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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The 22-team, BCS-busting Behemoth

Oh, conference realignment talk, we barely knew ye. And yet, you keep coming back, like a stray cat to the garbage bin.

In case you weren't paying attention, here's a summary(in no particular order) of what will/has already/might happen regarding the realignment of football conferences.

-Pittsburgh and Syracuse have jumped ship on the Big East and will now join the ACC, pending that sudden $10 million exit fee by the Big East.

-TCU planned to leave the Mountain West to join the Big East, but upon further consideration prompted by the exit of Pitt and Syracuse, they may be in the new Big XII.

-Missouri was in the Big XII, but now appears headed to the SEC, joining fellow former Longhorn Little Sister,  Texas A&M.

-Boise State left the WAC to join the Mountain West, where it would have at least one decent opponent in TCU. However, TCU's departure has the Broncos thinking Splittsville, population: them.

-The Big East, amid the loss of two schools (three if you count TCU) has decided to invite Boise State and Air Force (Mountain West), Central Florida, Houston, and SMU (Conference USA), and Navy (Independent) to bring their membership total to 12.

-Not to be outdone, the Mountain West, in light of much loss (BYU left to become independent) extended invitations to Fresno State, Nevada, and Hawaii. All three are expected to join in 2012.

-And of course,  the Children of the Corn fled for the Big 10, while Colorado joined their "far out" West Coast bretheren in the Pac-12. Utah did something too, but nobody really cared much about that.

Got that? Good.

But the real story here, in a strange twist that even M. Knight Shyamalan couldn't write, the Mountain West and Conference USA may be holding the keys to Conference Apocalypse.

That's right. The least likely culprits. And you thought it would be the dissolution of the Texas Longhorn Conference that would bring about NCAA Armageddon.

Shows how much you know.

Can you imagine it? A 22-team football conference? The schedule matrix will be harder to navigate than calculus on an abacus.

Just for familiarity's sake, here are the teams of Conference USA:
       East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, Southern Methodist(SMU), Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), Texas-El Paso(UTEP), Central Florida.

And the Mountain West:
      Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Texas Christian(TCU), Nevada-Las Vegas(UNLV), and Wyoming.

Those are, of course, the current members. It's sort of like trying to tell some one the exact time. By the time it's written, it's wrong.

But, let's give it a try, shall we? You remember math right?

(Conference USA-(UCF + Houston + SMU)) + (Mountain West-(TCU + Air Force + Boise State)) + Hawaii + Nevada + Fresno State= Brain Aneurysm.

Here's who's left:  ECU, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UTEP,  Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Hawaii, Nevada, Fresno State, and Wyoming.

But, wait. That's only 17 teams. Well, it plays out like this. Mountain Conference West USA officials expect that this football mind-meld will be enough to convince the likes of UCF, Houston, SMU, Air Force, and Boise State to stick around.

If we're calling a 16-team conference a "super conference," what is a 22-team league? I'd call it unmanageable. Unless...

Two divisions, East and West, each with two subdivisions. Then, instead of a single conference championship game, you get a 4-team playoff.

Playoffs? Holy.....

That's right, sports fans. This is how the BCS can get busted. No, you're right. This isn't necessarily a who's who of college football. In fact, only one of the schools in Pangaea Conference(that gets my vote for the name) has even been to a BCS bowl. Many of them are lucky to make any bowl.  But, for this dirty little job, we don't need Alabama, Michigan, Penn State, or Oklahoma.

To eventually get to a playoff system, which is essentially what most fans want, we need a desperate band of outcasts who are willing to do something so stupid, something so crazy that it just might work.

The BCS painted itself into this corner by being so exclusive. It's like the nightclub that doesn't allow jeans. Eventually, the jeans wearers band together and storm the club and turn it into a jeans-only establishment. Ok, probably not. But you get the picture.

Can't you see it? Mega-conferences with  four-team playoffs to determine the champion. Each champion represents a conference in a 4-team, 6-team, or even 8-team National Championship tournament. Nobody gets left out. Nobody is a "non-automatic qualifier." Everyone is filled with joy.

Pause the celebration. The truth is Boise State, UCF, SMU, Houston, and Air Force probably won't stay in Pangaea Conference. They won't because the BCS still exists and joining the Big East makes them "automatic qualifiers" right now. They don't have to wait for everyone else to form their own mega-conferences. They don't have to wait for the BCS to dissolve. They get the goods today instead of tomorrow.

So, Pangaea Conference is really left with 17 teams that nobody really cares about. The four subdivisions idea sounds like a lot less fun when there are only four teams in each. Yes, I realize one division would have five.

What we're left with is the same old system. We'll keep watching it because we love football and the power mongers will keep telling us we watch because of the way it's set up.

At least you tried, Pangaea Conference. At least you tried.

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