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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jonstark19 on 2024-03-05 19:39:25.

First and foremost, big thanks to the mods for opening the off-season realignment floodgates. Feel free to “drink” for old times’ sake!

*Checks time, it’s noon*

Ok maybe just a cup of coffee (or not, I’m not your boss).

The Setup:

  • In every weekly realignment thread, there are always dedicated sickos users advocating a return to smaller, regional, traditional conferences. This setup is an attempt to restore what many believe we’ve lost in the Super Conference era.
  • I will make this disclaimer up front - no setup is flawless, including this one. That said, I still think this setup is one of my favorites and will probably be an alignment I use in CFB 25 (if EA allows for expansive alignment changes including conference creation and including the FCS).

Guiding Principles:

  • History/tradition, geography, and competitive balance were the primary criteria I used in creating the Power 7. Some conferences have more traditional roots than others, some conferences are more geographically coherent, and some conferences are tougher than others - as I said, there’s no perfect setup and these are guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules.
  • I wanted to go to ten teams per conference to make everything even across the board. I also eliminated independence (sorry Irish). My goal was to even things out as much as possible.
  • For the G9, I again wanted to emphasize geography (with the exception of the American, which I’ll discuss at length below). To help flesh out the setup, I added some FCS programs that either (a) are rumored to be making the move up; or (b) are favorites of mine/are needed to help populate the conferences and make the geography work.

Power 7:

ACC AIC Big Seven Big Ten PAC 10 SEC SWC
Clemson Boston College BYU Illinois Arizona Alabama Arkansas
Duke Louisville Colorado Indiana Arizona State Auburn Baylor
Florida State Miami Iowa State Iowa Cal Florida Houston
Georgia Tech Notre Dame Kansas Michigan Oregon Georgia Rice
Maryland Penn State Kansas State Michigan State Oregon State Kentucky SMU
North Carolina Pitt Missouri Minnesota Stanford LSU TCU
NC State Rutgers Nebraska Northwestern UCLA Mississippi Texas
South Carolina Syracuse Oklahoma Ohio State USC Mississippi State Texas A&M
Virginia Virginia Tech Oklahoma State Purdue Washington Tennessee Texas Tech
Wake Forest West Virginia Utah Wisconsin Washington State Vanderbilt Tulane
  • My first step was a relatively straight forward reset for the Big Ten and SEC. Starting here was natural, as both were the chief players in the ongoing Super Conference era and both had originally been comprised of ten members prior to expansion in the early 90s. Resetting both to their pre-90s format keeps the core of both historic conferences together and allows other conferences the chance to form (or in some cases re-form). It may upset some fanbases (e.g. South Carolina, Penn State) to be left out, but it’s hard to deny inclusion based on tenure. Congrats Big Ten, your name finally reflects your membership! #MakeTheBigTenTenAgain
  • Next up was another easy reset, the PAC 10. We get a requiem for the Conference of Champions, hopefully management of the conference is better this time around. The downside of this alignment - what about the Utes?
  • Luckily, Utah lands with in-state rival BYU in the revived Big Eight, now named the Big Seven, which was always going to reunite in my ideal setup (for obvious reasons). Utah/BYU add two great culture fits and competitive programs to the conference’s ranks and extend the old conference’s geographic reach farther west. I’m sure many of you might be wondering: why the “Big Seven” moniker? Before adding Colorado, the conference and its seven members were known as the Big Seven from 1948 to 1957, so there is historical precedent. The “Seven” here represents the number of states represented in this new conference: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Utah.
  • The next challenge was sifting through East Coast programs left outside the Big Ten and Big XII, as well as members in the ACC to create two distinct conferences. Although I debated dividing the two along strict geographic lines, I opted for a bigger emphasis on history instead. Thus, the new American Independent Conference (AIC) was born. I debated naming this new conference “the Big East” but with the hoops conference still going strong it didn’t feel right. Its members include former CFB independents and while the name is ironic (they can be independent together!), it gives a nod to the history of the member schools as independents and unites them in a compelling conference. The trio of Notre Dame, Penn State, and Miami just feels right and there are plenty of other programs and rivalries that make the conference feel natural (imo) like the Backyard Brawl, PSU-Pitt, etc.
  • After sorting out the AIC, the ACC fell into place pretty naturally. South Carolina fans would probably prefer the SEC, but the history as a founding member and lack of other viable destination makes an ACC reunion the best outcome. As stated above, I debated swapping Maryland and Miami to follow geography (especially because most ACC fanbases don’t want to reunite with the Terps) but I think I prefer the setup above.
  • Finally, we get to the SWC, another conference that gets a second chance. Nine members were easy enough to confirm, but the last spot was somewhat tricky. I briefly considered UCF as I didn’t want to move them back down from “Power” status, but they just don’t fit for obvious geographic reasons. The final two candidates were Memphis and Tulane and I opted for the latter. Tulane has sustained success of late and I’m a sucker for the Green wave aesthetic.

A brief note on the American:

  • I fully expect Cincinnati and UCF flairs to not dig this setup, and I don’t blame them. There just wasn’t space for either in this setup, and for that I apologize.
  • For some alternate options, you could grant Notre Dame a waiver to remain independent and put either Cincinnati or UCF in that open AIC slot. Regardless, while the rest of the G9 is much more geographically coherent, the American keeps some classic members in place.
AAC
Army
Cincinnati
Connecticut
East Carolina
Memphis
Navy
Temple
Tulsa
UCF
USF

The Group of 9 (minus the AAC):

East Coast Sun Belt Conference USA WAC
Appalachian State Austin Peay Arkansas State Abilene Christian
Charlotte Coastal Carolina Jacksonville State Central Arkansas
Delaware Eastern Kentucky Louisiana North Texas
JMU FAU Louisiana Monroe Sam Houston State
Liberty FIU Louisiana Tech Stephen F. Austin
Marshall Georgia Southern North Alabama Tarleton
New Hampshire Georgia State South Alabama Texas State
Old Dominion Kennesaw State Southern Miss UT Rio Grande Valley
Rhode Island Middle Tennessee Troy UTEP
UMass Western Kentucky UAB UTSA
MAC Missouri Valley Mountain West Pacific Coast
Akron Ball State Air Force Boise State
Bowling Green Illinois State Colorado State Fresno State
Buffalo Missouri State New Mexico Hawaii
Central Michigan North Dakota New Mexico State Idaho
Eastern Michigan North Dakota State Northern Arizona Montana
Kent State Northern Illinois Northern Colorado Montana State
Miami (OH) Northern Iowa Southern Utah Nevada
Ohio South Dakota Utah State San Diego State
Toledo South Dakota State Utah Tech San Jose State
Western Michigan Southern Illinois Wyoming UNLV
  • A lot to unpack here, but I’ll start in the Midwest. It felt most natural to keep the Ohio and Michigan schools together along with Buffalo in the Great Lakes region, but that left Ball State and NIU on the outside looking in. My (selfish) solution was to introduce a handful of Missouri Valley football programs into the FBS. The NIU-UNI game would be great to confuse CFB abbreviations and NDSU/SDSU would be awesome additions as two of the most successful FCS programs in recent years.
  • Other FCS additions included those rumored WAC schools discussed above, as well as some other select programs where there are no FBS programs in the state in the present (New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Montana/Montana State). Plus I think we all agree we want to play in Missoula.
  • Another priority was the restoration of Idaho as an FBS program - long live the Kibbie Dome!

Playoff and Scheduling:

  • I admit I’m pretty open for what the playoff would look like in this alignment. The easiest solution is an 8-team playoff, AQs for the P7 conference champs and another AQ for the highest ranked G9 champ. I’m open to expand to 12 with 4 At Large bids.
  • While I’m tempted to require a 9 game round robin scheduling format for each conference to ensure every conference member plays the other annually, I think 8 games across the board would be preferred with a few caveats:
    • Conference title games remai…

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