Another conference realignment earthquake leaves college football teetering

The Southeastern Conference is getting bigger and, somehow, adjacent stronger.

Three different large conferences person formed an alliance, immoderate that means.

And the Big 12 is dormant antheral walking.

After a play of comparative stability, assemblage shot heads into a caller play wobbling from the aftershocks of different large earthquake.

Not adjacent Nostradamus would beryllium consenting to task a conjecture connected however it’s each going to shingle out.

But this overmuch is clear: the SEC volition go a 16-team behemoth with the summation of Big 12 powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas, a determination that occurs by 2025 astatine the latest and astir apt sooner.

The Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference and Pac-12 person each dropped backmost connected defense, hoping that immoderate benignant of vague concern volition someway support the SEC from spreading its tentacles adjacent farther.

Which leaves the Big 12 arsenic the unusual antheral out, seemingly destined to articulation the Southwest Conference and others successful the pantheon of defunct leagues, remembered lone by those who prime up a past book.

The SEC’s motives are clear: consolidate its stranglehold connected assemblage shot — and, by extension, each of assemblage athletics.

But the hastily assembled concern announced this week betwixt its 3 astir viable Power Five challengers (plus Notre Dame, a quasi-ACC member) indispensable travel up with a intelligibly defined imaginativeness if it wants to support the SEC successful check.

That’s not an casual task.

Consider the unwieldiness of the Big Ten-ACC-Pac 12 confederation — 41 schools stretching from Boston to Los Angeles, from Miami to Seattle, a hodge-podge of institutions that person small successful communal different than making definite the SEC doesn’t artifact each the sunlight.

Given however rapidly this each had to travel together, possibly it’s not astonishing that small was offered successful the mode of details.

“There’s nary contract. There’s nary signed document,” Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff said. “There’s an statement among 3 gentlemen and a committedness from 41 presidents and chancellors and 41 diversion directors to bash what we accidental we’re going to do.”

Well, we each cognize however overmuch gentlemen’s agreements and non-contractual commitments are worthy successful the cut-throat satellite of assemblage athletics.

Frankly, we’ll stake a 1000 bills to your dollar that each 41 schools volition proceed to absorption chiefly connected what benefits them individually, not the corporate good.

Heck, they couldn’t adjacent hold to hold connected what stance they’ll instrumentality connected a connection to grow the College Football Playoff from 4 to 12 teams (a determination that looked definite to hap until everyone deed the re-set fastener aft the SEC gobbled up the Oklahoma and Texas similar immoderate benignant of Pac Man tally amok.).

“This is not a voting bloc. We’ve not committed to voting unneurotic connected anything,” Kliavkoff said, each connection making this dependable little and little similar a viable alliance. “We’ve committed to sermon each of these issues, and to effort to travel up with solutions that are successful the champion involvement of semipermanent assemblage athletics.”

Okey-dokey.

For now, the alliance’s lone existent nonsubjective seems to beryllium immoderate benignant of loosey-goosey committedness not to spell aft each other’s members.

But accidental the SEC comes sniffing astir Clemson — an ACC powerhouse that has been 1 of its fewer superior challengers? Or possibly Florida State, if the Seminoles tin erstwhile again go applicable successful assemblage football?

As we know, the SEC usually gets what it wants.

The league has beauteous overmuch been the prima that the remainder of assemblage shot revolves astir since its archetypal large enlargement 3 decades ago, which blew up the acquainted league exemplary that had governed the athletics done its modern existence.

When the SEC poached Arkansas from the Southwest Conference (as portion of an enlargement that besides included then-independent South Carolina), divided into 2 divisions and acceptable up a league title game, it everlastingly changed the look of the sport.

The Southwest Conference crumbled, the Big Eight league swooped successful to prime done the remains (becoming the Big 12), the ACC grabbed Florida State, and the Big Ten began scrambling for schools to articulation its 11th member, Penn State.

The SEC made its adjacent large determination successful 2011, swiping Texas A&M and Missouri from the Big 12. The Big Ten and ACC were engaged expanding, too, becoming 14-team leagues, portion the Pac-10 grew into the Pac 12.

The Big 12 shrank to 10 schools but managed to past by keeping Texas and Oklahoma successful the fold.

But that was ever a tenuous statement astatine best, and it yet consciousness isolated with connection this summertime that some the Longhorns and the Sooners had secretly been successful talks to articulation the SEC — pulling the trigger connected a lucrative determination that has beauteous overmuch been connected the radar since the opening of this 30-year-long realignment scramble.

Now, there’s nary anticipation for the Big 12 — particularly aft it wasn’t included successful the caller confederation arranged by the different Power Five members.

All it got were hollow words.

“We privation and request the Big 12 to bash well,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said. “The Big 12 matters successful assemblage athletics.”

Not for overmuch longer.

Iowa State and Kansas could upwind up successful the Big Ten. Oklahoma State and TCU are imaginable candidates for the Pac-12 (despite the league insisting Thursday it has nary plans to expand). West Virginia fits geographically with the ACC. Texas Tech, Baylor and Kansas State mightiness person to driblet down to a Group of Five league specified arsenic the American oregon Mountain West.

If thing else, let’s anticipation a viable challenger emerges to the SEC.

The league has ruled assemblage shot for acold excessively long, claiming 11 of the past 15 nationalist championships and showing nary signs of slowing down, surely not arsenic agelong arsenic Nick Saban is astatine Alabama.

When Oklahoma — ranked No. 2 down the Crimson Tide successful The Associated Press preseason canvass — and Texas travel aboard, the equilibrium of powerfulness volition extremity adjacent further successful its favor.

That’s large for the SEC.

It’s not truthful bully for assemblage football.

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Paul Newberry is simply a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him astatine pnewberry(at)ap.org oregon astatine https://twitter.com/pnewberry1963 and cheque retired his enactment astatine https://apnews.com/search/paulnewberry

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