The Atomic Bomb of College Football.

Sorry about the long layoff. But I have rededicated myself and this summer will be covering all the latest sports news including the World Cup...

But today we will focus on the world of college football. Brace yourself, sports fans... because the landscape of College Football is about to be turned upside down.

We have heard the Big Ten banter ever since the late nineties when they tried to court Notre Dame to give up their massive TV Contracts and special BCS rules and come join their conference. However, things took a turn in the last few months when rumors began the Big Ten were looking to add as many as 3, maybe even 5 teams rather than just one, and that they had their eyes set on the big prize... The Texas Longhorns. These rumors (because that is what they are, simply rumors) have caused a whirlwind of epic proportions in College Football. Not wanting to be left out, the Pac-10 have preempted a Big Ten move by giving their commisioner the ok to add as many as 6 teams, with their eyes on the Big Ten South ( Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A & M, and Baylor). Meanwhile the Big 12 is giving Nebraska and Missouri ultimatums to decide whether or not they will stay in the Big 12.

I think the Big 12 has handled this horribly. They are now in a position that leaves them very vulnerable to complete collapse, with the Big 12 south jumping to join the Pac-10 and members of the big 12 north joining a few big east teams up north in Big Ten country.

Until the last week, these moves seemed like they were years away. Now they may be a matter of weeks away.

If the Big 10 and Pac 10 do expand their conferences to 16 teams, you can have no doubt that the SEC will not want to be left behind. You can bet they will also make a run at Texas before the process is done, but there are plenty of other targets in SEC country that already have connections to the conference. Such targets include Clemson, Miami, Georgia Tech, and Florida State. Clemson has former ties with Auburn and Georgia, and they have the in-state rivalry with South Carolina. Miami and Florida State are good natural rivals and would create revenue by giving the SEC practically the entire state of Florida. Georgia Tech is probably the least attractive because they have the smallest stadium and the SEC already have a strong prescense in Atlanta, and therefore would not be adding a new market.

Other less attractice options for the SEC would be the Virginia schools, Louisville, and USF.

In the end, the magic number for these conferences appears to be 16. There are currently 65 BCS conference teams. My opinion is that when the dust clears, we will end up with four 16 team super conferences.

The SEC really is the key to all of this expansion talk. The reason the Big 10 started this whole mess was because of their hurting reputation in comparison with the SEC. However, I think the Big 10 may have dug it's whole even deeper... Their big prize is texas. However, it makes much more sense geographically for them to join the Pac-10 or SEC. Also, the Big 10 is unlikely to include any other schools from Texas, meaning the longhorns would lose their natural rivalries. I just don't see Texas going along with that. I also see Texas and Texas A&M as a package deal.

So it will come down to Texas. Will the Longhorns go out west to face the Bruins and Trojans every year? or would they rather stake their claim on College Football's most dominant conference?

My guess is that they will come over to the SEC. It just simply makes the most sense. I do still believe Texas A&M comes with them, leaving only 2 more spots for further expansion. The first moves that make sense are the Florida schools. They add new markets and solidify the state for the SEC. However, the conference is then in an interesting situation. Isn't Clemson or Georgia Tech more attractive than Vanderbilt? Vandy has made some strides in the last 5 years or so, but they have never and probably will never compete in this league. Therefore the commodores get the boot, and the SEC welcomes in the Clemson Tigers with open arms. (Sorry Tech, but the Tigers have a stadium that seats nearly 45,000 more and have a much bigger and more dedicated fan base).

Thus the layout of the Southeastern Conference

EAST
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Miami
Florida State
Clemson

WEST
LSU
Auburn
Alabama
Arkansas
Ole Miss
Mississippi St
Texas
Texas A&M

Which leaves the question... what has all this expansion really accomplished? All it has done is solidify the SEC as the premier conference of College Football. These 5 teams that they would be adding have a combined 13 national championships, 92 conference championships, and 7 heisman trophy winners. They add stadiums of 82,000, 76,500, 80,300, 83,000, and 100,000... all of which rank in the top 25 for college football stadiums.

The Big 10 and Pac 10 simply can not match that through expansion. The only scenario that comes cloes would be if the big 10 were able to add Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Missouri, and Nebraska all to the their conference. But that simply still does not macthup. The Pac-10 most likely adds the remaining big 12 teams, colorado, and (if they are smart) Boise St. To finish out the Big 10 will have to decide which Big East team they would like to add... most likely cininnati, west virginia, or pittsburgh (pittsburgh with the edge because of better tradition). And finally the mangled remains of the ACC and Big East combine to form their own "superconference" which Virginia Tech will most likely dominate.

Here's how those conferences could look.

Big "North" ( Big 10)
Ohio ST
Michigan
Mich St
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Purdue
Northwestern
Penn St
Iowa
Indiana
Illinois
Missouri
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St
Pittsburgh

Big "West" (PAC- 10)
USC
Cal
UCLA
Stanford
Oregon
OSU
Arizona
ASU
Washington
WSU
Texas Tech
Boise St
Colorado
Boise St
Baylor
Kansas
Kansas St

Big East (combo of ACC and Big East)
West VA
Vigrinia
Va Tech
North Carolina
NC STATE
Maryland
Georgia Tech
Wake Forest
Boston College
Duke
UCONN
USF
Cincinnati
Louisville
Vanderbilt
Rutgers

The real losers here are the two teams that have to say goodbye to major division division one football. With lowering the number of major conference teams from 65 to 64 and bringing in Boise, there has to be two teams that get the shaft.

This new expansion is also very condusive to a playoff. Have each conference have a conference championship and the winners duke it out in a four team playoff (or the winners get a better seed and the runners up take part in an 8 team playoff)... but lets not go down that road just yet...

One A-Bomb at a time...