College Football: Conference Realignment

The college football season is still two months away, but it feels like the kickoff is sooner.  Newsstands are filled with college football preview magazines, the video game NCAA Football 12 is about to be released, and coverage of college football is starting to amp up.

Over the next few weeks SportsDelve is going to preview the upcoming college football season.  However instead of giving out predictions and opinions, I’m going to cover the college football season like we do with all things sports; with a historical twist.  Over the next few weeks I’ll examine some of the major milestones and streaks heading into the season.  I’ll be covering all the conferences and teams.

I thought it would be best to start with a topic that has received a lot of attention over the last couple of years.  Heading into this year’s Division I-FBS college football season, five conferences will either be adding and/or losing at least one school (plus BYU to the independent ranks).  That last major college football realignment occurred in 2005 (seven conferences affected), but the 2011 version of the conference realignment has received more news.  It’s probably because of what could have happened, and the fact that two of college football’s oldest conferences will be adding conference championship games.

Listed below are all instances since 1990 where one school left one conference for another (doesn’t include independents, look below).

Legend: Left (Conference the school left), Sea (Number of seasons in their previous conference), W Pct (Average by season W-L Pct), Move (Conference the school moved to), W Pct Difference (The +/- difference in average by season W-L Pct in the school’s new conference)

Note: I only counted continuous seasons unless otherwise noted. Records includes total record, non-conf and bowl games.

School	Year	Move	W Pct	Left	Sea	W Pct	Difference
Boston College	2005	ACC	0.684	EAST	14	0.564	+0.120
Virginia Tech	2004	ACC	0.777	EAST	13	0.687	+0.090
Miami (FL)	2004	ACC	0.603	EAST	13	0.812	-0.209
Kansas St	1996	B12	0.787	B8	83	0.373	+0.414
Oklahoma St	1996	B12	0.549	B8	36	0.460	+0.089
Kansas	1996	B12	0.435	B8	89	0.488	-0.053
Iowa St	1996	B12	0.385	B8	88	0.446	-0.061
Texas Tech	1996	B12	0.634	SWC	36	0.512	+0.122
Texas	1996	B12	0.754	SWC	82	0.696	+0.058
Nebraska	1996	B12	0.714	B8	75	0.672	+0.042
Missouri	1996	B12	0.556	B8	77	0.527	+0.029
Oklahoma	1996	B12	0.713	B8	76	0.706	+0.007
Texas A&M	1996	B12	0.566	SWC	82	0.586	-0.020
Colorado	1996	B12	0.500	B8	48	0.573	-0.073
Baylor	1996	B12	0.286	SWC	51	0.509	-0.223
Tulsa	2005	CUSA	0.666	WAC	9	0.292	+0.374
Central Florida	2005	CUSA	0.566	MAC	3	0.278	+0.288
UTEP	2005	CUSA	0.438	WAC	37	0.272	+0.166
SMU	2005	CUSA	0.373	WAC	9	0.328	+0.045
Rice	2005	CUSA	0.358	WAC	9	0.464	-0.106
TCU	2001	CUSA	0.659	WAC	5	0.508	+0.151
Houston	1996	CUSA	0.456	SWC	20	0.509	-0.053
Marshall	2005	CUSA	0.387	MAC	8	0.771	-0.384
Cincinnati	2005	EAST	0.632	CUSA	9	0.481	+0.151
South Florida	2005	EAST	0.622	CUSA	2	0.500	+0.122
Louisville	2005	EAST	0.577	CUSA	9	0.606	-0.029
Utah	1999	MWC	0.708	WAC	37	0.488	+0.220
Colorado St	1999	MWC	0.485	WAC	31	0.439	+0.046
New Mexico	1999	MWC	0.435	WAC	37	0.402	+0.033
San Diego St	1999	MWC	0.364	WAC	21	0.498	-0.134
TCU	2005	MWC	0.858	CUSA	4	0.659	+0.199
BYU	1999	MWC	0.631	WAC	37	0.647	-0.016
Air Force	1999	MWC	0.563	WAC	19	0.616	-0.053
Wyoming	1999	MWC	0.366	WAC	37	0.539	-0.173
Arkansas	1992	SEC	0.543	SWC	78	0.594	-0.051
New Mexico St	2001	SUN	0.426	BWEST	13	0.259	+0.167
Arkansas St	2001	SUN	0.392	BWEST	2	0.228	+0.164
North Texas	2001	SUN	0.341	BWEST	5	0.309	+0.032
Idaho	2001	SUN	0.190	BWEST	5	0.568	-0.378
TCU	1996	WAC	0.508	SWC	73	0.490	+0.018
UNLV	1999	WAC	0.321	WAC	3	0.119	+0.202
Idaho	2005	WAC	0.307	SUN	4	0.190	+0.117
Rice	1996	WAC	0.464	SWC	82	0.441	+0.023
Utah St	2005	WAC	0.240	SUN	2	0.262	-0.022
San Jose St	1996	WAC	0.342	BWEST	8	0.453	-0.111
New Mexico St	2005	WAC	0.215	SUN	4	0.426	-0.211
UNLV	1996	WAC	0.119	BWEST	8	0.380	-0.261
Boise St	2001	WAC	0.874	BWEST	5	0.536	+0.338
Nevada	2000	WAC	0.517	BWEST	8	0.601	-0.084
Fresno St	1992	WAC	0.576	BWEST	4	0.839	-0.263
SMU	1996	WAC	0.328	SWC	76	0.517	-0.189

¹ SMU didn’t participate in college football from 1987-88.

In 1995 the Big Eight (B8), and Southwest Conference (SWC) played their last season’s, when a handful of members from those conferences merged into the Big 12.

The Big West (BWEST) played it’s last season in 2000.

A little under 55% of the teams that moved from one conference to another, have/had a better average season by season record in their new conference than their old conference.

Since 1990, Kansas State made the best improvement after a conference switch, with +.414 boost in season by season average W-L Pct.  No surprise considering Kansas State’s longtime dormant program, came into it’s own a few years before and after switching conferences.  The worst downfall since 1990 after a conference switch, belongs to Marshall, with a -.384 decrease in their season by season average W-L Pct.

Central Florida, Cincinnati, Kansas St, Oklahoma St, South Florida, TCU (1996), Tulsa, and Utah, went from a losing W-L Pct (season by season avg) to winning W-L Pct after switching conferences.

Baylor, Colorado, Houston, Idaho, Marshall, SMU, and Wyoming, went from winning W-L Pct (season by season avg) to losing W-L Pct after switching conferences.

Since 1990 the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) has been the most active in conference realignment.  Including this year, and future years.  The WAC has/will have lost a total of 17 schools, gaining 14; that’s 31 (29 current FBS) schools all together, or 24% of all current FBS teams.


Listed below are all instances since 1990, where an independent school joined a conference, or a conference team joined the ranks of the independents.

Legend: See Above

School	Year	Move	W Pct	Left	Sea	W Pct	Difference
Florida St	1992	ACC	0.765	IND	38	0.612	+0.153
Penn St	1993	B10	0.689	IND	97	0.677	+0.012
Louisiana Tech	1993	BWEST	0.303	IND	5	0.579	-0.276
Northern Illinois	1993	BWEST	0.334	IND	7	0.474	-0.140
UL Lafayette	1993	BWEST	0.606	IND	11	0.682	-0.076
Arkansas St	1993	BWEST	0.288	IND	3	0.197	+0.091
North Texas	1996	BWEST	0.309	IND	1	0.182	+0.127
Army	1998	CUSA	0.168	IND	76	0.615	-0.447
South Florida	2003	CUSA	0.500	IND	3	0.727	-0.227
Memphis	1996	CUSA	0.386	IND	23	0.427	-0.041
East Carolina	1997	CUSA	0.491	IND	20	0.509	-0.018
UAB	1999	CUSA	0.417	IND	3	0.425	-0.008
Tulane	1996	CUSA	0.398	IND	30	0.367	+0.031
Southern Miss	1996	CUSA	0.619	IND	33	0.558	+0.061
Cincinnati	1996	CUSA	0.481	IND	26	0.411	+0.070
Louisville	1996	CUSA	0.606	IND	21	0.449	+0.157
Temple	1991	EAST	0.192	IND	20	0.517	-0.325
Rutgers	1991	EAST	0.407	IND	45	0.571	-0.164
Pittsburgh	1991	EAST	0.481	IND	86	0.614	-0.133
Syracuse	1991	EAST	0.539	IND	47	0.546	-0.007
Boston College	1991	EAST	0.564	IND	47	0.553	+0.011
West Virginia	1991	EAST	0.640	IND	22	0.595	+0.045
Connecticut	2004	EAST	0.570	IND	4	0.426	+0.144
Virginia Tech	1991	EAST	0.687	IND	26	0.538	+0.149
Miami (FL)	1991	EAST	0.812	IND	47	0.591	+0.221
UL Lafayette	1996	IND	0.200	BWEST	3	0.606	-0.406
Northern Illinois	1996	IND	0.091	BWEST	3	0.334	-0.243
Utah St	2001	IND	0.364	BWEST	13	0.423	-0.059
Arkansas St	1996	IND	0.293	BWEST	3	0.288	+0.005
Army	2005	IND	0.345	CUSA	7	0.168	+0.177
Louisiana Tech	1996	IND	0.568	BWEST	3	0.303	+0.265
Central Florida	2002	MAC	0.278	IND	6	0.546	-0.268
Akron	1992	MAC	0.388	IND	5	0.437	-0.049
Northern Illinois	1997	MAC	0.504	IND	1	0.091	+0.413
Temple	2007	MAC	0.527	IND	2	0.042	+0.485
South Carolina	1992	SEC	0.480	IND	20	0.527	-0.047
Western Kentucky	2008	SUN	0.111	IND	1	0.583	-0.472
Utah St	2003	SUN	0.262	IND	2	0.364	-0.102
UL Monroe	1996	SUN	0.351	IND	7	0.333	+0.018
Middle Tennessee St	2001	SUN	0.482	IND	2	0.409	+0.073
Troy	2004	SUN	0.593	IND	3	0.490	+0.103
UL Lafayette	2001	SUN	0.377	IND	5	0.200	+0.177
Tulsa	1996	WAC	0.292	IND	10	0.429	-0.137

BYU is one of only seven teams since 1990 to join the independent ranks, from the ranks of a conference.


This year’s conference realignment brings up an interesting situation in which you have some schools which could complete the feat of winning a conference championships in two different current FBS conferences (three in the case of Utah).  Listed below are the 11 schools that have won conference titles in two or more of the current FBS conferences.

School		Year(s)		Year(s)		Year(s)
Arizona	2 WAC	1964, 73	1 PAC	1993
Arizona St	7 WAC	1969-73, 75, 77	3 PAC	1986. 96, 07
BYU	19 WAC	Last: 1996	4 MWC	1999, 01, 06-07
Cincinnati	1 CUSA	2002	2 Big East	2008-09
Colorado St	3 WAC	1994-95, 97	3 MWC	1999-00, 02
Georgia Tech	5 SEC	39, 43-44, 51-52	3 ACC	1990, 98, 09
Louisville	3 CUSA	2001-01, 04	1 Big East	2006
TCU	2 WAC	1999-00	1 CUSA	2002	3 MWC	05, 09, 10
Tulane	3 SEC	1934, 39, 49	1 CUSA	1998
Utah	2 WAC	1964, 95	4 MWC	1999, 03-04, 08
Virginia Tech	3 Big East	1995-96, 99	4 ACC	2004, 07-08, 10

TCU is not only the first and only team to win conference titles in three of the current FBS conferences, but by 2012 could be the first to win in four different FBS conferences (joining Big East 2012).

A few more interesting notes:

• This season Nebraska is attempting to be the first team to go to back to back conference title games in two different conferences (lost last year’s Big 12 title game to Oklahoma 20-23).

• All of the schools switching conferences this year, won conference titles in the conference they are leaving.

Check out below to see how realigned schools have historically fared against schools in their new conferences.

Nebraska	Big Ten
vs.	W	L	T	Last Meeting	Last Win	Last Loss	Strk
Illinois	7	2	1	1986: 59-14 at	-	1924: 6-9 vs	2W
Indiana	7	9	3	1978: 69-17 at	-	1959: 7-23 vs	4W
Iowa	26	12	3	2000: 42-13 vs	-	1981: 7-10	3W
Michigan	2	3	1	2005: 32-28 Bowl	-	1986: 23-27 Bowl	1W
Michigan St	5	0	0	2003: 17-3 Bowl	-	-	5W
Minnesota	20	29	2	1990: 56-0 vs	-	1960: 14-26 vs	14W
Northwestern	3	1	0	2000: 66-17 Bowl	-	1931: 7-19 at	2W
Ohio St	0	2	0	1956: 7-34 at	-	-	2L
Penn St	6	7	0	2003: 18-10 vs	-	2002: 7-40 at	1W
Purdue	0	1	0	1958: 0-28 at	-	-	1L
Wisconsin	3	2	0	1974: 20-21 at	1973: 20-16 vs	-	1L
	79	68	10

One of Nebraska’s greatest margin of victories came against Minnesota on September 17th, 1983.  Nebraska beat Minnesota 84-13 on the road.

Colorado	Pac-12
vs.	W	L	T	Last Meeting	Last Win	Last Loss	Streak
Arizona	12	1	0	1986: 21-24 vs	1985: 14-13 at	-	1L
Arizona St	0	2	0	2007: 14-33 at	-	-	2L
California	2	3	0	2010: 7-52 at	1975: 34-27 vs	-	2L
Oregon	8	7	0	2001: 16-38 Bowl	1998: 51-43 Bowl	-	1L
Oregon St	2	3	0	1988: 28-21 vs	1964: 7-14 vs	-	2W
Stanford	3	3	0	1993: 37-41 at	1990: 21-17 vs	-	2L
UCLA	2	4	0	2003: 16-14 vs	-	1984: 16-33 vs	2W
USC	0	5	0	2002: 3-40 vs	-	-	5L
Utah	30	24	3	1962: 21-37 at	1958: 7-0 at	-	2L
Washington	5	5	1	2000: 14-17 at	1996: 33-21 Bowl		2L
Washington St	4	2	0	2004: 20-12 N	-	2003: 26-47 vs	1W
	68	59	4

Colorado defeated Arizona in nine straight games from 1952-60.

Utah	Pac-12
vs.	W	L	T	Last Meeting	Last Win	Last Loss	Streak
Arizona	19	15	2	2005: 27-24 vs	-	2002: 17-23 at	2W
Arizona St	6	16	0	1993: 0-38 at	1976: 31-28 at	-	7W
California	3	4	0	2009: 37-27 Bowl	-	2000: 21-24 at	2W
Colorado	24	30	3	1962: 37-21 vs	-	1958: 0-7 vs	2W
Oregon	8	18	0	2009: 24-31 at	2003: 17-13 vs	-	1L
Oregon St	5	9	1	2008: 31-28 vs	-	2007: 7-24 at	1W
Stanford	2	3	0	1996: 17-10 at	-	1995: 20-27 vs	1W
UCLA	1	8	0	2007: 44-6 vs	-	2006: 10-31 at	1W
USC	3	6	0	2001: 10-6 Bowl	-	1993: 21-28 Bowl	1W
Washington	0	6	0	1979: 7-41 at	-	-	6L
Washington St	5	5	0	2000: 21-38 vs	1999: 27-7 at	-	1L
	76	120	6

Out of all the schools realigning this year, Utah has played their new conference opponents the most (202 games).

Boise St	Mountain West
vs.	W	L	T	Last Meeting	Last Win	Last Loss	Streak
Air Force	-	-	-
Colorado St	-	-	-
New Mexico	2	0	0	2000: 31-14 at	-	-	2W
San Diego St	-	-	-
TCU	2	1	0	2009: 17-10 Bowl	-	2008: 16-17 Bowl	1W
UNLV	3	3	0	1977: 45-14 vs	-	1976: 26-31 at	1W
Wyoming	5	0	0	2010: 51-6 at	-	-	5W
	12	4	0

The match up of Boise State and TCU has always provided great results (all bowl games).  Average margin of victory has been 3.7 points. Unfortunately this will be the only year both teams are in the same conference, with TCU leaving for the Big East in 2012.

BYU	Independents
vs.	W	L	T	Last Meeting	Last Win	Last Loss	Streak
Army	-	-	-
Navy	1	1	0	1989: 31-10 at	-	1978: 16-23 Bowl	1W
Notre Dame	2	4	0	2005: 23-49 at	2004: 20-17 vs	-	1L
	3	5	0

In 2012 and 2013 BYU will head to South Bend to face Notre Dame.  Their last victory in South Bend was in 1994, a 21-14 victory.


One last note.  Phil Steele has posted a quick an easy reference page to this year’s, as well as future years college football realignment.


Reference: Sports-Reference.com/College Football, College Football Data Warehouse, Phil Steele Publications