Realignment...
One of the things I enjoyed most about my time as a grad student at K-State were the discussions I would have with my friend Jacob. The two of us started the PhD program at the same time and have very similar interests when it comes to geography. Two of our favorite topics were cultural capitals (or 'centers') and college football conferences. As cultural geographers, the latter topic was one of great interest as we tried to balance regional cultural ties with natural (i.e. 'physical') boundaries while taking into consideration a school's reputation both academic and athletic.
This past week, I had a discussion with a local friend of mine on how college football conferences should realign. Currently, there are 11 conferences with any number of teams some playing both football and basketball, others only basketball. Our rules were relatively simple: 7 D-I conferences with 12 schools apiece--all of which must play football. With this format, a number of schools that are currently D-I would be bumped down to D-IAA (and yes, I am aware of the new designations: FBS and FCS, but does anyone really refer to them as such?)
We had the same pics on two conferences: PAC-12 and the Great Lakes 12 (formerly the 'PAC-10' and 'Big 10' respectively), had minor differences with the Big 12 (my friend wanted to throw in Arkansas) and SEC, and differed significantly on the ACC. The two remaining conferences--Mountain West and Big East--were more or less those we didn't find a home for elsewhere. Noteworthy changes I made were to bump Wyoming down to D-IAA (the Big Sky Conference is a natural fit) as well as everyone in the MAC.
I'll be interested in your thoughts on this.
Note: I am well aware that my Mountain West Plains and Big East South pics could use some serious work. Also, three schools were left independent: Army, Navy, and Air Force.
ACC
NORTH SOUTH
Boston College UNC
Syracuse NC State
Penn State Duke
Maryland Wake Forest
UVA South Carolina
Virginia Tech Clemson
BIG 12
NORTH SOUTH
CU OU
Colorado State Oklahoma State
New Mexico Baylor
Nebraska Texas
KU Texas A&M
K-State Texas Tech
GREAT LAKES 12
WEST EAST
Minnesota Notre Dame
Wisconsin Indiana
Iowa Purdue
Iowa State Michigan
Illinois Michigan State
Missouri Ohio State
PAC 12
NORTH SOUTH
Washington Utah
Washington State BYU
Oregon USC
Oregon State UCLA
Cal Arizona
Stanford Arizona State
SEC
WEST EAST
LSU Tennessee
Arkansas Georgia
Mississippi Georgia Tech
Mississippi State Florida
Alabama Florida State
Auburn Miami
BIG EAST
NORTH SOUTH
Pitt Memphis
West Virginia Vanderbuilt
Marshall Southern Miss
Cincinnati Alabama-Birmingham
Louisville Central Florida
Kentucky Southern Florida
MOUNTAIN WEST
MOUNTAIN PLAINS
Boise State Texas-El Paso
Nevada-Reno New Mexico State
UNLV TCU
Fresno State SMU
San Diego State Rice
Hawaii Houston
ps--in case you're wondering, it's been a rough week. I'm still dealing with the loss of my father, but I am doing better. Thanks to all who commented, e-mailed, or called over the past week.
posted by The Bearded | 6:00 PM
3 Comments:
So I already mentioned eliminating the "12" from several conference names. If they are all going to have 12 teams anyway, it seems little superfluous. The Big 12 could be the Great Plains Conference, or the Frontier Conference.
As for your division of teams, is the priority to try and keep traditional rivalries intact as much as possible, like what the NFL did when they reshuffled divisions? Because doing so creates some clearly weaker and stronger conferences. For instance, your Big East and Mountain West conferences are going to look pretty weak come football season. And this is going to result in all of the same problems about how to decide the national title, whether one goes with the BCS or a playoff.
As for specific teams, I don't like Penn State in the ACC, although I guess I could live with it. Florida, FSU, and Miami all in the SEC? Is this so you can ratchet up your hatred of the SEC even more? Not sure I would put New Mexico in the Big 12, or Missouri in the Great Lakes. AND WHAT ABOUT THE MONTANA STATE BOBCATS?! After all, they beat Big 12 teams most of the time!
RYAN...A few comments for you (and others):
THE ISSUE OF 12...I agree with you on eliminating '12' from the 'PAC 12' (simply "PAC") and the 'BIG 12' (I like the idea of "FRONTIER CONFERENCE"). However, the 'GREAT LAKES 12' will stay in place for at least 20 years to prove to all that those within the Big 10 can indeed count.
RIVALRIES... I almost kept Missouri in the Big 12 and could easily be talked into doing so. The problem was what to do with New Mexico. I suppose the latter could be placed in the WAC (i.e. Mountain West--should have referred to it as such initially) along with maybe Tulsa and drop Houston and Rice down to D-IAA.
This would do one of two things for the Great Lakes 12: resurrect Northwestern (which I'm ok with) or keep Penn State and move Notre Dame to the western subdivision (which I'm also ok with). The question is, what to do for an additional team in the ACC if you keep Penn State--I'm open to suggestions.
SUNSHINE STATE... Having all 3 (major) Florida teams in one division works for all as it prevents more than one from advancing.
WAC ('Mountain West') & BIG EAST... These conferences are a joke at present and I see no reason why they shouldn't remain so. I do think that I may have created some stronger rivalries within both than what exists at present:
WAC: having UNR play UNLV could be a potential rivalry and all of the schools in the Plains Subdivision have a natural rivalry with someone: UTEP & NMSU, SMU & TCU, and Houston & Rice--the latter 4 all being former SW Conference schools.
Dropping Houston and Rice for UNM and Tulsa takes away a bit from the rivalries, but it would add another one with UNM & NMSU.
BIG EAST: has a lot of potential for rivalries with the North Subdivision, but almost none with the South. Other than Memphis (which would work well with Cincinnati, UL, and UK), I'm not sure who else to throw into this subdivision. Again, I'm open to suggestions.
BOBCATS RULE!!! The Bobcats of Montana State can stay where they are in the Big Sky Conference. It's much more fun watching them destroy D-IA schools anyway!
I kind of read through your realignment quickly, but this is a subject we've discussed before so I kind of knew what to expect.
- Utah and BYU added to the PAC 10 is a no-brainer.
- You've been wanting to boot Missouri and Iowa State out of the Big 12 for years. It sure is tough to decide who to replace them with, isn't it?
- As for the three FL schools in the same conference: IT'S ABOUT TIME!!
Hang in there, brother. We should chat again soon.
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