It's the off season and we all already miss football, so what's your favorite realignment scenarios?

My current favorite is a scenario where the ACC network fails and the football power schools break off and take a few more with them, similar to when the Big East split.

FSU, Clemson, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Pitt & Notre Dame leave to form a new conference. If Notre Dame wouldn't join as a full member bring Navy as FB only to offset.
West Virginia comes in from the Big 12.
Maryland from the Big 10.
South Carolina from the SEC (the assumption here is Clemson would be able to convince them to join)
UCF, Memphis & Cincinnati from the AAC.

Holy DavidSt Batman! May want to lay-off the whiskey

(02-06-2020 12:50 PM)utpotts Wrote:  Holy DavidSt Batman! May want to lay-off the whiskey

NEVER!

(02-06-2020 12:50 PM)utpotts Wrote:  Holy DavidSt Batman! May want to lay-off the whiskey

Stan Walker, Parson James - Tennessee Whiskey (Official Video)
https://youtu.be/5LoMgxYmomc

Crack don't smoke itself...

USFFan

(02-06-2020 12:48 PM)MidknightWhiskey Wrote:  It's the off season and we all already miss football, so what's your favorite realignment scenarios?

My current favorite is a scenario where the ACC network fails and the football power schools break off and take a few more with them, similar to when the Big East split.

FSU, Clemson, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Pitt & Notre Dame leave to form a new conference. If Notre Dame wouldn't join as a full member bring Navy as FB only to offset.
West Virginia comes in from the Big 12.
Maryland from the Big 10.
South Carolina from the SEC (the assumption here is Clemson would be able to convince them to join)
UCF, Memphis & Cincinnati from the AAC.

All of the schools in bold would have zero interest in such insanity.

The schools in the driver's seat for that would be Clemson and FSU.

I bet they'd rather have Virginia Tech than Pitt or South Carolina.

Not this off-season, but a Pac-12 breakup/merger with the Big 12 is the most interesting to me.

I'll play.

What would FSU and Clemson want most? To rival the SEC in money, they need more big football fanbases. That means that they don't want Wake, Syracuse, or Boston College. Miami is dispensable too. But they need to add enough quality football schools to make it work. That makes West Virginia important.

Could they get WVU? FSU & Clemson would be a good 1-2 punch that would guarantee a big media contract, possibly rivaling the Big 12's (the Big 12 is hampered by being a low population region). And they're geographically a better fit for WVU than the Big 12. So WVU would probably join if offered.

Who else could they reasonably add outside the ACC? Cincinnati & UCF would sign up. Probably Louisville too. That's 6.

If they're going to pry away an SEC team, they should target Tennessee. They've been a laughinstock in the SEC for over a decade and are probably tired of it. And they're a huge fan base that can anchor a conference. Would an Appalachian-based division tempt Tennessee? I think it might, if they can get Virginia Tech on board.

I could see a division of Tennesee-West Virginia-Pitt-Louisville-Virginia Tech-Cincinnati having a lot of synergies and becoming very powerful. Maybe add Memphis too.

A southern division of FSU-Clemson-Georgia Tech-UCF is a good start, but who else would they add to make it worthwhile? It's 2 teams short unless you break up Tobacco Road. And Tobacco Road will fight this tooth-and-nail.

To summarize... For this to happen, FSU and Clemson would have to convince Tennessee and Virginia Tech to come along in order for it to be worth it. Otherwise, no dice.

I like the idea of paired 12 team conferences. You get there by the Pac 12/Big 12 combining and parts of ACC combining with Big 10 and SEC.

Big 12 loses WVU but adds BYU, Houston and Colorado St. Pac 12 stays the same-Washington, Washington St., Oregon, Oregon ST., Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona St., Utah, Colorado.
Big 12 is Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Colorado St., BYU, Houston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Kansas, Kansas St., Iowa St.

Big 10 adds ACC Coastal and ND + UConn and USF
Big 10 is Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan St., Michigan, Ohio St., Rutgers
Big 10 Atlantic is Penn St., Maryland, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, UConn, USF

SEC adds ACC Atlantic and WVU + UCF and Cincinnati
SEC is Arkansas, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
ACC is FSU, Clemson, North Carolina St., Wake Forest, Boston College, Syracuse, Louisville, West Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, UCF, Cincinnati

With this setup, the conferences can play an 8 game conference schedule, either a 5-0-3 or 5-1-2 (5 vs. division, 0 or 1 fixed cross division and 3 or 2 rotating cross division). They get everyone in the conference at least either 2 in 4 years (5-0-3) or 2 in 5 years (5-1-2). They play at least 1 ooc against the partner conference. If they play 2, they can get everyone in the partner conference 2 times in 12 years, similar to what SEC E&W and ACC Atlantic&Coastal do now. You have more conference titles, more division titles, closer ties within the conference and similar ties with the paired conference as you do now in the ACC and SEC.

Another way to split the ACC would be N/S, but the above keeps existing scheduling similar, shares the populous east coast and shares the 3 biggest names (FSU, Clemson, Miami).

(02-06-2020 08:00 PM)bullet Wrote:  I like the idea of paired 12 team conferences. You get there by the Pac 12/Big 12 combining and parts of ACC combining with Big 10 and SEC.

Big 12 loses WVU but adds BYU, Houston and Colorado St. Pac 12 stays the same-Washington, Washington St., Oregon, Oregon ST., Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona St., Utah, Colorado.
Big 12 is Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Colorado St., BYU, Houston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Kansas, Kansas St., Iowa St.

Big 10 adds ACC Coastal and ND + UConn and USF
Big 10 is Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan St., Michigan, Ohio St., Rutgers
Big 10 Atlantic is Penn St., Maryland, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, UConn, USF

SEC adds ACC Atlantic and WVU + UCF and Cincinnati
SEC is Arkansas, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
ACC is FSU, Clemson, North Carolina St., Wake Forest, Boston College, Syracuse, Louisville, West Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, UCF, Cincinnati

With this setup, the conferences can play an 8 game conference schedule, either a 5-0-3 or 5-1-2 (5 vs. division, 0 or 1 fixed cross division and 3 or 2 rotating cross division). They get everyone in the conference at least either 2 in 4 years (5-0-3) or 2 in 5 years (5-1-2). They play at least 1 ooc against the partner conference. If they play 2, they can get everyone in the partner conference 2 times in 12 years, similar to what SEC E&W and ACC Atlantic&Coastal do now. You have more conference titles, more division titles, closer ties within the conference and similar ties with the paired conference as you do now in the ACC and SEC.

Another way to split the ACC would be N/S, but the above keeps existing scheduling similar, shares the populous east coast and shares the 3 biggest names (FSU, Clemson, Miami).

Notre Dame will never join the Big 10. The conference was literally created to boycott Notre Dame.

(02-06-2020 03:57 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  I'll play.

What would FSU and Clemson want most? To rival the SEC in money, they need more big football fanbases. That means that they don't want Wake, Syracuse, or Boston College. Miami is dispensable too. But they need to add enough quality football schools to make it work. That makes West Virginia important.

Could they get WVU? FSU & Clemson would be a good 1-2 punch that would guarantee a big media contract, possibly rivaling the Big 12's (the Big 12 is hampered by being a low population region). And they're geographically a better fit for WVU than the Big 12. So WVU would probably join if offered.

Who else could they reasonably add outside the ACC? Cincinnati & UCF would sign up. Probably Louisville too. That's 6.

If they're going to pry away an SEC team, they should target Tennessee. They've been a laughinstock in the SEC for over a decade and are probably tired of it. And they're a huge fan base that can anchor a conference. Would an Appalachian-based division tempt Tennessee? I think it might, if they can get Virginia Tech on board.

I could see a division of Tennesee-West Virginia-Pitt-Louisville-Virginia Tech-Cincinnati having a lot of synergies and becoming very powerful. Maybe add Memphis too.

A southern division of FSU-Clemson-Georgia Tech-UCF is a good start, but who else would they add to make it worthwhile? It's 2 teams short unless you break up Tobacco Road. And Tobacco Road will fight this tooth-and-nail.

To summarize... For this to happen, FSU and Clemson would have to convince Tennessee and Virginia Tech to come along in order for it to be worth it. Otherwise, no dice.

Even if the football-first schools of the ACC really did want to pull off such a hare-brained scheme, there's no way Miami would be left out, and there's no way they're prying anyone loose from the SEC (or the Big Ten, for that matter, as in the OP). Also, with the two Florida schools on board, they're not going to be looking to add UCF. Something like this might be the most realistic outcome for this unrealistic scenario:

North: Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
South: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami-FL, NC State
Non-FB: Notre Dame

(If you don't think NC State would defect, then replace them with Memphis.)

This would leave the ACC a shell of its former self, forced to restock from the AAC:

Atlantic: Boston College, Central Florida, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple
Coastal: Duke, Memphis, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest

While this might still be considered a power conference from a basketball perspective, it certainly wouldn't be from a football perspective.

The Big 12 grumbles a bit over losing West Virginia but is mildly relieved to drop a geographic outlier and slightly reduce travel expenses. They tap Houston for #10, eschewing a FB-only invite to BYU.

Meanwhile, the AAC remnant coalesces around its South Central core, bringing on some CUSA (and perhaps Sun Belt) schools in the region. Navy returns to independence, while ECU joins up with the eastern CUSA (and perhaps some Sun Belt) schools. The Sun Belt refills from the FCS, and the cycle of college sports realignment continues.

AAC
East: Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Tulane, UAB
West: Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UTEP, UTSA
Non-FB: Wichita State

CUSA
North: East Carolina, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Western Kentucky
South: Appalachian State, Charlotte, FAU, FIU, Georgia Southern

Sun Belt
East: Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, South Alabama, Troy, [FCS flavor of the week]
West: Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State (FB only), North Texas, Texas State
Non-FB: Little Rock, Texas-Arlington

(02-06-2020 03:57 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  I'll play.

What would FSU and Clemson want most? To rival the SEC in money, they need more big football fanbases. That means that they don't want Wake, Syracuse, or Boston College. Miami is dispensable too. But they need to add enough quality football schools to make it work. That makes West Virginia important.

Could they get WVU? FSU & Clemson would be a good 1-2 punch that would guarantee a big media contract, possibly rivaling the Big 12's (the Big 12 is hampered by being a low population region). And they're geographically a better fit for WVU than the Big 12. So WVU would probably join if offered.

Who else could they reasonably add outside the ACC? Cincinnati & UCF would sign up. Probably Louisville too. That's 6.

If they're going to pry away an SEC team, they should target Tennessee. They've been a laughinstock in the SEC for over a decade and are probably tired of it. And they're a huge fan base that can anchor a conference. Would an Appalachian-based division tempt Tennessee? I think it might, if they can get Virginia Tech on board.

I could see a division of Tennesee-West Virginia-Pitt-Louisville-Virginia Tech-Cincinnati having a lot of synergies and becoming very powerful. Maybe add Memphis too.

A southern division of FSU-Clemson-Georgia Tech-UCF is a good start, but who else would they add to make it worthwhile? It's 2 teams short unless you break up Tobacco Road. And Tobacco Road will fight this tooth-and-nail.

To summarize... For this to happen, FSU and Clemson would have to convince Tennessee and Virginia Tech to come along in order for it to be worth it. Otherwise, no dice.

You've been drinking the same kool-aid GTS does. I get we're spitballing here but outside of Clemson, what school in this scenario is going to help fill Neyland? The ongoing renovation would have to shift to removing the upper deck.

To say nothing of the fact that while UTK has been in the dumps for a decade+, those SEC checks don't bounce.

Who would leave the ACC at this point? That's not happening until 2037.

(02-07-2020 09:07 AM)megadrone Wrote:  Who would leave the ACC at this point? That's not happening until 2037.

That depends on the deal at hand. An invitation to the XII? Nope. An invitation to the B1G or SEC? Maybe - especially with a full-time paycheck and/or coverage of the exit fees.

The question becomes would either conference go above and beyond for any of those schools. Perhaps Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, or Florida St. Maybe Clemson.

(02-06-2020 10:49 PM)MidknightWhiskey Wrote:  

(02-06-2020 08:00 PM)bullet Wrote:  I like the idea of paired 12 team conferences. You get there by the Pac 12/Big 12 combining and parts of ACC combining with Big 10 and SEC.

Big 12 loses WVU but adds BYU, Houston and Colorado St. Pac 12 stays the same-Washington, Washington St., Oregon, Oregon ST., Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona St., Utah, Colorado.
Big 12 is Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Colorado St., BYU, Houston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Kansas, Kansas St., Iowa St.

Big 10 adds ACC Coastal and ND + UConn and USF
Big 10 is Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan St., Michigan, Ohio St., Rutgers
Big 10 Atlantic is Penn St., Maryland, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, UConn, USF

SEC adds ACC Atlantic and WVU + UCF and Cincinnati
SEC is Arkansas, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
ACC is FSU, Clemson, North Carolina St., Wake Forest, Boston College, Syracuse, Louisville, West Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, UCF, Cincinnati

With this setup, the conferences can play an 8 game conference schedule, either a 5-0-3 or 5-1-2 (5 vs. division, 0 or 1 fixed cross division and 3 or 2 rotating cross division). They get everyone in the conference at least either 2 in 4 years (5-0-3) or 2 in 5 years (5-1-2). They play at least 1 ooc against the partner conference. If they play 2, they can get everyone in the partner conference 2 times in 12 years, similar to what SEC E&W and ACC Atlantic&Coastal do now. You have more conference titles, more division titles, closer ties within the conference and similar ties with the paired conference as you do now in the ACC and SEC.

Another way to split the ACC would be N/S, but the above keeps existing scheduling similar, shares the populous east coast and shares the 3 biggest names (FSU, Clemson, Miami).

Notre Dame will never join the Big 10. The conference was literally created to boycott Notre Dame.

They were on the verge of joining in 1999 until alumni revolted. In any event, it would really be joining an ACC subset with 8 ACC schools (4 formerly BE), 2 AAC former BE schools, 1 Big 10 former ACC school and Penn St. They could also limit the Big 10-Atlantic/Big Atlantic (whatever they called it), to 6 or 7 conference games, giving Notre Dame scheduling flexibility AND the advantages of being in a conference.

(02-07-2020 09:07 AM)megadrone Wrote:  Who would leave the ACC at this point? That's not happening until 2037.

I think the only way it happens is if 12 want it to happen. So that would mean 12 going somewhere else.

(02-07-2020 10:40 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(02-06-2020 10:49 PM)MidknightWhiskey Wrote:  

(02-06-2020 08:00 PM)bullet Wrote:  I like the idea of paired 12 team conferences. You get there by the Pac 12/Big 12 combining and parts of ACC combining with Big 10 and SEC.

Big 12 loses WVU but adds BYU, Houston and Colorado St. Pac 12 stays the same-Washington, Washington St., Oregon, Oregon ST., Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona St., Utah, Colorado.
Big 12 is Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Colorado St., BYU, Houston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Kansas, Kansas St., Iowa St.

Big 10 adds ACC Coastal and ND + UConn and USF
Big 10 is Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan St., Michigan, Ohio St., Rutgers
Big 10 Atlantic is Penn St., Maryland, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, UConn, USF

SEC adds ACC Atlantic and WVU + UCF and Cincinnati
SEC is Arkansas, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
ACC is FSU, Clemson, North Carolina St., Wake Forest, Boston College, Syracuse, Louisville, West Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, UCF, Cincinnati

With this setup, the conferences can play an 8 game conference schedule, either a 5-0-3 or 5-1-2 (5 vs. division, 0 or 1 fixed cross division and 3 or 2 rotating cross division). They get everyone in the conference at least either 2 in 4 years (5-0-3) or 2 in 5 years (5-1-2). They play at least 1 ooc against the partner conference. If they play 2, they can get everyone in the partner conference 2 times in 12 years, similar to what SEC E&W and ACC Atlantic&Coastal do now. You have more conference titles, more division titles, closer ties within the conference and similar ties with the paired conference as you do now in the ACC and SEC.

Another way to split the ACC would be N/S, but the above keeps existing scheduling similar, shares the populous east coast and shares the 3 biggest names (FSU, Clemson, Miami).

Notre Dame will never join the Big 10. The conference was literally created to boycott Notre Dame.

They were on the verge of joining in 1999 until alumni revolted. In any event, it would really be joining an ACC subset with 8 ACC schools (4 formerly BE), 2 AAC former BE schools, 1 Big 10 former ACC school and Penn St. They could also limit the Big 10-Atlantic/Big Atlantic (whatever they called it), to 6 or 7 conference games, giving Notre Dame scheduling flexibility AND the advantages of being in a conference.

They considered the offer. The Faculty Senate liked the idea (CIC), the Board of Trustees voted no after the alumni revolted.

The alumni overwhelmingly hated the idea of:

1) The Big Ten, and

2) Putting football into a conference, any conference

Bottom line: ND said no.

ND will continue to resist putting football in a conference, despite what scenarios other fans come up with.

P.S. I just saw this:

The 2020 campaign will mark the 30th season of Notre Dame football home games being broadcast exclusively on NBC.


https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.co...off-times/

What would make more sense is to create a Best Of League from the ACC and Big 12:

West: Kansas, Okla, Ok St, Texas, TTU

East: FSU, Miami, Clemson, VT, Louisville

Alternate the CCG between Jacksonville and Dallas.

The payouts per school for that grouping of schools has to be in the near Big Ten/SEC neighborhood.

(02-06-2020 12:48 PM)MidknightWhiskey Wrote:  It's the off season and we all already miss football, so what's your favorite realignment scenarios?

My current favorite is a scenario where the ACC network fails and the football power schools break off and take a few more with them, similar to when the Big East split.

FSU, Clemson, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Pitt & Notre Dame leave to form a new conference. If Notre Dame wouldn't join as a full member bring Navy as FB only to offset.
West Virginia comes in from the Big 12.
Maryland from the Big 10.
South Carolina from the SEC (the assumption here is Clemson would be able to convince them to join)
UCF, Memphis & Cincinnati from the AAC.

No way in Cleveland will Maryland leave the Big 10 gravy train.