How might they look? Here’s my take.
A month from the start of college football season, let’s dive into what the possibility of an SEC and Big Ten “Super Conferences” might look like.
College football fans might ask why, because ultimately that is the direction these two conferences are heading unless some miracle happens. The two super conferences would, of course, have to change their names.
Graphic courtesy WBRC
The Big Ten conference would be changed to the Northern Conference and the SEC would be changed to the Southern Conference. Forget college football tradition, pageantry, and the college football model; they’re going towards a Pro-Football model, and the train is barreling through.
The worry of what might happen to my college sports teams if they don’t get selected for the super conferences is that the FCS league might get really exciting to watch. The concept of no Notre Dame in a super conference because they want to be independent could be a reality. For right now, Notre Dame will not be included in the two super conferences.
Let’s start with how the super conferences would be formed. The super conferences would consist of 32 teams with eight divisions of four teams. The divisions of four teams would roughly consist of regional close teams.
The football season would be that each team would play the teams in their division and one team in each other’s division, rotating to play each team in the other divisions once every four years. The regular season could consist of playing ten games or playing eleven games with one tune-up game to start the season against a lesser opponent.
The basketball season would consist of each team playing each other in their conference once. Each team would have a 31-game schedule. There will be no more out-of-conference teams playing until the tournament. The baseball and softball season would increase to 60 games, with each team playing 18 games in their division and 42 games against 14 other conference teams rotating every other season. The soccer twenty-game schedule would consist of two games in their division and 14 games against 14 other conference teams rotating every other season. In volleyball season, each team would play each other once.
BIG Commissioner Petitti (L) and SEC Commissioner Stankey (photo courtesy Spectrum News)
The post-season for sports could be interesting. Football could go two ways. They could either go with only the division winner advancing or the top two teams in each division advancing. The higher seeds host the playoff games, and the championship game will be the Northern and Southern teams playing against each other. The championship game would rotate to various domed NFL stadiums.
The basketball tournament would include every team in both conferences, with the lowest-seeded team in the opposing conference playing the top seed in the other conference, with matching games against each other conference teams playing at various venues. The baseball championship would still be played in Omaha, and the softball championship would still be played in Oklahoma City. The other sports championships would be figured out.
With no further ado, here is the breakdown of the two super conferences and the teams that could become a part of them. Each division goes left to right.
SEC SUPER CONFERENCE TEAMS AND DIVISIONS (SOUTHERN)
1) ALABAMA, AUBURN, MISSISSIPPI, MISSISSIPPI STATE
2) FLORIDA, MIAMI, FLORIDA STATE, UCF
3) TEXAS, TEXAS TECH, TEXAS A&M, BAYLOR
4) OKLAHOMA, OKLAHOMA STATE, MISSOURI, ARKANSAS
5) LSU, TCU, HOUSTON, SMU
6) TENNESSEE, VANDERBILT, KENTUCKY, LOUISVILLE
7) GEORGIA, GEORGIA TECH, CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA
8) NORTH CAROLINA, NC STATE, WAKE FOREST, DUKE
BIG TEN SUPER CONFERENCE TEAMS AND DIVISIONS (NORTHERN)
1) USC, UCLA, CALIFORNIA, STANFORD
2) OREGON, WASHINGTON, ARIZONA, ARIZONA STATE
3) BYU, COLORADO, NEBRASKA, KANSAS
4) IOWA, IOWA STATE, NORTHWESTERN, ILLINOIS
5) MICHIGAN, MICHIGAN STATE, MINNESOTA, WISCONSIN
6) OHIO STATE, CINCINNATI, INDIANA, PURDUE
7) PENN. ST. PITTSBURGH RUTGERS BOSTON COLLEGE
8) VIRGINIA, VIRGINIA TECH, MARYLAND, WEST VIRGINIA
