Keeping up with College Football Conference realignment can seem like a daunting task where teams are switching conferences constantly, making it difficult to know which teams are in which conference.
This is a somewhat new problem. While conference realignment has always been part of the game, there hasn’t been this level of change since 2011-2014, when the Pac-12, Big East, Big 10, and ACC all saw teams added and changed. Since then, until this past year, realignment had paused with the exception of teams like Coastal Carolina moving up to FBS or Charlotte ending Independence.
Last year, conference realignment once again started with the Big 12, AAC, Sun Belt, MAC, and CUSA seeing changes. Next year, eight of the ten conferences in college football will see different teams which means new schedule formats, rivalries, and divisions, or the lack of.
2024 is the last wave of conference realignment (for now). While Texas and Oklahoma can’t be blamed solely for all of the change, they certainly got the ball rolling with everything.
American Athletic Conference (AAC)
The AAC already lost Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston this past year. Next year, they lost SMU to the ACC but gained the Army, which was Independent.
- Army Black Knights
- East Carolina Pirates
- Florida Atlantic Owls
- Memphis Tigers
- Navy Midshipmen
- North Texas Mean Green
- Rice Owls
- South Florida Bulls
- Temple Owls
- Tulane Green Wave
- Tulsa Golden Hurricane
- UAB Blazers
- UTSA Roadrunners
Atlantic Coast Conference
The ACC very well could be the next conference to go into limbo, with Florida State and others wanting to get out of their media deal. But for now, the ACC is still a P4 Conference, which will gain California, Stanford, and SMU.
- Boston College Eagles
- California Golden Bears
- Clemson Tigers
- Florida State Seminoles
- Georgia Tech Yellowjackets
- Louisville Cardinals
- Miami (FL) Hurricanes
- NC State Wolfpack
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Pittsburgh Panthers
- SMU Mustangs
- Stanford Cardinal
- Syracuse Orange
- Virginia Cavaliers
- Virginia Tech Hokies
Big 10 Conference
The Big 10 made huge moves in the last two years, going after West Coast schools from the Pac 12 by adding Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA.
- Illinois Fighting Irish
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Maryland Terrapins
- Michigan Wolverines
- Michigan State Spartans
- Minnesota Golden Gophers
- Nebraska Cornhuskers
- Northwestern Wildcats
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Oregon Ducks
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Purdue Boilermakers
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights
- Washington Huskies
- Wisconsin Badgers
- UCLA Bruins
- USC Trojans
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference added Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, and Colorado when the Big 10 started to pick apart the Pac 12. The now 16-team league is doing what it can to solidify itself as a top-tier league, and Arizona and Utah’s recent success may help with that.
- Arizona State Sun Devils
- Arizona Wildcats
- Baylor Bears
- BYU Cougars
- Cincinnati Bearcats
- Colorado Buffaloes
- Houston Cougars
- Iowa State Cyclones
- Kansas Jayhawks
- Kansas State Wildcats
- Oklahoma State Cowboys
- TCU Horned Frogs
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- UCF Knights
- Utah Utes
- West Virginia Mountaineers
Conference USA (CUSA)
Conference USA will add Kennesaw State from the FCS level in 2024. They will also add Deleware in 2025.
- FIU Panthers
- Jacksonville State Gamecocks
- Kennesaw State Owls
- Liberty Flames
- Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
- Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
- New Mexico State Aggies
- Sam Houston Bearkats
- UTEP Miners
- Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
Independents (FBS)
There was a time when the FBS Independents were a decent group of teams that, in some ways, were a conference of their own, at least in a way of consistently playing each other. But with BYU, Liberty, New Mexico State, and Army all recently moving on, the remaining schools are a small group that are borderline FBS/FCS brands besides Notre Dame.
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- UConn Huskies
- UMass Minutemen
Mid-American Conference (MAC)
The MAC is one of the two conferences that is not being affected by realignment in 2024. However, they are getting rid of divisions, which means the best two teams will play in the Conference Championship rather than Division winners.
- Akron Zips
- Ball State Cardinals
- Bowling Green Falcons
- Buffalo Bulls
- Central Michigan Chippewas
- Eastern Michigan Eagles
- Kent State Golden Flashes
- Miami (OH) RedHawks
- Northern Illinois Huskies
- Ohio Bobcats
- Toledo Rockets
- Western Michigan Broncos
Mountain West Conference (MWC)
The Mountain West technically isn’t losing any teams. However, they have made an agreement with the Pac 2 to play in a 7+1 format where instead of eight conference games, each team will play seven games plus either Oregon State or Washington State.
San Diego State was almost kicked out of the conference in July when they announced they would be leaving for the Pac 12 (or whatever it was) but ultimately was welcomed back.
- Air Force Falcons
- Boise State Broncos
- Colorado State Rams
- Fresno State Bulldogs
- Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
- Nevada Wolfpack
- New Mexico Lobos
- San Diego State Aztecs
- UNLV Rebels
- Utah State Aggies
- Wyoming Cowboys
Pac 12 or 2 Conference
Washington State and Oregon State are the only two teams remaining from the original Pac 12. However in large part because of rights and financial reasons, the two schools are content at the moment staying in the Pac 2. They will play against Mountain West teams in an alliance agreement that was previously mentioned.
- Oregon State Beavers
- Washington State Cougars
Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Texas and Oklahoma announced they were leaving for the SEC all the way back in the summer of 2021. After a long and three-year wait, the teams will finally join the conference. The SEC will also be getting rid of divisions. Although the conference realignment in the SEC hasn’t been high in numbers the last few years, it certainly has been the most influential.
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Auburn Tigers
- Florida Gators
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Kentucky Wildcats
- LSU Tigers
- Mississippi Bulldogs
- Missouri Tigers
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Ole Miss Rebels
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Texas Longhorns
- Vanderbilt Commodores
Sun Belt Conference
The Sun Belt Conference is the second conference alongside the MAC that isn’t seeing any change at all with their teams. The Sun Belt historically has been a conference realignment hot-bed with many teams using the conference as a step-up to other G5 conferences.
It is also worth mentioning that the Sun Belt is the final conference to still utilize traditional divisions. The idea of divisions has become less popular among most conferences due to the two best teams sometimes not playing in the Conference Championship Game, which can affect resumes and NY6/Playoff positioning.
East Division
- Appalachian State Mountaineers
- Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
- Georgia Southern Eagles
- Georgia State Panthers
- James Madison Dukes
- Marshall Thundering Herd
- Old Dominion Monarchs
West Division
- Arkansas State Red Wolves
- Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
- Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
- South Alabama Jaguars
- Southern Miss Golden Eagles
- Texas State Bobcats
- Troy Trojans
Conference Realignment’s Future
As far as conference realignment goes, it does feel like aside from the ACC crumbling, we are getting close to a long break from dramatic change. Whether that takes one or two more seasons, only time will tell, but hopefully soon we can look at college football and conference realignment and not have to wonder who is going to where.
Of course, prior to Texas and Oklahoma abruptly announcing their plans to leave for the SEC, everyone thought the conferences were steady then. So in that way, and given the current pace of college football, it’s truly impossible to know if and when one team may set off another domino effect.
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