SEC Football Realignment: Texas, Oklahoma changing the national landscape
By Ryan Kay
In the end, the Big 12 will no longer be in the Power Five
What would four power conferences look like and what conference would no longer be considered one of the five most powerful conferences in college football. Before we begin to look into conference expansion and realignment, we must first talk about the possibility of the power conferences breaking away and separating themselves from the FBS or even the NCAA entirely.
With college athletes now being able to earn money on name, image, and likeness as well as being able to leave college early or even in collegiate sports like hockey, golf, basketball where top high school athletes bypass playing in college entirely, the financial benefits of creating four 16-team super conferences is very intriguing especially financially.
Rather than the so-called “super conferences” being established or not, if they are developed and are on a level above FBS which would give those 64 teams more flexibility in creating different rules and financial benefits for their student-athletes, then it is not a matter of if but of when.
However you may or may not feel about four 16 team super conferences, let’s take a look at a theoretical NCAA subdivision of four conferences with 16 teams each based on the news that Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC.
Pac-12
West
Washington Huskies
Washington State Cougars
Oregon Ducks
Oregon State Beavers
California Golden Bears
Stanford Cardinal
USC Trojans
UCLA Bruins
East
Utah Utes
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Colorado Buffaloes
BYU Cougars
Arizona State Sun Devils
Arizona Wildcats
TCU Horned Frogs
Baylor Bears
ACC
Atlantic
Clemson Tigers
Louisville Cardinals
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Florida State Seminoles
Boston College Eagles
Syracuse Orange
NC State Wolfpack
UCF Knights
Coastal
Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia Tech Hokies
Miami Hurricanes
Pittsburgh Panthers
North Carolina Tar Heels
Duke Blue Devils
Cincinnati Bearcats
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Big Ten
East
Ohio State Buckeyes
Penn State Nittany Lions
Michigan Wolverines
Indiana Hoosiers
Michigan State Spartans
Maryland Terrapins
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
West
Wisconsin Badgers
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Illinois Fighting Illini
Purdue Boilermakers
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Northwestern Wildcats
Missouri Tigers
SEC
East
Georgia Bulldogs
Florida Gators
Tennessee Volunteers
Kentucky Wildcats
Alabama Crimson Tide
Auburn Tigers
South Carolina Gamecocks
Vanderbilt Commodores
West
LSU Tigers
Texas A&M Aggies
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Ole Miss Rebels
Arkansas Razorbacks
Texas Longhorns
Oklahoma Sooners
Texas Tech Red Raiders
The SEC is the big winner and to a lesser extent the Pac-12. The SEC gaining Oklahoma and Texas to go along with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and LSU makes them by far the most dominant college football conference.
The Big Ten remains a financial powerhouse with good academic schools but it becomes a distant No. 2 to the SEC with conference expansion. The ACC takes a little hit but brings in Notre Dame finally as a full-time member. The Big 12 will remain for at least a couple more seasons and it will look something like seen below but will no longer be considered a Power Five conference.
Big 12
West
Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas State Wildcats
Boise State Broncos
Colorado State Rams
San Diego State Aztecs
Nevada Wolfpack
East
Iowa State Cyclones
West Virginia Mountaineers
Houston Cougars
Memphis Tigers
SMU Mustangs
South Florida Bulls
Now let’s take a look a what four super conferences would look like if conferences were willing to kick schools out of their conferences and certain schools left their conference due to new members joining.