Since I had some time on my hands I wanted to have some fun with this.

SEC
South Florida
Florida
Miami
Florida St
Georgia
Alabama
Mississippi St
Ole Miss
Auburn
South Carolina
Clemson
LSU

Big 12
Arkansas
Tennessee
Kentucky
Memphis
Louisville
Vanderbilt
Missouri
Kansas St
Kansas
Nebraska
Colorodo
Colorodo St

Big 10

Notre Dame
Ohio St
Michigan
Illinois
Minnesota
Wisconson
Michigan St
Iowa
Iowa St
Northwestern
Indiana
Purdue

SWC

Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Baylor
New Mexico
New Mexico ST
TCU
Utah
BYU
North Texas

Pac 10 stays the same

Big East or whatever you want to call it after a forced split.

Pitt
WVU
Maryland
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Penn St
Boston College
Syracuse
Cincinatti
Temple
UConn
Rutgers

ACC not sure what'll happen with that league with the defections maybe a CUSA merger. Have some fun with this.

I've done this before in a post just like this, but I'll do it again with what a true gas saving conference would be for UofL.

SUPER GAS SAVER
Louisville
Kentucky
Western KY
Cincinnati
Miami (OH)
Ohio
Ohio St.
Indiana
Ball St.
Purdue
Vanderbilt
Marshall

I think I would replace North Texas with Houston and Baylor with LSU in the SWC.

That doesn't appear to be good for the gas tanks of Tennessee and Colorado.

Gas prices increasing means more people should carpool or charter buses to away games.

I like your idea of realigment though, just fun to think about.

I like the premise but there are a couple of thing that I might disagree with. First Notre Dame will never join a conference (in football), Second Penn State isn't leaving the Big Ten, and SEC isn't going to break up. The major changes may be something like the financially stronger conferences going to 14 to further exploit the conference networks. Couple of things to consider: The SEC wants the Texas market, and the Big Ten want the Northeast Market giving them more tv sets for their networks. Giving that... I say the more logical though not likely outcome is that the Big Ten and the SEC will start cannibalizing their neighbors. So the scenario would go down like this. The SEC drops Vanderbilt and picks up Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma. The Big 12 stays at 12 but adds Houston, SMU, & TCU to a keep presence in Texas.The Big Ten picks up UConn, Rutgers, & Maryland. The ACC drops Boston College to go to 10 and have a round-robin in basketball and says to hell with the football championship. The Big East football schools after losing 2 big public eastern schools would probably break off and form a 12-team football league but still keep the conference at 16 to maintain basketball tradition. Big East Football would add Boston College, Temple, Marshall, Memphis, East Carolina, & Central Florida. The 4 non-football affiliated schools would be Notre Dame, Georgetown, Villanova, and St. John's. So the conference configurations would look something like this.

Big East Football North:
Syracuse
Boston College
Temple
Pittsburgh
West Virginia
Marshall

Big East Football South:
Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
East Carolina
Central Florida
South Florida

Big East Basketball East:
Syracuse
Boston College
St. John's
Villanova
Temple
Georgetown
Central Florida
South Florida

Big East Basketball West:
Pittsburgh
West Virginia
Marshall
Cincinnati
Notre Dame
Louisville
Memphis
East Carolina

SEC East:
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
Tennessee
Kentucky
Alabama
Auburn

SEC West:
Miss State
Ole Miss
LSU
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M

Big 12 North:
Colorado
Nebraska
Iowa State
Missouri
Kansas
Kansas State

Big 12 South
Oklahoma State
SMU
TCU
Baylor
Houston
Texas Tech

Big Ten East:
UConn
Rutgers
Maryland
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State

Big Ten West:
Indiana
Purdue
Northwestern
Illinois
Wisconsin
Iowa
Minnesota

ACC:
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Duke
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Clemson
Georgia Tech
Florida State
Miami

Pac 10:
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State
California
Stanford
USC
UCLA
Arizona
Arizona State

WAC:
Hawaii
Fresno State
San Jose State
Nevada
Boise State
Idaho
Utah State
New Mexico State

MWC:
San Diego State
UNLV
BYU
Utah
Wyoming
Air Force
Colorado State
New Mexico

Conf USA:
Tulsa
North Texas
UTEP
Rice
LA Tech
Tulane
Southern Miss
UAB
Vanderbilt

Sun Belt:
Western Kentucky
Middle Tennessee
Arkansas State
LA Lafayette
LA Monroe
South Alabama
Troy State
Florida Atlantic
Florida International

Football Independents:
Army
Navy
Notre Dame

It's not going to be the major conferences that need to adjust. They make more than enough money to cover the rising cost of fuel. None of them have really crazy geography anyway.

What you're going to see is the WAC telling Louisiana Tech to get lost and C-USA telling Marshall and East Carolina to find another conference and the Sun Belt letting the Florida schools go.

Yes even I agree that the SEC will never break up. But wouldn't it be cool to see all 4 Florida Schools in the same BCS Conference. We all know its not going to happen. This thread is just hypothectical thats all. somethin to talk about befre the season actually starts.

PSU
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Maryland
Va Tech
Virginia

West Virginia
Marshall
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Louisville
Kentucky

Wilkie01,
No friggin way Ohio State plays in the same conference as Cincy. I'll be the first to admit that I thought that Big East Football was dead in the water after Miami & VT left but its strong with the only weak links being the programs that used to be strong (Syracuse & Pitt). The others (South Florida, Louisville, Cincy, Rutgers, UConn, & West Virginia) are doing well and really coming up. The key now will be can they can keep it up, and sell out stadiums, and travel well, and turn on tv sets, and negotiate better tv deals, and get better bowls, and etc. I think the Big East has really good potential but Penn State and Notre Dame aren't coming. The best way to grow the base of schools that can become power is to get some schools that are hungry the same way Louisville was before the Big East. ECU, Memphis, Marshall, and/or Central Florida granted are all below the mason-dixon line but they show real promise. So given that the Big Ten nor ACC tries to lure any schools (which basically everyone would jump if given the opportunity) I say the football conference should look like this:

Syracuse
UCONN
Rutgers
Pittsburgh
West Virginia
Marshall

Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
East Carolina
Central Florida
South Florida

Big Ron Buckeye Wrote:Wilkie01,
No friggin way Ohio State plays in the same conference as Cincy. I'll be the first to admit that I thought that Big East Football was dead in the water after Miami & VT left but its strong with the only weak links being the programs that used to be strong (Syracuse & Pitt). The others (South Florida, Louisville, Cincy, Rutgers, UConn, & West Virginia) are doing well and really coming up. The key now will be can they can keep it up, and sell out stadiums, and travel well, and turn on tv sets, and negotiate better tv deals, and get better bowls, and etc. I think the Big East has really good potential but Penn State and Notre Dame aren't coming. The best way to grow the base of schools that can become power is to get some schools that are hungry the same way Louisville was before the Big East. ECU, Memphis, Marshall, and/or Central Florida granted are all below the mason-dixon line but they show real promise. So given that the Big Ten nor ACC tries to lure any schools (which basically everyone would jump if given the opportunity) I say the football conference should look like this:

Syracuse
UCONN
Rutgers
Pittsburgh
West Virginia
Marshall

Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
East Carolina
Central Florida
South Florida

Trust me, we wouldn't want to be in the same conference with Ohio State either, easily the most annoying and arrogant fan base in America. And, yes, I'm counting Notre Dame and Kentucky fans. Why would the Big East add Marshall when they already have the West Virginia market? On a side note, everybody wouldn't jump at the Big Ten or ACC as evident of Notre Dame telling you to hit the bricks. Besides, what makes you think a Big East school would "jump" at an invite to the ACC? The only reason it happened last time was because all the schools thought that Miami leaving would kill the Big East. Obviously it didn't. One thing I like though is that UC's move to the Big East seems to have annoyed Ohio State fans. They spent their time ripping UC's conference, bragging about how Ohio State wouldn't let UC join THEIR conference. Now that UC is in the Big East and doing fine, and not worried about OSU and the Big Ten, and Big East has flourished, here come the Ohio State fans talking about how they're to good for Cincinnati, how the Big Ten is the end all be all, etc. I'm loving the fact that they're upset that UC fans aren't pining for OSU and the Big Ten.

As time goes by, The BEast will look much more attractive to member schools fanbases. The administrations all seem content. It's the fanbases that bemoan the loss of traditional foes that are doing all the complaining.

Big Ron Buckeye Wrote:Wilkie01,
No friggin way Ohio State plays in the same conference as Cincy. I'll be the first to admit that I thought that Big East Football was dead in the water after Miami & VT left but its strong with the only weak links being the programs that used to be strong (Syracuse & Pitt). The others (South Florida, Louisville, Cincy, Rutgers, UConn, & West Virginia) are doing well and really coming up. The key now will be can they can keep it up, and sell out stadiums, and travel well, and turn on tv sets, and negotiate better tv deals, and get better bowls, and etc. I think the Big East has really good potential but Penn State and Notre Dame aren't coming. The best way to grow the base of schools that can become power is to get some schools that are hungry the same way Louisville was before the Big East. ECU, Memphis, Marshall, and/or Central Florida granted are all below the mason-dixon line but they show real promise. So given that the Big Ten nor ACC tries to lure any schools (which basically everyone would jump if given the opportunity) I say the football conference should look like this:

Syracuse
UCONN
Rutgers
Pittsburgh
West Virginia
Marshall

Cincinnati
Louisville
Memphis
East Carolina
Central Florida
South Florida

Not bad. Although I think I would replace Marshall with Temple.

Did I touch a nerve CatClaw or are you just on the rag? I've go love for Cincy I'm from Dayton. In fact, I pull for all Ohio teams to do well unless they are playing Ohio State. That being said you know just like I do that Ohio State isn't letting any other Ohio School in the Big Ten...hell they won't even play anybody in bball (that sucks). As far as Big East Football schools (which doesn't include Notre Dame)...they WOULD all jump and you're lying to yourself if you say they wouldn't. Look at my earlier post I already said that Notre Dame football wouldn't join a conference. And about adding Marshall... they have a solid passionate fan base & dedication from the school and there are really no other options on the East coast unless: 1. Temple really picks it up (unlikely). 2. Boston College leaves the ACC (even less likely) 3. Penn State leaves the Big Ten (ain't happening). 4. UMass upgrades their program (may happen if the commonwealth wasn't so broke). My point is that Marshall is a good option their biggest knock is that they don't have any "markets" they add, but they are a good program.

XLance Wrote:Not bad. Although I think I would replace Marshall with Temple.

You would...

I only like Temple over Marshall if the Big East loses Rutgers. Temple got kicked out of the Big East for a reason...their school administration gives no support. Screw the BIG market stuff...get a school that wants to play with the big boys. Now if Temple gets committed and decides they want to build an on-campus stadium...then I'd say Temple is turning it around. But until then football-wise Marshall is a better choice.

I'll put it this way, because a Michigan State fan put it best. We were talking about our football programs and how they're succeeding with Dantonio going there and Kelyl here in Cincinnati. Win-win situation. Then when we were talking about recruiting we were talking about how we both had to deal with Ohio State. He told us "at least you don't have to share a BCS conference with them". That, in a nutshell, says it all. For years Cincinnati fans have wanted to get into a Big Six conference, the natural fit was the Big Ten, and Ohio State fans never missed a chance to point that out. Now that we have found a home in a Big Six conference while having the bonus of not having to deal with Ohio State, UC fans are estatic. I know I am. I love the Big East to death and wouldn't ever want to share a conference with Ohio State. I wouldn't mind sharing a conference with Kentucky, and would love to share a conference with Notre Dame. Michigan fans are also great. But Ohio State fans are the most arrogant and annoying fans in America.

new SEC

south
UM
UF
Usf
UCF
Fau
FSU

North
Ga
Ga tech
S. carolina
Clemson
Tenn
Ala

ACC (10 or 12 teams)

ECU
NCSt
NC
Wake
Clemson
GaTech
FSU
Miami
USF
UCF
(Can also keep UVa + either Maryland or VT)

Big East
RU
UConn
PSU
SU
Maryland
VT
Pitt
UC
UL
WVu
BC
UVa
(Can also lose UVa + either VT or Maryland to ACC)

ND - can stay indy if they want or.....

CUSA
Add LaTech and ND