SMQ: Thinking radically about college football realignment in age of coronavirus
By Zach Bigalke
Lincoln Conference
- Teams: Illinois, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Ball State, Indiana, Purdue, Kentucky, Louisville
- States included: 3 (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky)
- Current P5 teams: 6 (Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Kentucky, Louisville)
Like the Great Plains Conference, this league includes six different Power Five teams. Also like the Great Plains Conference, the Lincoln Conference includes Power Five teams that have historically been downtrodden outfits. As such, this new configuration doesn’t completely eliminate the Group of Five newcomers included in the bunch.
Northern Illinois has been a historical power in the MAC, even earning its way to a BCS bowl in 2012 and coming close to repeating the following year. That is more than a program like Illinois or Indiana can boast. The league thus benefits from a healthy mix that includes Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and MAC programs that are historically well-matched from a competitive standpoint.
The key here is geographic compactness, and like the other leagues already detailed the Lincoln Conference affords many opportunities to travel by bus to games. The longest trip within the league footprint is the 350 miles between DeKalb and Lexington when Northern Illinois plays Kentucky. That makes for the ability to save on expenses and still capture several major markets.