Yes folks, the pun is intended. It really is sad that the FBS is going in this direction, but who can do anything about it? If I were up to me, there might be some small changes, but these mega conferences would not happen. One of those changes would be to eliminate the term AQ conference. And the only way I would ever go with this idea would be if someone from the NCAA held my wife at gunpoint and told her to chop my balls off if I didn't comply. So put that evil blade down and get that gun away from her and I'll play along. So here we go.
Currently, there are 120 schools that play in the FBS. Six conferences(the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, PAC 12 and SEC) automatically qualify for a BCS bid. This means that Conference USA, the MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt and WAC have to pull a miracle to get a shot for a national title. And let's not forget Notre Dame, Navy, Army and BYU are on their own this season.
Next season, there will be two new teams (Texas State and UTSA) that will be joining the FBS and the fact that many conferences will be realigning like crazy, it looks like drastic changes will be happening. Here's how the conferences would shape up next year... in a sad, pathetic way.
ACC
Boston College
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Maryland
Miami (FL)
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Pittsburgh
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Explanation: Pitt and Syracuse are officially joining according to the events over this weekend. Of course they could add UConn and Rutgers later on, but who knows?
Big East/Big 12
Baylor
Cincinnati
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Louisville
Missouri
Notre Dame
Rutgers
Temple
UConn
USF
Explanation: The Big 12 will probably keep its namesake in this move. Notre Dame will be forced to join in as they are members of the Big East in everything else. West Virginia will most likely be the 14th team for the SEC. And if this new conference is wanting to tap into the Philly market, Temple would be a good start. Assuming Villanova decides to no to join in of course. Since the MAC is not a great source of exposure for them in football, plus Temple is not in the middle of America. TCU might come (Big East 2012), but that's too early to tell with the way everything is going.
Big 10
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Wisconsin
Explanation: Looks like they're happy... for the moment.
C-USA
East Carolina
Houston
Marshall
Memphis
Rice
SMU
Southern Miss
Tulane
Tulsa
UAB
USF
UTEP
Explanation: In a world where everything is changing around them, Conference USA stays the same. And maybe when Hell freezes over, they could be an BCS automatic berth conference.
MAC
Akron
Ball State
Bowling Green
Buffalo
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Kent State
Miami (OH)
Northern Illinois
Ohio
Toledo
Western Michigan
Explanation: Maybe I'm OCD or something, but having 12 teams makes sense. Or I just like things in even numbers. I'm still trying to figure why the hell I would say Temple is not considered Mid-American and Buffalo is. Go figure.
Mt. West/WAC
Air Force
Boise State
BYU
Colorado State
Fresno State
Hawaii
Idaho
Nevada
New Mexico
New Mexico State
San Diego State
San Jose State
TCU
UNLV
Utah State
Wyoming
Explanation: This conference is as farfetched as "________". In all likelihood, this just ain't happening. But for fun, BYU's independent run is a one year deal. TCU stays put and part of the condition for them staying is to let Louisiana Tech go. As far as Texas State and UTSA is concerned, there is no WAC to join. It could be called the Mountain Western Athletic Conference or MWAC for short. If this actually happens, then imagination land is real.
PAC 16
Arizona
Arizona State
California
Colorado
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
Texas
Texas Tech
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Washington State
Explanation: Just something I heard on the news. Will this actually happen?
SEC
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
West Virginia
Explanation: It's just a rumor. This would be an interesting concept to see how this all works out for these two schools.
Sun Belt
Arkansas State
FAU
FIU
Louisiana Tech
Middle Tennessee
North Texas
Texas State
Troy
ULL
ULM
UTSA
Western Kentucky
Explanation: I know it looks like another OCD fantasy, but it does make sense geographically.
FBS Independents
Army
Navy
Explanation: They fight our wars for us, should we drag these two into this petty conflict? I don't think so. They have better things to worry about than what bowl game they're going to. God bless you all.
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There you have it. With everything going the way it is, who really knows why this happening. Some of this is rumored while others have been confirmed to be occurring next school year. But it's all fantasy until it really happens.
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