A painting of a blue business time.

8×8 painting. If you have a smart phone, enjoy the link.

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NCAA Fantasy Re-allignment

I was reading an article in on Yahoo! Sports that gave a few of their reporters a chance to list out the 64 teams that could make up a new FBS if college sports go to four 16 school “mega-conferences.” The concept really came down to “who gets left out?” This bit of “fantasy football” made me think, if we are throwing tradition, geography and sometimes logic aside, what would it look like if the FBS conferences were aligned more logically/geographically. So here’s what I did:

I mapped the current FBS schools, then I grouped them together based on geography with a priority on 8 or 10 team groups. Then I looked at how the schools might fit grouped with one set of regional schools over another. So Notre Dame ended up with the other Indiana schools going West with schools from Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, rather than going with the Michigan schools. It also got a little tricky with the smaller schools from the upper and eastern mid-west. I tried to keep even smaller schools together with the teams they normally play but it just didn’t work out very well. It got really hairy in the Southeast where it was hard to find homes for the smaller Louisiana schools. I put a priority on not having any group larger than ten. Because I felt 8 or 10 was the ideal number of schools I dropped some schools out. They are listed and honestly they are not very competitive at all, so I felt like it was ok. [this is make believe anyway right?]

What I ended up with is 13 conferences. I co-opted names of current and former conferences and made up a few of my own. My favorite is the “Texas Ten”. I think that every conference is competitive with 2-4 solid teams, 2-4 medium, and admittedly some bottom dwellers. This system would work well for football because the conference schedules would be light enough that teams could still schedule non-conference rivals and still have “easy” games later. Texas and Oklahoma could still play, but in non-con but its ok because they both have some easier conference games to make up for that difficult non-con. It also sets the table nicely for a playoff, which I will outline tomorrow. Below is a listing of my new FBS conferences.

PAC-8

Hawaii
Washington
Oregon
Oregon State
Cal
Stanford
San Jose State
Fresno State

Pac – South [8]

USC
UCLA
San Diego State
UNLV
Arizona
Arizona State
New Mexico
New Mexico State

Mountain West [10]

Washington State
Nevada
Boise State
Utah
Utah State
BYU
Wyoming
Colorado
Colorado State
Air Force

Texas Ten

UTEP
Texas Tech
SMU
TCU
North Texas
Baylor
Texas
Texas A&M
Rice
Houston

Big 8

Nebraska
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Tulsa
Arkansas

Big 10

Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northern Illinois
Northwestern
Illinois
Indiana
Purdue
Notre Dame

MAC [8]

Ball State
Miami [Ohio]
Cincinnati
Louisville
Kentucky
Western Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Middle Tennessee State

O-M AC [10]

Michigan
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Ohio State
Bowling Green
Toledo
Akron
Kent State

Big East [8]

Ohio
Pitt
Penn State
Buffalo
West Virginia
Marshall
Virginia
Virginia Tech

Atlantic 8

Syracuse
Boston College
UCONN
Army
Rutgers
Temple
Navy
Maryland

ACC [8]

Tennessee
South Carolina
Clemson
Duke
North Carolina
NC State
East Carolina
Wake Forest

SEC [10]

Memphis
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Southern Miss
Alabama
Auburn
Troy
UAB
Georgia
Georgia Tech

Gulf Coast [8]

Louisiana Tech
LSU
Tulane
Florida
Florida State
Central Florida
South Florida
Miami

Current FBS Schools Left Out:
Idaho
Arkansas State
LA- Monroe
LA- Lafayette
Florida Intl.

Thoughts?

Art

Autumn Fog by Leonid Afremov

I found this by using google image search. I really like his style. Check out his site here.  I hope that you will be inspired by some cool art today.

Why can’t we all just get along?

Rumors abound about the future of the Big XII and many of them include a mixture of teams moving to the PAC12. This would increase the number of schools from 12 to 16. Logic would say that these new schools would join Arizona, ASU, Utah, and CU in an 8 team division. This prospect is not exciting for me as an Arizona fan or as a Baylor fan. I know that is an odd combo but I find myself rooting for the Big XII even if it means that the PAC12 could lose out on expansion. I know there could be all kinds talk about TV, and money grabs, ect. but I just don’t see how such a drastic geographic departure helps anyone. I like my PAC10 the way it was. Now we are stuck with Utah and Colorado. I don’t want anymore Big XII defectors. I hope all can be fixed and the Big XII can continue. I think it’s the best gig for all involved.