Mavman said:
All this talk about schools moving up for realignment is a moot point I believe. I see a future with 4 16 team conferences and then the other FBS smaller conferences. These realignments are only to make the rich richer ...
Oddly enough, a transition to four 16-team power conference doesn’t turn out to be that difficult. There are a few hard choices, but – believe it or not –many of the changes fall “naturally” into place.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Division
Boston College
Clemson
Florida State
Louisville
NC State
Rutgers [transfer from Big Ten]
Syracuse
Wake Forest
Coastal Division
Duke
Georgia Tech
Miami
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
Virginia
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
West Virginia moving to the ACC has been talked up forever (more natural rivals, better travel, etc). Not so much talk about Rutger getting back to where it belongs … in the ACC … but the notion has been discussed quite a bit by commentators who follow the team.
Big Ten
East Division
Illinois [moved from West Division]
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue [moved from West Division]
Rutgers [out to ACC]
West Division
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Wisconsin
No big surprise here. Almost every discussion of the Big 12 breaking up has the three teams I’ve listed going to the Big Ten. And adding Kansas would make the Big Ten even more of a monster in basketball. To maintain balance, they’d need to shift Illinois and Purdue, but that makes a lot of sense geographically.
Pac-12
North Division
California
Colorado [moved from South Division]
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
Utah [moved from South Division]
Washington
Washington State
South Division
Arizona
Arizona State
Baylor
Oklahoma State
TCU
Texas Tech
UCLA
USC
This wholesale switch of four teams from the disbanded Big-12 may seem like a stretch … and it might be. Still, it would make a good package for the South Division, including some of the old “natural” rivalries. Baylor is problematic for various reasons, but the fact that they’re the current NCAA men’s basketball champion would be a definite plus for the Pac-12. Aside from all that, moving Colorado and Utah to the North Division makes sense geographically.
SEC
East Division
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vanderbilt
West Division
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi State
Missouri [moved from East Division]
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
I put Oklahoma and Texas in the same division to preserve that heated rivalry. Moving Missouri to maintain balance also works, because it puts them in with Arkansas and Texas A&M.