College Football Update - October 1st

Here's just few of my thoughts from today's games.

• It's been a great day of college football for Georgia fan. Georgia pulled off a 24-10 win over Mississippi State in a game where the defense showed its skills. Even better news is that South Carolina was upset by Auburn and now has a SEC loss of their own. To add on the good news, Florida just lost 38-10 to Alabama with Brantley limping off the field right before halftime. With a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way, we just need one more team to beat South Carolina and we could see the Dawgs playing in the SEC Championship Game. 
• Both Texas and Oklahoma breezed through Iowa State and Ball State, respectively, and head into the Red River Rivalry game undefeated. Texas is going to be looking to ruin Oklahoma national title run and reassert themselves in the college football landscape after a rough year. 
• Texas A&M got a taste of what the can expect on a weekly basis next year as they lost Arkansas 42-38. The blew another huge lead ans they went into the half leading 35-17 only to watch Arkansas outscore them 25-3 in the second half. They wanted to leave the Big 12 to escape from Texas's shadow, but they will soon realize they will have to play four to five Texas-talented teams every year now. 
• Boise State continued their bid for yet another undefeated season beating Nevada 30-10. I'm sure it was nice for them to get revenge after Nevada ruined their season last year. It will be interesting to see what bowl they end up in this year. 
• Did anyone see Clemson being 5-0 at this point of the season? They started the year unranked and have now beaten Auburn, Florida State, and Virginia Tech in three straight weeks. With the toughest part of their schedule past them, you have to wonder where this Clemson team ends up. Also it looked like Virginia Tech was going to be able to escape their early season upset this year, but it hit them again. 
• Oh, how the mighty have fallen? Ohio State loses again, this time to Michigan State. With a trip to Nebraska next week and Wisconsin coming up in few weeks, the season could get ugly fast. Ohio State fans must be crying for Tressel right now.
• Wisconsin just introduced Nebraska to the Big Ten and they did it in a humiliating fashion. Montee Ball had a huge 4-TD game and led the Badgers to a 48-17 win.  With their toughest game past them, Wisconsin has some a chance to make some noise in the national championship picture.

My Conference Alignment

The layout of conferences in college has been hectic these days. Every day news comes out about some school switching from one conference to another. Here is a quick recap of the changes that have occurred.

• Colorado has moved from the Big 12 to the new Pac-12
• Utah has moved from the Mountain West to the new Pac-12
• Nebraska has left the Big 12 for the Big Ten
• BYU has left the Mountain West and has gone independent
• Boise State has moved from the WAC to the Mountain West
• Fresno State, Hawaii, and Nevada will be joining Boise State next year and join the Mountain West
• TCU is leaving the Mountain West and is planning on joining the Big East
• Texas A&M will officially be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC
• Syracuse and Pitt will move from the Big East to the ACC

Personally I am not a fan of the realignment and expansion occurring at this moment, but I can't do anything about it.  However, I can give you my view on what the conferences should look like. I am a fan of the 12-team conferences, so in my world I have every conference end up with 12 members. Also, I do not like the concept of independent schools, so you will see I give every independent a conference to call home. Check out what my conferences would like.

ACC

Boston College
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Maryland
Miami (FL)
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest

I have the ACC staying the same as it is now. In my world, Pitt and Syracuse stay in the Big East.

Big 12

Baylor
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas A&M**
Texas Tech
Southern Methodist*
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska**

*New Member
**Rejoins or Stays

For the Big 12, Nebraska transfers back and SMU joins as the 12th member of the conference. This just makes sense. Nebraska already has the history with conference and SMU can join some of its old Southwest Conference rivals, like Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor.

Big East

Cincinnati
Connecticut
Louisville
Pittsburgh**
Rutgers
South Florida
Syracuse**
West Virginia
Army*
Navy*
Central Florida*
East Carolina*

*New Member
**Rejoins or Stays

So there are some big changes in the Big East.  Pitt and Syracuse stay in the conference that they have been with the past 30 years; TCU decides not to join the Big East: and Army, Navy, Central Florida, and East Carolina join and new members. It made no sense to me geographically how TCU could move from the Mountain WEST to the the Big EAST. All of the new schools geographically make sense. Central Florida would give South Florida a more local conference rival. East Carolina would help the Big East spread more into the South and help USF and UCF not seem so far away from every other school in the conference. Army and Navy can join together which will keep the rivalry alive and no longer have to be independents.

Big Ten

Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Wisconsin
Notre Dame*

*New Member

As you read earlier I had Nebraska rejoin the Big 12 and in its place I have Notre Dame join. Once again it makes sense geographically and they play Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue every year already.

Pac-12

Arizona
Arizona State
California
Colorado
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Washington State

I kept the Pac-12 the same as it is now. 

SEC

Alabama
Arakansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt

I kept the SEC the way it now as well and don't have Texas A&M join. Why mess with a good thing?

Mountain West

Air Force
Boise State
Colorado State
New Mexico
San Diego State
TCU**
UNLV
Wyoming
Fresno State*
Hawaii*
Nevada*
BYU**

I have the Mountain West add the new member that are joining in real life (Fresno State, Hawaii, and Nevada) and I have TCU and BYU come back. This ends up being a pretty good conference that could compete with many of the other conferences, such as the Big East and ACC. In my world, the Mountain West would become a BCS conference.

I just feel these conferences would work out well and make sense. This was my first post in quite a long time, but keep a look out for my next one where I will talk about what the college football postseason would look like in my world.