SMQ: A brief history of conference affiliation in college football

Final thoughts on conferences and independence

These days, conference affiliation is everything. Over the 1990s, a delineation between haves and have-nots coalesced into the automatic qualifying status that was a big part of the BCS’s success and its downfall.

With the death of the Big East, the six power-conference leagues of the BCS era became the Power Five in the College Football Playoff system. That leaves five other FBS conferences languishing outside the playoff, instead considered Group of Five schools for euphemistic purposes.

As TCU as well as Louisville and Utah learned over the past decade and a half, getting into the right league can make all the difference for a program’s long-term outlook. Contemporaneous to the rise of Boise State and other mid-major powerhouses, the Cardinals and Utes joined the Horned Frogs in playing their way into a big-time realignment.

Less than 20 years ago, these three teams were scraping out perfect seasons just to get a token appearance in an undercard bowl. Utah and TCU managed to Bust the BCS as mid-majors. Louisville was never able to crack into the system before joining the Big East.

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A new league can mean a new world of opportunity for a program. Twenty-five years ago, conference affiliation was not nearly as paramount a consideration as they are in the 21st century of the sport. If conference membership wasn’t critical for most programs, we’d still be able to count dozens of independent programs rather than needing only one hand to do so.