Temple, West Virginia
Metropolitan: TCU, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Miami-FL, Connecticut, Boston College
National: Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Central Florida, Wake Forest, Kansas State

Big Ten
East: Duke, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia
Central: Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Purdue, Maryland
West: Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota

Pac-18
East: Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech
North: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
South: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah

SEC
East: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech
South: Auburn, Georgia, Clemson, Kentucky, NC State, South Carolina
West: LSU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Missouri, Ole Miss, Arkansas

Conference schedules are 9 games across the board. For the Big 18, Big Ten, and SEC, each year, a team plays its own division as well as a protected crossover and a rotating crossover in each of the other 2 divisions. In those conferences, the teams are listed in the same order as their protected crossovers (e.g., Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin play each other annually, as do Alabama, Auburn, and LSU). It takes 10 years for 2 full conference playthroughs -- worse than the current Big Ten's 6 years, but better than the current ACC and SEC's 12 years. In the Pac-18, the only protected crossovers are for the California schools; all others rotate. In each conference, I tried to make the average football strength of all the divisions as close as possible while still retaining important rivalries.

For the Big 18, I gave each division 1 Florida and 1 Texas school to ensure equal access to recruiting in those states.

Looking at this again, I actually think Notre Dame would be more attracted to the Big 18 than the Big Ten, despite the presence of so many G5 callups. The Big 18 covers a larger geographic area (including Florida and Texas) and contains several of ND's rivals (BC, Miami, Pitt). Annual games against Miami and Houston should be more than enough to compensate for dropping Stanford as an annual opponent in terms of recruiting. This would mean that the Big Ten would bring in GT for #18. I also dropped Connecticut for football and Temple altogether, while adding football-onlies BYU and Boise State and non-football Wichita State.

Big 18
American: Baylor, Boise State*, BYU*, South Florida, Wake Forest, West Virginia
Metropolitan: Houston, Boston College, Notre Dame, Miami-FL, Syracuse, Pittsburgh
National: TCU, Kansas State, Louisville, Central Florida, Memphis, Cincinnati
Non-FB: Connecticut, Wichita State

Big Ten
East: Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, Penn State, Virginia
North: Purdue, Michigan, Rutgers, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana
West: Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa, Nebraska

Pac-18
East: Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech
North: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
South: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah

SEC
East: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech
South: Auburn, Georgia, Clemson, Kentucky, NC State, South Carolina
West: LSU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Missouri, Ole Miss, Arkansas

The schedule structure for each of the conferences is the same as described above.

I don't see the leftover ACC schools wanting to go all the way up to 18. BYU and Notre Dame are likely uninterested.

(11-30-2018 04:29 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I don't see the leftover ACC schools wanting to go all the way up to 18. BYU and Notre Dame are likely uninterested.

BYU and ND will be interested if the CFP is de facto P4 champs-only....

My alternate history starts in 2010. The FBS has 120 members going into football season.

Somehow, the B1G, which has 11 members, convinces 4 ACC schools to come over to the Dark Side. They are Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech. These schools are all AAU, in states contiguous with each other, and nearly contiguous with Pennsylvania's southern border. Missouri's president keeps his big mouth shut, and the Tigers become the B1G's 16th team.

Faced with the possible breakup of the ACC, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech and NC State petition the SEC, and are approved for membership, matching the B1G.

With SEC membership all but off the table now, the Texahoma Four accept the PAC's offer, encouraged by talks among the three conferences to replace the BCS with a College Football Playoff in which their three conference champions will each get an automatic bid. They are joined by Colorado and Utah, bringing the new PAC West Conference to 16 matching the B1G and SEC.

These are the divisions in what the media begin calling the Power 3 Conferences.

B1G East: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech.
B1G West: Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri.

SEC East: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, NC State, South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia and Florida.
SEC West: Florida State, Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

PAC division: Washington, Oregon State, California, USC, Utah, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M.
West division: Washington State, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma State.

Unlike the B1G and SEC, which have a lot of OOC rivalry games, the PAC West opts for a 9 game league schedule, with each team having two protected crossovers. This allows the Texahoma Four, the Cali Four, The Four Corners and the Pacific Northwest Four to play a full round robin within each pod. The zipper arrangement also lets each of the other pods to have one team from the LA area and one from the Bay area every year.

The remaining 72 FBS teams realign into what the media will call the G6, with two independents, Notre Dame and BYU.

The ACC essentially merges with the Big East football schools (who break away from the C7 who get to keep the BE name). The Big 12 replaces its six defectors with TCU, Houston, SMU and Memphis. The Mountain West forms earlier than in the alternate time line, but with exactly the same teams. The G6 now looks like this.

ACC: Boston College, Maryland, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Miami, South Florida and Central Florida.

Big 12: Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State,Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Houston, SMU and Memphis.

MWC: Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, Boise State, San Diego State, Hawaii, San Jose State, Utah State, Nevada and Fresno State.

C-USA: Connecticut, Temple, Marshall, East Carolina, Army, Navy, Rice, Tulsa, Tulane, UAB, Southern Miss, and Louisiana Tech.

Sunbelt: Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee St., Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Troy, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, Arkansas State, North Texas, New Mexico State, Idaho and UTEP.

MAC: Akron, Miami (O), Bowling Green, Buffalo, Ohio, Kent State, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.


True to their word, the P3 successfully lead the effort to replace the BCS. The CFP is now a four team playoff among the champions of the P3 conferences plus the highest ranked champion or independent among the G6 schools.

A new bowl group emerges, called the NY6. The Rose Bowl gets first pick from the B1G and PAC West. The Sugar Bowl then gets its pick from the SEC, and the next pick from the PAC West. The Orange Bowl gets the #3 B1G team and the #3 SEC team.

The Mountain West #1 hosts the PAC #4 in the Fiesta Bowl, The ACC #1 hosts the SEC #4 in the Peach Bowl, and the Big 12 #1 hosts the B1G #4 in the Cotton Bowl.


The following schools re-think their pending plans to move up to the FBS after all this realigning is complete. Some decide to stay put, others move ahead. They are:

Appalachian State
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Liberty
Massachusetts
Old Dominion
South Alabama
Texas State
UT San Antonio

Whew. That was hard work. But worth it, don't you think?

(12-09-2018 11:37 AM)ken d Wrote:  My alternate history starts in 2010. The FBS has 120 members going into football season.

Somehow, the B1G, which has 11 members, convinces 4 ACC schools to come over to the Dark Side. They are Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech. These schools are all AAU, in states contiguous with each other, and nearly contiguous with Pennsylvania's southern border. Missouri's president keeps his big mouth shut, and the Tigers become the B1G's 16th team.

Faced with the possible breakup of the ACC, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech and NC State petition the SEC, and are approved for membership, matching the B1G.

With SEC membership all but off the table now, the Texahoma Four accept the PAC's offer, encouraged by talks among the three conferences to replace the BCS with a College Football Playoff in which their three conference champions will each get an automatic bid. They are joined by Colorado and Utah, bringing the new PAC West Conference to 16 matching the B1G and SEC.

These are the divisions in what the media begin calling the Power 3 Conferences.

B1G East: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech.
B1G West: Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri.

SEC East: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, NC State, South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia and Florida.
SEC West: Florida State, Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

PAC division: Washington, Oregon State, California, USC, Utah, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M.
West division: Washington State, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma State.

Unlike the B1G and SEC, which have a lot of OOC rivalry games, the PAC West opts for a 9 game league schedule, with each team having two protected crossovers. This allows the Texahoma Four, the Cali Four, The Four Corners and the Pacific Northwest Four to play a full round robin within each pod. The zipper arrangement also lets each of the other pods to have one team from the LA area and one from the Bay area every year.

The remaining 72 FBS teams realign into what the media will call the G6, with two independents, Notre Dame and BYU.

The ACC essentially merges with the Big East football schools (who break away from the C7 who get to keep the BE name). The Big 12 replaces its six defectors with TCU, Houston, SMU and Memphis. The Mountain West forms earlier than in the alternate time line, but with exactly the same teams. The G6 now looks like this.

ACC: Boston College, Maryland, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Miami, South Florida and Central Florida.

Big 12: Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State,Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Houston, SMU and Memphis.

MWC: Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, Boise State, San Diego State, Hawaii, San Jose State, Utah State, Nevada and Fresno State.

C-USA: Connecticut, Temple, Marshall, East Carolina, Army, Navy, Rice, Tulsa, Tulane, UAB, Southern Miss, and Louisiana Tech.

Sunbelt: Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee St., Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Troy, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, Arkansas State, North Texas, New Mexico State, Idaho and UTEP.

MAC: Akron, Miami (O), Bowling Green, Buffalo, Ohio, Kent State, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.


True to their word, the P3 successfully lead the effort to replace the BCS. The CFP is now a four team playoff among the champions of the P3 conferences plus the highest ranked champion or independent among the G6 schools.

A new bowl group emerges, called the NY6. The Rose Bowl gets first pick from the B1G and PAC West. The Sugar Bowl then gets its pick from the SEC, and the next pick from the PAC West. The Orange Bowl gets the #3 B1G team and the #3 SEC team.

The Mountain West #1 hosts the PAC #4 in the Fiesta Bowl, The ACC #1 hosts the SEC #4 in the Peach Bowl, and the Big 12 #1 hosts the B1G #4 in the Cotton Bowl.


The following schools re-think their pending plans to move up to the FBS after all this realigning is complete. Some decide to stay put, others move ahead. They are:

Appalachian State
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Liberty
Massachusetts
Old Dominion
South Alabama
Texas State
UT San Antonio

Whew. That was hard work. But worth it, don't you think?

App State and Georgia Southern still move up within a year or two since they have the fan base and FCS success to justify the move. Liberty eventually moves up because they're Liberty, the school has more money than it knows what to do with it, and it fits their mission of becoming the evangelical Notre Dame.

(12-09-2018 06:57 PM)whittx Wrote:  

(12-09-2018 11:37 AM)ken d Wrote:  My alternate history starts in 2010. The FBS has 120 members going into football season.

Somehow, the B1G, which has 11 members, convinces 4 ACC schools to come over to the Dark Side. They are Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech. These schools are all AAU, in states contiguous with each other, and nearly contiguous with Pennsylvania's southern border. Missouri's president keeps his big mouth shut, and the Tigers become the B1G's 16th team.

Faced with the possible breakup of the ACC, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech and NC State petition the SEC, and are approved for membership, matching the B1G.

With SEC membership all but off the table now, the Texahoma Four accept the PAC's offer, encouraged by talks among the three conferences to replace the BCS with a College Football Playoff in which their three conference champions will each get an automatic bid. They are joined by Colorado and Utah, bringing the new PAC West Conference to 16 matching the B1G and SEC.

These are the divisions in what the media begin calling the Power 3 Conferences.

B1G East: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech.
B1G West: Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri.

SEC East: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, NC State, South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia and Florida.
SEC West: Florida State, Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

PAC division: Washington, Oregon State, California, USC, Utah, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M.
West division: Washington State, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma State.

Unlike the B1G and SEC, which have a lot of OOC rivalry games, the PAC West opts for a 9 game league schedule, with each team having two protected crossovers. This allows the Texahoma Four, the Cali Four, The Four Corners and the Pacific Northwest Four to play a full round robin within each pod. The zipper arrangement also lets each of the other pods to have one team from the LA area and one from the Bay area every year.

The remaining 72 FBS teams realign into what the media will call the G6, with two independents, Notre Dame and BYU.

The ACC essentially merges with the Big East football schools (who break away from the C7 who get to keep the BE name). The Big 12 replaces its six defectors with TCU, Houston, SMU and Memphis. The Mountain West forms earlier than in the alternate time line, but with exactly the same teams. The G6 now looks like this.

ACC: Boston College, Maryland, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Miami, South Florida and Central Florida.

Big 12: Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State,Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Houston, SMU and Memphis.

MWC: Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, Boise State, San Diego State, Hawaii, San Jose State, Utah State, Nevada and Fresno State.

C-USA: Connecticut, Temple, Marshall, East Carolina, Army, Navy, Rice, Tulsa, Tulane, UAB, Southern Miss, and Louisiana Tech.

Sunbelt: Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee St., Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Troy, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, Arkansas State, North Texas, New Mexico State, Idaho and UTEP.

MAC: Akron, Miami (O), Bowling Green, Buffalo, Ohio, Kent State, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.


True to their word, the P3 successfully lead the effort to replace the BCS. The CFP is now a four team playoff among the champions of the P3 conferences plus the highest ranked champion or independent among the G6 schools.

A new bowl group emerges, called the NY6. The Rose Bowl gets first pick from the B1G and PAC West. The Sugar Bowl then gets its pick from the SEC, and the next pick from the PAC West. The Orange Bowl gets the #3 B1G team and the #3 SEC team.

The Mountain West #1 hosts the PAC #4 in the Fiesta Bowl, The ACC #1 hosts the SEC #4 in the Peach Bowl, and the Big 12 #1 hosts the B1G #4 in the Cotton Bowl.


The following schools re-think their pending plans to move up to the FBS after all this realigning is complete. Some decide to stay put, others move ahead. They are:

Appalachian State
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Liberty
Massachusetts
Old Dominion
South Alabama
Texas State
UT San Antonio

Whew. That was hard work. But worth it, don't you think?

App State and Georgia Southern still move up within a year or two since they have the fan base and FCS success to justify the move. Liberty eventually moves up because they're Liberty, the school has more money than it knows what to do with it, and it fits their mission of becoming the evangelical Notre Dame.

South Alabama would still move up since they were already in an FBS conference before they added football.
UTSA, UMass. and ODU have potential as programs on the rise.

(12-10-2018 07:03 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(12-09-2018 06:57 PM)whittx Wrote:  

(12-09-2018 11:37 AM)ken d Wrote:  My alternate history starts in 2010. The FBS has 120 members going into football season.

Somehow, the B1G, which has 11 members, convinces 4 ACC schools to come over to the Dark Side. They are Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech. These schools are all AAU, in states contiguous with each other, and nearly contiguous with Pennsylvania's southern border. Missouri's president keeps his big mouth shut, and the Tigers become the B1G's 16th team.

Faced with the possible breakup of the ACC, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech and NC State petition the SEC, and are approved for membership, matching the B1G.

With SEC membership all but off the table now, the Texahoma Four accept the PAC's offer, encouraged by talks among the three conferences to replace the BCS with a College Football Playoff in which their three conference champions will each get an automatic bid. They are joined by Colorado and Utah, bringing the new PAC West Conference to 16 matching the B1G and SEC.

These are the divisions in what the media begin calling the Power 3 Conferences.

B1G East: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech.
B1G West: Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri.

SEC East: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, NC State, South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia and Florida.
SEC West: Florida State, Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

PAC division: Washington, Oregon State, California, USC, Utah, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M.
West division: Washington State, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma State.

Unlike the B1G and SEC, which have a lot of OOC rivalry games, the PAC West opts for a 9 game league schedule, with each team having two protected crossovers. This allows the Texahoma Four, the Cali Four, The Four Corners and the Pacific Northwest Four to play a full round robin within each pod. The zipper arrangement also lets each of the other pods to have one team from the LA area and one from the Bay area every year.

The remaining 72 FBS teams realign into what the media will call the G6, with two independents, Notre Dame and BYU.

The ACC essentially merges with the Big East football schools (who break away from the C7 who get to keep the BE name). The Big 12 replaces its six defectors with TCU, Houston, SMU and Memphis. The Mountain West forms earlier than in the alternate time line, but with exactly the same teams. The G6 now looks like this.

ACC: Boston College, Maryland, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Miami, South Florida and Central Florida.

Big 12: Iowa State, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State,Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Houston, SMU and Memphis.

MWC: Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, Boise State, San Diego State, Hawaii, San Jose State, Utah State, Nevada and Fresno State.

C-USA: Connecticut, Temple, Marshall, East Carolina, Army, Navy, Rice, Tulsa, Tulane, UAB, Southern Miss, and Louisiana Tech.

Sunbelt: Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee St., Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Troy, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, Arkansas State, North Texas, New Mexico State, Idaho and UTEP.

MAC: Akron, Miami (O), Bowling Green, Buffalo, Ohio, Kent State, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.


True to their word, the P3 successfully lead the effort to replace the BCS. The CFP is now a four team playoff among the champions of the P3 conferences plus the highest ranked champion or independent among the G6 schools.

A new bowl group emerges, called the NY6. The Rose Bowl gets first pick from the B1G and PAC West. The Sugar Bowl then gets its pick from the SEC, and the next pick from the PAC West. The Orange Bowl gets the #3 B1G team and the #3 SEC team.

The Mountain West #1 hosts the PAC #4 in the Fiesta Bowl, The ACC #1 hosts the SEC #4 in the Peach Bowl, and the Big 12 #1 hosts the B1G #4 in the Cotton Bowl.


The following schools re-think their pending plans to move up to the FBS after all this realigning is complete. Some decide to stay put, others move ahead. They are:

Appalachian State
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Liberty
Massachusetts
Old Dominion
South Alabama
Texas State
UT San Antonio

Whew. That was hard work. But worth it, don't you think?

App State and Georgia Southern still move up within a year or two since they have the fan base and FCS success to justify the move. Liberty eventually moves up because they're Liberty, the school has more money than it knows what to do with it, and it fits their mission of becoming the evangelical Notre Dame.

South Alabama would still move up since they were already in an FBS conference before they added football.
UTSA, UMass. and ODU have potential as programs on the rise.

Forgot about the USA auto invite.

This alternate history is not really rooted in any particular event. I couldn’t find a more suitable thread within 3 pages so this seems to be the default.

I always hated 14-school conferences until it dawned on me that a 10-game conference schedule is perfect with 14 with zipper divisions: 2 divisions of 7 with 6 intra-division games - 3H/3A and 4 inter-division games (1 permanent inter-division crossover rivalry + 3 other inter-division games) - 2H/2A.

This involved some reshuffling which will likely result in some people being unhappy. Geography played a huge role. The biggest challenge was the old Big 8 along with Texas and Texas Tech. Also,, this includes all 130 FBS schools and the last 3 conferences are split geographically and may not play a 10-game conference schedule. Crossover rival is the same With further ado (feel free to suggest other alignments!):

PAC
Pacific: Washington, Oregon, California, UCLA, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma
Western: Washington St, Oregon St, Stanford, USC, Arizona St, Utah, Oklahoma St

B1G
Legends: Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan St
Leaders: Nebraska, Iowa St, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Ohio St, Penn St

SEC
Southern: Texas, Texas A&M, Kansas St, Mississippi, Auburn, Florida, Georgia
Eastern: Texas Tech, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi St, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee

ACC
Atlantic: Miami, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Notre Dame
Coastal: Florida St, Clemson, North Carolina St, Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia Tech, South Carolina

METRO
American: South Florida, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville, Cincinnati, Connecticut
National: Central Florida, East Carolina, West Virginia, Boston College, Memphis, Temple, Rutgers

MWC
West: San Diego St, BYU, New Mexico, Colorado St, Navy, TCU, Baylor
Mountain: Fresno St, Boise St, UNLV, Air Force, Army, SMU, Houston

CUSA
West: Hawaii, San Jose St, Nevada, Utah St, Wyoming, UTEP, UTSA
East: Tulsa, North Texas, Rice, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, Southern Miss, UAB

SBC
West: New Mexico St, Texas St, Arkansas St, UL Lafayette, UL Monroe, South Alabama, Middle Tennessee St, Western Kentucky
East: Troy, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Georgia St, Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina, Appalachian St, Liberty

MAC
West: Northern Illinois, Ball St, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Bowling Green St, Miami OH
East: Akron, Kent St, Ohio, Marshall, Buffalo, Massachusetts, Old Dominion, Charlotte

OK, here's my 9x14 alignment for FBS (plus 4 independents):

ACC
Atlantic: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, NC State, Syracuse, Wake Forest
Coastal: Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami-FL, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Non-FB: Notre Dame

American
East: Arkansas State, Memphis, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Troy, Tulane, UAB
West: Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, North Texas, Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UTSA
Non-FB: Wichita State

Big 14
North: Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, West Virginia
South: Baylor, Central Florida, Houston, South Florida, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech

Big Ten
East: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers
West: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin

CUSA
North: Connecticut, East Carolina, James Madison, Marshall, Massachusetts, Old Dominion, Temple
South: Appalachian State, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, FAU, FIU, Georgia Southern, Georgia State

FBS Ind
Army* (Patriot), Liberty* (ASUN), Navy* (Patriot), Notre Dame* (ACC)

MAC
East: Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami-OH, Ohio, Toledo
West: Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Middle Tennessee, Northern Illinois, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan

MWC
Mountain: Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Texas State, UTEP, Wyoming
West: Fresno State, Hawaii* (Big West), Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State
Non-FB: Boise State

Pac-12
North: Boise State* (MWC), California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
South: Arizona, Arizona State, BYU* (WCC), Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah

SEC
Eastern: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Western: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M

* = football-only (primary conference)

The ACC, Big Ten, and SEC don't need to make any changes, since they're already at 14.

18-school conferences with 4 schools out.

PAC
North: Washington, Washington St, Oregon, Oregon St, Utah, Colorado
West: California, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona St
East: Iowa St, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas St, Oklahoma St, Texas Tech

B1G
West: Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern
North: Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Penn St
East: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech

SEC
West: Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas, LSU, Vanderbilt
South: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Mississippi St, Alabama, Auburn
East: Florida, Florida St, Georgia, South Carolina, Clemson, North Carolina St

ACC
North: Miami, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College
East: Connecticut, Temple, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Army, Navy
South: Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, East Carolina, South Florida, Central Florida

MWC
West: Hawaii, San Diego St, Fresno St, Nevada, UNLV, Boise St
Mountain: BYU, Utah St, Wyoming, Colorado St, Air Force, New Mexico
South: Baylor, TCU, SMU, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane

SBC
West: New Mexico St, UTEP, UTSA, Rice, North Texas, Louisiana Tech
South: Arkansas St, UL Lafayette, Southern Miss, UAB, South Alabama, Troy
East: Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Georgia St, Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina, Appalachian St

MAC
West: Northern Illinois, Ball St, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo
East: Bowling Green St, Miami OH, Akron, Kent St, Buffalo, Massachusetts
South: Ohio, Marshall, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee St, Old Dominion, Charlotte

Out: San Jose St, Texas St, UL Monroe, Liberty

Inspired by discussion in another thread, a "proactive" Big East adds extra football schools by ~2000 to reach 12 and start up a CCG.

Big East Football
Eastern: Central Florida*, Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Temple*, West Virginia
Seaboard: Miami-FL, Connecticut, Boston College, Syracuse, Rutgers, Virginia Tech

* = FB only

The conference schedule is 8 games, with each team playing their 5 division mates, 1 protected crossover, and 2 rotating crossovers. Teams are listed above in the same order as their protected crossover.

Big East Basketball
Each team plays 3 protected opponents twice a year and the other 12 opponents once a year for a total of 18 conference games. Here are the protected opponents for each team:


When the ACC comes a-raidin' a few years later, BC, Miami, and VT defect as in our timeline. The Big East retains a CCG by adding Memphis as a full member and ECU, Navy, and USF as football-onlies, while dropping FB-only Temple. They also add DePaul and Marquette as non-football members to please the Catholic schools.

Big East Football
Eastern: Central Florida*, Cincinnati, East Carolina*, Louisville, Memphis, Navy*
Seaboard: South Florida*, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia, Connecticut, Syracuse

* = FB only

Big East Basketball

Ultimately, we see further defections to other power conferences, the C7 departing with the Big East name, and the remaining schools backfilling with more CUSA schools and continuing along as a non-power conference, just like our timeline.

(12-26-2018 04:21 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  Inspired by discussion in another thread, a "proactive" Big East adds extra football schools by ~2000 to reach 12 and start up a CCG.

Big East Football
Eastern: Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, South Florida*, Temple*, West Virginia
Seaboard: Connecticut, Boston College, Syracuse, Miami-FL, Rutgers, Virginia Tech

* = FB only

The conference schedule is 8 games, with each team playing their 5 division mates, 1 protected crossover, and 2 rotating crossovers. Teams are listed above in the same order as their protected crossover.

Big East Basketball
Each team plays 3 protected opponents twice a year and the other 12 opponents once a year for a total of 18 conference games. Here are the protected opponents for each team:

Code:

BOSTON COLLEGE  Connecticut     Providence      Notre Dame      
CINCINNATI      West Virginia   Pittsburgh      Louisville      
CONNECTICUT     Boston College  Syracuse        Providence      
GEORGETOWN      St. John's      Villanova       Syracuse        
LOUISVILLE      Virginia Tech   Rutgers         Cincinnati      
MIAMI-FL        Syracuse        Notre Dame      Virginia Tech  
NOTRE DAME      Pittsburgh      Miami-FL        Boston College  
PITTSBURGH      Notre Dame      Cincinnati      West Virginia  
PROVIDENCE      Villanova       Boston College  Connecticut    
RUTGERS         Seton Hall      Louisville      St. John's      
SETON HALL      Rutgers         St. John's      Villanova      
ST. JOHN'S      Georgetown      Seton Hall      Rutgers        
SYRACUSE        Miami-FL        Connecticut     Georgetown      
VILLANOVA       Providence      Georgetown      Seton Hall      
VIRGINIA TECH   Louisville      West Virginia   Miami-FL        
WEST VIRGINIA   Cincinnati      Virginia Tech   Pittsburgh

When the ACC comes a-raidin' a few years later, BC, Miami, and VT defect as in our timeline. The Big East retains a CCG by adding Memphis as a full member and ECU and UCF as football-onlies, while retaining FB-only Temple. They also add DePaul and Marquette as non-football members to please the Catholic schools.

Big East Football
Eastern: Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina*, Louisville, Memphis, South Florida*
Seaboard: Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Temple*, West Virginia, Syracuse, Central Florida*

* = FB only

Big East Basketball

Code:

CINCINNATI      Pittsburgh      Louisville      West Virginia  
CONNECTICUT     Rutgers         Syracuse        Providence      
DEPAUL          Memphis         Notre Dame      Marquette      
GEORGETOWN      Villanova       St. John's      Syracuse        
LOUISVILLE      West Virginia   Cincinnati      Memphis        
MARQUETTE       Notre Dame      Memphis         DePaul          
MEMPHIS         DePaul          Marquette       Louisville      
NOTRE DAME      Marquette       DePaul          Pittsburgh      
PITTSBURGH      Cincinnati      West Virginia   Notre Dame      
PROVIDENCE      Syracuse        Villanova       Connecticut    
RUTGERS         Connecticut     Seton Hall      St. John's      
SETON HALL      St. John's      Rutgers         Villanova      
ST. JOHN'S      Seton Hall      Georgetown      Rutgers        
SYRACUSE        Providence      Connecticut     Georgetown      
VILLANOVA       Georgetown      Providence      Seton Hall      
WEST VIRGINIA   Louisville      Pittsburgh      Cincinnati

Ultimately, we see the basketball-first schools departing with the Big East name and the football-first schools backfilling with CUSA schools and continuing along as a non-power conference, just like our timeline.

In this scenario, they would have gone with UCF first as a football only, since they were already an established DI program while USF was a startup. They only took USF for full membership because UCF didn't have the basketball facilities at the time and their other sports were in a worse conference.

When the Big East expanded in 2005, were there any other schools that were considered for expansion (aside from Louisville, Cincinnati, USF, DePaul and Marquette)?

(12-26-2018 04:13 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  MAC
West: Northern Illinois, Ball St, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo
East: Bowling Green St, Miami OH, Akron, Kent St, Buffalo, Massachusetts
South: Ohio, Marshall, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee St, Old Dominion, Charlotte

This would be far from a bad outcome for the MAC.

(12-27-2018 11:09 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  When the Big East expanded in 2005, were there any other schools that were considered for expansion (aside from Louisville, Cincinnati, USF, DePaul and Marquette)?

UCF was considered but then they saw the glorified high school gym that they played basketball in and went with the school that had a 10K arena on-campus (USF).