Conference Realignment Revisited

Well, here we are again, talking conference realignment.  I promised a week ago to revisit this topic, so here we go.  I’ll admit, when I threw together my original scenario (see here), I had no idea I would get so much feedback, and I honestly put it together with only Tennessee in mind.  I didn’t think about the difficulties of other teams finding 3 natural rivals.  I didn’t think about how the schedule could be built to fairly represent an even distribution to all teams.

I did, however, consider the consequences of having Alabama, Auburn, LSU, and Florida in the same division.  I stand by this, as Alabama, Auburn, and LSU are already in the same division.  Only one team can represent the West division now, what’s the difference if only one of those four can represent the South?

So, we move on to my SEC additions.  Texas A&M is announced in as of 2012.  As it seems, Missouri is on the market, and I really believe they’re SEC-bound.  Why would Missouri publicly announce the decision to investigate other conferences if they didn't already have a final destination in mind?

As for West Virginia, I still think it makes sense, they aren’t much further North than Kentucky, and Morgantown is basically a suburb of Pittsburgh.  The atmosphere is SEC-like, and being in the SEC will just fuel that (couch) fire.

I caught a lot of flak for my NC State suggestion.  I prefaced the previous article with an explanation of the selection, but it didn’t matter.  Unfortunately for me, it sounds like a buyout from the ACC will cost mega bucks, so I’m not sure how realistic it will be for the SEC to pull in a current ACC team, but I wouldn't rule it out completely.

Of course, with the addition of Missouri, the total number of teams in the SEC already increases to 14, so I expect the SEC to pump the brakes on the expansion front for at least a year, if for no other reason than to evaluate how the Big (10-er, 9) XII, Big Least, ACC, and B1G (12) react.

I will march on, though, with my 16-team super conference layout, because I’ve put some time into it, and built a schedule I think we can all fight about.  I am leaving NC State in my scenario, but NC State could be easily exchanged for basically any team and still be slotted into one of the 4 divisions, with just some very minor tweaking.  Let’s just have a fight to the death for the final spot, and then there will be no dispute as to who should have or shouldn't have gotten invited to the SEC.  I don’t think any team will leave the B1G, and I don’t think anyone else is leaving the Big XII (unless they move further west).

So, here’s my list of contenders to watch:

From the ACC:

• Maryland -- I lived up there; a trip to DC isn’t any further than a trip to Morgantown.
• North Carolina -- Makes sense, but I HIGHLY doubt they leave Duke.
• Duke -- Natural Vanderbilt rival, and I know Mike Slive would love to add the academics.
• Clemson -- Just don’t think South Carolina would allow it.
• Virginia -- Wouldn’t surprise me, good academics, and would get SEC into Virginia.  But Virginia isn't any good...
• Virginia Tech -- I think VT is content in the ACC.  They basically get 4 challenge games a year, don’t think they want any more.
• Georgia Tech -- The SEC already owns the Atlanta market, don’t see it happening.  Got the academic and global outreach thing going, though.
• Florida State -- Same as VT.  They basically own the ACC.
• NC State -- Makes sense geographically, and they aren’t tied down by their current conference...except that dang buyout.
• Wake Forest -- Another NC school with good academics.  Good basketball school...
• Miami -- Too much power in the ACC, and after the whole Nevin Shapiro business, I doubt the SEC wants any part of it.

From the Big Least

• Louisville -- I personally like Louisville, and they’ve made strides in football.  Just don’t know if it’s enough.
• Cincinnati -- Post-Brian Kelly, they don’t seem too committed in improving their football program.
• USF -- Again, I like it, gets the SEC further into the state of Florida.
• TCU -- If the Big Least explodes, TCU could be an option, but I expect TCU to end up in a conference with Texas and the rest of the Texas League.

Others:

• UCF -- They’ve pumped some money into the program, and have slowly been improving.  A perennial Conference USA power, plus it moves the SEC further into the depths of Florida.

So you'll notice I listed basically every ACC team (Boston is too damn far and as northern yankee as they come).  Unfortunately, that's about the best the East Coast has to offer.

Of course, after the way this post ends (see the bottom of this article), I would tend to stay away from anything associated with the ACC.  But maybe that's just me?

Anyway, a recap of the four divisions from before:

SEC North		SEC South
Kentucky		Auburn
WVU		LSU
Missouri		Alabama
Vanderbilt		Florida
SEC East		SEC West
Tennessee		Arkansas
South Carolina		Ole Miss
Georgia		Texas A&M
NC State		Mississippi State

As I stated before, you handle the conference like a mini-NFL.  For this to work, you assign each team a natural Rival from each other division, which I have done here:

SEC North	North Rival	South Rival	East Rival	West Rival
Kentucky	-	Alabama	South Carolina	Arkansas
Missouri	-	Auburn	Georgia	Texas A&M
Vanderbilt	-	Florida	Tennessee	Ole Miss
WVU	-	LSU	NC State	Mississippi State

SEC East	North Rival	South Rival	East Rival	West Rival
Georgia	Missouri	Florida	-	Ole Miss
NC State	WVU	Auburn	-	Mississippi State
South Carolina	Kentucky	LSU	-	Arkansas
Tennessee	Vanderbilt	Alabama	-	Texas A&M

SEC South	North Rival	South Rival	East Rival	West Rival
Alabama	Kentucky	-	Tennessee	Texas A&M
Auburn	Missouri	-	NC State	Ole Miss
Florida	Vanderbilt	-	Georgia	Mississippi State
LSU	WVU	-	South Carolina	Arkansas

SEC West	North Rival	South Rival	East Rival	West Rival
Arkansas	Kentucky	LSU	South Carolina	-
Mississippi State	WVU	Florida	NC State	-
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	Auburn	Georgia	-
Texas A&M	Missouri	Alabama	Tennessee	-

You keep a rotating divisional series, so for example:
In 2011, the East plays the West (North vs South)
In 2012, the East plays the North (South vs West)
In 2013, the East plays the South (West vs North)

This gets you to 7 games (4 for the other division you play and 3 for each other game in your own division).  The other two games come from your rivalry matchups.  For instance, in 2011, Tennessee will play its divisional matchups against the South division.  Tennessee’s other two games will be Vanderbilt (North Rival) and Texas A&M (West Rival).  This gets into a 9-game schedule.

I built a 9-game layout for all 16 teams which can be seen here:

click to enlarge

Of course, this isn’t really a schedule, because you would need to factor in your cupcake games and your open dates, but this is at least a list of games for each SEC (and SEC newcomer) team.  I’ll be interested to see the reaction from other SEC teams, because there’s a glaring void in this schedule for Tennessee fans: the Tennessee-Florida matchup won’t happen every year (just every third year).  But in this scenario, you could have either Florida or Alabama, couldn’t get both.

As for the division winners, overall conference record will determine who wins each division.  So, a [7-2 SEC, 1-2 East] Tennessee team would win the East over a [6-3 SEC, 2-1 East] Georgia team.

In the current format of the SEC, a [6-2 SEC, 3-2 East] team goes to Atlanta over a [5-3 SEC, 4-1 East] Georgia team.  Sure, in the above, Georgia’s Eastern division record is better, but the current SEC criterion for winning a division is overall conference record.  This would not change or be affected. 

I stand by my 4-team SEC championship playoff scenario, even if you take all 3 games to Atlanta over the course of two weekends.  HUGE money.  I’m wondering if people outside the SEC even understand the madness that is SEC championship weekend.  The game, as it currently is, gets sold out completely.  You can’t get tickets for less than $300 a piece.  EVERY YEAR.  Doesn't matter who goes, either.




As I referenced above, regarding the ACC, take a look at this:

I received this e-mail from the ACC officials’ organization for a clinic they are hosting.  Look at the date, the event, the price, and what you get for the price.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

click to enlarge

You ACC people should be ashamed and embarrassed.  Unbelievable.  $40 gets you into the clinic, into the Dr. Pepper Fan Fest, a hat, a meal, USA Officiating Membership (a $25 value), a $10 coupon to honigs.com (officials’ apparel), and A TICKET TO THE 2011 ACC FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!!

Un-freaking-believable.

Are there any proud ACC fans out there?
Do they exist?
Do you chant "ACC, ACC, ACC!" when your conference flexes its muscle?
Oh, wait, sorry.  I forgot who I was talking to.