One of my biggest beefs here in college conferences is "western" teams in "eastern" conferences with "western" being defined as being west of the Mississippi River.

So I thought what if we could juggle all of the Power 5 conferences so that all conferences can only contain teams on one side of the Mississippi River?

All schools East of the Mississippi have to be in the ACC, Big Ten, or SEC and all schools West of the Mississippi have to be in either the Pac 12 or Big 12. If you're on the river (Minnesota and LSU), you are counted as East for this exercise.

The ACC is entirely East of the Mississippi so it remains intact.
The Pac 12 is entirely West of the Mississippi so it remains intact.

The Big 10 loses Iowa and Nebraska and goes to 12 teams. IMO it's addition by subtraction. I'm sure the networks might consider the Big 10 overall less valuable without the schools but there's two less slices to divide as well. Considering the big 3 (OSU, Mich, PSU) remain, I can't imagine the remaining Big 10 schools losing money if Iowa and Nebraska leave.

The SEC loses Texas A&M, Missouri and Arkansas. However, since the Big 12 loses West Virginia, the SEC will pick them up to go to 12 teams.

The Big 12 loses West Virginia put picks up all the "western" teams from the Big 10 and SEC (Nebraska, Iowa, Texas A&M, Missouri, and Arkansas).

The Big 10 loses two decent football teams (although in terms of football lately Nebraska hasn't been so hot). In terms of population, the Big 10 doesn't lose squat (maybe 5% of it's base?) The SEC is by far the biggest loser losing a share of Texas (and Missouri wouldn't be insignificant although admittedly they don't really fit well in the SEC). But this at least levels the playing field.

The Big 12 is the biggest winner getting A&M back although they go from being the smallest conference and only having to split 10 ways to tied with being the biggest conference and having to split 14 ways. Hey, if it weren't for Bob Bullock, the Big 12 would only have 12 like the Big 10, SEC, and Pac 12.

Divisions? The Pac 12's would obviously stay intact. The ACC's wouldn't have to change but probably should. The Big 10 could easily move Indiana over to the "West" (I think they should just change the name to Central). SEC? Vanderbilt moves to the West and West Virginia to the East or keep Vandy in the East and make West Virginia go to the West.

As for the new Big 12, North and South. The five Texas schools and the two Oklahoma schools are the South and everyone else becomes the North (Arkansas, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska). Arkansas by far would be the biggest loser in this proposal, they would have to leave the SEC and wouldn't even get to be in the same division as the Texas or Oklahoma schools. Chances are decent though that the Big 12 will agree to nine conference games since no Big 12 school has any permanent non conference rivals (Iowa-ISU is now a conference game) and that would give Arkansas three games a year vs. Texas or Oklahoma schools as opposed to one now (A&M) plus LSU, Alabama, and Auburn. Iowa won't be happy going from the Big 10 to the Big 12 but Nebraska goes with them and they will be with Iowa State.

The Big 10 will probably be happier than the SEC in this plan. The Eastern SEC schools won't have to cross the river but there's a difference between losing the state of Texas and losing the state of Nebraska. If the Big 10 can get the University of Texas, I wouldn't mind flying across the river, especially if the networks give us a ton of money. Flying to Nebraska for a tiny monetary increase isn't worth it in my opinion, especially when Penn State's own conference won't acknowledge that we won the 1994 national championship.

It’s a fun premise. The presence of a major river however, doesn’t necessarily mean a sharp cultural contrast and that’s why I think that the Mississippi hasn’t been a conference dividing line.

A lot of East Texas is still very culturally southern. I’ve heard it said that while Dallas is still southern, Forth Worth marks the beginning of the West.

Exactly

The states aren’t Europe where an entire culture stops at a river. And furthermore North vs South is a far bigger cultural divide than East vs West in this country

(07-18-2021 07:27 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  It’s a fun premise. The presence of a major river however, doesn’t necessarily mean a sharp cultural contrast and that’s why I think that the Mississippi hasn’t been a conference dividing line.

A lot of East Texas is still very culturally southern. I’ve heard it said that while Dallas is still southern, Forth Worth marks the beginning of the West.

That's Fort Worth's slogan: "Where The West Begins"

But yes, the deeper into East Texas you get, the more southern you get.

The North/South divide obviously traces back to the Civil War era. You can either use the Union/Confederacy dividing line or the free state/slave state definitions where the gray areas would be states like Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri as to whether they are considered North or South. California was admitted to the US as a "free state" and never joined the Confederacy so they would be considered "North" for this definition even though they would be southern geographically. Since most of the Western states hadn't become states, they would probably be considered North as well so using this definition probably leads to the usual CSNBBS split with the Big Ten and Pac 12 on one side and the SEC, Big 12, and ACC on the other (with the northern ACC schools like Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Boston College possibly shifting to the northern side). Of course that sticks the Northern schools with all the West Coast travel. I don't associate with California but then again I don't associate with Alabama either.

(07-19-2021 05:15 AM)schmolik Wrote:  The North/South divide obviously traces back to the Civil War era. You can either use the Union/Confederacy dividing line or the free state/slave state definitions where the gray areas would be states like Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri as to whether they are considered North or South. California was admitted to the US as a "free state" and never joined the Confederacy so they would be considered "North" for this definition even though they would be southern geographically. Since most of the Western states hadn't become states, they would probably be considered North as well so using this definition probably leads to the usual CSNBBS split with the Big Ten and Pac 12 on one side and the SEC, Big 12, and ACC on the other (with the northern ACC schools like Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Boston College possibly shifting to the northern side). Of course that sticks the Northern schools with all the West Coast travel. I don't associate with California but then again I don't associate with Alabama either.

Absolutely incorrect.
Around the world, plants, animals all grow in linear bands.
Environment is based on Latitude, which has divided north/south since the beginning of recorded history.

(07-19-2021 05:22 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-19-2021 05:15 AM)schmolik Wrote:  The North/South divide obviously traces back to the Civil War era. You can either use the Union/Confederacy dividing line or the free state/slave state definitions where the gray areas would be states like Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri as to whether they are considered North or South. California was admitted to the US as a "free state" and never joined the Confederacy so they would be considered "North" for this definition even though they would be southern geographically. Since most of the Western states hadn't become states, they would probably be considered North as well so using this definition probably leads to the usual CSNBBS split with the Big Ten and Pac 12 on one side and the SEC, Big 12, and ACC on the other (with the northern ACC schools like Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Boston College possibly shifting to the northern side). Of course that sticks the Northern schools with all the West Coast travel. I don't associate with California but then again I don't associate with Alabama either.

Absolutely incorrect.
Around the world, plants, animals all grow in linear bands.
Environment is based on Latitude, which has divided north/south since the beginning of recorded history.

Then which degree latitude defines North and South in the US then?

Realignment based mostly off major bodies of water might work. Only considering the current power schools and trying to keep schools together so this isn't a perfect split:

Independent: Notre Dame

PAC (Pacific Ocean)
East: Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas St, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Utah
West: California, Oregon, Oregon St, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington St

B1G (Great Lakes)
East: Indiana, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Penn St, Pittsburgh, Syracuse
West: Illinois, Iowa, Iowa St, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin

SEC (Gulf of Mexico)
East: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi St, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
West: Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Mississippi, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

ACC (Atlantic Ocean)
Atlantic: Boston College, Clemson, Florida St, Maryland, North Carolina St, Rutgers, South Carolina, Wake Forest
Coastal: Duke, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia

(07-19-2021 05:22 AM)XLance Wrote:  

(07-19-2021 05:15 AM)schmolik Wrote:  The North/South divide obviously traces back to the Civil War era. You can either use the Union/Confederacy dividing line or the free state/slave state definitions where the gray areas would be states like Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri as to whether they are considered North or South. California was admitted to the US as a "free state" and never joined the Confederacy so they would be considered "North" for this definition even though they would be southern geographically. Since most of the Western states hadn't become states, they would probably be considered North as well so using this definition probably leads to the usual CSNBBS split with the Big Ten and Pac 12 on one side and the SEC, Big 12, and ACC on the other (with the northern ACC schools like Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Boston College possibly shifting to the northern side). Of course that sticks the Northern schools with all the West Coast travel. I don't associate with California but then again I don't associate with Alabama either.

Absolutely incorrect.
Around the world, plants, animals all grow in linear bands.
Environment is based on Latitude, which has divided north/south since the beginning of recorded history.

The North/South divide is older than the Civil War, and does stem from the different climates of the northern and southern US (determined in large part by the effects of latitude). The climate of the southern US lent itself more to agriculture (and conservative principles), which freed up the northern US to think progressively and industrialize.