Now that the official conference moves have been made, why not go back and arrange the conferences how we think they should REALLY be? OK, so I was bored and needed a realignment fix, but I still came up with some conferences that could be fan/alumni favorites. I'll present each one with a very brief rationale. Overall, each conference is between 8-12 members, region, culture, and academic fit are high priorities, and TV executives can just shove it for at least one thread... fans we're taking back over. There are 128 teams that are in or are committed to be in an FBS conference within the next 2 years, so that is the limit of my conference membership. FCS schools that are not committed to moving up are not included. I will include the 2011-12 average revenue and US News and World Report ranking for each conference:

PAC

To start, although I tried my hardest to find a good way to mix up the PAC, I could not find a combination that worked, so all of them remain together.

Institutions - Stanford, USC, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, UCLA, Cal, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon State, Washington State

12 members - 81.75 academic average rating - $67.8 million

MWC

Geography dictates much of this conference. Unfortunately, that also places many national universities with regional universities, which does not bode well for collaboration outside of athletics.

Institutions - BYU, UNLV, SDSU, Hawaii, Boise State, Wyoming, Fresno State, Colorado State, San Jose State, Utah State, Nevada, Idaho

12 Members - 150.8 average academic ranking among 8 national universities - $31.6 million

SWC

It's back! Here is where it starts getting interesting. Some will love it, some will hate it, but no one can deny that it would be a regional and cultural fit. Tulane was the last add. Fitting with similar private institutions and their history of playing west were enough to get them in to round out 12 members.

Institutions - SMU, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Air Force, Texas State, Rice, UTEP, North Texas, UTSA

12 Members - Academics is skewed because the private schools are all top 100 and the public schools are 175 or lower (in a bad way). Air Force and Texas State are not national universities. $28.3 million

Air Force needs to be with Colorado St and Wyoming. They are AF's traditional rivals, not UNM, Tulsa, ect.

Southern

Let's face it... the Texoma is sticking together, and they should. They bring in much of the SEC west, which is a better cultural fit for them than the Atlantic coast state schools. Again, great cultural fit here.

Institutions - UT, TAMU, TTU, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, OK. State, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss. St, and... wait for it.... Alabama. You'll see later why this move was required and makes sense.

12 Institutions - 111.75 academic average - $88.6 million

(07-01-2013 02:01 PM)mufanatehc Wrote:  Air Force needs to be with Colorado St and Wyoming. They are AF's traditional rivals, not UNM, Tulsa, ect.

Yes, that was a hard call. I understand better now why the MWC did not want to bring in Idaho... they make the overall numbers hard to handle.

Big 10

So, to partly answer that Alabama problem in the Southern... take a look at this conference on a map. Feels right, doesn't it? Purdue comes over to make an even number because I see them as more culturally connected to the west B1G schools than the east. They also get the opportunity to be the stand alone school for a state, similar to how Alabama and Auburn will be treated. They would flourish in that role.

Institutions - Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Missouri, Purdue

10 members - 83.6 academic average - $75.7 million

The rest to come throughout the day.

Let me guess:

SEC

Auburn
Georgia
Florida
FSU
Tennessee
Vandy
Kentucky
South Carolina
Clemson

And probably one other.

You were close, Gamecock. The NC schools came on board and Vandy is gone (but I think they'll like their new home just fine).

SEC

Auburn is the school from Alabama that is bent eastward in their rivalries, and they now stand alone to represent the state. When anybody talks about the southeastern United States, these schools are on the poster.

Institutions - Auburn, UGA, Ga. Tech, FSU, Florida, South Carolina, Clemson, UNC, NC State, Tennessee, UK, Louisville

12 members - 87 academic average - $86.5 million

Big East

Ok, now onto my favorite result of this exercise. UConn and Cincy, it is OK to cry.

Institutions - Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Pitt, Va. Tech, WVU, Maryland, Rutgers, UConn, Cincinnati

12 members - 75.75 academic average - $79.5 million

Premier

By now, you may have noticed a large chunk of missing eastern schools. You may have also noticed that they are all top notch private institutions (with one exception, but it is a flagship that acts like a private in many ways). Wake Forest and Navy, you are welcome.

Institutions - Notre Dame, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Miami, Duke, Syracuse, Boston College, Navy, Wake Forest, and .... Virginia (give it a minute to settle in. I had to make a compromise somewhere, and UVA with elite private schools that try to compete athletically is not that much of a stretch).

10 members - 26.4 academic average (wow wee!!!) - $69.3 million (both stats exclude Navy)

MAC

No way we are breaking up the MACtion. It is all the same schools except UMASS, who has found a new home that should fit them a bit better.

Institutions - Ohio, Miami-OH, Central Mich., Eastern Mich., Western Mich., Akron, Kent State, Toledo, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Buffalo

12 members - Too many unranked national universities to give an academic rating (sorry Ohio, Buffalo, and Miami-OH. Blame Michigan.) - $23.1 million

Alright, here is where we may get some fire breathers. 24 schools are left, but there was not a good way to break them up into 2 conferences with 12 members each. So, it had to be broken into 3 conferences of 8 teams each. I will post those 3 conferences tomorrow (ran out of time today).

Let me know what you think about the ones already posted. Try to disregard preconceived notions of who MUST be together and look at what could be.

(07-01-2013 02:04 PM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  Southern

Let's face it... the Texoma is sticking together, and they should. They bring in much of the SEC west, which is a better cultural fit for them than the Atlantic coast state schools. Again, great cultural fit here.

Institutions - UT, TAMU, TTU, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, OK. State, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss. St, and... wait for it.... Alabama. You'll see later why this move was required and makes sense.

12 Institutions - 111.75 academic average - $88.6 million

Silly me, I thought Furman and the Citadel were the the Southern.

(07-01-2013 05:55 PM)AppfanInCAAland Wrote:  

(07-01-2013 02:04 PM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  Southern

Let's face it... the Texoma is sticking together, and they should. They bring in much of the SEC west, which is a better cultural fit for them than the Atlantic coast state schools. Again, great cultural fit here.

Institutions - UT, TAMU, TTU, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, OK. State, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss. St, and... wait for it.... Alabama. You'll see later why this move was required and makes sense.

12 Institutions - 111.75 academic average - $88.6 million

Silly me, I thought Furman and the Citadel were the the Southern.

Yeah, sorry, I stole your name! The Southern is a great brand name.