Power Conferences, Good or Bad for College Sports?

Many people who have not had granite roofs over the last few months are aware that college sports are transforming in a vast way right before our very eyes. Conferences are scavenging others, taking away programs in what almost seems to be a battle to see who can create the biggest conference in the game. Need I remind you that bigger isn't always better. The Big XII has been the main conference in the limelight as it has lost Colorado to the new PAC-12 and Nebraska to the Big X. Losing Colorado doesn't sting too badly, as its programs in both basketball and footballl have been irrelevant since Chauncey Billups and Rashaan Salaam. But, Nebraska? That stings like a giant, angry hornet. Nebraska has as much football tradition as anyone and now by going off to join traditional Big X powers Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan, puts the Big X right there knocking on the doorstep of the SEC. Now, with word coming that the Big XII is losing Texas A & M and Missouri to the SEC, only adds insult to injury. Missouri is a middle-of-the-road program in both football and basketball and could be replaced but A & M hurts, due to their football pedigree. The Big XII could dig themselves out of this black hole that they have fallen into and here is how. Start with your moneymaker, football. Add Boise State, I know that they are heading to much maligned Mountain West conference, but I am sure they would be willing to eat some cash and reneg on that for a chance to play Texas, Oklahoma and Ok State every year. So with a base of OU, OSU, Texas, Baylor, and Boise State, they could start a revival in the midwest. After making the big splash with Boise, the conference should target TCU. Already with your biggest fanbase in the state of Texas, TCU would be a huge grab and now with the Big East dismantling faster than the American economy, TCU would love to escape their fate in the Big Least and eat cash as well to be in a great conference. Now for what the SEC does with their fresh meat. I think that the conference should keep their divisions... the SEC West and the SEC East, but drastically change them up. The West would and should look like this... My Projected SEC West: My Projected SEC East... 1.LSU 1. FLORIDA 2.AUBURN 2. GEORGIA 3.ARKANSAS 3. TENNESSEE 4. MISSISSIPPI 4. KENTUCKY 5. MISSISSIPPI STATE 5. ALABAMA 6. MISSOURI 6. SOUTH CAROLINA 7. VANDERBILT 7. TEXAS A & M *One stipulation to this projection would be to eliminate 2 non-conference games and add 2 conference games. More people would be willing to spend money for tickets to a better contested game and give the teams better BCS rankings. Of course, every team in the East would play each other and vice-a-versa in the West. With the new layout, for example, Tennessee would play four West teams per year on a rotating shcedule much like now with Vandy being one of those teams guaranteed every year and vice-a-versa with any other in-state rivalry game, i.e. BAMA-AUBURN. What business does UT have playing Buffalo or Montana when it could be a great conference game like A & M. The ACC is set up nicely now to be in hoops what the SEC is in football. It should also be split into two divisions for basketball and football, that would look like this... ACC-Atlantic ACC-Coastal 1.DUKE 1. SYRACUSE 2.NORTH CAROLINA 2. VIRGINIA 3.NORTH CAROLINA STATE 3. UCONN 4.WAKE FOREST 4. VIRGINIA TECH 5.MARYLAND 5. FLORIDA STATE 6.GEORGIA TECH 6. RUTGERS 7.PITTSBURGH 7. BOSTON COLLEGE In both of these conferences, the winner of each division would play each other for the conference title in both football and basketball. Two conferences that should be completely dismantled are the Atlantic 10 and the Conference USA. C-USA should lose Memphis to the Big East or Big XII and all of the other schools could join smaller conferences or a few decent programs like UAB or UCF could go Big East as well. What I do not understand is why in the world the Big East would want East Carolina. No disrespect to ECU, but they have a terrible basketball program and a horrid academic reputation and a semi-decent football program, which I guess is why the Big Least would think about them. App State would be a better addition than ECU. What will probably happen is chaos and disaster because these rich, powerful big wheels at these universities only care about money and not preserving heritage and tradition, which is sad. The Big East will probably fold along with the Big XII and we will have all of these awful programs like UNC-Charlotte, Seton Hall, Fordham, Rhode Island, St. Joseph's, and more just floating around in some small conference that should not even get an automatic bid, stealing one from a deserving team. Much needs to be fixed with college athletics, mainly IT IS NOT ABOUT MONEY, it is about SCHOOL, PRIDE and the FANS.