16-Team Conference Alignment If I Ran College Football
It’s been too long between updates, so I must unfortunately again invoke my inner Jim Anchower.
…freelance assignments and deadlines on my plate since the beginning of July. This is not a complaint, mind you: I’m very happy to be keeping busy, including taking on far more entries into the Lindy’s Sports College Basketball Preview than I have in any other season. Keep an eye out for that at your grocery store/pharmacy/bookstores around late September.
In the meantime, you can check out this retrospective looking back at ESPN’s short-lived venture in scripted fiction.
As for The Press Break, The College Basketball 101 will be back no later than July 25, and the Greatest Days in College Football History series should renew not long after. Until then, and in the spirit of media days beginning a new round of conference realignment chatter, I figured I’d lay out my ideal structure for the sport’s conferences.
I’d done a similar exercise a few years ago at the height of COVID closures, predating USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, Oklahoma and Texas exiting the Big 12 for the SEC, and the Big 12 loading up on the best available non-power-conference programs.
Realistically, the proverbial toothpaste ain’t going back in the tube in terms of reestablishing purely regional conferences. At this point, the best-case scenario for football is having assorted 16-team conferences with 8-team divisions that function almost like Major League Baseball’s American and National Leagues pre-interleague era, with the conference championship games serving as a World Series of sorts.
I don’t love, or even like this idea, but it’s preferable to the SEC and Big Ten swallowing up more members in pursuit of becoming a 40-ish team NFL Jr. And, a caveat — as well as an upcoming newsletter — is that these are football-only leagues. Basketball (as well as non-revenue sports) should form its own leagues that aren’t dictated by the whims of football programs and make more sense for the more consistent travel schedules required.
This idea forms eight 16-team conferences, each with two 8-team divisions. Divisions provide seven annual matchups, then a rotation of two cross-divisional matchups per year for nine conference games total.
And every conference is beholden to this scheduling philosophy. Not only does it provide uniformity, for postseason purposes, but it also ensures a player in a program four years is guaranteed to see each of their counterparts in the other division at some point in their career.
A few items to note: Of the programs moving up from FCS, few make the cut. Sam Houston is in, mostly out of convenience, while Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State are out.
However, North Dakota State and Montana are moving up. Montana’s a tricky one, as the Griz had an invite to the Western Athletic Conference when that league was scrambling for members early last decade, but the school wouldn’t move without Montana State.
Since this is fantasy, and different circumstances, I’m calling the Grizzlies up without issue.
As for independents, Army and Notre Dame remain so while Navy returns, and Hawai’i goes independent. I’ve long thought UH is a program that would flourish as an independent, offering an attractive home-and-home destination for big-money programs and providing more flexibility in the school’s travel schedule.
With that, here’s the blueprint:
ACC
North Division
Boston College
Cincinnati
Louisville
Pitt
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
South Division
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Miami
North Carolina
NC State
Wake Forest
BIG TEN
East Division
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers
West Division
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
UCLA
USC
Wisconsin
Big 16
Gulf Division
FAU
FIU
Houston
Memphis
Tulane
UCF
USF
UTSA
Heartland Division
Baylor
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
North Texas
Oklahoma State
SMU
TCU
Mid-American Conference
East Division
Akron
Buffalo
UConn
Kent State
Liberty
Marshall
Ohio
Temple
West Division
Ball State
Bowling Green
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Miami U.
Northern Illinois
Toledo
Western Michigan
Mountain America
North Division
Air Force
Colorado State
Montana
Nevada
North Dakota State
San Jose State
Utah State
Wyoming
South Division
Louisiana Tech
New Mexico
New Mexico State
Sam Houston
Texas State
Tulsa
UTEP
Western Kentucky
Pac-16
Pacific Division
Cal
Fresno State
Oregon
Oregon State
San Diego State
Stanford
Washington
Washington State
Rocky Mountain Division
Arizona
Arizona State
Boise State
BYU
Colorado
Texas Tech
UNLV
Utah
SEC
East Division
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
West Division
Arkansas
LSU
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Missouri
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M
Sun Belt
East Division
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
East Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
James Madison
Old Dominion
West Division
Arkansas State
Louisiana
Louisiana Monroe
MTSU
South Alabama
Southern Miss
Troy
UAB
Is it great? Well, no. Ten-team, regional conferences are ideal. But this is my attempt at making the most out of the situation.