In part one I began to describe my theory on realigning the 120 division I-A football teams into ten evenly divided conferences. I set the new conferences to the scheduling setup currently used by the ACC and SEC.
Before I move into the final three BCS conferences, will recap the previous three from part one:
The ACC did not require any changes as it is one of the two conferences set as an example for the rest.
For the Big 12, I replaced Iowa State in the north division with BYU and replaced Baylor in the south with TCU. The teams were then paired with a rival team from the opposite conference for their yearly inter-divisional rivalry game.
Four teams were added to the Big East, giving the conference twelve teams. The four added were Army, East Carolina, Navy, and Notre Dame. The teams were divided into two division: the north would have Army, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Rutgers; the south division would have Navy, Cincinnati, East Carolina, South Florida, Louisville and West Virginia.
Now I will continue by finishing the final three BCS conference: the Big Ten, the Pac-10 and the SEC.
Big Ten – One very odd thing about the Big Ten conference is that it actually contains eleven teams. If you recall the changes in the Big 12 from part one, my theory replaces Iowa State with BYU, leaving Iowa State without a conference affiliation. I feel that the Big Ten is a perfect fit for the Cyclones, and vice versa. The biggest rivalry for Iowa State is the in-state with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Moving Iowa State to the Big Ten would add even more of an importance to this heated rivalry by making it a conference game as well. Now that the Big Ten would have its twelve teams, it just needs its two divisions. The theory divides the conference into east and west divisions. The Big Ten East would have Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana and Purdue; the Big Ten West would host Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the newly added Iowa State Cyclones. The inter-divisional rivalries are as follows: Indiana is paired with Northwestern; Michigan is paired with Minnesota; Michigan State is paired with Iowa; Ohio State is paired with Illinois; Penn State is paired with Wisconsin; Purdue is paired with Iowa State.
*** The Big Ten realignment has since been edited, view more recent S26S posts for updates. ***
Pac-10 – The Pac-10 Conference does not need too many changes, and the few that need to be made are quite simple and obvious. Two of the most notable current non-BCS teams are out west and obvious choices for the Pac-10’s two additions, Boise State and Utah. This gives the Pac-10 its twelve teams, making the next step its divisions. In the Pac-10 North, I have put Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Boise State and Utah. This leaves the Pac-10 South hosting Southern Cal, California, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State. The inter-divisional rivalries are as follows: Boise State is paired with Stanford; Oregon is paired with California; Oregon State is paired with Southern Cal; Utah is paired with UCLA; Washington is paired with Arizona; Washington State is paired with Arizona State. I believe that these changes give the Pac-10 conference, as well as the Boise State and Utah football programs more legitimacy.
SEC – The SEC, like the ACC is used in this theory as the standard for the rest of the conferences to immolate, and therefore requires no changes to the members or rivalries within the conference.
Stay tuned for part three, which will show changes to the non-BCS conferences, including the combining of the Mountain West conference and the Western Athletic Conference, resulting in the removal of the Mountain West Conference.