Conference realignment moves schools all around


By
 in ,

While news of NCAA sanctions imposed on USC stole headlines these past weeks, news of major conference reconfiguration in the college football world will reverberate just as long, if not longer, throughout the league. In a time inevitably shrouded by USC’s doubtful future, for the Pac-10 Conference, a bit of good news came in the form of expansion.

Effective in fall 2011, Utah and Colorado will become official members of the Pac-10, changing the landscape of the conference’s football outlook and  all other sports as well.

“The addition of the University of Utah … continues to strengthen the Pac-10’s goals of becoming the country’s leader in college athletics,” said Larry Scott, the conference’s commissioner.

Colorado will leave the Big 12 Conference and the Mountain West Conference will lose Utah.

“The University of Colorado is a great fit for the conference both academically and athletically and we are incredibly excited to welcome Colorado to the Pac-10,” Scott said.

Furthering the reconfiguration game, Boise State agreed to make the jump from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West Conference, and the Big 12 lost another team when the University of Nebraska announced it would leave in 2011 to join the Big Ten Conference.

The Big Ten’s 12th team signals the institution of a Big Ten championship game beginning in 2011, according to Commissioner Jim Delany.

With Nebraska and Colorado gone, many expected the rest of the Big 12 teams — now numbering only 10 — to entertain offers for membership in other conferences as well.

Some thought the new conference realignments meant that the advent of the long-awaited “super-conference” — featuring perhaps four primary leagues across the nation numbering 16 teams each — was close, but the Big 12’s holding together cut those thoughts short.

Scott and the Pac-10 reportedly hoped to create a Pac-16 by inviting other Big 12 teams, including Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and the Oklahoma schools.

However, Texas defended its membership in the Big 12 and declined the Pac-10’s offer, saying the remaining teams in the Big 12 would stay together.

The loss of Utah leaves the MWC with nine teams, meaning the conference might not be done courting universities this offseason.

“I can’t predict we are finished, but we are continuing to look to grow the Mountain West Conference,” MWC commissioner Craig Thompson said in a statement.

For now, college fans continue the wait to see which of their favorite teams begin calling a different conference home.