In 2024 college football will go through another round of realignment that will see the SEC and B1G go to 16 team super conferences. The ACC seems to be quiet on any expansion rumors but the Big 12 and PAC 12/10 are looking to add some schools to further their footprint and make up for the schools they have lost. Conferences will eventually be unrecognizable based on the schools they have if it keeps up this way. The B1G is a midwest based conference but has schools on the east and west coast, the SEC has now moved even further out west with Texas and Oklahoma joining, and the Big 12 will be stretched out from UCF to BYU and are reportedly looking more out west for additional programs.

I believe college football will be in a better place if the conferences were back to being regionally based. We have already lost so many rivalries due to conference realignments over the years and that means we are losing valuable traditions that make the sport unique. So I’m suggesting we make every conference a super conference of 16 teams and make them regionally aligned. There are currently 134 teams slated for 2024, to make this work we would need to get to 160 schools.  I added 26 FCS schools to get to 160, the ASUN-WAC conference attempted on their own to be considered an FBS conference and was denied but I added all those schools anyway because the effort was there lol. The remaining schools added are some very popular FCS programs that have great football history and will make for great football in their new conference. 

Keep in mind I did this realignment based off football only, not based on how some conferences have disqualifications like stadium size, religious affiliations, field color, academic prestige, tv markets and blocks from other schools already in the conference. Any school who was Power 5 remained as a P5 school with the realignment. This realignment will save on travel costs and restore some traditional rivalries and create some new ones while ensuring competitive balance across the college football landscape. Look below to see where your favorite teams’ new or old conference they would play in and also here’s a map for you to visualize how it looks geographically.  

College Football Conference Realignment by Region

To make everything uniform for all conferences there will be no divisions and teams will play a 9 game conference schedule. The schedule will be on a 3-6-6 format where you play 3 permanent rivals every year and then rotate 6 conference opponents the other years, which will ensure teams play each other at minimum twice every four years. I also suggested a permanent rivalry week opponent which might cause some changes amongst some teams schedules moving forward like ND at USC being moved up a week, and Army-Navy will also be played last week of the season instead of two weeks after.

ACC

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Boston College	3-9	44000	Syracuse	Virginia Tech	Clemson
Clemson	11-3	81000	South Carolina	N.C. State	Boston College
Duke	9-4	40000	North Carolina	Wake Forest	N.C. State
Maryland	8-5	51000	Penn St	Virginia	South Carolina
North Carolina	9-5	51000	Duke	South Carolina	Virginia
N.C. State	8-5	57000	Wake Forest	Clemson	Duke
Penn St	11-2	106000	Maryland	Pittsburgh	Syracuse
Pittsburgh	9-4	68000	West Virginia	Penn St	Rutgers
Rutgers	4-8	52000	UConn	West Virginia	Pittsburgh
South Carolina	8-5	77000	Clemson	North Carolina	Maryland
Syracuse	7-6	49000	Boston College	UConn	Penn St
UConn	6-7	40000	Rutgers	Syracuse	Wake Forest
Virginia	3-7	61000	Virginia Tech	Maryland	North Carolina
Virginia Tech	3-8	66000	Virginia	Boston College	West Virginia
Wake Forest	8-5	31000	N.C. State	Duke	UConn
West Virginia	5-7	60000	Pittsburgh	Rutgers	Virginia Tech

B1G

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Cincinnati	9-4	40000	Northwestern	Louisville	Wisconsin
Illinois	8-5	60000	Missouri	Northwestern	Ohio St
Indiana	4-8	52000	Purdue	Kentucky	Iowa St
Iowa	8-5	70000	Iowa St	Wisconsin	Minnesota
Iowa St	4-8	61000	Iowa	Missouri	Indiana
Kentucky	7-6	61000	Louisville	Indiana	Missouri
Louisville	8-5	61000	Kentucky	Cincinnati	Purdue
Michigan	13-1	107000	Ohio St	Minnesota	Michigan St
Michigan St	5-7	75000	Notre Dame	Ohio St	Michigan
Minnesota	9-4	50000	Wisconsin	Michigan	Iowa
Missouri	6-7	61000	Illinois	Iowa St	Kentucky
Northwestern	1-11	35000	Cincinnati	Illinois	Notre Dame
Notre Dame	9-4	77000	Michigan St	Purdue	Northwestern
Ohio St	11-2	102000	Michigan	Michigan St	Illinois
Purdue	8-6	57000	Indiana	Notre Dame	Louisville
Wisconsin	7-6	80000	Minnesota	Iowa	Cincinnati

PAC-16

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Arizona	5-7	56000	Arizona St	Utah	UCLA
Arizona St	3-9	56000	Arizona	UNLV	San Diego St
Boise St	10-4	36000	Fresno St	BYU	UNLV
BYU	8-5	63000	Utah	Boise St	Fresno St
Cal	4-8	62000	Stanford	UCLA	USC
Fresno St	10-4	41000	Boise St	San Diego St	BYU
Oregon	10-3	54000	Oregon St	Washington	Washington St
Oregon St	10-3	34000	Oregon	Washington St	Washington
San Diego St	7-6	35000	UNLV	Fresno St	Arizona St
Stanford	3-9	50000	Cal	USC	Utah
UCLA	9-4	90000	USC	Cal	Arizona
UNLV	5-7	65000	San Diego St	Arizona St	Boise St
USC	11-3	77000	UCLA	Stanford	USC
Utah	10-4	51000	BYU	Arizona	Stanford
Washington	11-2	70000	Washington St	Oregon	Oregon St
Washington St	7-6	32000	Washington	Oregon St	Oregon

SEC

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Alabama	11-2	100000	Auburn	Tennessee	Florida St
Arkansas	7-6	76000	LSU	Memphis	Tulane
Auburn	5-7	87000	Alabama	LSU	Georgia
Florida	6-7	88000	Florida St	Georgia	Tennessee
Florida St	10-3	79000	Florida	Miami	Alabama
Georgia	15-0	92000	Georgia Tech	Florida	Auburn
Georgia Tech	5-7	55000	Georgia	Mississippi St	Miami
LSU	10-4	102000	Arkansas	Auburn	Ole Miss
Memphis	7-6	62000	Tulane	Arkansas	Mississippi St
Miami	5-7	65000	UCF	Florida St	Georgia Tech
Mississippi St	9-4	61000	Ole Miss	Georgia Tech	Memphis
Ole Miss	8-5	64000	Mississippi St	Vanderbilt	LSU
Tennessee	11-2	102000	Vanderbilt	Alabama	Florida
Tulane	12-2	30000	Memphis	UCF	Arkansas
UCF	9-5	44000	Miami	Tulane	Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt	5-7	40000	Tennessee	Ole Miss	UCF

SWC

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Baylor	6-7	45000	TCU	Texas a&m	Texas Tech
Colorado	1-11	50000	Nebraska	Colorado St	Kansas St
Colorado St	3-9	41000	UTSA	Colorado	Rice
Houston	8-5	40000	Texas Tech	Rice	UTSA
Kansas	6-7	50000	Kansas St	UTSA	Texas
Kansas St	10-4	50000	Kansas	Nebraska	Colorado
Nebraska	4-8	85000	Colorado	Kansas St	Oklahoma
Oklahoma	6-7	80000	Oklahoma St	Texas	Nebraska
Oklahoma St	7-6	60000	Oklahoma	Texas Tech	TCU
Rice	5-8	47000	SMU	Houston	Colorado St
SMU	7-6	32000	Rice	TCU	Texas a&m
TCU	13-2	45000	Baylor	SMU	Oklahoma St
Texas	8-5	100000	Texas A&M	Oklahoma	Kansas
Texas A&M	5-7	102000	Texas	Baylor	SMU
Texas Tech	8-5	60000	Houston	Oklahoma St	Baylor
UTSA	11-3	65000	Colorado St	Kansas	Houston

American

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Abilene Christian	7-4*	12000	Tarleton St	S.F. Austin	Sam Houston St
Arkansas St	3-9	30000	Tulsa	C. Arkansas	Louisiana
C. Arkansas	5-6*	10000	Missouri St	Arkansas St	S.F. Austin
Incarnate Word	12-2*	6000	Texas St	Rio Grande Valley	Louisiana Tech
Louisiana	6-7	41000	North Texas	Louisiana Monroe	Arkansas St
Louisiana Monroe	4-8	30000	Louisiana Tech	Louisiana	Tarleton St
Louisiana Tech	3-9	28000	Louisiana Monroe	Missouri St	Incarnate Word
Missouri St	5-6*	17000	C. Arkansas	Louisiana Tech	Tulsa
North Texas	7-7	30000	Louisiana	Tulsa	UTEP
Rio Grande Valley	N/A	10000	UTEP	Incarnate Word	Texas St
Sam Houston St	5-4*	14000	S.F. Austin	Tarleton St	Abilene Christian
S.F. Austin	6-5*	14000	Sam Houston St	Abilene Christian	C. Arkansas
Tarleton St	6-5*	9000	Abilene Christian	Sam Houston St	Louisiana Monroe
Texas St	4-8	30000	Incarnate Word	UTEP	Rio Grande Valley
Tulsa	5-7	30000	Arkansas St	North Texas	Missouri St
UTEP	5-7	51000	Rio Grande Valley	Texas St	North Texas

C-USA

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Army	6-6	38000	Navy	Buffalo	Maine
Buffalo	7-6	29000	Marshall	Army	Temple
Delaware	8-5*	22000	Liberty	Villanova	Navy
James Madison	8-3	24000	Old Dominion	Richmond	William & Mary
Liberty	8-5	25000	Delaware	Navy	Marshall
Maine	2-9*	10000	New Hampshire	Marshall	Army
Marshall	9-4	38000	Buffalo	Maine	Liberty
Navy	4-8	34000	Army	Liberty	Delaware
New Hampshire	9-4*	11000	Maine	Rhode Island	UMass
Old Dominion	3-9	22000	James Madison	William & Mary	Richmond
Rhode Island	7-4*	5000	UMass	New Hampshire	Villanova
Richmond	9-4*	8000	William & Mary	James Madison	Old Dominion
Temple	3-9	68000	Villanova	UMass	Buffalo
UMass	1-11	17000	Rhode Island	Temple	New Hampshire
Villanova	6-5*	12000	Temple	Delaware	Rhode Island
William & Mary	11-2*	12000	Richmond	Old Dominion	James Madison

MAC

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Akron	2-10	30000	Kent St	Youngstown St	Bowling Green
Austin Peay	7-4*	10000	MTSU	E. Kentucky	W. Kentucky
Ball St	5-7	22000	Miami Oh	N. Illinois	C. Michigan
Bowling Green	6-7	24000	Toledo	Kent St	Akron
C. Michigan	4-8	30000	E. Michigan	W. Michigan	Ball St
E. Kentucky	7-5*	20000	W. Kentucky	Austin Peay	MTSU
E. Michigan	9-4	30000	C. Michigan	Toledo	W. Michigan
Kent St	5-7	25000	Akron	Bowling Green	Youngstown St
Miami OH	6-7	24000	Ball St	Ohio	N. Illinois
MTSU	8-5	31000	Austin Peay	W. Kentucky	E. Kentucky
N. Illinois	3-9	23000	W. Michigan	Ball St	Miami OH
Ohio	10-4	24000	Youngstown St	Miami OH	Toledo
Toledo	9-5	26000	Bowling Green	E. Michigan	Ohio
W. Kentucky	9-5	22000	E. Kentucky	MTSU	Austin Peay
W. Michigan	5-7	30000	N. Illinois	C. Michigan	E. Michigan
Youngstown St	7-4*	20000	Ohio	Akron	Kent St

Mountain West

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Air Force	10-3	46000	Hawaii	Wyoming	Nevada
E. Washington	3-8*	8000	Sacramento St	Montana	Hawaii
Hawaii	3-10	35000	Air Force	San Jose St	E. Washington
Montana	8-5*	25000	Montana St	E. Washington	N. Dakota St
Montana St	12-2*	20000	Montana	N. Dakota St	New Mexico St
Nevada	2-10	27000	San Jose St	Sacramento St	Air Force
New Mexico	2-10	39000	New Mexico St	S. Dakota St	S. Utah
New Mexico St	7-6	30000	New Mexico	Utah Tech	Montana St
N. Dakota St	12-3*	19000	S. Dakota St	Montana St	Montana
Sacramento St	12-1*	21000	E. Washington	Nevada	San Jose St
San Jose St	7-5	30000	Nevada	Hawaii	Sacramento St
S. Dakota St	14-1*	19000	N. Dakota St	New Mexico	Wyoming
S. Utah	5-6*	8000	Utah Tech	Utah St	New Mexico
Utah St	6-7	25000	Wyoming	S. Utah	Utah Tech
Utah Tech	4-7*	10000	S. Utah	New Mexico St	Utah St
Wyoming	7-6	29000	Utah St	Air Force	S. Dakota St

Sunbelt

School	Record	Stadium	Rivalry Week	Rival 2	Rival 3
Appalachian St	6-6	30000	Georgia Southern	Charlotte	Coastal Carolina
Charlotte	3-9	15000	Georgia St	Appalachian St	ECU
Coastal Carolina	9-4	20000	ECU	FIU	Appalachian St
East Carolina	8-5	50000	Coastal Carolina	South Florida	Charlotte
FAU	5-7	30000	FIU	Kennesaw St	South Florida
FIU	4-8	23000	FAU	Coastal Carolina	North Alabama
Georgia Southern	6-7	25000	Appalachian st	Georgia St	Southern Miss
Georgia St	4-8	25000	Charlotte	Georgia Southern	Kennesaw St
Jacksonville St	9-2*	24000	Kennesaw St	North Alabama	Troy
Kennesaw St	5-6*	8000	Jacksonville St	FAU	Georgia St
North Alabama	1-10*	14000	South Alabama	Jacksonville St	FIU
South Alabama	10-3	25000	North Alabama	Southern Miss	UAB
South Florida	1-11	35000	UAB	ECU	FAU
Southern Miss	7-6	36000	Troy	South Alabama	Georgia Southern
Troy	12-2	30000	Southern Miss	UAB	Jacksonville St
UAB	7-6	47000	South Florida	Troy	South Alabama

Postseason upgrades

Change bowl eligibility requirements form 6 wins to 7 wins

All conference championship games to be held at a neutral site:

ACC: Sat 7:30pm ET @ Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
American: Sat 3pm ET @ NRG Stadium, Houston, TX

B1G: Sat 8pm ET @ Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis, IN

C-USA: Fri 7:30pm ET @ M&T Bank Stadium Baltimore, MD

MAC: Fri 7pm ET @ Ford Field Detroit, MI

Mountain West: Sat 3:30pm ET @ State Farm Stadium Glendale, AZ

PAC-16: Fri 8 pm ET  @ Allegiant Stadium Las Vegas, NV

SEC: Sat 4pm ET @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium Atlanta, GA

SWC: Sat 12pm ET @ AT&T Stadium Dallas, TX

Sunbelt: Sat 12:30pm ET @ TIAA Bank Field Jacksonville, FL

I would expand the new College Football Playoff format from 12 teams to 16 teams since we are at 160 teams anyway so a 10% chance to get in the playoffs won’t be too bad. If the playoff format was implemented last season it would have looked something like this: 

What are your thoughts on the new conferences?

How will your team stack up in the new look conference?

Do you like the postseason changes?

Should I be the Commissioner for the College Football Bowl Division?