present and Future Conference Alignment

[bullwark]

Next year the landscape in college football will be drastically different. Many conferences will be adding and subtracting teams, the most notable being the Atlantic Coast and Big East. Here's a breakdown of how the major Division I-A conferences look this year and how they will be aligned next year. In some cases, conferences are unchanged.

2004 2005  

Atlantic Coast

Clemson North Carolina Division A Division B

Duke N.C. State Boston College  Duke

Florida State Virginia Clemson Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech Virginia Tech Florida State Miami

Maryland Wake Forest Maryland North Carolina

Miami  N.C. State Virginia

 Wake Forest Virginia Tech

Big East

Boston College Syracuse Cincinnati Rutgers

Connecticut Temple Connecticut South Florida

Pittsburgh West Virginia Louisville Syracuse

Rutgers  Pittsburgh West Virginia

Big Ten

Illinois Northwestern Illinois Northwestern

Indiana Ohio State Indiana Ohio State

Iowa Penn State Iowa Penn State

Michigan Purdue Michigan Purdue

Michigan State Wisconsin Michigan State Wisconsin

Minnesota  Minnesota  

Big 12

North South North South

Colorado Baylor Colorado Baylor

Iowa State Oklahoma Iowa State Oklahoma

Kansas Oklahoma St. Kansas Oklahoma St.

Kansas State Texas Kansas State Texas

Missouri Texas A&M  Missouri Texas A&M

Nebraska Texas Tech Nebraska Texas Tech

Conference USA

Army Southern Miss Central Florida Houston

Cincinnati South Florida East Carolina Rice

East Carolina Texas Christian Marshall SMU

Houston Tulane Memphis Texas-El Paso

Louisville UAB Southern Miss Tulane

Memphis  UAB Tulsa

Mid-American

East West East West

Akron Ball State Akron Ball State

Buffalo Bowling Green Buffalo  Bowling Green

Central Florida Central Mich. Kent State Central Michigan

Kent State Eastern Mich. Miami, Ohio Eastern Michigan

Marshall Northern Ill. Ohio Northern Illinois

Miami, Ohio Toledo Toledo Western Michigan

Ohio Western Mich.  

>Mountain West

Air Force New Mexico Air Force New Mexico

Brigham Young San Diego St. Brigham Young San Diego State

Colorado State Utah Colorado State Texas Christian

UNLV Wyoming UNLV Utah

  Wyoming

   

Pacific-10

Arizona Southern Cal Arizona Southern Cal

Arizona State Stanford Arizona State Stanford

California UCLA California UCLA

Oregon Washington Oregon Washington

Oregon State Washington St. Oregon State Washington St.

   

Southeastern

East West East West

Florida Alabama Florida Alabama

Georgia Arkansas Georgia Arkansas

Kentucky Auburn Kentucky Auburn

South Carolina LSU South Carolina Louisiana State

Tennessee  Mississippi Tennessee Mississippi

Vanderbilt Mississippi St. Vanderbilt Mississippi St.

Sun Belt

Arkansas State New Mexico St. Arkansas State Middle Tennessee

Idaho North Texas Florida Atlantic North Texas

La.-Lafayette Troy State La.-Lafayette Troy State

La.-Monroe Utah State La.-Monroe  

Middle Tennessee    

   

Western Athletic

Boise State Rice Boise State Nevada

Fresno State San Jose St. Fresno State New Mexico State

Hawaii SMU Hawaii San Jose State

Louisiana Tech Texas-El Paso Idaho Utah State

Nevada Tulsa Louisiana Tech  

   

Independents

Navy Notre Dame Army Notre Dame

 Navy Temple

BCS Affliation:

Champions of Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and Southeastern conferences qualify automatically for the Bowl Championship Series.

Two additional berths go to at-large entries; a team outside those six conferences must be considered if it finishes in the top 12 of the ratings and must be chosen if it finishes in the top six.

Notre Dame is guaranteed a spot if it wins at least nine games or finishes in the BCS top 10.