ShareThisOKLAHOMA CITY - As wildfires spread concerning conference realignment, we can only hope the entire landscape doesn't get torched.
Many factors must be considered before the moving process begins. Offering and accepting can work hand in hand, but they also can be deemed impossible. Somewhere in the middle lies the reality of all the rumors we've heard lately.
The Big 12 meetings will be next week in Kansas City, where commissioner Dan Beebe will huddle with conference dignitaries and point-blank ask Missouri and Nebraska if they're on-board or not.
If the Tigers and Cornhuskers opt to go elsewhere, dominoes will begin to fall and might not stop tumbling until we find ourselves with six 16-team mega-conferences:
-- The Pac-10 could merge with five members of the Big 12, including Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
-- Texas and Texas A&M could relocate to the Southeast Conference along with Miami and Florida State, securing that conference's football domination for decades.
-- In order to join the more academically affluent group they apparently seek (yeah, whatever), Nebraska and Missouri could help create the Big 16 along with Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Syracuse. Every Big 16 school would be a member of the Association of American Universities, a group that receives billions in federal academic research funding each year.
-- Notre Dame, which would not be invited to the Big 16 because it is not an AAU member, could help form the East Coast Conference, which would merge remaining members from the Big East and Atlantic Coast.
-- Scrambling to stay on the college football radar, Conference USA and the Western Athletic Conference would kick into survival mode and gather up the leftovers.
Massive realignment might happen as quickly as five years from now, 10 years from now or not at all.
One benefit of having six mega-conferences: Each could stage a conference championship and also be a member of the BCS. Every mega-conference could be guaranteed a BCS bowl bid. No more whining about somebody not getting a fair shake.
So without further delay, here are our proposed six mega-conferences. As for those schools not listed, we wish ye the best of luck. Feel free to huddle up and merge amongst yourselves.
-- PACIFIC 16 CONFERENCE
West
California
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Washington
Washington State
East
Arizona
Arizona State
Brigham Young
Colorado
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
-- SEC
West
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Texas
Texas A&M
East
Florida
Florida State
Georgia
Kentucky
Miami
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
EAST COAST CONFERENCE
Big East Division
Boston College
Connecticut
Cincinnati
Louisville
Notre Dame
South Florida
West Virginia
Virginia Tech
Atlantic Coast Division
Clemson
Duke
Georgia Tech
Maryland
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Virginia
Wake Forest
-- BIG 16 CONFERENCE
East
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Syracuse
West
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin
-- CONFERENCE USA
East
Alabama-Birmingham
Central Florida
East Carolina
Iowa State
Marshall
Memphis
Southern Mississippi
Tulane
West
Baylor
Houston
Rice
SMU
TCU
Texas Tech
Tulsa
UTEP
-- WAC
East
Air Force
Colorado State
Louisiana Tech
New Mexico
New Mexico State
Utah
Utah State
Wyoming
West
Boise State
Fresno State
Hawaii
Idaho
Nevada
Nevada-Las Vegas
San Diego State
San Jose State
(Contact John Rohde at jrohde(at)opubco.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit Oklahoma City Oklahoman
