Conference re-alignment may still happen

I know people are getting tired of hearing about conference re-alignment, but blame ACC Commissioner John Swofford for providing statements that were released in an article Today, Wednesday, June 20, 2012 by News-Record.com.

In the article, Swofford provided insight on playoff discussions between all Conference Commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick. Reading between the lines, the article offers the possibility that some universities may need to make future decisions about conference re-alignment.

As playoff talks continue, disagreements about the selection process have been placed on the table. An issue raised, pit SEC Commissioner Mike Slive against the rest of the Conference Commissioners, with the exception of Swarbrick. Slive believed the teams should be selected based on the top four teams, regardless of conference affiliation or conference championship. However, the other Conference Commissioners want to include conference champions in the selection criteria. Swofford was quoted by ESPN saying, “I think winning a conference champion should matter. It doesn’t have to be the end-all, be-all, but I think it should matter. It keeps the focus on winning a conference championship during the regular season.”

If a conference champion is included as a selection criteria, as highly favored by a majority of the Conference Commissioners, Notre Dame will surely be looking for conference to call home.

Another sticky issue that will need to be ironed out, is a suggested selection criteria offered by the Big 10, which would allow a conference champion from one of the big six major conferences in the playoff only if the champion finished in the top six of the rankings. This is an issue because we all now how many times, in the past decade, the ACC would have been involved. One time, with Virginia Tech back in 2007. Clemson, who one the ACC Conference Championship last year finished 15in the final BCS standings.

With ACC football not the power it use to be, and favoring basketball over football, a move by Florida State and a yet to be named university (Notre Dame, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Louisville) to the Big 12 may still come to fruition.

Before teams start submitting applications to the Big 12, the Big 12 will need to have a heart-to-heart to determine if they want to expand. During their discussions involving expansion, one issue that should be raised is the nightmare they had when there was a three-way tie in the South Division, when the Big 12 had 12 teams and a conference championship. Now that there is no conference championship, how will the conference handle the tough decision that comes with choosing a conference champion if there is another three-way tie? Also, how will they handle any media backlash who will say “the Big 12 should have had a conference championship?”

So, can we say conference re-alignment is a moot topic? If Swofford drops the ball as he did with the ACC TV contract, I think the re-alignment topic will kick into high gear after the BCS Committee meets next week to review and determine whether to accept the playoff proposal they receive from the Conference Commissioners and Swarbrick.