BBCF - The restructuring of the NCAA - ASU Sun Devils

[SnDvls]

In 2010 all hell broke loose in the college football world. The NCAA mandated that no conference could be bigger than 8 teams and there would no longer be conference championships and to remain certified with the NCAA you must have a conference affiliation, sorry Notre Dame. As each team began jockeying for position some major power conferences began to crumble within. In the Pac-10 it was assumed that since Arizona and Arizona State were the last two teams to join they would be the two teams eliminated, but that's not what happened at all. Washington and Washington State along with Oregon and Oregon State saw this as an oppertunity to become the dominate teams in their conference so they broke off before a decision could be made. Those four schools along with BYU, Utah, Boise State and Idaho merged and created the Northwestern Conference (NWC) and thus the dominos began to fall. Governments began to get involved with the budget crunches facing many state universities some schools were forced to join up with other schools to form a confernce against their own wishes. A new conference was formed called the Gulf Coast Conference (GCC) that drew in teams from both Louisian and Mississippi in Southern Miss, Tulane, LSU, Ole Miss, MIssissippi State, LA-Lafayette, LA-Monroe and Louisiana Tech. After all the dust settled we had 15 conferences of 8 teams each.

Atlantic Coast - ACC
Duke, Virginia, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, NC State & Miami (FL)

Big East -
Maryland, Boston College, Rutgers, Northwestern, Penn State, Army, Navy & Notre Dame

Big Eight -
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue & Wisconsin

Border States -
Akron, Kent State, Miami (OH), Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo & Western Michigan

Central States -
Kansas State, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Arkansas & Arkansas State

Conference USA -
UConn, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Temple, West Virginia, Buffalo, Ball State & Northern Illinois

Gulf Coast -
Southern Miss, Tulane, LSU, Ole Miss, MIssissippi State, LA-Lafayette, LA-Monroe & Louisiana Tech

Mid-American -
Cincinnati, East Carolina, Louisville, Marshall, Ohio, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, & Western Kentucky

Mountain West -
Baylor, Houston, Air Force, Wyoming, North Texas, Utah State, Rice & UTEP

Northwestern -
BYU, Utah, Oregon, Oregon State, Idaho, Boise State, Washington & Washington State

Pacific Eight -
San Diego State, California, Standford, UCLA, USC, Fresno State, San Jose State & Hawaii

Southeastern -
Clemson, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Auburn & Alabama

Southwestern Athletic - SWAC
Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, TCU & Southern Methodist

Sun Belt -
Memphis, UAB, South Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Central Florida, Middle Tennessee State & Troy

and finally

Western Athletic -
Arizona State, Arizona, Nevada, UNLV, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Colorado & Colorado State

With all the reallignment the bowl games were also dragged into the mix and forced to make so radical changes as well. The NCAA mandated that only the top 3 teams from each conference could be tied to a specific bowl game, but did allow for a 5-6 team to make a postseason bowl game. With 33 bowl games some decided to lock up 2 conferences while others went with no affilation or just one team. All bowl game contracts would be put up for review every 5 years, along with conference reallignment or movement approval at that point as well.

The bowl games and their match ups became the following;
New Orleans Bowl - Big East #3 vs At-Large
GMAC Bowl - Northwestern #3 vs At-Large
Poinsettia Bowl - Conference USA #3 vs At-Large
Las Vegas Bowl - Western Athletic #3 vs At-Large
Armed Forces Bowl - Mountain West #3 vs At-Large or Army
Hawaii Bowl - Atlantic Coast #3 vs At-Large or Hawaii
Motor City Bowl - Big East #3 vs At-Large
Champs Sports Bowl - Mid-American #3 vs At-Large
Insight Bowl - Southwestern Athletic #3 vs At-Large
MPC Computers Bowl - Gulf Coast #3 vs At-Large
Alamo Bowl - Conference USA #2 vs Border States #2
Emerald Bowl - Pacific Eight #3 vs At-Large
Holiday Bowl - Pacific Eight #2 vs Sun Belt #1
Independence Bowl - Mountain West #2 vs Gulf Coast #2
Peach Bowl - Southeastern #2 vs Border States #1
Music City Bowl - Border States #3 vs At-Large
Sun Bowl - Big East #2 vs Western Athletic #2
Liberty Bowl - Mid-American #2 vs Sun Belt #2
Meineke Car Care Bowl - Southeastern #3 vs At-Large
Texas Bowl - Southwestern Athletic #2 vs Northwestern #2
Capital One Bowl - Atlantic Coast #2 vs Central States #1
Outback Bowl - Big Eight #2 vs Mid-American #1
Cotton Bowl Classic - Mountain West #1 vs Northwestern #1
Gator Bowl - Conference USA #1 vs Central States #2
Fiesta Bowl - Southwestern Athletic #1 vs Western Athletic #1
Sugar Bowl - Southeastern #1 vs Gulf Coast #1
Orange Bowl - Atlantic Coast #1 vs Big East #1
Rose Bowl - Big Eight #1 vs Pacific Eight #1
International Bowl - Central States #3 vs At-Large
New Mexico Bowl - Sun Belt #3 vs At-Large
Papajohns.com Bowl - At-Large vs At-Large
Congressional Bowl - At-Large or Navy vs At-Large
St. Petersburg Bowl - At-Large vs At-Large

[Young Drachma]

That new Mountain West is depressing. Wyoming fans might be happier because they'd have a chance to win it, but..save for that, snoozefest.

[SnDvls]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

That new Mountain West is depressing. Wyoming fans might be happier because they'd have a chance to win it, but..save for that, snoozefest.

that's what happens when you become an afterthought school

[SnDvls]

a quick glance at the Western Athletic Conference and this is how the experts think it will shape out.

1) Arizona St
2) Nevada
3) Colorado
4) New Mexico
5) Colorado St
6) Arizona
7) New Mexico St
8) UNLV