College Football Conference Realignment: Tracking all changes

Dominoes continue to fall for the ACC, Big Ten and Big East

Dominoes continue to fall for the ACC, Big Ten and Big East

Conference realignment has been one of the major storylines in college football and basketball the last few years. Some moves have been major, such as ACC and Big Ten expansion and another realignment within the Big East, but other conference lineups across the country have changed since the end of last season.

Need to catch up? Want to look ahead? Here’s our guide to college basketball realignment for the next two seasons.

The charts below reflect only changes in college football. We also have a primer on college basketball realignment.

Teams in italics are leaving the conference listed. Teams in bold are joining the conference listed.

POWER CONFERENCES

ACC

2012 2013 2014
Boston College Boston College Boston College
Clemson Clemson Clemson
Duke Duke Duke
Florida State Florida State Florida State
Georgia Tech Georgia Tech Georgia Tech
Maryland Maryland Louisville
Miami Miami Miami
NC State NC State NC State
North Carolina North Carolina North Carolina
Virginia Pittsburgh Pittsburgh
Virginia Tech Syracuse Syracuse
Wake Forest Virginia Virginia
  Virginia Tech Virginia Tech
  Wake Forest Wake Forest

BIG 12

2011 2012
Baylor Baylor
Iowa State Iowa State
Kansas Kansas
Kansas State Kansas State
Missouri Oklahoma
Oklahoma Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State TCU
Texas Texas
Texas A&M Texas Tech
Texas Tech West Virginia

BIG EAST/AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Cincinnati Cincinnati Cincinnati Cincinnati Cincinnati
Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut
Louisville Louisville Houston East Carolina East Carolina
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Louisville Houston Houston
Rutgers Rutgers Memphis Memphis Memphis
Syracuse Syracuse Rutgers SMU Navy
USF Temple SMU Temple SMU
W. Virginia USF Temple Tulane Temple
    UCF Tulsa Tulane
    USF USF Tulsa
      USF UCF
        USF

BIG TEN

2012/2013 2014
Illinois Illinois
Indiana Indiana
Iowa Iowa
Michigan Maryland
Michigan State Michigan
Minnesota Michigan State
Nebraska Minnesota
Northwestern Nebraska
Ohio State Northwestern
Penn State Ohio State
Purdue Penn State
Wisconsin Purdue
  Rutgers
  Wisconsin

SEC

2011 2012
Alabama Alabama
Arkansas Arkansas
Auburn Auburn
Florida Florida
Georgia Georgia
Kentucky Kentucky
LSU LSU
Ole Miss Ole Miss
Mississippi State Mississippi State
South Carolina Missouri
Tennessee South Carolina
Vanderbilt Tennessee
  Texas A&M
  Vanderbilt

NON-POWER CONFERENCES

Conference USA

2012 2013 2014
East Carolina Charlotte* Charlotte
Houston East Carolina FAU
Marshall FAU FIU
Memphis FIU Louisiana Tech
Rice Louisiana Tech Marshall
SMU Marshall Middle Tenn.
Southern Miss Middle Tenn. North Texas
Tulane North Texas Old Dominion
Tulsa Old Dominion* Rice
UAB Rice Southern Miss
UCF Southern Miss Tulsa
UTEP Tulane UAB
  Tulsa UTEP
  UAB UTSA
  UTEP Western Ky.
  UTSA  

*Charlotte and Old Dominion do not play FBS football at this time but expect to move up in the coming years.

Mountain West

2011 2012 2013
Air Force Air Force Air Force
Boise State Boise State* Boise State
Colorado State Colorado State Colorado State
New Mexico Fresno State Fresno State
San Diego State Hawaii Hawaii
TCU Nevada Nevada
UNLV New Mexico New Mexico
Wyoming San Diego State San Diego State
  UNLV San Jose State
  Wyoming UNLV
    Utah State
    Wyoming

*Boise State originally agreed to join the Big East as a football-only member in 2013 but will remain in the Mountain West.

Sun Belt

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Arkansas St. Arkansas St. Arkansas St. Arkansas St. Appalachian St.
FAU FAU Georgia St. Georgia St. Arkansas St.
FIU FIU UL-Lafayette Idaho Ga. Southern
UL-Lafayette UL-Lafayette South Ala. UL-Lafayette Georgia St.
Middle Tenn. Middle Tenn. Texas St. New Mexico St. Idaho
North Texas North Texas Troy South Ala. UL-Lafayette
Troy South Ala. ULM Texas State New Mexico St.
ULM Troy Western Ky. Troy South Ala.
Western Ky. ULM   ULM Texas State
  Western Ky.     Troy
        ULM
         

WAC

2011 2012
Fresno State Idaho
Hawaii Louisiana Tech
Idaho New Mexico State
Louisiana Tech San Jose State
Nevada Texas State
New Mexico State Utah State
San Jose State UTSA
Utah State Utah State

*With only Idaho and New Mexico State remaining, the WAC will cease to be be a football conference. Idaho and New Mexico State will be independents in FBS.

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