What the SEC is looking to do is become the first real NCAA Football Super Conference. They already have 12 teams, most competitive, five uber-competitive and three that have not seen success since the invention of sliced bread. What the SEC does the others will follow.
Why 'super conferencing'? One it gives more power to the individual conferences- if the conferences want to buck the NCAA, BCS or other ignorant bully they would have at least a fighting chance. Two, it really separates the serious football programs from the other hanger-oners. Not that OK State, Iowa, Stanford, etc are not football serious- they are, but they are never going to be year in, year out contenders or power houses.
There is room for these secondary teams in the super conferences, as the big boys need someone to beat up on when they are not thrashing each other. Although Miss St and Vanderbilt are not top teams in the SEC they would both wipe up with any other conference that they would be affiliated.
Vanderbilt would consistently beat up on their peers if there was a conference like the Kudzu League (southern version of Ivy League) who would be made up of Rice, SMU, TCU, Tulane and Citadel. Now place Miss State in Conference USA and you would quickly see them consistently winning the conference title. (We will leave Kentucky out as we all know they only play basketball.)
Now the rumors swirl that VA Tech, Florida State, Clemson and Texas A&M are heading to the SEC in 2012. What is the benefit of one 16 team conference? The result will be fewer bowl games, more two loss teams and the problem of pitting two SEC teams together for the national championship. Unless there are four super conferences and a playoff system the increased size does not work.
Until the Big 10 changes their name to the Great Lake Conference and the Pac 12 becomes the PacWest and the Big East and ACC merge then year after year we will debate one of two questions:
Why is the BCS Championship played by the same teams as the SEC championship game?
Why did the BCS not choose two SEC teams for the championship game?
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