Alternate History: Tulane and Georgia Tech stay in the SEC

May 20, 2009 by William.

Tulane left the SEC in 1964, and Georgia Tech left the SEC in 1966.

Tulane would spend three decades as an independent in football, until Conference USA kicked off in 1996.  Tulane’s other sports began in the Metro Conference in 1975, which became Conference USA in 1995.

Georgia Tech was also a founding member of the Metro Conference, although the Yellow Jackets would leave in 1978 (Football would remain independent until 1982).

Had both schools stayed in the SEC, the SEC would have the same lineup of 12 schools it did in 1940:

West - Tulane, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn
East - Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky

The Pac 10, currently college football’s most stable conference, has had the same lineup since 1978 when it added Arizona and Arizona State.

With two of the Metro’s six real-life founding members unavailable, the Metro would have likely added South Carolina, who left the ACC in 1971, in 1975 instead of 1983.  Florida State joined the Metro in 1976, followed by Virginia Tech in 1979, and Southern Miss in 1982.

Metro (1982) - Southern Mississippi, Florida State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, St. Louis

Things change significantly in 1991:

* Arkansas would have never left the Southwest Conference in 1991, and South Carolina would not have left the Metro Conference that same year to join the SEC.
* Florida State still leaves the Metro for the ACC
* The Great Midwest Conference never forms-instead, the Metro adds UAB, VCU, Old Dominion, UNC-Charlotte, and South Florida, all from the Sun Belt.
* Marquette stays in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League), who also adds independent DePaul (went to the Great Midwest in 1991) and keeps Dayton (who joined the Great Midwest in 1993).

Thanks largely to the grumblings of Louisville, the Metro never sponsored football.  As the conference only had six football members prior to 1991, and five after that in this scenario, that still holds.

The Sun Belt still merges with the American South, and keeps the Sun Belt name.

Metro (1991):
East - South Carolina, Virginia Tech, VCU, Old Dominion, South Florida, UNC-Charlotte
West - Southern Mississippi, Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, St. Louis, UAB

Sun Belt (1991):
West - UALR, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southwestern Louisiana, UTPA, Lamar
East - WKU, South Alabama, Jacksonville, Central Florida, New Orleans

ACC (1991):
Florida State, Clemson, UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, NC State, Virginia, Maryland

Virginia Tech and South Carolina get football-only inviations to the Big East in 1991. Central Florida leaves the Sun Belt in 1992 to play in the Atlantic Sun and football in the MAC.

The great realignment of 1995 plays out differently as well.  In real life, the Big 8 took four from the Southwest Conference, which at that time had all of its members in the state of Texas.  With Arkansas on the board, the Big 12 looks slightly different:

Big 12 (1995):
North - Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Nebraska
South - Arkansas, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

Baylor, Houston, TCU, Rice, and SMU are now left out in the cold in Southwest Conference.  Sun Belt members Louisiana Tech, SW Louisiana, and Arkansas State play football in the Big West.  The SWC adds the three Sun Belt football members, and Southern Misssisppi and Memphis from the Metro.

Southwest (1995):
Baylor, Houston, TCU, Rice, SMU, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, SW Louisiana, Memphis, Southern Mississippi

Metro (1995):
South Carolina, Virginia Tech, VCU, Old Dominion, South Florida, UNC-Charlotte, Louisville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, UAB

The Sun Belt adds Florida International and North Texas for all sports in 1998 (replacing Jacksonville and UTPA).  Middle Tennessee State joins.  The 3 I-A football members play football in the Big West.

Sun Belt (2001):
North Texas, UALR, Lamar, New Orleans, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, FIU, MTSU, WKU

WAC (2001):
Pacifc - Hawaii, Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Utah, UNLV
Mountain - Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico, UTEP, BYU

Big West (2001):
Full members - Boise State, Utah State, Idaho, New Mexico State, Nevada,
Non-football members - Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Pacifc, Cal Poly-SLO, Cal State Fullerton
Football-only members - FIU, MTSU, Louisana-Monroe, Tulsa

The 8-team ACC gets the expansion itch in 2005, and raids the Big East, inviting Virginia Tech, Miami-FL, Syracuse, and Boston College.  The Big East adds South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati for all-sports, the remainder of South Carolina, and non-football members DePaul and Marquette, giving the league 8 for football and 16 overall.

The Southwest Conference adds UAB (Metro) and Central Florida (Atlantic Sun/MAC football), and changes its name to Conference USA.

The Sun Belt loses Lamar, but adds North Texas, Tulsa, Troy, Marshall, and Florida Atlantic.  The five remaining football members of the Big West get football-only memberships in the Sun Belt.

The remaining four schools in the Metro Conference call it a day.  All but St. Louis join the CAA.  St. Louis rejoins the Horizon League.

Sun Belt (2005):
West - Tulsa, North Texas, UALR, New Orleans, WKU, MTSU
East - South Alabama, Troy, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Marshall, East Carolina
Football only - Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State, Nevada, San Jose State

WAC (2005):
Pacific - Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah
Mountain - Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico, BYU, UTEP

ACC (2005):
Atlantic - Syracuse, Florida State, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State
Coastal - Virginia Tech, Miami-FL, Boston College, Virginia, Duke, Wake Forest

Big East (2005):
Football - South Carolina, South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, West Virginia
Non-football - Notre Dame, Providence, DePaul, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John’s

Conference USA (2005):
West - Baylor, Houston, TCU, Rice, SMU, Arkansas State
East - Louisiana, Lousiana Tech, Southern Miss, UAB, Central Florida, Memphis

Big West (2005) (no longer sponsors football):
Boise State, Utah State, Idaho, New Mexico State, Nevada, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Pacifc, Cal Poly-SLO, Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside

The five Big West football-playing schools and Pacific reportedly meet in airport, and talk about inviting San Jose State, Fresno State, and Hawaii to a new conference, tentatively named the Mountain West.  Pacific would reportedly be given six years to move back up to FBS-long enough to satisfy the automatic bid requirements in basketball.

Posted in college sports, sports, alternate history, conference realignment | Print | No Comments »