SMQ: Thinking radically about college football realignment in age of coronavirus
By Zach Bigalke
Deep South Conference
- Teams: Alabama, Auburn, Troy, UAB, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Tech
- States included: 2 (Alabama, Georgia)
- Current P5 teams: 4 (Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech)
Breaking up the SEC is one of the hardest parts of this exercise, in terms of trying to balance the number of teams included in any one league with the primary goal of geographic compactness. The Deep South Conference incorporates three of the SEC’s strongest programs in recent history, along with one former SEC school now in the ACC. Rounding out the bunch are four Group of Five schools that are all relatively young in their FBS existence.
Just like in the SEC right now, Nick Saban’s Alabama would be the perennial team to beat in the Deep South Conference. Georgia and Auburn both have the potential to thwart those ambitions, but Georgia Tech also has the potential anchored in Atlanta to reemerge as a perennial power. Troy and UAB would gain from regular play against their Yellowhammer State foes, as would Georgia Southern and Georgia State in the Peach State.
The Deep South Conference benefits from one of the smallest geographic footprints of the bunch while still including two football-mad states and two major TV markets in Birmingham and Atlanta. The longest trip between member schools would be the 350 miles as the crow flies between Tuscaloosa and Statesboro — a journey Georgia Southern or Alabama could complete in a six-hour bus ride.