This Saturday's SEC championship game comes freighted with the awkwardness of college football realignment. Missouri, representing the "SEC East," will take on Auburn, representing the "SEC West," even though the latter lies a couple hundred miles closer to the Atlantic Ocean. Wacky!
Conference realignment is definitely confusing these days, but we're pretty sure Florida State is still in the ACC. In fact, yes, Florida State is still in the ACC; the Seminoles beat Georgia Tech 21-15 last year to win the ACC for the first time in seven years. According to this ring FSU won the SEC for the first…
The American Athletic Conference (or "the American," as the cool kids say) unveiled its new logo this morning. The member schools are said to be thrilled, at least after their first choice of logos was turned down.
Finlandia, in Northern Michigan, was eliminated from its first NCAA tournament last week. The softball team was representing the once-Southern Great South Athletic Conference despite holding a 0-0 record in conference play. Back in January we tackled how a well-intentioned NCAA rule might lead to this madness.
With the defection of the "Catholic 7," and the loss of the Big East name, the conference formerly known as the Big East needed a new moniker. Something that feels focus-grouped to death. Something that emphasizes its spiritual co-option of Conference USA's "we'll take anyone" business plan. Something inclusive of the…
Realignment is a massive game of musical chairs, and the tone-deaf Big East didn't hear the music stop. The conference, under John Marinatto, was convinced only a few megapowers would be left standing. They were right. Their mistake was thinking they were one of them. That's why they lost every program of value, and…
With the Big East ceding its name to the breakaway faction of basketball schools known as the Catholic 7, the old, orphaned Big East has until July 1 to come up with something to call itself. And while there's been no official announcement, ESPN's Brett McMurphy is reporting that the a favorite has emerged, and that…
No, the sad-sack Big East didn't find a miraculous way to stop hemorrhaging schools, nor re-negotiate its TV deal with ESPN that will pay six times less than what it was offered just two years ago. The Big East, one of the most storied basketball conferences in the country, wasn't able to swing a last-minute agreement…
A year ago, the NHL introduced a major realignment plan. Gone were the six divisions, and two conferences. In were four geographic conference, with the winners of each thrown into a final four for the Stanley Cup. The Board of Governor's approved the plan, but it was essentially scuttled by the lockout. Citing…
Starting in the 2013-2014 season, University of Maine at Presque Isle and Mills College in Oakland, Calif., will play in the same athletic conference. These now-Division III schools are over 3,000 miles apart. How did this happen?
Never mind that it's located some 2,700 miles from the league office in Providence, R.I.: Boise State decided last year that it was all set to join the Big East for football next year. The move lacked geographic sense, but it made perfect football sense because it gave the upstart Broncos a place at the BCS trough…
With the Big East in full meltdown mode, two of the traditional basketball powers are considering a move to the ACC—or, barring that, UConn and Cincinnati will take their ball and go start their own conference, according to The Sporting News. The only flaw in this plan is that the new conference would blanket the…
News came down today that the Big East's non-FBS football schools have officially decided to leave the conference, a decision made by unanimous vote and one we've been expecting for a few days. It's easy to feel a little fearful about the Big East's basketball powers (sans UConn) striking out on their own—the Big East…
So what do the Big East's non-football schools do now that they've pulled the old it's-not-you-it's-me routine and broken up with the Big East? They can form their own seven-team conference, but a basketball league with Georgetown, Villanova, and Marquette isn't all that appealing when it also only includes St.…
ESPN is reporting that the Big East's seven non-football schools are planning to leave the conference, with an announcement coming within the next two days. The presidents of Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, St. John's, Providence, Seton Hall, and DePaul met in New York on Sunday and had a teleconference with the Big…
Tommy Tuberville is going to fill Butch Jones's old ass groove at Cincinnati. Three years ago, coming off of a decade of success at SEC-powerhouse Auburn, going to a Big East team, even a strong Big East team, would have seemed crazy. Now, after three middling years at Big 12 Texas Tech, the most recent of which has…
You want to know what conference realignment looks like? We've told you about how it works at bigger schools, but how does it work at smaller schools, like, say, the University of Denver? Most of its teams are headed to the Summit League. Where are they coming from? Mike Pesca explains, in this week's excerpt from…
When we last checked in a month ago, it seemed the dust was finally settling after a period of bizarre college football reafuckinglignment. Pretty much everyone had made major moves except the Big Ten, a distinctly Midwestern conference that seemed happy to pretty much stay put.
After Maryland decided to ditch the ACC for the Big Ten last week, the ACC was expected to move quickly to add a 14th member. That happened early this morning, when the ACC voted to add Louisville during a conference call. From SI.com:
