(12-30-2020 09:52 PM)bullet Wrote: They were talking to Louisville, Tulsa and Tulane before the Big 12 was formed.
Houston didn't want to participate or they might have been able to form off the SWC instead of the CUSA. Don't know how Louisville and Cincinnati felt about that, but it could have been:
Rice
TCU
SMU
Houston
Tulane
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati
Tulsa
UTEP
And possibly DePaul and St. Louis for basketball.
As a variation of your idea:
Southwest Conference, 1996:
Houston
SMU
TCU
Rice
Tulsa (from I-A Independent/Missouri Valley)
Memphis (from I-A Independent/Great Midwest)
Tulane (from I-A Independent/Metro)
Louisville (from I-A Independent/Metro)
Cincinnati (from I-A Indepndent/Great Midwest)
Southern Miss (from I-A Independent/Metro)
This would be all that's left of Conference USA:
Marquette, Saint Louis, DePaul, UAB, Charlotte, South Florida
The Sun Belt readmits UAB and South Florida. Marquette and DePaul join the Midwest Collegiate (now known as the Horizon). Charlotte and Saint Louis join the Atlantic 10. Both the Metro and Great Midwest are dead.
Since the WAC only expands to 12 (no TCU, SMU, Rice, Tulsa), they remain unscathed until the Pac-10 takes Utah and BYU responds by going independent. The WAC then takes Boise State and Utah State from the Big West.
The realignment of 2003-2005 still happens. The ACC takes Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College from the Big East. The Big East takes Louisville and Cincinnati from the Southwest Conference; South Florida from the Sun Belt; and Marquette and DePaul from the Horizon. The SWC takes UAB from the Sun Belt and I-A Independent East Carolina.
The Big 12 winds up snatching Big East-bound TCU. The SWC responds by adding Central Florida.
The ACC then raids the Big East again, causing the Big East/American to take Memphis, Houston, SMU, UCF, ECU, Tulane, and Tulsa from the Southwest Conference. The Southwest Conference responds by adding North Texas, FAU, FIU, Louisiana Tech, and Middle Tennessee from the Sun Belt. The next year the SWC adds Marshall from the MAC and Western Kentucky from the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt then adds UTSA, Texas State, and Louisiana-Monroe from the Southland; Georgia State from the CAA; and South Alabama begins FBS play. They are then followed a year later by Georgia Southern and Appalachian State.
SWC (2014-present)
Western - Rice, North Texas, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, UAB
Southern - FAU, FIU, WKU, MTSU, Marshall, East Carolina
Sun Belt (2014 - present)
West - NMSU, Arkansas State, UTSA, Texas State, Louisiana, ULM
East - USA, Troy, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, App State, Charlotte
WAC (2011-present)
Pacific - Hawaii, San Jose State, Fresno State, San Diego State, UNLV, Boise State
Mountain - Utah State, Colorado State, Air Force, Wyoming, New Mexico, UTEP
Nevada and Idaho continue as FBS independents and members of the Big West.
Old Dominion becomes a full member of the MAC along with James Madison, who replaces football-only UMass.