Is This How Conference Realignment Ends? 

A few things: Remember that the Playoff aspect of this is my main point and my guess as to some of the teams/markets that these conferences will try to go after. As for the comments about Georgia Tech: to be honest, they bring nothing to the SEC/Big Ten. They don't really have a great presence in football/basketball/baseball, and I've spent a lot of time in Atlanta--that city, as a whole, doesn't really care about them. So they're not (in my opinion) worthy of a spot in a 2-team super conference.

I totally think that the Big Ten will add Stanford instead of Colorado, and Cal instead of UVA, and I also think that UNC won’t abandon Duke.

Glad to have you uploading again now that re-alignment has given you tons of content!

I agree 24 teams in each conference is where we are headed. It’s going to be interesting to see if North Carolina ends up the SEC. Also, don’t rule out Notre Dame talking with the SEC…I know sounds crazy. Can’t see the SEC taking Memphis over someone like Baylor.

Glad College Football Lifer is back! I’ve been here since the last channel and your coverage always provides all the news I need to know :D

You always give Memphis love, and I appreciate that so much!! Your content is always solid!

So the big10 should change their name to the “manifest destiny conference “.

very nice job! well laid out, great graphics! congrats!

I’m not sure how this video ended up in my feed but my god…. Yikes. Let’s just start with teams left off this guy’s list that have won a New Year’s 6 / BCS Bowl when implemented in 2007: TCU Boise State Georgia Tech Houston Stanford Kansas UCF Iowa State Baylor Louisville Ok, here are teams on your list that haven’t won ANYTHING in the same timeframe (15 years): Mississippi State Tennessee Notre Dame Vanderbilt Missouri Pitt Arkansas Colorado NC State Northwestern Virginia Washington North Carolina Purdue Miami UCLA Indiana Nebraska South Carolina Illinois Maryland Minnesota Kentucky

The mini helmets are back! It’s going to be so strange getting used to USC in the B1G.

Wouldn’t Louisville be a better fit than Memphis? I mean the other SEC states have two schools I’d think they wouldn’t want Kentucky to have that advantage. Tulane and Arkansas St ain’t happening. I see ga tech also being in before Memphis. They bring absolutely nothing to the SEC

In my fantasy future, mine has the very same format you have, Dustin, but I went withs super-conferences, 8 divisions x 10 teams = 80 teams. Mostly to keep more old rivalries and to keep some more patsies for the major teams, etc. But, yeah, essentially the same format. But as you emphasize things are in major flux with college football. Who knows where we'll be one year from today?

To give you some more fun, how does scheduling work?

You did a great job of lumping the SWC and PAC 12. However, the Big Ten Division D is as much a dream come true as the most brutal division in college football ever. Unfortunately, this would turn the sport into the pinnacle of a mercenary-grabbing business, much worse than even the most rapacious and abusive NIL sports agent could ever imagine.

It's going to be so freaking hard to win either of these conferences. I think the days of Alabama dominating the SEC and Ohio State pretty much owning the BIG are done if this plays out like you say. So much more competition,hope it happens soon!

So like what’s then point in all joining together, not playing most of the conference teams, and splitting into divisions that are just like the conferences they leave?

How about Arizona and Arizona St? Gives the sec some west footprint. Could also add Baylor.

Cal and Stanford aren’t getting left out

I hope you are right so long as Louisville gets included instead of Memphis. With all due respect to Memphis and I am not a Louisville fan, I just think it creates a nice in state rivalry and those conference breakdowns look like some incredible football.

How does a conference call themselves "Big 10" and have more than 10 teams? That makes no sense!

Honestly a 2 "conference" set up like the NFL with the NFC and AFC might work. It would "fix" a lot our current problems like how championship just ends up being the SEC bowl every other year. But more than likely it would cause a lot of hubub.

I could see a scenario where the BIG and SEC go to 20 Teams, poaching more teams from the ACC, Big-12 and PAC-12 (10), leaving the ACC, Big-12 and PAC-12 (10) realigning with the MWC, forming their own 20 team conferences. As 16 team conferences (IF it STOPS there), we could have five pretty good P-5 type conferences...If NOT...Well, you know!!! 16 Team Conferences: ACC: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and MAYBE either one of (Temple, Navy, U-Conn and/or (West Virginia...IF 20 team conference happen), Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. BIG: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, and Wisconsin. Big-12: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah and West Virginia. MWC: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State, Washington, Washington State and Wyoming. SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. As 20 team conferences, that means that the ACC and the Big-12 have been RAIDED...AGAIN...And, the PAC-12 (10), has been POACHED to EXTITION!!! In that scenario, I see FOUR 20 team Super Conferences, with East / West Divisions, ALMOST spanning from coast to coast! BIG: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, and Wisconsin...With Kansas, Notre Dame, Oregon and Washington ADDED...That's coast to coast, with MOST MAJOR TV Markets in the fold!!! SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt...With Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia ADDED...NOT Coast to Coast but reaches from the Mid-Atlantic to the Great Plains, and the TV Markets are pretty extensive!!! NOW, you'd have a NEW Hybrid ACC, Big-12 and MWC Conference...Example: NEW ACC/Big-12/PAC Coast to Coast Hybrid Conference: Arizona, Baylor, Boston College, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Texas Tech, Utah, Virginia Tech and West Virginia...NUMEROUS, MAJOR TV Markets, with some GREAT Fan Bases!!! NEW MWC Hybrid: Arizona State, Air Force, Boise State, BYU, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Iowa State, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon State, San Diego State, San Jose State, SMU, TCU, Tulsa, UNLV, Utah State, Washington State and Wyoming...Have some pretty good TV Markets, and some Good to GREAT Fan Bases...From the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean!!! These two scenarios may not be exactly how it ends up...BUT, I'd bet it's pretty DAMN CLOSE as to how it ENDS UP!!! CAL and Stanford ARE Dead Teams Walking...NOBODY WANTS their ARROGANT, LIBERAL, SOCIALIST ASSES...And, the remaining teams and conferences are delegated to G5, or D-2 Purgatory!!! JMHO!!!

Gotta take out the E in SEC if the conference stretches all the way west to Arizona..... call it the South Conference 😂

This is a nightmare, it would end all the trash talking between conferences,what about playing cupcakes and rankings and bowl games....

Only 48 of 65 "Power Five"

Yes to this basic idea. A broadly North vs South division with more geographically grouped divisions would generate enormous interest. I would like to see more teams included and the big payoff would come from separate playoffs leading to a final game between the North and South champions. This would generate enormous interest and would tap into the regionality that CFB derives life from more than the NFL. CFB taps into school and state pride while very few cities, mostly in the North, still foster city rivalries. In the rest of the country, people are too mobile to feel strongly that way. Atlanta vs Birmingham vs Charlotte registers a zero on the give-a-damn scale. But Georgia/Alabama/Tennessee and even moreso UGA/Bama/UT commands significant feellings. A generalized North vs South loyalty has something to it. Tap into this and generate a ton of interest.

So do we think the ACC may be ruined and be over with at this point or just the small teams are left to themselves in the ACC?

How good would be a conference made up of those who are left of from your Conference realignment? Would they be good enough to argue that they deserve at least 2 spots in the new made playoffs? That would be (with 2 additions (best Group of 5 teams on ESPN Strength ranking (15 years) to also make it a 24 team conference): Cal; Stanford; Washington State; Oregon State; Arizona State; Arizona, Boise State & BYU(West division) Kansas State; TCU; Iowa State; Kansas; Texas Tech; Baylor; Louisville & Houston (Central Division) Boston College; Duke; Georgia Tech; Syracuse; Wake Forrest; Cincinati; USF & Appalachian State (Eastern Division) Could that conference still be considered a „power conference“ if the other two being the „Power two“? And how many playoff spots would that conference deserve in your Playoff format? As a European not watching CFB for too long, I’m very interested what you think.

What about all of the schools left out of the "super-conferences"?

The map looks like it was from the civil war

I know Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Mississippi schools would be a hard no on Memphis because they all recruit out of that city. I could think of a number of schools the SEC would invite before Memphis. Georgia Tech and Louisville would be higher up the list before Memphis if they wanted to stay in the Southeast. Since geography doesn't matter anymore, Kansas and Colorado might be options as well. I'm also not convinced that UNC is B1G bound like everyone seems to think. I could see the SEC pulling in Clemson, VT, UNC, NC State, Duke and making them their own division along with South Carolina. Just call it the Atlantic Division.

It is weird that that map resembles what it would look like in an alternate timeline if the South won the Civil War🤔

no georgia tech!? they'd be in before Memphis surely.

Hell no to Big10/ SEC super conference while other schools left in the dark. Hell yea to 4 super conferences :)

Now that the 12 team playoffs have been announced I see the Big 12, and Pac 12 evening out with their remaining teams, and don't see major changes anymore. Being a 12-team playoff gives more incentive to winning a power 5 conference then joining a mega conference. ND may still join a conference being the playoffs seem to favor teams in a conference over independents.

Texas Tech would probably go to the sec before osu. I think you underestimate the Dallas and Houston alumni markets and also the traditional tech/atm/ur rivalry. Best case would be to get both osu and tech.

It seems like nobody really knows what the future brings. But if the model resembles your scenario all of New York and New England is left out. That will make college football defunct in two of the biggest media outlets in the country - New York and Boston. Can't say it won't happen, but if it does expect a large fan base of college football to drift away.

How do two of the largest media markets in the country, the Bay Area and Phoenix not get included?

At the 4:49 mark the author states, "Markets aren't as big a deal anymore" which I totally agree with. But soon after he states that the SEC should invite Memphis because it's "a huge market and a big city".....which I don't agree with. Which is it?

Texas Tech in the SEC looks more feasible. Huge alumni base.

College football does need to make some drastic changes, but having only two conferences with one of them stretched completely across the country is a bit much. I wouldn't break it down into any less than 4; 6 evenly divided regional conferences and each of them split into 2 divisions would probably work better, and makes selection for a 12 team playoff easy to figure out, or maybe make it an 8 team playoff after a few wild card games.

I like your breakdown

And the national championship will be rename. It’ll then be called “ The Civil War”

Ummm….Memphis would bring 0 dollars of worth to any of the P5 Conferences. They will be left out & will always be a G5 school like an Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech so forth.

5:06- Florida has said verbatim they will not be in a conference with Miami and would block them from entering the SEC

I think the B1G and SEC ultimately get to 24 teams because you're still leaving quality matchups out if only 40 teams are in contention every year. And that's before you even begin to consider basketball in your calculus. I think the B1G ends up with the following: B1G Mid-Atlantic: Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Purdue Midwest: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Wisconsin Pacific: Cal, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington Unless I missed a trick, all of those schools are AAU as well, which is still apparently important to the B1G. SEC Atlantic: Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Virginia Tech Central: Kentucky, Louisville, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt Gulf Coast: Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State West: Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M I think the only teams left out in the cold with even a little name recognition and chance to catch eyeballs are Pitt, WVU, Utah and Cincinnati. MAYBE NC State. If you then go and institute some sort of European-style relegation which gives lower tier teams something to shoot for, particularly if some new, over-arching governing body subsidizes those lower tiers with their own regional conferences and championships, you maintain at least some of the charm and tradition that you lose with conference homogenization.

I think its a good idea but, I do think this could be very bad for college football, but it also could be good for college football, we just have to see

This makes alot of sense, but there should be a place for the Ariz. Teams.

More and more this is all about $. Can't leave out high brand value programs like AZ St. KS St., Stanford, Cal, TX Tech, and GA Tech.

Put UNC and UVA in the SEC and put Cal and Stanford in the Big Ten. I don't see the Big Ten reaching into the South because the SEC has such a foothold there. The SEC will look to lock down the states of North Carolina and Virginia, the only southern states where they don't currently have a presence. Instead I think the Big Ten looks to lock down the west coast, where they already have a presence with USC and UCLA.

If Oregon, Washington, and Notre Dame all end up going to the Big 10 then Stanford would be a lock as well. Academics, a presence in a huge media market, and being a natural rival to all three of the other aforementioned teams would make it a no-brainer. Then they would probably add Cal as Stanford's biggest rival and then potentially skip Utah and Colorado. I can't imagine those schools would be worth nearly as much as Stanford and Cal.

What about Duke, Arizona, and Arizona State?

Lol Memphis and West Virginia... nah, North Carolina and Duke would significantly boost the SEC basketball status

If it if it goes this far and it’s all about the money I see about 4 to 6 programs total that’ll be removed and replace with Cincinnati Houston and UUCF

As a pure outsider looking in (someone from Ireland who grew up on rugby) I like the idea oc CFB but why not have relegation/promotion even within the existing confederence. Define geographic limits and roll with it, surely it would make more exiting games

Hearing out here on the left coast, ND is coming and bringing Stanford with them.

You saw it was coming a year ago. You got a vision.

I don't think the ACC or Big 12 are going to dissolve. I think PAC 12 is very vulnerable. If WA and OR jump to Big 10, that would be a major blow. I can see remnants of PAC 12 joining with Mountain West. Could make a nice conference.

Stanford would be the fourth team with ND, given the rivalries it creates and holds for ND, USC, UCLA, etc.

Hawaii to the ACC

If the BIG 10 does get Notre Dame, I’d really like to see them get ahead of the SEC and target FSU and Miami to get a foothold in Florida. Both programs are still big brands and will most definitely pull their weight in adding value to the conference. Then let Oregon in as their 20th member.

Judging from the map on the thumbnail I thought New Mexico was going to the SEC

Cant break up duke/ unc rivalry for basketball would loose wayyy too much money and neither would ever do it

There are some programs left out that are better than Rutgers, Purdue, Illinois, Vanderbilt etc….. Maybe some of those teams are moved out and there is a 2 tier system with 2 super conferences with the left overs. Also would be cool to take the top 2 from each division and have 16 team playoff between SEC and Big 10 SEC 1vs Big 10 8 SEC 2 vs Big 10 7 SEC 3 vs Big 10 6 SEC 4 vs Big 10 5 SEC 5 vs Big 10 4 SEC 6 vs Big 10 3 SEC 7 vs Big 10 2 SEC 8 vs Big 10 1

You’re looking at it wrong you have to set a threshold for quality of programs that will separate from the ncaa because what the SEC and Big 10 want the most is to be out from underneath the NCAA in football and basketball

I read your comments about GTech. I do think that their value to the B1G is higher then the value of Pitt. GTech brings in a new market compared to Pitt and you also bring in fertile recruiting grounds. I think Pitt will end up in the B12. I also think AZ gets in before CO. The Buffs bring nothing to the conference were as at least AZ is a "Blue Blood" in basketball. AZ has a lot of benefits over CO. Media market is close but Phoenix is #11 and Denver is #16. FYI, Atlanta is #7. Pittsburg is #26 but Penn St already has that. A big + for both AZ and GTech is that they are in the south. Talent is needed to feed these schools and the B1G will need southern talent.

Not going to happened. The other schools are going scream ANTITRUST, and that would get poloiticians involved to stop this or break up the Big 10 and SEC. You have sorry teams in those two conferences that don't belong there..

The big10 would have to be more creative with divisions. I don't want Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Michigan State all in the same division.

Well that would be insanely one Sided but sure why not. It will only work though y'all take Missouri.

If this happens college football would be ruined

I pretty much stop caring about about the conferences after the 90s was completed.

SEC Division B & D Switch Clemson & Georgia for Ole Miss & Alabama This way Division D could be called the Tiger/Bulldog Division

I like what you have for the B1G! I would add Stanford Arizona Kansas Missouri Duke And Cal For 30 teams For the SEC I would replace Memphis with Louisville Add Wake Forest Georgia Tech Texas Tech Kansas State Iowa State Arizona State And Baylor

The NCAA screwed things up YEARS ago by giving more weight to the SEC. Consider how the Bowl games before the playoff system. The SEC got 5-6 Bowl bids (I think it's up to 8 now). The Big East (now defunct for football) got the "First at Large" bid. By weighing the Bowl games toward the SEC, they created the current situation. There is still a lot of weight being given to the SEC, especially Alabama. It seems that one requirement for the rankings is either BE Alabama or Play them. They need to break up the SEC, not expand it.

Don't see BiG 10 wanting Pitt (Penn State already owns that market) or Virginia. I think they would rather have GT (Atlanta) and Miami(to have a piece of Florida).

Nebraska only lost the AAU because their university hospital is off their main campus.

I get what you are sayin... but I feel college football will lose much more than it gains... Fans that don't like the NFL will view this as a mini-NFL and not follow.

Doesn’t sound fun. Not looking forward to this future of college football. Regionality out the window. Just money. *head slamming desk*. Just like the NFL. AFC and NFC (B1G and SEC) teams never play each other EXCEPT in the national championship…. Such a stupid concept. So south teams never play north teams again unless I’m the championship…. No one seas a problem with this…

Basically an NFL framework for college football.

LMBO, it almost looks like an old civil war map. 😳

2 Confrence 24 Teams Per confrence (8 Teams At Large) PRO/REL +/- 2 teams

SEC should make a play for UNLV, Arizona and Arizona St, Kansas, Baylor, Oklahoma St, Nebraska - yea I said the big red, Clemson, Florida St, Miami, Virginia and North Carolina

WV & Memphis???????????

Nope it’s how college football ends

with california being added to the big ten the big ten/sec state divide looks almost exactly like the us free state/slave state divide in the 1850s with the minor exceptions of maryland and kentucky but they stayed in the union anyway so they sort of are acceptable either way. if you added oregon it basically looks exactly like the states during the civil war even better is the opening thumbnail where the creator has all the hypothetical sec states in the future in yellow and they are all the states or territories the confederacy either had or claimed at one point(they claimed kentucky not maryland, and claimed part of the arizona and new mexico territories) kinda fascinating how that ended up developing

I think these teams make the most sense to get Big 10 to 24 teams: Oregon Washington Stanford Utah Colorado Virginia Boston College Notre Dame Div 1 - UCLA, USC, Oregon, Stanford, Utah, Washington Div 2 - Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa Div 3 - Mich St, Michigan, Northwestern, Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue Div 4 - Ohio St, Penn St, Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia, Boston College

I read that the Big 10 said they aren't adding anymore PAC 12 Schools.

duke has to get in one of these for basketball reasons

I know this is the direction the sport is headed, but it's sad man. Out of 358 D-1 basketball schools, 64 teams get to play for a basketball title...but in the nations most popular sport we only get two conferences. Why? Because these top programs want all the money and they dont wanna share. What an absolute joke. Greed at it's finest.

Sec won't get on board with the internal playoff vs big 10 internal playoff. Sec is far more likely to have two teams in the championship game

I don't think Notre Dame will ever join a conference

24 teams I want college football to start the first week of August!

I like it!

i think standford Oregon and Washington along side ND to the B1G -20 teams

The SEC will not exceed the Texas - Missouri - Virginia - Florida rectangle. It will be regional while the B1G will be national.

Glad you kept it at 24 teams, but I suspect it will be 20 teams max. For the SEC, they are adding teams in markets they kinda own... so why they get more brands, not necessarily more money. Same with Pitt to to the BIG10. Will not happen. Max 2 Florida teams in the SEC. Likely Utah left out. Colorado might be in. Arizona might go somewhere

Big10 is all about foot print at this stage. Adding Big10 foot prints in Va and NC , is more more favorable to Big10 than adding another Pa School to go beside existing Big10 school Penn State.

Sound good to me

The ACC tv contract will be worth significantly less without FSU.

memphis in the sec is a joke right?