The new census data got me thinking. I wonder just how thinly some major P5 Public universities are spread. It's both a market and a budget issue. One way to look at this is to spread out a state's population over the number of P5 Public universities within the state. Several states are quite "thin" when it's looked at that way:

I think there are 53 P5 Publics.

They are split among 35 of the 50 states.

The states with the Lowest Population per Public P5 are:

Kansas 1,470,432 (2,940,864 over 2 schools)
Mississippi 1,481,958 (2,963,916 over 2 schools)
Iowa 1,596,204 (3,192,408 over 2 schools)
West Virginia 1,795,048 (1,795,048 over 1 school)
Nebraska 1,963,332 (1,963,332 over 1 school)
Oklahoma 1,981,758 (3,963,518 over 2 schools)
Oregon 2,120,751 (4,241,502 over 2 schools)
Kentucky 2,254,671 (4,509,342 over 2 schools)
Alabama 2,515,027 (5,030,054 over 2 schools)
South Carolina 2,562,357 (5,124,714 over 2 schools)


I think the greatest budget pressures would come to public P5s located within low population states.

My short list of teams who are going to need to "pay their own way" or go home is:

Kansas State
Iowa State
Oklahoma State
Oregon State
Louisville

I think low population teams in rich media conferences are protected. That's why teams such as Mississippi State are not on my short list.

Also, low population teams coming from states with only one school are protected to some degree. That's why West Virginia and Nebraska don't make my short list.