Report by Isaac Robinson - April 13th, 2019
NCAA finally reveal details of massive conference shakeup
Note: Credit to Deuce2223 for giving me the idea to do this, and for a lot of the actual realignment itself
Westlake, OH -- Westlake State almost won the American last season. Now, that road will get a bit harder. FAU, FIU, Arkansas State, Louisville, and Lousiana-Lafayette have all joined the conference ahead of the 2019 season, and the Swarm will be facing some stiff competition in their new division.
The new-look American conference is split into 2 divisions: Stars and Stripes. The Stars division is made up of the Florida schools, so USF, UCF, FIU, and FAU, along with schools from Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania: Temple, Louisville, Cincinnati, and of course our beloved Westlake State. The Stripes will be made up of Arkansas State, UConn, ECU, Houston, Memphis, Syracuse, Tulane, and Marshall. This change does render the Swarm's contract with Arkansas State null and void, as that was signed when the Red Wolves were still with Conference USA.
American
STARS: Westlake State, USF, UCF, Temple, Louisville, FIU, FAU, Cincinnati
STRIPES: Arkansas State, UConn, ECU, Houston, Memphis, Syracuse, Tulane, Marshall
BCS Bowl: Any
The other conference seeing a massive change is the Big 12. The conference was reportedly tired of seeing its winner get snubbed for the BCS title game year after year, so they decided they needed a conference title game. SMU, Tulsa, Nebraska and Texas A&M join, while West Virginia departs, joining the ACC, along with Iowa State who will join the Big Ten. The Big Ten also boasts a new high-profile member: Notre Dame. After decades of independence, the storied program finally caved and joined the conference as a football-only member until at least 2030. In addition, the Big Ten will be switching to a North/South realignment in order to better balance the divisions.
ACC
ATLANTIC: Boston College, FSU, Miami (FL), NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
COASTAL: Clemson, Duke, GT, Maryland, UNC, Pitt, Wake Forest
BCS Bowl: Orange Bowl
Big 12
MIDWEST: Kansas, K-State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa
LONE STAR: Baylor, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
BCS Bowl: Sugar Bowl
Big Ten
NORTH: Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers
SOUTH: Illinois, Indiana, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
BCS Bowl: Rose Bowl
The SEC opted against taking on another member, (with Georgia Tech being the only real candidate) and have agreed to allow Mississippi State to leave the conference and join C-USA. The Bulldogs have won the conference just once way back in 1941, and haven't won a division crown or even posted double digit wins since 1999. Unlike Vanderbilt, Mississippi State don't even bring any academic prestige to the conference, and so they're no longer a Power 5 school.
The MAC and the PAC-12 remain unchanged, but the MAC could gradually be phased out the way the Sun Belt has been, with the latter now consisting of just Troy, ULL, ULM and UMass. EMU, Ohio, and Akron have been on the rise, and could potentially be on the move soon.
SEC
EAST: Florida, Georgia, Mizzou, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
WEST: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss
BCS Bowl: Sugar Bowl
C-USA
EAST: Georgia State, Mid Tenn State, Miss. State, South Alabama, UAB, UTSA, WKU
WEST: LA Tech, North Texas, ODU, Rice, Southern Miss, Texas State, UTEP
MWC
MOUNTAIN: Air Force, BYU, Boise State, Colorado State, UNM, Utah State, Wyoming
WEST: Fresno State, Hawai'i, Kalispell, Nevada, SDSU, SJSU, UNLV
PAC-12
NORTH: Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
SOUTH: Arizona, ASU, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah
BCS Bowl: Rose Bowl
Sun Belt
Troy, ULL, ULM, UMass
Independents
Army, Navy
MAC
EAST: Akron, BGSU, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami (OH), Ohio
WEST: Ball State, SMU, EMU, NIU, Toledo, WMU