With conference realignment drastically changing the landscape of college sports and TV contracts and NIL (the name, image and likeness of athletes) pumping more and more money into teams and players’ hands, not many people are content with the college football landscape right now. Here is how I would reshape the Power 5 college sports conferences:
Pac-12:
- Arizona
- Arizona State
- Oregon
- Oregon State
- Washington
- Washington State
- Utah
- Colorado
- UCLA
- USC
- California
- Stanford
I would keep the standard Pac-12 alive, as having any of these West Coast teams (except for Colorado, who are pretty close to the Midwest) move to any of the eastern conferences would be a nightmare for players and fans with so much travel.
Big Ten:
- Michigan
- Ohio State
- Michigan State
- Purdue
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Northwestern
- Wisconsin
- Minnesota
- Iowa
- Penn State
- Nebraska
The goal in reshaping this conference is to keep the original concept of a Midwest conference, meaning that Maryland and Rutgers get cut because they are nowhere near the Midwest. The only two non-original Big Ten teams here are Penn State and Nebraska. Keeping Penn State in here balances out what otherwise could become a two-horse race every year between Michigan and Ohio State. Keeping Nebraska makes sense, as Nebraska as a state has closer ties to Iowa and Minnesota than it does to Texas or other Big 12 teams.
SEC:
- Alabama
- Auburn
- Georgia
- LSU
- Ole Miss
- Mississippi Sate
- Florida
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- Arkansas
- Vanderbilt
Out of all the Power 5, the SEC is the least “messed up” from the current conference realignment, as they are the only major conference that actually is staying in their own region. So, all I did was “trim the fat,” sending Texas A&M and Missouri back to the Big 12.
Big 12:
- Texas
- Texas A&M
- TCU
- Texas Tech
- Baylor
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State
- Missouri
- Kansas
- Kansas State
- Houston
- Iowa State
Keeping this great plain conference together is important, especially as it preserves the Oklahoma and Oklahoma State rivalry. Additionally, it keeps all of the Texas teams together, with Houston and Iowa State bolstering the basketball side of the conference.
ACC:
- Clemson
- Duke
- North Carolina
- NC State
- Virginia
- Virginia Tech
- Maryland
- Miami
- UCF
- Georgia Tech
- Wake Forest
- Florida State
The idea with this conference is to keep the “Atlantic” part of this conference, but also keep it more southern to make way for the Big East Football conference. This plan would also exclude Notre Dame from ACC football, as it does not really make sense for them to play as an ACC geographically.
Big East:
- Rutgers
- Syracuse
- Pittsburgh
- West Virginia
- Cincinnati
- Boston College
- Louisville
- Notre Dame
This conference does not have 12 like the others, as there are simply not enough that fit in this conference. Despite that, this conference basically picks up all of the teams in the Northeast of the US, which currently is split between the Big 10, Big 12 and the ACC. This conference would put Notre Dame football into a conference for the first time, making schedules for them a lot easier.
Although this solution is not very likely, it would address complaints about long travel times and confusing conferences for players and fans alike. Along with this, the playoff could be an eight team playoff, with the winners of each new 12 team conference getting an automatic bid and there being two leftover “wildcard” spots.
