Pac 12, ACC, and Big Ten Potential Conference Realignment

There is a lot of speculation about the future of college football and what those details look like in particular. The focus right now is on the idea of conference realignment and the latest report is contributing to the speculation. 

On Saturday, the Pac 12, Big Ten, and ACC are in talks about creating what they are calling a “college football alliance”. 

This alliance is not centered around making one massive conference, it is more regarding scheduling. This could mean that all the high-level football schools such as Clemson, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and Oregon could be facing each other every year.

This rumor comes after the decision made by Texas and Oklahoma to leave the Big 12 and joining the SEC making somewhat of a “super-conference”. The Pac-12, Big Ten, and ACC wanted to do this to “create stability”. From what I gather it is a way to formulate high-level games to compete and prove to not just the nation but the college football committee that there are other elite levels of football that aren’t just down south. 

It seems like the SEC set the standard by having gone in and essentially taken Texas and Oklahoma and now all the other conferences are scrambling. As the current AP Poll sits, the SEC has the top two contenders in the college football playoff, with Oklahoma and Alabama sitting at the top.

Here is the confusing part and where the conference alignment gets interesting as the idea of tradition is in jeopardy. 

Usually, a team either plays three or four out of conference games and then competes in eight or nine conference games. 

There are certain scenarios that I can see taking place. 

I am using the ACC as an example of how a schedule could look going forward.

Model 1: Seven ACC games, two Pac-12 games, two Big Ten games, and one non-conference.

In this situation, you still get to play a good chunk of teams in your conference and then can face the top competition in the Big Ten and Pac-12. For example, Clemson can play seven conference games, USC and Washington from the Pac-12, Penn State and Michigan from the Big Ten, and then one non-conference school, and that schedule gives them a competing resume to put against an SEC school.

Model 2: Six ACC games, three Pac-12 games, three Big Ten games, and zero non-conference games.

In this situation, you get a solid amount of ACC games and then face even better teams in the other conferences. For example, Clemson again could face the normal teams they play in the ACC, along with Oregon, USC, and Washington, while they face Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State in the regular season.