Mandel's Conference Realignment Scenario from Sports Illustrated

[TyBull]

Mandel's Conference Realignment Scenario

In your last Mailbag you mentioned that the day could come where Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma etc... could break off and join with USC/UCLA and make some kind of super/mega conference. Care to elaborate? What would all the conferences look like if you were the God of College Football and re-did all the conferences from scratch?

--Lloyd Shell, South Jordan, Utah

I figured that answer might raise some eyebrows. Let me just reiterate that no such move is remotely imminent and it was purely speculative on my part. That said, I kind of miss the conference musical-chairs game everyone was playing back when the ACC dominos began falling, so why not play this thing out for the fun of it? What I envision is a flat-out demolition of the existing conference model to be replaced by eight NBA/NFL-like geographic "divisions" that feed into the inevitable 32-team playoff.

Here's what the eight divisions -- comprising 76 of the current 119 Division I-A schools -- might look like. Divisions with 10 teams would play three non-conference games. Divisions with nine teams would play four.

Northeast (9): Boston College, Connecticut, Maryland, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, [glow=red,2,300]South Florida[/glow], Syracuse, West Virginia

Atlantic (9): Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State, Virginia, Wake Forest

Midwest (9): Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Central (10): Arkansas, Baylor, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas Tech

The Old Metro Conference (9): Cincinnati, Louisville, Marshall, Memphis, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Virginia Tech, TCU, UCF

Southeast (10): Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Southwest (10): Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Utah

West (10): Boise State, BYU, Cal, Fresno State, Hawaii, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State

In the end, to make the whole thing work, I had to (among other things) move Nebraska to the Central division rather than the Southwest one I had prophesized last week. And if someone can come up with a better name than "The Old Metro Conference, I'm all ears.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/wr...bag/1.html

[NAM37]

Northeast (9): Boston College, Connecticut, Maryland, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, [glow=red,2,300]South Florida[/glow], Syracuse, West Virginia

Last time I checked a map, USF wasn't in the "northeast."  Did they move the school to Jersey and no one told me?

[SeaBull]

That's about as good as it could get...But NE? our closest conference away game would be Maryland, the WV...ehh. Swap us into the Atlantic for Virginia.

I could see the predictions now...every single year they will predict a SW vs SE championship.  :

UCF in the old-metro conference - or should I say old C-USA conference. Once a loser, always a loser. But this would make our relationship an instant rivalry, since wed all be "BCS" or whatever you want to call it.

Ranking in my order of difficulty:

1. SE

2. SW

3. Atlantic

   NE

5. MW

6. West

7. Central

   C-USA, errr OMC

[LakeBull]

We might as well talk about my playmate dating schedule.    Me and the playmates have about the same likelihood as this.

[SeaBull]

We might as well talk about my playmate dating schedule.    Me and the playmates have about the same likelihood as this.

And just like Playmates, this is fun to think about.

[80mins]

In classic work avoidance, I put together my own conferences. And yes, I'm fully aware it'll never happen, but if I were to start with a (semi-)blank slate:

Northeast: Army, Rutgers, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, UConn, Pitt, WVU, Cincy.

Mid-Atlantic: UVA, VT, UMCP, Navy, Dook, NC State, UNC, Wake Forest, Marshall, ECU.

Southern: South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia, GT, Miami, UCF, Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, Arkansas

Gulf Coast: [glow=green,2,300]USF[/glow], FSU, UF, Auburn, Bama, Ole Miss, Miss. St., Southern Miss, LSU

Midwest: OSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Louisville, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Minnesota

Heartland: Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Mizzou, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Memphis, Air Force, Texas Tech

Southwest: Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, OK State, Arizona, AZ State, USC, UCLA

Western: Colorado, BYU, Utah, Boise State, Washington State, Washington, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, OR State

Each conference has 9-10 teams, and for the most part they're pretty regionally sound (i.e. no USF in the North East). I threw the service academies and ECU into the mix from Mandel's slate just to round things out.

[MavTechKNIGHT2]

Those are pretty cool conferences.  I would switch USF with either Memphis or Marshall.  If there is realignment, why would anyone want USF to play in the Northeast?

Only other thing that is wierd is Nebraska and Oklahoma not being conference mates.

[crambone]

^you should change your sig...you aren't "golden" anymore...

[Jamie]

That would be quite a kick in the nuts for Louisville.

[MavTechKNIGHT2]

^you should change your sig...you aren't "golden" anymore...

True enough.  I am just too lazy to find some of the new graphics that are out there.