Since we're living in a fantasy world:
The SEC is done. Government pressure after the NCAA is found covering up the biggest case of corruption in college sports history forces the NCAA to dole out the greatest penalties in it's history, with the worst offenders not playing or out of conferences for 5 years. The nail-in-the coffin stipulation being that no more than 3 SEC schools can join the same conference or schedule amongst themselves after their respective schools are done serving their penalties. The conference shockwave after these schools are allowed back into College Sports would be incredible.
During this time, without competition from their in-state SEC rivals, Tulane, USM, Memphis, and UAB grow exponentially.
Southern Metropolitan Conference
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West: Tulane - USM - Memphis - UAB - Louisville - Cincinnati
East: Georgia Tech - Georgia - South Carolina - Florida - Florida St. - Miami
This arrangement kept as many of the natural and historical rivalries as possible, as well as a considerable marketshare. South Carolina considered the ACC, but the ACC took a more basketball-oriented track and raided the Big East (UConn, Rutgers, Syracuse). The Big 10 took Kentucky. The remnants of the Big East (West Va, USF, Pitt) joined with ECU, Marshall, Temple, and SEC remnants UAT, AU, and UT-Knoxville to form the Eastern-9.
The Western schools are involved in a political tussle that leaves some schools in question of their conference affiliation even after the harshest of penalties are expired for most of the SEC schools, the shakeup affecting every conference except the PAC-10.
The End