5 worst conference realignment moves in modern college football history

When they were a charter member of the Big East, Syracuse had a consistent run during the 1990s and early 2000s that put them consistently in the AP Top 25 and among the top programs in the country. The Orange were ranked at the end of seven of their first 10 years as a member of the Big East.

Then the wins stopped coming. Realignment within the Big East dramatically altered the composition of the league, as teams like Miami and Virginia Tech departed for ACC membership and left their charter members in the lurch.

For Syracuse, the departure of the Hurricanes and Hokies did not make things easier in league play. Teams like Cincinnati and Louisville came in and immediately started putting up better numbers, and the Orange actually watched their conference win percentage plummet. The second decade of Big East membership yielded not a single finish in the postseason AP Top 25, nor a berth in one of the BCS games.

With the Big East crumbling, the Syracuse administration jumped at the opportunity to join the ACC when it came up in 2013. While the Orange were a .503 team in conference as a member of the Big East, that number plummeted to .354 in conference play since the move. A top-15 finish in 2018 is already beginning to look like a mirage as the Orange regress right back to the mean in 2019.