Forde-Yard Dash: What a Best-of-the-Rest Power Conference Could Look Like
Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where, for one shining moment, Vanderbilt leads the nation in scoring at 63 points per game:
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THIRD QUARTER
BUILDING A BEST-OF-THE-REST POWER CONFERENCE
As fans everywhere are acutely aware, the Power 5 is consolidating into a Power 2 Plus Groupies. There is a suspicion that the five conferences at the top of the food chain inevitably will become four … but what about whittling it down to three? In discussions with some administrators and TV insiders, there would seem to be enough available broadcast platforms (and broadcast money) to support a third power league.
The Dash is here to take a shot at building the thing. But first, let’s throw out a few caveats and acknowledgements:
- The biggest presumption here is that Atlantic Coast Conference teams could somehow be freed from their grant-of-rights bondage that extends midway into the 2030s. It might take more than half the current 14 football members mounting a unified legal fight, and frankly blowing up the ACC probably wouldn’t benefit that many schools. So that could be the immediate deal breaker.
- We are going to presume Notre Dame either stays independent or ends up in the Big Ten, and thus is not a candidate for the Best of the Rest Conference.
- It’s quite possible that some of the top candidates for the BORC would likewise hitch their wagon to an 18- to 20-team Big Ten or SEC instead of this outfit. But on the flip side, there is something to be said for being the big dog in a good league instead of the 17th invitee to a shark tank (and possibly taking a smaller revenue share to join).
- There are massive amounts of conjecture here and the geography is stupid, but that’s the world we live in. Roll with it.
Oregon would be among the schools most coveted in this scenario.
Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports
All that said, a BORC draft would theoretically start with these six schools:
North Carolina (21). Current conference: ACC.
It’s believed that both the Big Ten and SEC would covet the Tar Heels for multiple reasons: flagship status in the ninth-most-populous state; academic prestige; one of the few men’s basketball programs that can move the viewership needle; all-sports excellence; fertile recruiting ground. The drawback: a fairly indifferent football fan base, thanks to what has historically been no more than an above-average football product.
Clemson. Current conference: ACC.
If the most important thing is winning football games, the Tigers are your team. They have been the most successful non-Alabama program of the College Football Playoff era. But there is far more to the equation than that, which is why underachieving Texas and USC were able to shake up the entire nation. Still, Clemson has a growing home TV market (Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson is No. 35 nationally) and the top home attendance in 2021 for any school outside the SEC, Big Ten or Notre Dame. The rest of the portfolio is pretty thin.
Florida State. Current conference: ACC.
If the goal is adding programs capable of winning national championships, the Seminoles have done it under two different coaches. The BORC is going to want multiple members in the state of Florida, which checks another box. The Seminoles’ all-sports prowess is strong, including a consistent men’s basketball winner. But football is still digging out of a five-year crater.
Miami. Current conference: ACC.
The Hurricanes also are capable of winning football national championships, having claimed five of them from 1983 to 2001. The local talent and TV market are both strong. The tradition and brand name are there. But when it goes south at The U, the fan fervor is conditional. Can Miamians be counted on to turn on the TV or fill the stadium in lean times?
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Oregon (22). Current conference: Pac-12.
The Ducks have parlayed their Nike backing into a national brand and a football identity, and over the past 25–30 years the fan base rose to meet that profile. Phill Knight can be a powerful ally for any league. The shortcomings are geographic remoteness that dovetails with a recruiting backyard that isn’t a draw for other conference members, and middling academics.
Washington (23). Current conference: Pac-12.
The Huskies would be the Pacific Northwest sidekick of the Ducks and have their own history of football success (though they are currently in struggle mode). Good fan base in a big city that has some massive corporate citizens. But it’s a long way from anywhere, and the idea of a conference stretching from Seattle to Miami is even sillier than one going from Los Angeles to New Jersey.
Then BORC candidates start getting iffy.
Baylor, TCU or Houston (24). Current/future conference: Big 12.
A toehold in Texas is a must, right? For football, for academic recruiting, for population. The Bears have flown at a higher altitude recently in football and won the men’s basketball national title in 2021. The Cougars (another men’s basketball power) reside in a massive market but don’t command all of it by any means. TCU’s location in the DFW Metroplex and inherent potential are factors. The BORC could grab two or three of them, but might take only one to fulfill a need. None of these three are a leading brand in the state.
Stanford (25). Current conference: Pac-12.
The school has everything going for it but fan fervor, recent football downturn notwithstanding. It’s the dream academic member, and the Silicon Valley proximity and ties are tantalizing. Having one or more schools in California seems like a bright idea. Stanford also is an all-sports juggernaut. But does anyone care? The administration might opt to go independent or downsize athletics rather than sign up for regular visits to Waco and Tallahassee.
California (26). Current conference: Pac-12.
Cal has every attribute Stanford has, just a little less of all of them. (Except living alumni. Cal has more of those.) It could easily wind up being left out—but if the BORC wants a four-school cluster in California and the Pacific Northwest, the Golden Bears could be the Cardinal’s plus-one.
Oklahoma State (27). Current conference: Big 12.
This is a tough one. The Cowboys have become one of the most consistently successful football programs of the 21st century, with 16 straight winning seasons and 19 in the last 20. They have broad-based sports success, thanks in no small part to the late T. Boone Pickens giving more than $300 million to athletics alone during his lifetime. But Oklahoma State scores low in terms of national reach, delivering an audience and supplying academic prestige.
Virginia (28). Current conference: ACC.
North Carolina and Virginia could be the Stanford and Cal of the mid-Atlantic—an academically prestigious and geographically desirable tandem that excels in sports not played with an oblong ball. It simply would be nice if the Cavaliers brought more football juice to the party. However, they are the flagship school in the No. 12 state in terms of population.
Utah (29). Current conference: Pac-12.
The Utes are one of the best upstart success stories in college football in the past decade. They’ve maximized their Power 5 opportunity, peaking with that Rose Bowl appearance last season—unless they surpass that this year and make the College Football Playoff. And the state of Utah was the fastest-growing in the nation in terms of population from 2010 to ’20. But everything else is unremarkable.
Arizona State (30). Current conference: Pac-12.
A massive university (nearly 55,000 on its Tempe campus in Fall 2021) produces a lot of alums, all of whom could one day be generous donors, season-ticket holders and TV viewers. ASU has college sports primacy in a major TV market (Phoenix), and that metro area could be an attractive academic recruiting ground for other BORC members. But this has been a middling football program for nearly a decade, and in general the other sports aren’t as good as they could be.
Cincinnati (31). Current conference: American. Conference in 2023: Big 12.
Ohio is football country, and Cincinnati is a football city. (The drawback: It’s an Ohio State and Bengals football city as much as or more than a Bearcats football city.) Football momentum is strong. It’s a recruitable area, athletically and academically. The school’s all-sports and academic profiles are not great, though.
UCF (32). Current conference: American. Conference in 2023: Big 12.
This is another massive school that is producing a lot of alums every year while residing in a major media market. The football program has won nine or more games in nine of the last 15 seasons and sits on fertile recruiting soil. But in a conference with no geographic anchor, would three schools in Florida be an over-saturation?
West Virginia or Pittsburgh (33). Current conference: Big 12 and ACC, respectively.
How about the Mother of all Backyard Brawls, for the last spot in a power conference? WVU has a more committed fan base. Pitt has superior academic standing as a member of the Association of American Universities. Western Pennsylvania still produces football talent, and WVU might as well be in the state. But would anyone be truly excited about adding either of these schools?
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