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Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #541
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
In this timeline, the various major independent football schools along the east coast decide to form a FB-only conference, the Eastern Football Alliance, in the 1980s. Some enterprising individual discovers the 12-school cutoff for a CCG a few years earlier than it was discovered in our timeline.

Eastern Football Alliance 1988
Atlantic: Boston College (Big East), Miami-FL (DI Ind), Notre Dame (MCC [BB DI Ind]), Rutgers (A-10), Syracuse (Big East), Virginia Tech (Metro)
Eastern: South Carolina (Metro), Florida State (Metro), Pittsburgh (Big East), Temple (A-10), Penn State (A-10), West Virginia (A-10)

Teams are listed in the same order as their protected crossover (BC/SC, Miami/FSU, ND/Pitt, Rutgers/Temple, Syracuse/PSU, VT/WVU).

For the 1991 season, in an atypically (for our timeline) forward-thinking move, the Big East extends offers of full membership to several EFA members (FSU, Miami, ND, PSU, and SC) and affiliate membership in football to the rest. So the divisions of the EFA are effectively transferred to the Big East, while the BE basketball roster grows to 14 schools.

Big East 1991
Atlantic: Boston College, Miami-FL, Notre Dame, Rutgers* (A-10), Syracuse, Virginia Tech* (Metro)
Eastern: South Carolina, Florida State, Pittsburgh, Temple* (A-10), Penn State, West Virginia* (A-10)
NFB: Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova

* = FB only (primary conference)

Though prudent for the conference's survival in an increasingly football-focused market, this decision would come back to haunt the non-FB schools. The FB members soon push for full membership for the 4 affiliates. A compromise is struck in 1995, as Rutgers and WVU receive enough support to join in full, while Temple and VT are denied. The peace doesn't last for long.

Meanwhile, the ACC's growth is stunted by the Big East. There is a growing divide between the FB- and BB-focused schools of the ACC, with the former seeking to up the conference's pigskin game and the latter stubbornly refusing.

By the turn of the century, both the pro-BB schools of the Big East and the pro-FB schools of the ACC are looking to get out of their respective conferences. Someone's bright idea to exchange schools results in the "Great Swap": Clemson, GT, UMD, and NCSU move from the ACC to the Big East; and the 6 non-FB schools of the Big East move to the ACC. Additionally, Temple and VT finally gain full membership in the Big East.

The remaining ACC members consider dropping football to the I-AA level, but there is too much resistance within the schools to do so. Consequently, the new ACC members with FB programs are required to bring their game up to I-A. With FB playing second fiddle to BB, however, the ACC is no longer considered a power football conference (which, lacking FSU, it had barely earned to begin with). The 10-team lineup of the ACC permits an 18-game double round robin schedule for basketball.

ACC 2003
FB: Connecticut, Duke, Georgetown, North Carolina, St. John's, Villanova, Virginia, Wake Forest
NFB: Providence, Seton Hall

The 16-school Big East aligns itself into 4-team pods for football that rotate between two 8-team divisions (Atlantic and Eastern) in a 3-year cycle. A new TV deal compels them to add a 9th game to the conference schedule, to the chagrin of FSU, GT, NCSU, ND, and VT, each with at least one effectively permanent OOC opponent (2 in ND's case).

Big East 2003
Code:
POD 1:  Boston College  Clemson         NC State        Temple          
POD 2:  Miami-FL        Florida State   Virginia Tech   Rutgers        
POD 3:  Notre Dame      Georgia Tech    West Virginia   Pittsburgh      
POD 4:  Syracuse        South Carolina  Maryland        Penn State

The teams are listed above in the same order as their protected crossovers. Each team has a protected crossover in each of the other 3 pods (e.g., BC, Miami, ND, and Syracuse all play one another every year).

For basketball, each team has 3 protected opponents (listed below) that they play twice every year. The remaining 12 schools are played once, for a total of 18 games. (This also serves as an alternate divisionless setup for football, with each team playing their 3 protected opponents annually and alternating between half of the other 12 opponents every 2 years.)

Code:
BOSTON COLLEGE  Miami-FL        Notre Dame      Syracuse        
CLEMSON         Georgia Tech    NC State        South Carolina  
FLORIDA STATE   South Carolina  Miami-FL        Georgia Tech    
GEORGIA TECH    Clemson         South Carolina  Florida State  
MARYLAND        Temple          Virginia Tech   West Virginia  
MIAMI-FL        Boston College  Florida State   Notre Dame      
NC STATE        Rutgers         Clemson         Virginia Tech  
NOTRE DAME      Pittsburgh      Boston College  Miami-FL        
PENN STATE      Syracuse        Temple          Pittsburgh      
PITTSBURGH      Notre Dame      West Virginia   Penn State      
RUTGERS         NC State        Syracuse        Temple          
SOUTH CAROLINA  Florida State   Georgia Tech    Clemson        
SYRACUSE        Penn State      Rutgers         Boston College  
TEMPLE          Maryland        Penn State      Rutgers        
VIRGINIA TECH   West Virginia   Maryland        NC State        
WEST VIRGINIA   Virginia Tech   Pittsburgh      Maryland

Incidentally, the success of the eastern football school alliance results in more westward expansions for the Big Ten (Nebraska) and SEC (Arkansas and Texas A&M) in the early '90s. The Big 12 still forms in the mid-'90s, but with Houston and TCU instead of NU and A&M.
(This post was last modified: 08-01-2019 09:24 PM by Nerdlinger.)
04-24-2019 09:15 PM
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DawgNBama Online
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Post: #542
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
I got one: The year is 1989, and the Big Ten is set to get Penn State to join. We know that in real life the SEC talked to Arkansas & the Aggies, but what if the SEC decided instead to take two projects in South Carolina & Virginia Tech, instead of Arkansas & South Carolina??

Divisions probably would have looked like this:

Georgia
Florida
South Carolina
Virginia Tech
Kentucky
Tennessee

Alabama
Auburn
LSU
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Vandy
04-25-2019 12:50 AM
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Fighting Muskie Offline
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Post: #543
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
(04-25-2019 12:50 AM)DawgNBama Wrote:  I got one: The year is 1989, and the Big Ten is set to get Penn State to join. We know that in real life the SEC talked to Arkansas & the Aggies, but what if the SEC decided instead to take two projects in South Carolina & Virginia Tech, instead of Arkansas & South Carolina??

Divisions probably would have looked like this:

Georgia
Florida
South Carolina
Virginia Tech
Kentucky
Tennessee

Alabama
Auburn
LSU
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Vandy

I'll do you one better--they take South Carolina and Florida St. All of this is probably predicated on the SWC being more stable and less likely to bleed members.
04-25-2019 04:09 PM
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Fighting Muskie Offline
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Post: #544
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
Here's one:

South Carolina starts their own conference. After years of having Tobacco Road treat the SoCon/ACC's outlying members South Carolina, Clemson, and Maryland as second class members the Gamecocks decide that instead of going independent they will start their own league and convince Clemson and Maryland to also shake off their chains. Bring in independents like WVU, VT, GT, FSU, and Miami and you have a rock solid group. Maybe you even toss in ECU for spite.

UVA and the Tobacco Road 4 have to fill their ranks with Richmond and William & Mary just to stay afloat.

The South Carolina league can either eventually pick off some of the Tobacco Rd schools or take the Big East schools as football affiliates.
04-25-2019 04:19 PM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #545
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
(04-25-2019 04:19 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Here's one:

South Carolina starts their own conference. After years of having Tobacco Road treat the SoCon/ACC's outlying members South Carolina, Clemson, and Maryland as second class members the Gamecocks decide that instead of going independent they will start their own league and convince Clemson and Maryland to also shake off their chains. Bring in independents like WVU, VT, GT, FSU, and Miami and you have a rock solid group. Maybe you even toss in ECU for spite.

UVA and the Tobacco Road 4 have to fill their ranks with Richmond and William & Mary just to stay afloat.

The South Carolina league can either eventually pick off some of the Tobacco Rd schools or take the Big East schools as football affiliates.

That's a neat idea. Add in ECU and northern schools like ND, PSU, Pitt, Syracuse, BC, Temple, and Rutgers, and you've got an Eastern Seaboard powerhouse.
04-26-2019 08:41 PM
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DavidSt Offline
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Post: #546
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
If the Southwest stayed together and Phillips and Southwestern both stayed and kept football with Arkansas left for the SEC and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State left for MVC?

Baylor
Houston
Rice
Texas
TCU
Texas Tech
SMU
Texas A&M
Southwestern
Phillips (Enid, Oklahoma, now shut down)

SWC would still be in the Oklahoma tv market.
04-27-2019 12:05 AM
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Fighting Muskie Offline
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Post: #547
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
(04-27-2019 12:05 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  If the Southwest stayed together and Phillips and Southwestern both stayed and kept football with Arkansas left for the SEC and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State left for MVC?

Baylor
Houston
Rice
Texas
TCU
Texas Tech
SMU
Texas A&M
Southwestern
Phillips (Enid, Oklahoma, now shut down)

SWC would still be in the Oklahoma tv market.

You're talking about 2 tiny schools who obviously we're not built to compete with the big boys. The more interesting SWC hypothetical is where would that conference be had Oklahoma and Oklahoma St not left for the MVC.

If everything else goes the same then Houston becomes member #11 in the 1970s.

Retrospective realignment doesn't happen in a vacuum though. You know have a MVC that lacks the Oklahoma schools so there's a different trajectory for Kansas, Kansas St, Missouri, Iowa St, Nebraska, Drake, Wash (St L), and Grinnell. In real life the first 5 formed a breakaway conference with Oklahoma that later added Colorado and Okla St. In this model though those 5 either:

Get stuck with the 3 weaker links

Scatter, trying to get into the Big Ten and SWC

Have to add in the West sooner and deeper, possibly taking Colorado as well as Colorado St, Wyoming, Utah, and BYU.
(This post was last modified: 04-29-2019 08:55 PM by Fighting Muskie.)
04-29-2019 04:27 PM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #548
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
Suppose that for the inaugural season of divisional play in 2005, the ACC had decided to move to a 9-game conference schedule with 2 protected and 2 rotating crossovers. This would have permitted a team to play every other team in the conference at least twice in 4 years. Here's what the protected crossovers might have been:

Atlantic
Boston College: Virginia Tech, Miami-FL
Clemson: Georgia Tech, Virginia
Florida State: Miami-FL, Georgia Tech
Maryland: Virginia, Virginia Tech
NC State: North Carolina, Duke
Wake Forest: Duke, North Carolina

Coastal
Duke: Wake Forest, NC State
Georgia Tech: Clemson, Florida State
Miami-FL: Florida State, Boston College
North Carolina: NC State, Wake Forest
Virginia: Maryland, Clemson
Virginia Tech: Boston College, Maryland

Not only is Miami able to play BC every year, but all the NC schools can play one another annually as well.

With the 9-game schedule, I don't see the ACC necessarily dropping back to 1 protected crossover like the SEC did, at least not until an expansion to 14. Even with 9 games, having 2 protected crossovers means it'd take 5 years to rotate through the rest of the opposite division once. Although since in reality it currently takes on average 6 years for this, perhaps it wouldn't matter.

Atlantic
Boston College: Pittsburgh, Miami-FL
Clemson: Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech
Florida State: Miami-FL, Georgia Tech
Maryland/Louisville: Virginia Tech, Virginia
NC State: North Carolina, Duke
Syracuse: Virginia, Pittsburgh
Wake Forest: Duke, North Carolina

Coastal
Duke: Wake Forest, NC State
Georgia Tech: Clemson, Florida State
Miami-FL: Florida State, Boston College
North Carolina: NC State, Wake Forest
Pittsburgh: Boston College, Syracuse
Virginia: Syracuse, Maryland/Louisville
Virginia Tech: Maryland/Louisville, Clemson
(This post was last modified: 07-19-2019 10:21 PM by Nerdlinger.)
05-27-2019 09:52 AM
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Fighting Muskie Offline
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Post: #549
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
The 2 protected crossovers seems to solve a lot but Clemson, GT, and FSU would have all objected on the grounds that with their OOC rivalry games a 9 game conference schedule would be too hard.

You could do 8 conference games with 2 protected rivalries but that would have meant that each school would have 4 cross-divisional games that would occur just once a 4-year cycle.
05-27-2019 01:07 PM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #550
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
(05-27-2019 01:07 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The 2 protected crossovers seems to solve a lot but Clemson, GT, and FSU would have all objected on the grounds that with their OOC rivalry games a 9 game conference schedule would be too hard.

You could do 8 conference games with 2 protected rivalries but that would have meant that each school would have 4 cross-divisional games that would occur just once a 4-year cycle.

I'm sure they would object, although Iowa, Iowa State, Stanford, and USC seem to get by fine on a 9-game conference schedule with an annual OOC P5 game. Having 2 protected crossovers could work with an 8-game schedule, as it did for the SEC from 1992-2002. But it would have to be dropped down to 1 upon expansion to 14.
05-27-2019 01:49 PM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #551
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
If the ACC added West Virginia along with Miami and VT, like they probably should have:

ACC 2004

Atlantic/Coastal
Clemson/Georgia Tech
Florida State/Miami-FL
Maryland/Virginia
NC State/North Carolina
Wake Forest/Duke
West Virginia/Virginia Tech

And if there were two protected crossovers:

Atlantic
Clemson: Georgia Tech, Virginia
Maryland: Georgia Tech, Virginia
Florida State: Miami-FL, Virginia Tech
West Virginia: Miami-FL, Virginia Tech
NC State: Duke, North Carolina
Wake Forest: Duke, North Carolina

Coastal
Georgia Tech: Clemson, Maryland
Virginia: Clemson, Maryland
Miami-FL: Florida State, West Virginia
Virginia Tech: Florida State, West Virginia
Duke: NC State, Wake Forest
North Carolina: NC State, Wake Forest

Come 2013ish, they add Pitt and Syracuse:

Atlantic/Coastal
Clemson/Georgia Tech
Florida State/Miami-FL
Maryland/Virginia
NC State/North Carolina
Pittsburgh/Syracuse
Wake Forest/Duke
West Virginia/Virginia Tech

If there were two protected crossovers (only feasible with a 9-game conference schedule):

Atlantic
Clemson: Georgia Tech, Virginia
Maryland: Georgia Tech, Virginia
Florida State: Miami-FL, Virginia Tech
Pittsburgh: Miami-FL, Syracuse
West Virginia: Syracuse, Virginia Tech
NC State: Duke, North Carolina
Wake Forest: Duke, North Carolina

Coastal
Georgia Tech: Clemson, Maryland
Virginia: Clemson, Maryland
Miami-FL: Florida State, Pittsburgh
Syracuse: Pittsburgh, West Virginia
Virginia Tech: Florida State, West Virginia
Duke: NC State, Wake Forest
North Carolina: NC State, Wake Forest

Assuming the Big Ten adds Maryland and Rutgers as in our timeline, then Boston College gets the call from the ACC, joining the Coastal and bumping Syracuse to the Atlantic. Louisville has likely already joined the Big 12.

Atlantic/Coastal
Clemson/Georgia Tech
Florida State/Miami-FL
NC State/North Carolina
Pittsburgh/Virginia
Syracuse/Boston College
Wake Forest/Duke
West Virginia/Virginia Tech

Atlantic
Clemson: Georgia Tech, Virginia
Florida State: Miami-FL, Virginia Tech
Pittsburgh: Boston College, Georgia Tech
Syracuse: Boston College, Miami-FL
West Virginia: Virginia, Virginia Tech
NC State: Duke, North Carolina
Wake Forest: Duke, North Carolina

Coastal
Boston College: Pittsburgh, Syracuse
Georgia Tech: Clemson, Pittsburgh
Miami-FL: Florida State, Syracuse
Virginia: Clemson, West Virginia
Virginia Tech: Florida State, West Virginia
Duke: NC State, Wake Forest
North Carolina: NC State, Wake Forest
(This post was last modified: 06-01-2019 10:51 PM by Nerdlinger.)
06-01-2019 08:00 PM
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Rube Dali Offline
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Post: #552
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
A challenge to Nerdlinger,

What do you think would have happened if St. Thomas(Minnesota) had in the mid-80's chosen to go straight from Division III to Division I and where they would be today?
06-01-2019 11:39 PM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #553
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
(06-01-2019 11:39 PM)Rube Dali Wrote:  A challenge to Nerdlinger,

What do you think would have happened if St. Thomas(Minnesota) had in the mid-80's chosen to go straight from Division III to Division I and where they would be today?

Hard to say. Perhaps the Summit for non-FB sports, with FB in the Pioneer. More optimistically, FB in the MVFC.
06-02-2019 07:51 AM
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Fighting Muskie Offline
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Post: #554
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
(06-02-2019 07:51 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  
(06-01-2019 11:39 PM)Rube Dali Wrote:  A challenge to Nerdlinger,

What do you think would have happened if St. Thomas(Minnesota) had in the mid-80's chosen to go straight from Division III to Division I and where they would be today?

Hard to say. Perhaps the Summit for non-FB sports, with FB in the Pioneer. More optimistically, FB in the MVFC.

I concur with the Summit/Pioneer choice.
06-02-2019 08:08 AM
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ken d Offline
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Post: #555
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
I would like to see changes to the NCAA rules regarding Conference Championship games. Well, basically one change. Let each conference decide for itself how it will determine its champion.

Then, I would like to have the PTB remove the CFP from the bowl rotation, while still having the six NY6 games. That puts 4 semifinalists and 12 other schools in the featured New Years(ish) games.

Finally, I would love to see each of the P5 conferences with two 7-team divisions which each play a full 6 game round robin to determine its champion. Each of these ten division champions would be guaranteed a slot in either the CFP or the NY6. Conferences need not (see above) guarantee a spot in their CCG for their division champs.

As is now the case, the Top 4 teams, determined by some method (not necessarily a selection committee) would earn a spot in the CFP semifinals. The NY6 games would include every division champion that did not qualify for the CFP, with the remaining berths going first to the division champs, next to any conference champion who was not a division champion, and then to the highest ranked non-champions or independents, regardless of conference affiliation.

In this arrangement, every FBS school has a path to both the CFP and the NY6. The P5 conferences would retain their contractual tie-ins with the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowls. All other NY6 berths are at-large, with pairings set by a placement committee.

These are the divisions I'd like to see (schools which would change conferences in bold):

B1G: As they currently exist

SEC: As they currently exist

PAC North: Washington, Washington St, Oregon, Oregon St, Stanford, USC, Arizona

PAC South: UCLA, California, Arizona St, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St

Big 12 West: Texas, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas, Kansas St, Iowa St

Big12 East: West Virginia, UCF, USF, Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, Temple

ACC Atlantic: Florida St, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College

ACC Coastal: Virginia Tech, Virginia, UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, Louisville
06-04-2019 10:51 AM
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Post: #556
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
As long as we're doing wish-fulfillment future alignments, here's a full geographic realignment of the P5 (minus Baylor) into a P4x16:

ACC
Code:
EAST            NORTH           SOUTH           WEST            
Boston College  Maryland        South Carolina  Virginia        
Miami-FL        West Virginia   Clemson         Virginia Tech  
Rutgers         Penn State      NC State        North Carolina  
Syracuse        Pittsburgh      Wake Forest     Duke

Big 16
Code:
EAST            NORTH           SOUTH           WEST            
Michigan        Iowa State      Indiana         Kansas State    
Michigan State  Minnesota       Northwestern    Kansas          
Notre Dame      Iowa            Purdue          Nebraska        
Ohio State      Wisconsin       Illinois        Missouri

Pac-16
Code:
EAST            NORTH           SOUTH           WEST            
TCU             Washington St   Colorado        California      
Texas           Washington      Arizona State   USC            
Texas A&M       Oregon          Utah            Stanford        
Texas Tech      Oregon State    Arizona         UCLA

SEC
Code:
EAST            NORTH           SOUTH           WEST            
Florida         Tennessee       Alabama         LSU            
Florida State   Kentucky        Mississippi St  Oklahoma State  
Georgia         Louisville      Auburn          Oklahoma        
Georgia Tech    Vanderbilt      Ole Miss        Arkansas

In each conference, the 4 pods rotate between two 8-team divisions in a 3-year cycle (Northeast vs. Southwest, Northwest vs. Southeast, and North/South vs. East/West). Conference schedules are 9 games across the board. In a season, each team plays its 3 pod mates and a protected crossover in each of the other 3 pods (these are listed in the same row). So for example, BC, UMD, SC, and UVA all play one another every year.

Notable annual OOC matchups: Arkansas/Arkansas State, Boston College/Connecticut, BYU/Utah, Cincinnati/Ohio State, Clemson/Georgia Tech, Colorado/Colorado State, East Carolina/NC State, Florida/Central Florida or South Florida, Florida State/Miami-FL, Georgia/South Carolina, Houston/Texas A&M, LSU/Tulane, Marshall/West Virginia, Memphis/Tennessee, Navy/Notre Dame, Notre Dame/USC, Oklahoma/Texas, Oklahoma State/Tulsa, Penn State/Temple, SMU/TCU
(This post was last modified: 06-07-2019 09:52 PM by Nerdlinger.)
06-04-2019 10:39 PM
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Post: #557
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
(06-04-2019 10:39 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  As long as we're doing wish-fulfillment future alignments, here's a full geographic realignment of the P5 (minus Baylor) into a P4x16:

ACC
Code:
EAST            NORTH           SOUTH           WEST            
Boston College  Maryland        South Carolina  Virginia        
Miami-FL        West Virginia   Clemson         Virginia Tech  
Rutgers         Penn State      NC State        North Carolina  
Syracuse        Pittsburgh      Wake Forest     Duke

Big 16
Code:
EAST            NORTH           SOUTH           WEST            
Michigan        Iowa State      Indiana         Kansas State    
Michigan State  Minnesota       Northwestern    Kansas          
Notre Dame      Iowa            Purdue          Nebraska        
Ohio State      Wisconsin       Illinois        Missouri

Pac-16
Code:
EAST            NORTH           SOUTH           WEST            
TCU             Washington St   Colorado        California      
Texas           Washington      Arizona State   USC            
Texas A&M       Oregon          Utah            Stanford        
Texas Tech      Oregon State    Arizona         UCLA

SEC
Code:
EAST            NORTH           SOUTH           WEST            
Florida         Tennessee       Alabama         LSU            
Florida State   Kentucky        Mississippi St  Oklahoma State  
Georgia         Louisville      Auburn          Oklahoma        
Georgia Tech    Vanderbilt      Ole Miss        Arkansas

In each conference, the 4 pods rotate between two 8-team divisions in a 3-year cycle (Northeast vs. Southwest, Northwest vs. Southeast, and North/South vs. East/West). Conference schedules are 9 games across the board. In a season, each team plays its 3 pod mates and a protected crossover in each of the other 3 pods (these are listed in the same row). So for example, BC, UMD, SC, and UVA all play one another every year.

Notable annual OOC matchups: Arkansas/Arkansas State, Boston College/Connecticut, BYU/Utah, Cincinnati/Ohio State, Clemson/Georgia Tech, Colorado/Colorado State, East Carolina/NC State, Florida/Central Florida or South Florida, Florida State/Miami-FL, Georgia/South Carolina, Houston/Texas A&M, LSU/Tulane, Marshall/West Virginia, Memphis/Tennessee, Navy/Notre Dame, Notre Dame/USC, Oklahoma/Texas, Oklahoma State/Tulsa, Penn State/Temple, SMU/TCU

And a neato MAP!
(This post was last modified: 06-07-2019 09:52 PM by Nerdlinger.)
06-07-2019 09:40 PM
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Keswick_Crusaders_Forever51 Offline
Special Teams
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Posts: 868
Joined: Jun 2019
Reputation: 69
I Root For: Liberty, UF
Location: Sanford, NC
Post: #558
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
Though prideful, I could see Texas & Oklahoma making a run for the border come the next realignment period, leading to a collapse of the Big XII as we know it. Should that be the case, I think we see a movement to those Super-Conferences. This would be an ideal divide in my mind, though the conferences would likely only desire to expand to 16 teams rather than 18. However, one can dream, right?

ACC:

Atlantic
Boston College
Cincinnati
Clemson
FSU
Louisville
NC State
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Wake Forest

Coastal
UCF
UConn
Duke
Georgia Tech
Miami (FL)
UNC
Pitt
UVA
VTech

Big Ten:

East
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
MSU
Navy
OSU
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers

West
Illinois
Iowa
ISU
Kansas
KSU
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Wisconsin

Pacific West:

Pacific
ASU
Cal
Oregon
Oregon St
Stanford
USC
Washington
WSU

West
Air Force
Arizona
BYU
Colorado
CSU
Oklahoma State
Texas Tech
Utah
Utah State

SEC:

East
Army
Auburn
UF
UGA
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
WVU

West
Bama
Arkansas
LSU
Mizzou
Ole Miss
Mississippi St
Texas
TAMU
Oklahoma

I placed the military schools in 3 of the 4 major conferences bc I think their history & the possible money incentive of having military schools might motivate them to go after those schools in an 18-school conference world.
06-10-2019 08:20 AM
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Fighting Muskie Offline
Senior Chief Realignmentologist
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Posts: 11,795
Joined: Sep 2016
Reputation: 789
I Root For: Ohio St, UC,MAC
Location: Biden Cesspool
Post: #559
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
Here's a scenario: the ACC only musters enough votes for Miami leading into the 2004 season. BC, VT, and Cuse don't have enough support.

The Big East gets back into Florida with USF and there is no split plan.

C-USA stays intact with the exception of Army dropping out. UCF joins, creating a 10/14 hybrid.

The WAC keeps Rice, Tulsa, UTEP, and SMU. The MAC keeps Marshall and picks up Temple as an affiliate. NMSU stays a full SBC member but they drop Idaho and Utah St as affiliates once Troy, FAU, and FIU start play.

Fast forward to 2010-2013. VT has had some excellent years in the Big East (actually BC, WVU, and Rutgers were all pretty competitive too) making themselves a prime expansion target, potentially joining the SEC to balance the TAMU but with the ACC having some very weak seasons between 2004-2010 some of the ACC schools might be prime for a move too, potentially changing everything.
(This post was last modified: 06-16-2019 02:52 PM by Fighting Muskie.)
06-16-2019 02:44 PM
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Nerdlinger Offline
Realignment Enthusiast
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Posts: 4,908
Joined: May 2017
Reputation: 423
I Root For: Realignment!
Location: Schmlocation
Post: #560
RE: Alternate History and Future College Sports Realignment Scenarios
(06-16-2019 02:44 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Here's a scenario: the ACC only musters enough votes for Miami leading into the 2004 season. BC, VT, and Cuse don't have enough support.

The Big East gets back into Florida with USF and there is no split plan.

C-USA stays intact with the exception of Army dropping out. UCF joins, creating a 10/14 hybrid.

The WAC keeps Rice, Tulsa, UTEP, and SMU. The MAC keeps Marshall and picks up Temple as an affiliate. NMSU stays a full SBC member but they drop Idaho and Utah St as affiliates once Troy, FAU, and FIU start play.

Fast forward to 2010-2013. VT has had some excellent years in the Big East (actually BC, WVU, and Rutgers were all pretty competitive too) making themselves a prime expansion target, potentially joining the SEC to balance the TAMU but with the ACC having some very weak seasons between 2004-2010 some of the ACC schools might be prime for a move too, potentially changing everything.

CUSA will likely grab another couple schools to reach 12 FB members and have a CCG, even if the ACC doesn't.
06-16-2019 08:14 PM
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