A Look At College Football If Conferences Were Determined by Geography

Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

Imagine a world in which college football were truly collegiate; where money didn’t talk as loudly as it does for Power Five football supremacy, and that each of these historic conferences were held more tightly by their roots. This is how the college football landscape would look like if the conferences were determined by geography.

5. ACC

Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

5. ACC

Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

The ACC would consist of the universities most within the vicinity of the U.S. Atlantic coast — Boston College, Duke, Miami (FL), North Carolina, NC State, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest would remain, while Maryland would be reclaimed from the Big Ten. Rutgers, South Carolina and Penn State would be poached.

4. Big 12

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

4. Big 12

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The geographic roots of the Big 12 (formerly the Big Eight) are planted in the middle-third of the country. This realignment would grant the Big 12 the following “middle-third” schools: Arkansas, Baylor, Colorado, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

3. Big Ten

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

3. Big Ten

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The Big Ten started in the Great Lakes region, and then flexed its muscle in order to increase exposure and thus profit. Here is the realigned enrollment of the Great Lakes conference: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Syracuse, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

2. Pac-12

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

2. Pac-12

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Everything except the “12” will be self-explanatory. This newly-realigned conference will feature the 11 Pacific-most teams in the Power 5: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington and Washington State.

1. SEC

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

1. SEC

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Despite poaching from the ACC and Big 12, the SEC would still be a giant presence in college football. Here are the 14 teams it would come away with: Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Just look at those southern in-state rivalries!