College Football Is Going Through Its Biggest Shift Ever, And I Don't Like It

The last 24 hours in the college football world have certainly been eventful, and there are more moves coming. A morning that started with rumors of the Pac 12 surviving ended with the reality that five more teams were leaving, making that eight in the past year plus.

Oregon and Washington are headed to the Big Ten, and the latest reports are that Utah, Arizona and Arizona State were going to follow Colorado to the Big 12 after applying for membership to the league. That likely signals the end of the Pac 12 conference, which has existed in some form since 1915, a period of 108 years. The league survived a pair of World Wars, but it won't survive the era of television money.

Just over a decade ago the Pac 12 had a chance to add Texas and Oklahoma, but it decided to pass. Fast forward a decade plus and the Longhorns and Sooners are headed to the SEC, and Pac 12 powers USC and UCLA bolted for the Big Ten. The most recent moves involved Colorado announcing for the Big 12, a failed attempt for San Diego State to join the Pac 12, Oregon and Washington then left for the Big Ten.

It seemed the day started with Arizona and Arizona State being willing to make the Pac 12 work, but "leaders" at Oregon and Washington decided to blow the whole thing up. At that point, one could argue, the Arizona schools and Utah were left with no choice but to jump on a life raft and paddle to the Big 12.

That leaves Oregon State and Washington State, the two rivals of the soon to be west coast schools of the Big Ten, without a real home. Stanford and California are the only schools left in the conference. That means the Pac 12 can either try to reignite the WAC around those two academic schools, or more likely, they'll get swallowed by one of the remaining conferences.

Florida State is also fighting to try to get out of the ACC, which would be the beginning of the end for that conference.

So where does that leave us?

As of right now, here is what the leagues would look like, assuming the Big 12 does what is expected and adds Arizona, Arizona State and Utah.

SEC

Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Missouri
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt

BIG TEN

Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Oregon
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers
UCLA
USC
Washington
Wisconsin

BIG 12

Arizona
Arizona State
Baylor
BYU
Colorado
Cincinnati
Houston
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma State
TCU
Texas Tech
UCF
Utah
West Virginia

ACC

Boston College
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Louisville
Miami
NC State
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest

Notre Dame remains an independent of the Power 5 teams, and currently Oregon State, Washington State, Stanford and California are without conferences once the Pac 12's death is officially announced.

We've seen massive realignment before. The Pac 12 also won't be the first major conference to fail. The Southwest Conference ceased to exist in 1996 after Arkansas left in 1992 and Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech left in 1994.

The Big East ceased to exist as a football conference in 2013 after a decade of programs leaving. Miami and Virginia Tech left in 2004, Boston College left in 2005, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia left in 2011, and Rutgers left in 2012. Notre Dame also left the conference in its non-football sports in 2012.

All of this was a reality that was inevitable once the Supreme Court ruled in 1984 that the NCAA could not prevent members (schools and conferences) from selling their own media content. Within a decade the Southwest Conference died, and once football became the main power broken of television revenue the Big East was inevitably going to die as well, at least as a major football conference.

So what does this mean for college football? At the rate things are going, anyone who says they know how all of this plays out is kidding themselves. None of us truly know. But what we do know is that the college football we grew up on is dead. Not the romanticized version, where we thought there was purity in the sport. That never truly existed, at least not in my lifetime. Money has always been a driven in the sport as long as I've been alive. The problem now, however, is that money has created a landscape that destroyed the pure aspects that were true in the game.

I can't stand the current version of college football. The purity that did exist is dying, if it isn't already dead. Schools are in Washington, D.C. lobbying to prevent players from getting a bigger piece of the pie, all the while making moves like we've seen in the last couple of years to maximize every penny they can, in spite of the hardness it creates for the student-athletes, especially those in sports other than football. In the past I've been against the idea of paying players in the form that many advocate for, but the manner in which the schools and conferences are so brazenly making money moves, with so little regard for student-athlete well-being, it make advocating for a more true form of amateurism all but impossible. Every time I make an argument that in any way defends the NCAA, the conferences, school presidents or anyone else I have a strong urge to take a long, sad shower in order to wash off the filth.

But that's where we are, and as fans we have sadly embraced it and accepted it.

Will the game survive? I sure hope so, but again, none of us truly know. All I can do now is sit back, see how the dust settles, and hope that all of this greed leads to a crash that somehow, maybe, with all hope and a prayer, results in leaders emerging who actually care about the game, and about the young people that play it, and we can return to some form of a sane version of college football.

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

Irish Breakdown Content

2023 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2024 Commit Rankings - Offense
2024 Commit Rankings - Defense

2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter