With
college football back on the rise and becoming more popular with every snap and touchdown, teams are beginning to look for any advantage to get ahead. Rather it is trying to get that next big time recruit or that lucrative TV deal, and in the most recent instance trying to get that National Championship ring.
Teams like
TCU and
Bosie State are looking to leave their respective conferences to find greener pastures. While teams like Nebraska,
Colorado, and
Utah have moved out their respective conferences to other ones just this year. With Notre Dame, Army and Navy being independent, BYU just made the same move as they hope to get the love and exposure as the Fighting Irish, but we will have to wait and see how that goes.
Nebraska left the Big 12 and went to the Big Ten Conference. While Colorado also left the Big 12, but went to the now Pac 12 Conference with Utah leaving the Mountain West Conference, and also joining the Pac 12. Utah left the MAC because they were not getting the respect they deserve like most of the teams in smaller conferences.
Utah was 13-0 in 2009, and was overlooked for the
National Champions due to “bigger schools” is so called “power conferences”. In 2009 a 12-1 Florida Gators team took on a 12-1 Oklahoma Sooners team. The Utah Utes were forced to play in the
Sugar Bowl against the
Alabama Crimson Tide from one sports media consider the “best conference” in college football. Well the Utes took it the Tide and blew them out 31-17. After this game Utah decided to make a move and join a conference with the prestige of getting to National Championship games.
Now with the Big 12 dwindling down Texas A&M is looking to jump ship and join the SEC. I say let them go, but the other eight teams left in the conference spearheaded by Baylor University are looking to take legal action to keep them there. I say let them go.
This is how college football can turn things around and make it more competitive and keep their product still as great as ever. It will take some teams moving to other conferences, but in the end it will add almost 16 teams to a conference and set up good for a long awaited playoff system.
Move Kansas, Kansas St, Iowa, and Bowling Green to the Big Ten Conference which will give them 16 teams.
Move
Texas,
Oklahoma, Texas Tech and
Oklahoma St to the
Pac 12 Conference which will give them 16 teams.
Combine the
Mountain West and the
WAC dropping Wyoming and Louisiana Tech. Add Baylor and BYU which will give them 16 teams also.
Move
Georgia Tech,
Texas A&M, Florida St. and Missouri to the
SEC which will add 16 teams to that conference.
Move
West Virginia,
UConn,
Louisville, Rutgers, USF, and Pittsburgh to the
ACC that will give them 16 teams.
Move
Cincinnati,
Syracuse, Navy and Army to
Conference USA which will give them 16 teams.
This will leave the
Mid-American Conference with just 12 teams which will still constitute a conference championship game.
Louisiana Tech,
Wyoming and
UTEP will join the
Sun Belt Conference which also gives them the 12 teams with a conference championship as well.
This leaves
Notre Dame as the only independent school which is fine seeing they are just so bent on doing that anyway.
This sets up eight conference championship games that can be used as bowl games. Then it sets up for a playoff between the conferences that will move through the Bowl Season, and if they want they can still add concession games as bowl games for teams that just want to play.
Will people be happy to see certain big name conferences wiped off the map, not at all. This going to take sacrifice and planning before other teams start to jump ship and this conference re-alignment gets out of control.
I know a lot about sports, and I have seen a lot in my time on this earth. In the end I see this situation getting out of control as teams look to stop being the “Little Sister of the Poor” as
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee called TCU last year before they beat their Big Ten brother Wisconsin in the
2011 Rose Bowl Game 21-19.
