July 1st. Realignment day. A time of great change and opportunity (unless you’re Oregon State or Wazzu). This is a significant moment in college football, as it marks the burning of bridges, the ascension of new schools, and the (unofficial) destruction of a power conference.
As of today, Oklahoma and Texas have left their longtime home of the Big 12 (which will only remain at 12 members for around a month before the Four Corners schools officially join), and have rejoined rivals Missouri and Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference. Also in the southeast, Kennesaw State has left the ASUN conference and FCS to join Conference USA. In their place comes D2 powerhouse West Georgia.
Up in New York, Army West Point has joined the American Athletic Conference as a football affiliate, and back down in Texas, SMU has moved to the inappropriately named “Atlantic Coast” Conference, who will officially be adding Stanford and California-Berkeley next month.
These changes mark the true beginning of a new era in college football. An era not driven by pageantry, rivalry, and conferences that make sense geographically, but rather one driven by greed, TV deals, and NIL money. While disheartening for some, others find excitement in this new world, with the resurrection of rivalries like Texas vs. TAMU, or opportunities for the hard-working players to finally earn some money.
We reached out to Nebraska fan SPCcantonment for his thoughts on the matter.
“I mean I guess the SEC side is okay but everything else is unrealistic and stupid. If this keeps going on we are going to have 2 sides like the NFL”
– SPCcantonment on Discord when asked about the recent changes in CFB
Despite all of the changes, though, one must acknowledge that even in this tumultuous world of realignment, some things will stay the same. Miami (OH) will still win the MAC. Vandy still sucks. Iowa will still be ranked despite not scoring a single touchdown. And, most of all, Kansas is still the worst team to ever play football. M-I-Z!
“…wait, they’re projected to go 8-4 this year? GOD DAMN IT!”
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