College Football: What if realignment forced the Group of Five to contract?

Would the Group of Five be healthier as four larger conferences? Here’s what a Group of Four might look like if college football realignment strikes again.

The old adage that there is strength in numbers could be especially important moving forward in college football. If and when realignment strikes again among the FBS ranks, Group of Five leagues will be dependent on a deep membership to remain viable as top-tier conferences.

As such, five might be one too many mid-major conferences to allow every one to survive and remain strong. So let’s tackle a little thought experiment. What if the Group of Five became a Group of Four anchored more solidly around geographic territories?

More: Top expansion candidates for the Power 5 conferences

In such a scenario, the ill-fitting and oddly named American Athletic Conference would disappear from the college football landscape. Instead of regaining position among the power conferences, the AAC would vanish as easily as it was shoehorned in as a replacement for the Big East when that league collapsed as a football entity. Conference USA would also vanish from the scene in favor of regional branding.

The past week revolved around a look at the Power Five and how each power conference might remain viable and grow stronger. In many cases, that growth would come at the expense of the Group of Five. Imagine, for a moment, though, that the 65 current members of the mid-majors were to remain banded together.

That would leave the door open for four conferences, three with 16 teams and one taking on a 17th team. Each loop would be large enough to weather the loss of a team or two whenever a Power Five league comes along to hunt for new members. So keep reading (and click here to see as you read) a proposal for turning the Group of Five into a Group of Four based on minimizing the geographic impact on mid-major budgets.