Hey All,
As in the past few seasons you can't tell the conferences without a scorecard. Well, here are some new Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard to get us through. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.
The Conference Shuffle
It's the AAC, not the ACC; The Big East is no more. The league is now called the American Athletic Conference. I do give credit to the league for changing its' name when it didn't really fit anymore. Hint, hint, Big Ten and Big XII. Pitt and Syracuse have left for the ACC, while Houston, Memphis, SMU, and Central Florida come in as refugees from C-USA. The AAC will have 10 teams this season. They are Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, Temple, UCF, and USF. One more thing, Rutgers will move to the Big Ten and Louisville will leave the league to got to the ACC in 2014.
It's the ACC, not the AAC; A lot of people thought this league was on its' last legs, but the ACC big wigs managed to survive Maryland's imminent move to the Big Ten, and actually expand with Pitt and Syracuse beginning ACC play this year and Louisville coming to the league in 2014. The league stands at 14 teams this season split into two divisions. The Atlantic Division consists of Clemson, Florida State, N.C. State, Maryland. Syracuse, Wake Forest, and Boston College. Miami, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Pitt, Virginia, and Duke play in the Coastal Division. Maryland moves to the Big Ten in 2015.
The last ride of the Leaders and Legends; Oh folks, I know you're all gonna miss the Leaders and Legends divisions of the BIg Ten after 2013. Coming in 2014 the divisions will simply be the East and West divisions. As for now the league stays at 12 teams split into two divisions for this season. The Leaders Division is home to Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Indiana, Purdue, and Illinois. The Legends Division consists of Nebraska, Michigan State, Michigan, Northwestern, Iowa, and Minnesota.
It's less than they say; The Big XII still has the same 10 teams like last season. The league has no divisions and consists of Oklahoma State, Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech, Iowa State, West Virginia, and Kansas.
Pacific is Spanish for calm; The Pac 12 stands pat at 12 teams. The 12 teams are split into two, 6 team divisions. Arizona, Arizona State, USC, UCLA, Colorado, and Utah inhabit the Pac 12 South, while Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State play in the Pac 12 North.
The only thing missing are the trees at Toomer's corner; The SEC has the same 14 teams as last season. The 14 teams are split into two, seven team divisions. The SEC West teams are Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Auburn, and Mississippi State. The SEC East teams are South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky
Baby, I just couldn't leave you; Boise State and San Diego State looked to be off to the new AAC, but they decided it really wasn't so bad in the Mountain West Conference and stayed. So, the MWC expands to 14 teams this year as San Jose State and Utah State joined the league after the WAC died. There are two, seven team divisions for 2013. The Mountain Division consists of Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, Air Force, Wyoming, and New Mexico. The West Division is home to Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Nevada, Hawaii, and UNLV.
Oh, those teams in the Mighty MAC; The MAC stays at 13 teams split into two divisions. The MAC West consists of Northern Illinois, Toledo, Ball State, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, and Eastern Michigan. The MAC East is home to Bowling Green, Ohio, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami, Akron, and UMass.
A way station in the FBS; C-USA is truly a conference in transition. Memphis, UCF, Houston, and SMU all left for the AAC, while East Carolina, Tulsa, and Tulane will leave the league for the AAC in the 2014 season. To combat the mass exodus, the league officials that were left raided the Sun Belt and then picked up a couple of WAC orphans to replenish the league for 2013. The Sun Belt teams making their C-USA debut this season are FIU, FAU, North Texas, and Middle Tennessee State. The two WAC orphans are Louisiana Tech and University of Texas- San Antonio (UTSA). The league has 14 teams split into two divisions. The East Division has Marshall, East Carolina, Southern Miss, UAB, MTSU, FAU, and FIU. The West Division consists of Tulsa, Rice, Tulane, LaTech, North Texas, UTEP, and UTSA.
The Sun Belt is the entry level conference of the FBS; Sun Belt teams look good, play hard, and move on to other leagues when they get better. Four schools left the Sun Belt for C-USA this season. They are FIU, FAU, North Texas, and MTSU. In their stead comes FBS newcomer Georgia State, and WAC refugee Texas State. The league will consist of eight teams with no divisions this year. They are Louisiana, ULM, WKU, Arkansas State, Troy, Texas State, South Alabama, and Georgia State.
The Island of Misfit Toys exists in college football; That's what I call this year's grouping of independent teams. There are seven this year. 2012 independents Notre Dame, Army, Navy, and BYU are joined by 1st year FBS team Old Dominion and New Mexico State and Idaho from the ruins of the WAC.
With no observation section in this column, here's a potshot to leave you all with...
When Charlie Weis took the HC job at Kansas last year, he told the Jayhawk faithful that the program has "nowhere to go, but up," after the team went 2-10 in 2011 under then HC Turner Gill. Well, the Jayhawks went down, going 1-11 last year without beating an FBS opponent. Their lone win came against South Dakota State of the FCS. I guess all those other schools did not not know that the Jayhawks had the schematic advantage.
Until next time folks, remember that Super Conferences will rule the FBS in a couple of years.
-The Commissioner
