Jul 27-
College Football Realignment Grades
Texas and Oklahoma look bound to be moving to the SEC for 2025. How does the landscape change with the possible ending of the Big 12? Will it make things more interesting for the best conference in college football? Yes. But part of the fun of the Big 12 was that the experts would downplay their talent and record, always sighting strength of schedule, and we would wait for the CFB playoff to figure out just how good (or bad) the Big 12 teams were, and I personally enjoyed that banter. I loved seeing Texas lose to Kansas and them tearing down the field goal posts and although this is about CFB, I loved a good Big 12 CBB game on a Saturday morning at noon, but that is a thing of the past.
With Texas and Oklahoma leaving, it seems to be the end of the Big 12 conference as we know it as schools have started to reach out to other conferences for a potential change. Also, a side note, The thoughts of the SEC making a mega conference with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson & Florida State doesn’t sit right with me. As I was scrolling my feed, I came across this graphic on the potential realignment and I am here to grade the potential changes. (I think that TCU is the only school that didn’t get included).
BIG 10
Adding: Iowa State and Kansas
Iowa State
Record Last 10 Years: 55-70
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 2-4
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 7
Kansas
Record Last 10 Years: 18-99
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 0-0
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 6
Matt Campbell has changed the culture at Iowa State over his 5 years leading the program, making Aimes a much more favorable place to play, for recruits. This program seems to be headed in the right direction and would be a nice add for the Big 10 while capitalizing on the in state Cy-Hawk rivalry. On the other hand, what a mess this Kansas football program is. This will only make the conference stronger in Basketball, with more free wins for other teams. Hopefully Lance Leipold and his staff can fix up the issues in the program, but administration really is not interested in what the Jayhawks are doing on the football field. Bring back Todd Reesing and make KU football great, again.
MY BIG 10 GRADE: D
SEC
Adding: Texas and Oklahoma
Texas
Record Last 10 Years: 73 – 53
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 6 – 2
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 31
Oklahoma
Record Last 10 Years: 106 – 26
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 4 – 6
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 52
Two of the more prestigious and recognizable brands in college football make the move over to the most recognized and prestigious conference in the country. This is only good for SEC football and a genius move by the two schools involved. Oklahoma has been one of the best programs in the country under Lincoln Riley the past 4 years, while turning out Heisman winners, and top tier NFL prospects along the way. The proposed SEC West and South from this graphic are the games every fan wants to see. Texas comes over and should immediately improve, as all of their recruits they were losing to SEC schools should have no reason that they now wouldn’t want to play in Austin. College Football purists might not like the move, and the recent news of ESPN pushing the schools to move seems overbearing, but we are going to love this move come 2025.
MY SEC GRADE: A+
PAC 12
Adding: Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas State. Oklahoma State
Texas Tech
Record Last 10 Years: 56 – 66
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 2 – 2
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 14
Baylor
Record Last 10 Years: 78 – 48
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 5 – 3
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 31
Kansas State
Record Last 10 Years: 78 – 48
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 3 – 5
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 15
Oklahoma State
Record Last 10 Years: 90 – 38
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 7 – 3
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 20
None of these programs really jump off the screen as a team I’d want in the Pac 12. Oklahoma State has built a strong foundation with Mike Gundy leading the Cowboys for the last 16 seasons and you’d think Pac 12 fans would be most interested to see how they’d do in their conference. Then you add 3 other schools that seem to be going in a similar direction, with Baylor leading that pack. I would be more excited if we were to add TCU to this list.
MY PAC 12 GRADE: C
ACC
Adding: West Virginia and Notre Dame
West Virginia
Record Last 10 Years: 72 – 52
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 3 – 5
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 32
Notre Dame
Record Last 10 Years: 94 – 34
Last 10 Years Bowl Record: 4 – 5
Last 10 Years NFL Draft Picks: 53
The ACC is where Notre Dame belongs, we saw that this past season, and it made the ACC a really enjoyable conference with multiple teams competing for the conference title. I don’t know how much West Virginia moves the needle for an average college football fan, but everyone know Notre Dame and that is what they want. Clemson @ Notre Dame was one of the games of the season, and having Brian Kelly and Dabo Swinney go up against each other once a season could have good implications for the College Football Playoff.
My ACC Grade: B+
It’s super nice to have College Football back in the news. 32 more days until we have CFB back in our lives.
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