SMQ: Thinking radically about college football realignment in age of coronavirus
By Zach Bigalke
Mississippi River Conference
- Teams: Missouri, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern Miss
- States included: 4 (Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi)
- Current P5 teams: 4 (Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss)
After Arkansas and later Missouri joined the SEC in successive realignments, it created a situation where those schools adopted a decidedly southern flavor that belied their former affiliations. The Mississippi River Conference preserves some of that flavor as it encompasses part or all of four states along the nation’s largest waterway.
Four SEC schools anchor the league. Two Sun Belt teams and two Conference USA squads complete the realignment. While one figures Ole Miss and Mississippi State could rise quickly under new head coaches Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach respectively, smaller schools like Southern Miss and Louisiana would also benefit greatly from regular play against these larger programs.
In this alignment, the longest bout of travel is that between Columbia and Hattiesburg when Southern Miss takes on Missouri. With 555 miles separating the two schools, the league maintains a nice geographic compactness along its namesake river while providing ample opportunities to travel by ground rather than air.