Superconferences & Realignment

[Dale]

I was curious so I pulled up Sagarin which is hardly definitive but useful for this sort of thing. National rankings to start 2021:*

AAC
23 Cincinnati
34 UCF
61 SMU
62 Memphis
66 Houston
70 Tulsa
81 Tulane
94 Navy
105 E. Carolina
113 Temple
117 USF

Big 12 (minus OUT)
7 ISU
15 OSU
18 TCU
26 WVU
37 KSU
41 Baylor
54 Texas Tech
104 Kansas

*These rankings aren't all that useful for 2021 because they wrap in historical program data. But for this exercise I think that approach is better than using any ranking system that relies on a particular snapshot in time since we're looking for a proxy on overall program quality.

How successful UC and UCF have grown versus how bad experiments like USF and ECU is the problem with the AAC/C USA/Metro/whatever you want to call how this conference has evolved. It’s basically a long running test on who can blossom in a decent market. Makes it ripe for just picking instead of actually being a top to bottom “power” conference

 

[RDU Irish]

UCF has over 66k enrollment, SMU is 11k, Houston at 38k, Cinci at 28k, Memphis 17k, BYU 33k

If I were Big 12 I would go after UCF, Houston and Cincinnati - maybe BYU. I'm not sure I would take that offer if I were the other schools though - AAC may look better than the Big 12 right now if those schools are being honest, IMO. AAC poaches a few Big 12 teams would be interesting for sure, Baylor, TCU, K State, OK State for example would give them quite a stronghold in that region.

I don't get the PAC12 saying they are not adding members - that is a bit defeatist. They should be all over Boise State and BYU at minimum.

ACC picking up WVU makes sense, if they are doing that they may as well shoot at some other schools too. Hit up Cinci, UCF and Memphis for a total cock block of the Big 12 and force the B1G to take ISU, Kansas (who I would like for basketball in ACC).

 

[Dale]

UCF has over 66k enrollment, SMU is 11k, Houston at 38k, Cinci at 28k, Memphis 17k, BYU 33k

If I were Big 12 I would go after UCF, Houston and Cincinnati - maybe BYU. I'm not sure I would take that offer if I were the other schools though - AAC may look better than the Big 12 right now if those schools are being honest, IMO. AAC poaches a few Big 12 teams would be interesting for sure, Baylor, TCU, K State, OK State for example would give them quite a stronghold in that region.

I don't get the PAC12 saying they are not adding members - that is a bit defeatist. They should be all over Boise State and BYU at minimum.

ACC picking up WVU makes sense, if they are doing that they may as well shoot at some other schools too. Hit up Cinci, UCF and Memphis for a total cock block of the Big 12 and force the B1G to take ISU, Kansas (who I would like for basketball in ACC).

I think you’re looking at BYU without the asterisk of their Mormon background. It makes them more attractive then you’d think money wise for Big 12 and also is the reason they are not going to be added to Pac 12. Boise St I don’t think meets the academic level Pac 12 wants to add at this point

 

[Irish#1]

Awesome basketball teams and a nice new stadium and they can't sneak in somewhere. What a shame.

I think most small religious base schools are in the same boat. I said most! lol

 

[RDU Irish]

I think you’re looking at BYU without the asterisk of their Mormon background. It makes them more attractive then you’d think money wise for Big 12 and also is the reason they are not going to be added to Pac 12. Boise St I don’t think meets the academic level Pac 12 wants to add at this point

Academic snobbery will be the downfall of college athletics.

 

[MNIrishman]

Academic snobbery will be the downfall of college athletics.

Academic snobbery is at the heart of college athletics. The downfall comes from the poors trying to exploit college football to make it as profitable as possible at the expense of everything else that matters. It's a 5% business unit for us. We've said that we won't allow that to take us places we don't want to be. It's a much bigger portion of the annual budget for most SEC schools. How do you think that affects decision-making?

 

[Dale]

BYU under serious consideration for the Big 12 per the Athletic

If Big 12 is going to seriously try to stay afloat, I think Houston, BYU and UCF are the easy 3. The fourth, competitive wise makes sense for UC but I’d hear other choices out financially

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[TWEET]https://twitter.com/max_olson/status/1433457064630706178?s=21[/TWEET]

 

[Rogue219]

Wonder if they are stopping at adding 4. They are at 10 losing 2. That gives you 12 if you add 4 and the Dukes of Hazard will be at 16.

Raid the AAC and get it over with.

 

[BobbyMac]

Wonder if they are stopping at adding 4. They are at 10 losing 2. That gives you 12 if you add 4 and the Dukes of Hazard will be at 16.

Raid the AAC and get it over with.

This. Include Temple and Tulane. Go after some of the big boy's tv sets.

I know Memphis makes more sense than Tulane on the field but would rather see The Big 14 in NOLA so my old teammate would finally be a P5 HC.

 

[GATTACA!]

They need to rebrand the conference too.

 

[BobbyMac]

They need to rebrand the conference too.

Just photoshop the HC's faces on 2 of these posters and there's your new Conference.

 

[pumpdog20]

I don't understand why the AAC doesn't invade the big 12.

 

[ulukinatme]

At this point the G5 should probably just form two or three conferences with the remaining Big 12. Seems like Super Conferences are the way these things are heading.

 

[Dale]

UCF, UC, Houston, and BYU expected to be officially voted in Friday.

 

[Dale]

How long it’s sustainable we will see but i personally, on the field, like this conference. AAC has too much dead weight to really enjoy “AAC” football. I find myself never caring a lick besides the UC/Memphis/UCF triad of games facing each other. Right or not, most of the B-12 I am still interested in. I think I will find myself tuning into the new Big 12 significantly more than the AAC and about as much as I already was watching Big 12 teams on a week to week basis. The on field product will be decent, will be interesting if anyone rises to the top

 

[Irish#1]

I don't think I've ever watched an AAC game.

 

[drayer54]

I don't think I've ever watched an AAC game.

They have some good ones from time to time. Last years Cinnci v Tulsa game was a tough and physical game. Tulsa vs Miss State in the bowl game was more of a literal street fight.

 

[Rogue219]

I have put some thought into this and have concluded: Memphis > Houston

 

[ACamp1900]

I don't think I've ever watched an AAC game.

For real?? Some of their evening games over the years have been great...

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

I have put some thought into this and have concluded: Memphis > Houston

On the field, yes. I suspect Houston was more about the potential of adding a massive market (the city of Houston is the largest city in Texas, and makes Memphis look like small potatoes). If Houston would dedicate itself to football (like, say Boise State has for example), they could become a powerhouse.

 

[Irish#1]

For real?? Some of their evening games over the years have been great...

For real.

 

[Dale]

Dennis Dodd said he thinks the Big 12 started with those 4 to establish a base moving forward but could go for a cut your legs out of sorts move at Mountain West and AAC still. Idea would be they look like a P5 team if MW and AAC aren’t anywhere close. Memphis and Boise St mentioned.

 

[ulukinatme]

A UCF fan page posted about the new look Big 12: "Better conference top to bottom than the ACC and PAC12, also a SOLID basketball conference. Stop hating."
Really? Last I checked the ACC has had 3 national championships in the last decade. Last time this Big 12 had one was BYU in '84, and then TCU in '38 They have no real heavy hitters, they might as well be a G5 conference with this lineup.

 

[pumpdog20]

A UCF fan page posted about the new look Big 12: "Better conference top to bottom than the ACC and PAC12, also a SOLID basketball conference. Stop hating."
Really? Last I checked the ACC has had 3 national championships in the last decade. Last time this Big 12 had one was BYU in '84, and then TCU in '38 They have no real heavy hitters, they might as well be a G5 conference with this lineup.

Agree, they are a G5/6 now, and we are down to the Power 4.

 

[Rogue219]

I am guessing when the Pac 12 expands there are going to be a lot of people that don't want SDSU and Fresno State in there.

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

Heather Dinich

@CFBHeather
·
58m
The SEC and ND wouldn't vote for an 8-team playoff that has automatic qualifiers. The G5 wouldn't vote for one that doesn't.





Andy Staples

@Andy_Staples
·
6m
G5 leagues wouldn’t approve top 8. They’d want auto bids. Top 8 is the only 8-team format SEC or ND would approve. It’ll be 12.

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

SEC implements education-based benefits for athletes with significant fallout soon to follow

SEC athletes can now receive up to $6,000 in benefits such as computer equipment and internships

The next bombshell in college athlete compensation dropped Thursday as the SEC is believed to have become the first conference to formally allow the opportunity for its members to provide education-based benefits resulting from the Alston v. NCAA case decided in June.

That landmark case allowed schools to provide benefits "tethered" to education up to $6,000 per year. The Supreme Court voted 9-0 against the NCAA's appeal to deny those benefits. Justices admonished the NCAA for illegally "suppressing the pay" to athletes while the association generates billions in revenue each year.

The first implementation of the benefits allowed by Alston further signal an erosion of the NCAA's power. The decision put the onus on the conferences to set limits for educational benefits if they chose.

With the SEC putting that responsibility in the hands of its 14 member institutions, the other Power Five conferences will at least have to consider following the SEC's lead by allowing education-related benefits up to the maximum of $5,980 per student per year.
More at link https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...etes-with-significant-fallout-soon-to-follow/

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

So the MAC won’t expand to take Western KY and Middle Tennessee. conference USA now taking some FCS schools. The dilution of D1 is a real crime. I was hoping CUSA would die off.

 

[ACamp1900]

The conference realignment has always sucks and is getting worse imo... regionality was a great part of cfb for decades... but whatever. One good thing that can come of all this is UTEP is pushing for a Mountain West move. That would actually make more regional sense and would help the bottom line of the athletic department also... but it may not happen.

 

[ulukinatme]

As the conference reach expands it inflates the costs for smaller schools to travel for games too. This is why many have to take a game against the P5 to pay the bills.