History UsefulNotes / CollegiateAmericanFootballConferences

* ''Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference'': [Coppin State, Delaware State, Hampton, Howard, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State, Norfolk State, Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, Savannah State, South Carolina State]: Formed in 1970, it is a conference of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Like MAC, has done little of note, and the colleges are often scheduled as easy wins.

** The Sun Belt also has two non-football members in Arkansas-Little Rock and UT Arlington.

* ''Big Ten'' [Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin]: The name "Big Ten" is an ArtifactTitle - there have been 11 schools in the conference for awhile, and expanded to 12 in 2011 with the addition of Nebraska. After Penn State joined, the conference logo was redesigned to have a hidden "11" in the center. Obviously, it was changed yet again when Nebraska joined, though the number "12" is not hidden anywhere in the text this time. Yet another "power conference", this one tied to the Rose Bowl. There are plenty of historical powerhouses in the Big Ten: Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State all have incredibly storied histories and have produced tons of NFL greats. One notable person in the Big Ten is Penn State's late former head coach Joe Paterno, the longest-serving (over fifty years) and (formerly) most-winning coach in NCAA Division I history, who was fired from the school during the 2011 season over failing to communicate with police during a university child-rape scandal by one of his former assistants. THe NCAA later ordered Penn State's wins from 1998 through Paterno's firing stricken from the record books, costing Paterno over 100 wins. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is probably one of the ten largest in the country.[[note]]ESPN ran a commercial once where a guy in an Ohio State jersey and a girl in a Michigan jersey were kissing, with the tagline "If it wasn't for sports, this wouldn't be disgusting."[[/note]] With the expansion to 12 teams, the Big Ten implemented divisional play for the first time in 2011. Unlike most conferences with 12 or more teams, which go with geographical division names, the Big Ten opted to name their divisions "Legends" and "Leaders"...a choice which (unsurprisingly) was almost universally ridiculed. However, when Maryland and Rutgers join the Big Ten in 2014, the conference will scrap "Legends" and "Leaders" in favor of "East" and "West", with an almost perfect geographic split (the Indiana schools will be split, with Purdue going to the West and Indiana to the East).

* ''American Athletic Conference (The American)'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, South Florida, Temple, UCF]: Known as the Big East Conference before July 2013. One of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future became uncertain in the early 2010s—West Virginia left for the Big 12 in 2012; Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh left for the ACC in 2013, as did non-football member Notre Dame; Louisville will leave for the ACC in 2014; and Rutgers will leave for the Big Ten in 2014. The Big East/American responded by to the loss of those schools by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined for football in 2012 and all other sports in 2013; Houston, Memphis, SMU (Southern Methodist) and UCF (Central Florida) also joined in 2013; East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join in 2014; and Navy will become a member for football only in 2015.
** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame moved to the ACC in non-football sports in 2013, and the seven non-football schools also [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere left at that time]], buying the "Big East" name (it fits the basketball schools much better than the expanded football footprint), while the original Big East took on the name ''American Athletic Conference'' for the 2013 season and beyond.

* ''Conference USA ([=C-USA=])'' [East Carolina, FIU (Florida International), Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Rice, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB (Alabama-Birmingham), UTEP (Texas-El Paso), UTSA (Texas-San Antonio)]: One of the newer conferences - they had been gaining some prestige as of late, throwing off the "SEC-Lite" nickname that came from the initially similar geographical footprint with the more prominent Southeastern Conference. However, they were raided by the then-Big East once that conference started losing members to other leagues in the early 2010s. East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa will all leave for The American in 2014; Western Kentucky will join from the Sun Belt at that time.
** Charlotte (actually North Carolina-Charlotte, but that school calls its sports program "Charlotte") and Old Dominion also joined [=C-USA=] in 2013, but neither had an FBS football program at the time. Charlotte had no football before starting its program in 2013, while Old Dominion had an FCS program. ODU will become a [=C-USA=] football member in 2014, and both schools will become full [=FBS=] members in 2015.

* ''Pacific-12 (Pac-12)'': [Arizona, Arizona State, California (Cal-Berkeley), Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, USC (Southern California), UCLA, Utah, Washington, Washington State]: Another "power conference", this one also tied to the Rose Bowl. Several of these teams have incredibly storied histories, though the one most likely to be known by the casual fan right now is [=USC=], which is well-known for both currently being one of the more dominant teams and for landing in hot water for allegedly paying players. Oregon has also grabbed a lot of attention in recent years for playing the best football in school history[[note]] Including a ridiculously fast-paced offense; they basically spend the whole game as if they're in a 2-minute drill.[[/note]] and perhaps even more so for their flashy uniforms that ''[[UnlimitedWardrobe are different for each game]]''[[note]]Famed shoe company & sports outfitter Nike is headquartered in Oregon and a major sponsor of the team, providing the uniforms for free. Its co-founder Phil Knight is an Oregon alum as well.[[/note]]. Known as the Pac-10 until Utah and Colorado joined in 2011. Before that, they were the Pac-8 until Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978.
* ''Southeastern Conference (SEC)'': [Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU (Louisiana State), Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt]: Yet another "power conference" (the last of the six), this one tied to the Sugar Bowl (no, not [[SugarBowl that one]]). A lot of these teams are historical powerhouses - Florida has been one of the most dominant teams of late, and Alabama is the defending national champion. [=LSU=] has also been quite dominant as of late. Alabama-Auburn is considered one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. The SEC was the first conference to split into divisions ("East" and "West" in its case) and hold a conference championship game between the top teams of each division. This was implemented in 1992, after the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina made it impractical for all teams in the conference to play each other every year (doing so would have allowed only one non-conference game per season). Observers often consider this the strongest league, and it has held a monopoly on the national championship in recent years. Since the implementation of the BCS, SEC schools are 9-1 in the championship game, and the one loss was due to a matchup of two SEC members. From the 2006 to 2012 seasons, every BCS champion has been an SEC team. Its fans are not reluctant to point this out. At great length. The conference gets a lot of games televised, especially on CBS, with whom it has an extraordinarily lucrative contract. Texas A&M and Missouri joined in 2012, bringing the conference to a massive 14 teams...which has the unfortunate side effect that SEC players can go their entire college career without ever facing some cross-division teams.[[note]]Each team plays all six other teams in its division and one designated cross-division rival every year, plus one other cross-division game per year on a rotating basis. Some fans have speculated that the SEC might expand the conference schedule to 9 games, but nothing has come of this so far.[[/note]]

** The Sun Belt also has two non-football members in Arkansas-Little Rock and UT Arlington.

* ''American Athletic Conference'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, South Florida, Temple, UCF]: Known as the Big East Conference before July 2013. One of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future became uncertain in the early 2010s—West Virginia left for the Big 12 in 2012; Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh left for the ACC in 2013, as did non-football member Notre Dame; Louisville will leave for the ACC in 2014; and Rutgers will leave for the Big Ten in 2014. The Big East/American responded by to the loss of those schools by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined for football in 2012 and all other sports in 2013; Houston, Memphis, SMU (Southern Methodist) and UCF (Central Florida) also joined in 2013; East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join in 2014; and Navy will become a member for football only in 2015.
** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame moved to the ACC in non-football sports in 2013, and the seven non-football schools also left at that time, buying the "Big East" name (it fits the basketball schools much better than the expanded football footprint), while the original Big East took on the name ''American Athletic Conference'' for the 2013 season and beyond.
* ''Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)'' [Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest]: Another of the six "power conferences", meaning they get an automatic bid to one of the major bowls, specifically the Orange Bowl (more on those below). Clemson has been the league's traditional football power, winning 13 of the league's titles. In the 1990s Florida State dominated this league winning the league championship (or a share of it) from 1992-2000 and again in 2002, 2003, and 2005. Virginia Tech, since joining the league in 2004, has been the dominant team lately. Miami is one of the more traditional football powerhouses, producing quite a few [=NFL=] superstars, though it's periodically held down by cheating scandals. Duke, despite having won 7 league championships, has been the ButtMonkey of [=ACC=] football since 1989. Traditionally known as a southern conference, the inclusion of Boston College and University of Miami (which are over a thousand miles apart) slightly changed its character. Notre Dame is a member in all sports except football, joining in 2013 alongside Pitt and Syracuse; the Fighting Irish agreed to play five games each season against [=ACC=] teams. In 2014, Maryland will leave for the Big Ten and be replaced by Louisville.
* ''Big Ten'' [Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin]: The name "Big Ten" is an ArtifactTitle - there have been 11 schools in the conference for awhile, and expanded to 12 in 2011 with the addition of Nebraska. After Penn State joined, the conference logo was redesigned to have a hidden "11" in the center. Obviously, it was changed yet again when Nebraska joined, though the number "12" is not hidden anywhere in the text this time. Yet another "power conference", this one tied to the Rose Bowl. There are plenty of historical powerhouses in the Big Ten: Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State all have incredibly storied histories and have produced tons of [=NFL=] greats. One notable person in the Big Ten is Penn State's late former head coach Joe Paterno the longest-serving (over fifty years) and most-winning coach in NCAA history, who was recently fired from the school over failing to communicate with police during a university child-rape scandal by one of his former assistants. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is probably one of the ten largest in the country.[[note]]ESPN ran a commercial once where a guy in an Ohio State jersey and a girl in a Michigan jersey were kissing, with the tagline "If it wasn't for sports, this wouldn't be disgusting."[[/note]] With the expansion to 12 teams, the Big Ten implemented divisional play for the first time in 2011. Unlike most conferences with 12 or more teams, which go with geographical division names, the Big Ten opted to name their divisions "Legends" and "Leaders"...a choice which (unsurprisingly) was almost universally ridiculed. However, when Maryland and Rutgers join the Big Ten in 2014, the conference will scrap "Legends" and "Leaders" in favor of "East" and "West", with an almost perfect geographic split (the Indiana schools will be split, with Purdue going to the West and Indiana to the East).

* ''Big 12'' [Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, [=TCU=] (Texas Christian), Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia]: The name's now an ArtifactTitle - there are ten members nowadays. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State. Formerly known as the ''Big Eight'', until the fallout from the SMU "Death Penalty" led to the fragmentation of the former Southwest Conference (where the four Texas schools came from). Missouri and Texas A&M left for the [=SEC=] in 2012, with [=TCU=] and (despite the geographical oddity) West Virginia replacing them. It remains to be seen if the Big 12 will recruit any additional schools to get back to 12 teams, but for now they've averted the disintegration of the conference that once seemed inevitable. The Big 12 is also [[InsistentTerminology unusually insistent]] that their conference name not be written "Big Twelve" or "Big XII"...[[EpicFail despite the official logo consisting primarily of a large "XII"]].
* ''Conference [=USA=] ([=C-USA=])'' [East Carolina, [=FIU=] (Florida International), Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Rice, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, [=UAB=] (Alabama-Birmingham), [=UTEP=] (Texas-El Paso), [=UTSA=] (Texas-San Antonio)]: One of the newer conferences - they had been gaining some prestige as of late, throwing off the "SEC-Lite" nickname that came from the initially similar geographical footprint with the more prominent Southeastern Conference. However, they were raided by the then-Big East once that conference started losing members to other leagues in the early 2010s. East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa will all leave for The American in 2014; Western Kentucky will join from the Sun Belt at that time.
** Charlotte (actually North Carolina-Charlotte, but that school calls its sports program "Charlotte") and Old Dominion also joined [=C-USA=] in 2013, but neither had an [=FBS=] football program at the time. Charlotte had no football at all, while Old Dominion had an [=FCS=] program. [=ODU=] will become a [=C-USA=] football member in 2014, and both schools will become full [=FBS=] members in 2015.
* ''Mid-American Conference ([=MAC=])'' [Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Massachusetts (football only), Miami-Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ohio, [[UsefulNotes/ToledoOhio Toledo]], Western Michigan]: Much like Conference [=USA=], they haven't done too much of note. Like the Sun Belt, it's a conference that big-name teams look to for {{padding}} their schedule with an easy win or two. They're on a somewhat higher level than the Sun Belt, though, and 2012 was a breakout year for the [=MAC=], with several impressive wins again Big Ten teams and conference champion Northern Illinois even [[MomentOfAwesome playing in the Orange Bowl]].
* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii (football only), Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, [=UNLV=] (Nevada-Las Vegas), Utah State, Wyoming]: Formed in 1999 by a group of 8 disgruntled Western Athletic Conference schools unhappy with the arrangement of the WAC's "super-conference" alignment. Today, it is one of the most competitive non-BCS conferences in FBS, though ironically it has absorbed other former WAC schools during the realignment shake-ups of the 2000s and 2010s (the most recent being San Jose State and Utah State, joining 2013).
* ''Pacific-12 (Pac-12)'': [Arizona, Arizona State, California (Cal-Berkeley), Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, [=USC=] (Southern California), [=UCLA=], Utah, Washington, Washington State]: Another "power conference", this one also tied to the Rose Bowl. Several of these teams have incredibly storied histories, though the one most likely to be known by the casual fan right now is [=USC=], which is well-known for both currently being one of the more dominant teams and for landing in hot water for allegedly paying players. Oregon has also grabbed a lot of attention in recent years for playing the best football in school history[[note]]Including a ridiculously fast-paced offense; they basically spend the whole game as if they're in a 2-minute drill.[[/note]] and perhaps even moreso for their flashy uniforms that ''[[UnlimitedWardrobe are different for each game]]''[[note]]Famed shoe company & sports outfitter Nike is headquartered in Oregon and a major sponsor of the team, providing the uniforms for free. Its co-founder Phil Knight is an Oregon alum as well.[[/note]]. Known as the Pac-10 until Utah and Colorado joined in 2011. Before that, they were the Pac-8 until Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978.
* ''Southeastern Conference ([=SEC=])'': [Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, [=LSU=] (Louisiana State), Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt]: Yet another "power conference" (the last of the six), this one tied to the Sugar Bowl (no, not [[SugarBowl that one]]). A lot of these teams are historical powerhouses - Florida has been one of the most dominant teams of late, and Alabama is the defending national champion. [=LSU=] has also been quite dominant as of late. Alabama-Auburn is considered one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. The SEC was the first conference to split into divisions ("East" and "West" in its case) and hold a conference championship game between the top teams of each division. This was implemented in 1992, after the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina made it impractical for all teams in the conference to play each other every year (doing so would have allowed only one non-conference game per season). Observers often consider this the strongest league, and it has held a monopoly on the national championship in recent years. Since the implementation of the BCS, SEC schools are 9-1 in the championship game, and the one loss was due to a matchup of two SEC members. From the 2006 to 2012 seasons, every BCS champion has been an SEC team. Its fans are not reluctant to point this out. At great length. The conference gets a lot of games televised, especially on CBS, with whom it has an extraordinarily lucrative contract. Texas A&M and Missouri joined in 2012, bringing the conference to a massive 14 teams...which has the unfortunate side effect that SEC players can go their entire college career without ever facing some cross-division teams.[[note]]Each team plays all six other teams in its division and one designated cross-division rival every year, plus one other cross-division game per year on a rotating basis. Some fans have speculated that the SEC might expand the conference schedule to 9 games, but nothing has come of this so far.[[/note]]
* ''Sun Belt'' [Arkansas State, Georgia State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, Western Kentucky]: The ButtMonkey among the current conferences. Most of these teams don't get winning records - and very few of their players go on to the pros. The exception is Troy, which has gotten some decent players to the next level ([=DeMarcus=] Ware and Osi Umenyiora both played there). If you've ever heard of any of these schools, it's because these are the teams typically scheduled to get slaughtered on the road to some of the traditional powerhouses. When a team from a power conference is scheduling their homecoming game, this is where they look. Western Kentucky will leave in 2014 to join [=C-USA=]; at the same time, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern will join from the [=FCS=] Southern Conference. Also in 2014, Idaho and New Mexico State, which had been left stranded to become independents when the football side of the [=WAC=] disintegrated in 2012, will become football-only members (in the early 2000s, Idaho had been a football-only member and New Mexico State an all-sports member).
** The Sun Belt also has two non-football members in Arkansas-Little Rock and [=UT Arlington=].

** The Big Ten is also known for having very strong academic prowess. They're not IvyLeague (by definition, since the Ivy League is a separate atheltic conference), but all its members (including Maryland and Rutgers) except Nebraska are members of the Association of American Universities (and Nebraska does have that academic caliber - it used to be an AAU member before the organization de-emphasized agriculture and didn't count its off-campus medical center). Additionally, they are all members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, designed to facilitate sharing of academic resources among members. All 14 schools are joined in this by the University of Chicago - this is a holdover from when [=UChicago=] was a full member of the conference; it withdrew from the sports element in 1946, when its sports teams were rather crappy (they still are, and now compete in NCAA Division III, in which athletic scholarships are not allowed), and were replaced in the lineup by Michigan State (which was expanding and improving rapidly at the time) in 1950.

** We should note that the Big Ten has an academic element--the Committee on Institutional Cooperation--in which the University of Chicago participates. This is a holdover from when [=UChicago=] was a full member of the conference; it withdrew from the sports element in 1946, when its sports teams were rather crappy (they still are, and now compete in NCAA Division III, in which athletic scholarships are not allowed), and were replaced in the lineup by Michigan State (which was expanding and improving rapidly at the time) in 1950.

* ''Big Ten'' [Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin]: The name "Big Ten" is an ArtifactTitle - there have been 11 schools in the conference for awhile, and expanded to 12 in 2011 with the addition of Nebraska. After Penn State joined, the conference logo was redesigned to have a hidden "11" in the center. Obviously, it was changed yet again when Nebraska joined, though the number "12" is not hidden anywhere in the text this time. Yet another "power conference", this one tied to the Rose Bowl. There are plenty of historical powerhouses in the Big Ten: Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State all have incredibly storied histories and have produced tons of [=NFL=] greats. One notable person in the Big Ten is Penn State's late former head coach Joe Paterno the longest-serving (over fifty years) and most-winning coach in NCAA history, who was recently fired from the school over failing to communicate with police during a university child-rape scandal by one of his former assistants. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is probably one of the ten largest in the country.[[hottip:*:ESPN ran a commercial once where a guy in an Ohio State jersey and a girl in a Michigan jersey were kissing, with the tagline "If it wasn't for sports, this wouldn't be disgusting."]] With the expansion to 12 teams, the Big Ten implemented divisional play for the first time in 2011. Unlike most conferences with 12 or more teams, which go with geographical division names, the Big Ten opted to name their divisions "Legends" and "Leaders"...a choice which (unsurprisingly) was almost universally ridiculed. However, when Maryland and Rutgers join the Big Ten in 2014, the conference will scrap "Legends" and "Leaders" in favor of "East" and "West", with an almost perfect geographic split (the Indiana schools will be split, with Purdue going to the West and Indiana to the East).

* ''Pacific-12 (Pac-12)'': [Arizona, Arizona State, California (Cal-Berkeley), Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, [=USC=] (Southern California), [=UCLA=], Utah, Washington, Washington State]: Another "power conference", this one also tied to the Rose Bowl. Several of these teams have incredibly storied histories, though the one most likely to be known by the casual fan right now is [=USC=], which is well-known for both currently being one of the more dominant teams and for landing in hot water for allegedly paying players. Oregon has also grabbed a lot of attention in recent years for playing the best football in school history[[hottip:*:Including a ridiculously fast-paced offense; they basically spend the whole game as if they're in a 2-minute drill.]] and perhaps even moreso for their flashy uniforms that ''[[UnlimitedWardrobe are different for each game]]''[[hottip:*:Famed shoe company & sports outfitter Nike is headquartered in Oregon and a major sponsor of the team, providing the uniforms for free. Its co-founder Phil Knight is an Oregon alum as well.]]. Known as the Pac-10 until Utah and Colorado joined in 2011. Before that, they were the Pac-8 until Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978.
* ''Southeastern Conference ([=SEC=])'': [Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, [=LSU=] (Louisiana State), Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt]: Yet another "power conference" (the last of the six), this one tied to the Sugar Bowl (no, not [[SugarBowl that one]]). A lot of these teams are historical powerhouses - Florida has been one of the most dominant teams of late, and Alabama is the defending national champion. [=LSU=] has also been quite dominant as of late. Alabama-Auburn is considered one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. The SEC was the first conference to split into divisions ("East" and "West" in its case) and hold a conference championship game between the top teams of each division. This was implemented in 1992, after the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina made it impractical for all teams in the conference to play each other every year (doing so would have allowed only one non-conference game per season). Observers often consider this the strongest league, and it has held a monopoly on the national championship in recent years. Since the implementation of the BCS, SEC schools are 9-1 in the championship game, and the one loss was due to a matchup of two SEC members. From the 2006 to 2012 seasons, every BCS champion has been an SEC team. Its fans are not reluctant to point this out. At great length. The conference gets a lot of games televised, especially on CBS, with whom it has an extraordinarily lucrative contract. Texas A&M and Missouri joined in 2012, bringing the conference to a massive 14 teams...which has the unfortunate side effect that SEC players can go their entire college career without ever facing some cross-division teams.[[hottip:*:Each team plays all six other teams in its division and one designated cross-division rival every year, plus one other cross-division game per year on a rotating basis. Some fans have speculated that the SEC might expand the conference schedule to 9 games, but nothing has come of this so far.]]

* ''American Athletic Conference'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, South Florida, Temple, UCF]: Known as the Big East Conference before July 2013. Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future became uncertain in the early 2010s—West Virginia left for the Big 12 in 2012; Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh left for the ACC in 2013, as did non-football member Notre Dame; Louisville will leave for the ACC in 2014; and Rutgers will leave for the Big Ten in 2014. The Big East/American responded by to the loss of those schools by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined for football in 2012 and all other sports in 2013; Houston, Memphis, SMU (Southern Methodist) and UCF (Central Florida) also joined in 2013; East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join in 2014; and Navy will become a member for football only in 2015.

* ''Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)'' [Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest]: One of the six "power conferences", meaning they get an automatic bid to one of the major bowls, specifically the Orange Bowl (more on those below). Clemson has been the league's traditional football power, winning 13 of the league's titles. In the 1990s Florida State dominated this league winning the league championship (or a share of it) from 1992-2000 and again in 2002, 2003, and 2005. Virginia Tech, since joining the league in 2004, has been the dominant team lately. Miami is one of the more traditional football powerhouses, producing quite a few [=NFL=] superstars, though it's periodically held down by cheating scandals. Duke, despite having won 7 league championships, has been the ButtMonkey of [=ACC=] football since 1989. Traditionally known as a southern conference, the inclusion of Boston College and University of Miami (which are over a thousand miles apart) slightly changed its character. Notre Dame is a member in all sports except football, joining in 2013 alongside Pitt and Syracuse; the Fighting Irish agreed to play five games each season against [=ACC=] teams. In 2014, Maryland will leave for the Big Ten and be replaced by Louisville.

* ''Big East''/''American Athletic Conference'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, [=SMU=], South Florida, Temple, [=UCF=]]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the [=ACC=] stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future became uncertain in the early 2010s—West Virginia left for the Big 12 in 2012; Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh left for the [=ACC=] in 2013, as did non-football member Notre Dame; Louisville will leave for the [=ACC=] in 2014; and Rutgers will leave for the Big Ten in 2014. The Big East/American responded by to the loss of those schools by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined for football in 2012 and all other sports in 2013; Houston, Memphis, SMU (Southern Methodist) and UCF (Central Florida) also joined in 2013; East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join in 2014; and Navy will become a member for football only in 2015.
** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame has announced that it's moving to the [=ACC=] in non-football sports, and the seven non-football schools have also announced they will leave, taking the "Big East" name with them (it fits the basketball schools much better than the expanded football footprint), while the original Big East will take on the name ''American Athletic Conference'' for the 2013 season and beyond.

* ''Conference [=USA=] ([=C-USA=])'' [East Carolina, [=FIU=] (Florida International), Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Rice, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, [=UAB=] (Alabama-Birmingham), [=UTEP=] (Texas-El Paso), [=UTSA=] (Texas-San Antonio)]: One of the newer conferences - they had been gaining some prestige as of late, throwing off the "SEC-Lite" nickname that came from the initially similar geographical footprint with the more prominent Southeastern Conference. However, they were raided by the then-Big East once that conference started losing members to other leagues in the early 2010s. East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa will all leave for The American in 2014.

* ''Sun Belt'' [Arkansas State, Georgia State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy, Western Kentucky]: The ButtMonkey among the current conferences. Most of these teams don't get winning records - and very few of their players go on to the pros. The exception is Troy, which has gotten some decent players to the next level ([=DeMarcus=] Ware and Osi Umenyiora both played there). If you've ever heard of any of these schools, it's because these are the teams typically scheduled to get slaughtered on the road to some of the traditional powerhouses. When a team from a power conference is scheduling their homecoming game, this is where they look. Western Kentucky will leave in 2014 to join [=C-USA=]; at the same time, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern will join from the [=FCS=] Southern Conference.

Alignments listed are as of the 2012 season.

** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame has announced that it's moving to the [=ACC=] in non-football sports, and the seven non-football schools have also announced they will leave, taking the "Big East" name with them (it fits the basketball schools much better than the expanded football footprint), while the current Big East will take on the name ''American Athletic Conference'' for the 2013 season and beyond.

* ''Big 12'' [Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, [=TCU=] (Texas Christian), Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia]: The name's now an ArtifactTitle - there are ten members nowadays. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State. Formerly known as the ''Big Eight'', until the fallout from the SMU "Death Penalty" led to the fragmentation of the former Southwest Conference (where the four Texas schools came from). Missouri and Texas A&M left for the SEC in 2012, with [=TCU=] and (despite the geographical oddity) West Virginia replacing them. It remains to be seen if the Big 12 will recruit any additional schools to get back to 12 teams, but for now they've averted the disintegration of the conference that once seemed inevitable. The Big 12 is also [[InsistentTerminology unusually insistent]] that their conference name not be written "Big Twelve" or "Big XII"...[[EpicFail despite the official logo consisting primarily of a large "XII"]].
* ''Conference [=USA=] ([=C-USA=])'' [East Carolina, FIU (Florida International), Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Rice, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Tulsa, [=UAB=] (Alabama-Birmingham), [=UTEP=] (Texas-El Paso), [=UTSA=] (Texas-San Antonio)]: One of the newer conferences - they had been gaining some prestige as of late, throwing off the "SEC-Lite" nickname that came from the initially similar geographical footprint with the more prominent Southeastern Conference. However, they were raided by the then-Big East once that conference started losing members to other leagues in the early 2010s. East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa will all leave for The American in 2014.
** Charlotte (actually North Carolina-Charlotte, but that school calls its sports program "Charlotte") and Old Dominion also joined [=C-USA=] in 2013, but neither had an FBS football program at the time. Charlotte had no football at all, while Old Dominion had an [=FCS=] program. [=ODU=] will become a [=C-USA=] football member in 2014, and both schools will become full FBS members in 2015.

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii (football only), Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV (Nevada-Las Vegas), Utah State, Wyoming]: Formed in 1999 by a group of 8 disgruntled Western Athletic Conference schools unhappy with the arrangement of the WAC's "super-conference" alignment. Today, it is one of the most competitive non-BCS conferences in FBS, though ironically it has absorbed other former WAC schools during the realignment shake-ups of the 2000s and 2010s (the most recent being San Jose State and Utah State, joining 2013).
* ''Pacific-12 (Pac-12)'': [Arizona, Arizona State, California (Cal-Berkeley), Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, [=USC=] (Southern California), [=UCLA=], Utah, Washington, Washington State]: Another "power conference", this one also tied to the Rose Bowl. Several of these teams have incredibly storied histories, though the one most likely to be known by the casual fan right now is [=USC=], which is well-known for both currently being one of the more dominant teams and for landing in hot water for allegedly paying players. Oregon has also grabbed a lot of attention in recent years for playing the best football in school history[[hottip:*:Including a ridiculously fast-paced offense; they basically spend the whole game as if they're in a 2-minute drill.]] and perhaps even moreso for their flashy uniforms that ''[[UnlimitedWardrobe are different for each game]]''[[hottip:*:Famed shoe company & sports outfitter Nike is headquartered in Oregon and a major sponsor of the team, providing the uniforms for free.]]. Known as the Pac-10 until Utah and Colorado joined in 2011. Before that, they were the Pac-8 until Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978.
* ''Southeastern Conference ([=SEC=])'': [Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt]: Yet another "power conference" (the last of the six), this one tied to the Sugar Bowl (no, not [[SugarBowl that one]]). A lot of these teams are historical powerhouses - Florida has been one of the most dominant teams of late, and Alabama is the defending national champion. [=LSU=] has also been quite dominant as of late. Alabama-Auburn is considered one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. The SEC was the first conference to split into divisions ("East" and "West" in its case) and hold a conference championship game between the top teams of each division. This was implemented in 1992, after the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina made it impractical for all teams in the conference to play each other every year (doing so would have allowed only one non-conference game per season). Observers often consider this the strongest league, and it has held a monopoly on the national championship in recent years. Since the implementation of the BCS, SEC schools are 9-1 in the championship game, and the one loss was due to a matchup of two SEC members. From the 2006 to 2012 seasons, every BCS champion has been an SEC team. Its fans are not reluctant to point this out. At great length. The conference gets a lot of games televised, especially on CBS, with whom it has an extraordinarily lucrative contract. Texas A&M and Missouri joined in 2012, bringing the conference to a massive 14 teams...which has the unfortunate side effect that SEC players can go their entire college career without ever facing some cross-division teams.[[hottip:*:Each team plays all six other teams in its division and one designated cross-division rival every year, plus one other cross-division game per year on a rotating basis. Some fans have speculated that the SEC might expand the conference schedule to 9 games, but nothing has come of this so far.]]
* ''Sun Belt'' [Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, South Alabama, Troy, Western Kentucky]: The ButtMonkey among the current conferences. Most of these teams don't get winning records - and very few of their players go on to the pros. The exception is Troy, which has gotten some decent players to the next level ([=DeMarcus=] Ware and Osi Umenyiora both played there). If you've ever heard of any of these schools, it's because these are the teams typically scheduled to get slaughtered on the road to some of the traditional powerhouses. When a team from a power conference is scheduling their homecoming game, this is where they look.
* ''Western Athletic Conference ([=WAC=])'' [Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Utah State]: What was a sixteen-team conference as recently as 1998 is now down to seven, though only one school (San Jose State) remains from the "super-conference" era. The [=WAC=] is mostly regarded as not playing defense, leading to lots of very high-scoring games. Will drop football as a sponsored sport after the 2012 season, due to its membership being decimated by the 2011-12 round of conference realignments.

* ''Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)'' [Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest]: One of the six "power conferences", meaning they get an automatic bid to one of the major bowls, specifically the Orange Bowl (more on those below). Clemson has been the league's traditional football power, winning 13 of the league's titles. In the 1990s Florida State dominated this league winning the league championship (or a share of it) from 1992-2000 and again in 2002, 2003, and 2005. Virginia Tech, since joining the league in 2004, has been the dominant team lately. Miami is one of the more traditional football powerhouses, producing quite a few [=NFL=] superstars, though it's periodically held down by cheating scandals. Duke, despite having won 7 league championships, has been the ButtMonkey of ACC football since 1989. Traditionally known as a southern conference, the inclusion of Boston College and University of Miami (which are over a thousand miles apart) slightly changed its character.
* ''Big East''/''American Athletic Conference'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future is uncertain with Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh leaving for the ACC in 2014. The Big East has responded by to the loss of those two and West Virginia (which left for the Big 12) by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined in 2012; Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and Southern Methodist are currently scheduled to join in 2013; Tulane and East Corlina will join 2014 and Navy will become a member in 2015.
** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame has announced that it's moving to the ACC in non-football sports, and the seven non-football schools have also announced they will leave, taking the "Big East" name with them (it fits the basketball schools much better than the expanded football footprint), while the current Big East will take on the name ''American Athletic Conference'' for the 2013 season and beyond.
* ''Big Ten'' [Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin]: The name "Big Ten" is an ArtifactTitle - there have been 11 schools in the conference for awhile, and expanded to 12 in 2011 with the addition of Nebraska. After Penn State joined, the conference logo was redesigned to have a hidden "11" in the center. Obviously, it was changed yet again when Nebraska joined, though the number "12" is not hidden anywhere in the text this time. Yet another "power conference", this one tied to the Rose Bowl. There are plenty of historical powerhouses in the Big Ten: Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State all have incredibly storied histories and have produced tons of [=NFL=] greats. One notable person in the Big Ten is Penn State's late former head coach Joe Paterno the longest-serving (over fifty years) and most-winning coach in NCAA history, who was recently fired from the school over failing to communicate with police during a university child-rape scandal by one of his former assistants. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is probably one of the ten largest in the country.[[hottip:*:ESPN ran a commercial once where a guy in an Ohio State jersey and a girl in a Michigan jersey were kissing, with the tagline "If it wasn't for sports, this wouldn't be disgusting."]] With the expansion to 12 teams, the Big Ten implemented divisional play for the first time in 2011. Unlike most conferences with 12 or more teams, which go with geographical division names, the Big Ten opted to name their divisions "Legends" and "Leaders"...a choice which (unsurprisingly) was almost universally ridiculed.
** We should note that the Big Ten has an academic element--the Committee on Institutional Cooperation--in which the University of Chicago participates. This is a holdover from when [=UChicago=] was a full member of the conference; it withdrew from the sports element in 1946, when its sports teams were rather crappy (they still are), and were replaced in the lineup by Michigan State (which was expanding and improving rapidly at the time) in 1950.
* ''Big 12'' [Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Christian, Texas Tech, West Virginia]: The name's now an ArtifactTitle - there are ten members nowadays. They're also a "power conference", tied to the Fiesta Bowl. There are also some very storied teams in this conference as well. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry ranks right up there with Michigan-Ohio State. Formerly known as the ''Big Eight'', until the fallout from the SMU "Death Penalty" led to the fragmentation of the former Southwest Conference (where the four Texas schools came from). Missouri and Texas A&M are leaving for the SEC in 2012, with Texas Christian and (despite the geographical oddity) West Virginia expected to replace them. It remains to be seen if the Big 12 will recruit any additional schools to get back to 12 teams, but for now they've averted the disintegration of the conference that once seemed inevitable. The Big 12 is also [[InsistentTerminology unusually insistent]] that their conference name not be written "Big Twelve" or "Big XII"...[[EpicFail despite the official logo consisting primarily of a large "XII"]].
* ''Conference [=USA=] ([=C-USA=])'' [Alabama-Birmingham, Central Florida, East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, Southern Methodist, Southern Mississippi, Texas-El Paso, Tulane, Tulsa]: One of the newer conferences - they've been gaining some prestige as of late, throwing off the "SEC-Lite" nickname that came from the initially similar geographical footprint with the more prominent Southeastern Conference.
* ''Mid-American Conference ([=MAC=])'' [Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Massachusetts Miami-Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ohio, [[UsefulNotes/ToledoOhio Toledo]], Western Michigan]: Much like Conference [=USA=], they haven't done too much of note. Like the Sun Belt, it's a conference that big-name teams look to for {{padding}} their schedule with an easy win or two. They're on a somewhat higher level than the Sun Belt, though, and 2012 was a breakout year for the [=MAC=], with several impressive wins again Big Ten teams and conference champion Northern Illinois even [[MomentOfAwesome playing in the Orange Bowl]].
* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Wyoming]: Formed in 1999 by a group of 8 disgruntled Western Athletic Conference schools unhappy with the arrangement of the WAC's "super-conference" alignment. Today, it is one of the most competitive non-BCS conferences in FBS, though ironically it has absorbed other former WAC schools during the realignment shake-ups of the 2000s and 2010s (the most recent being San Jose State and Utah State, set to join in 2013).
* ''Pacific-12 (Pac-12)'': [Arizona, Arizona State, Cal-Berkeley, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Southern California, [=UCLA=], Utah, Washington, Washington State]: Another "power conference", this one also tied to the Rose Bowl. Several of these teams have incredibly storied histories, though the one most likely to be known by the casual fan right now is [=USC=], which is well-known for both currently being one of the more dominant teams and for landing in hot water for allegedly paying players. Oregon has also grabbed a lot of attention in recent years for playing the best football in school history[[hottip:*:Including a ridiculously fast-paced offense; they basically spend the whole game as if they're in a 2-minute drill.]] and perhaps even moreso for their flashy uniforms that ''[[UnlimitedWardrobe are different for each game]]''[[hottip:*:Famed shoe company & sports outfitter Nike is headquartered in Oregon and a major sponsor of the team, providing the uniforms for free.]]. Known as the Pac-10 until Utah and Colorado joined in 2011. Before that, they were the Pac-8 until Arizona and Arizona State joined in 1978.

* ''Western Athletic Conference ([=WAC=])'' [Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Utah State]: What was a sixteen-team conference as recently as 1998 is now down to seven, though only one school (San Jose State) remains from the "super-conference" era. The [=WAC=] is mostly regarded as not playing defense, leading to lots of very high-scoring games. Will shut down operations after the 2012 season, due to its membership being decimated by the 2011-12 round of conference realignments.

** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame has announced that it's moving to the ACC in non-football sports, and the seven non-football schools have also announced they will leave, taking the "Big East" name with them (it fits the basketball schools much better than the expanded football footprint), while the current Big East will take on the name ''American America Conference'' for the 2013 season and beyond.

* ''Big East''/''America Athletic Conference'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future is uncertain with Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh leaving for the ACC in 2014. The Big East has responded by to the loss of those two and West Virginia (which left for the Big 12) by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined in 2012; Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and Southern Methodist are currently scheduled to join in 2013; Tulane and East Corlina will join 2014 and Navy will become a member in 2015.
** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame has announced that it's moving to the ACC in non-football sports, and the seven non-football schools have also announced they will leave, taking the "Big East" name with them (it fits the basketball schools much better than the expanded football footprint), while the current Big East will take on the name ''America America Conference'' for the 2013 season and beyond.

* ''Big East'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future is uncertain with Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh leaving for the ACC in 2014. The Big East has responded by to the loss of those two and West Virginia (which left for the Big 12) by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined in 2012; Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and Southern Methodist are currently scheduled to join in 2013; Tulane and East Corlina will join 2014 and Navy will become a member in 2015.
** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame has announced that it's moving to the ACC in non-football sports, and the seven non-football schools have also announced they will leave, taking the "Big East" name with them (it fits the basketball schools much better than the expanded football footprint) and leaving the football schools looking for a new name for the conference.

* ''Big East'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future is uncertain with Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh leaving for the ACC in 2014. The Big East has responded by to the loss of those two and West Virginia (which left for the Big 12) by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined in 2012, and Central Florida, Houston, San Diego State, and Southern Methodist are currently scheduled to join in 2013[[hottip:*:However, San Diego State is reportedly reconsidering the move (Boise State has already reneged on joining), with the announcement that founding member Rutgers will jump to the Big Ten and recently joined Louisville to the ACC, and widespread rumors that fellow founding member Connecticut will also jump to the ACC, having once again called the conference's future into question, as even if Connecticut stays that would leave only 9 football teams.]], decidedly making the name an ArtifactTitle.
** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame has announced that it's moving to the ACC in non-football sports, and the seven non-football schools have also announced intentions to leave, taking the "Big East" name with them and leaving the football schools looking for a new name for the conference.

** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football. Notre Dame has announced that it's moving to the ACC in non-football sports, and the seven non-football schools have also announced intentions to leave, but with no known destination. If the football side of the Big East continues to fall apart, it's likely that the seven non-football schools would inherit the conference's name.

* ''Big East'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future is uncertain with Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh leaving for the ACC in 2014. The Big East has responded by to the loss of those two and West Virginia (which left for the Big 12) by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined in 2012, and Central Florida, Houston, San Diego State, and Southern Methodist are currently scheduled to join in 2013[[hottip:*:However, San Diego State is reportedly reconsidering the move (Boise State has already reneged on joining), with the announcement that founding member Rutgers will jump to the Big Ten and rumors that fellow founding member Connecticut will jump to the ACC having once again called the conference's future into question.]], decidedly making the name an ArtifactTitle.
** The Big East began life as a basketball conference (where eight more schools, among them Notre Dame, in addition to those listed here participate as well) and is more known for that sport rather than football.

* ''Southeastern Conference ([=SEC=])'': [Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt]: Yet another "power conference" (the last of the six), this one tied to the Sugar Bowl (no, not [[SugarBowl that one]]). A lot of these teams are historical powerhouses - Florida has been one of the most dominant teams of late, and Alabama is the defending national champion. [=LSU=] has also been quite dominant as of late. Alabama-Auburn is considered one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. The SEC was the first conference to split into divisions ("East" and "West" in its case) and hold a conference championship game between the top teams of each division. This was implemented in 1992, after the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina made it impractical for all teams in the conference to play each other every year (doing so would have allowed only one non-conference game per season). Observers often consider this the strongest league, and it has held a monopoly on the national championship in recent years. Since the implementation of the BCS, SEC schools are 8-1 in the championship game, and the one loss was due to a matchup of two SEC members. Its fans are not reluctant to point this out. At great length. The conference gets a lot of games televised, especially on CBS, with whom it has an extraordinarily lucrative contract. Texas A&M and Missouri joined in 2012, bringing the conference to a massive 14 teams...which has the unfortunate side effect that SEC players can go their entire college career without ever facing some cross-division teams.[[hottip:*:Each team plays all six other teams in its division and one designated cross-division rival every year, plus one other cross-division game per year on a rotating basis. Some fans have speculated that the SEC might expand the conference schedule to 9 games, but nothing has come of this so far.]]

* ''Big East'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future is uncertain with Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh leaving for the ACC in 2014. The Big East has responded by to the loss of those two and West Virginia (which left for the Big 12) by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined in 2012, and Boise State, Central Florida, Houston, San Diego State, and Southern Methodist are currently scheduled to join in 2013[[hottip:*:However, Boise State and San Diego State are reportedly reconsidering the move, with the announcement that founding member Rutgers will jump to the Big Ten and rumors that fellow founding member Connecticut will jump to the ACC having once again called the conference's future into question.]], decidedly making the name an ArtifactTitle.

* ''Mid-American Conference ([=MAC=])'' [Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Massachusetts Miami-Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ohio, [[UsefulNotes/ToledoOhio Toledo]], Western Michigan]: Much like Conference [=USA=], they haven't done too much of note. Like the Sun Belt, it's a conference that big-name teams look to for {{padding}} their schedule with an easy win or two.

* ''Big East'' [Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, Temple]: Another of the six "power conferences", though not tied to a specific bowl. Big East football has been something of a laughing stock lately, with many fans suggesting it should be stripped of its "power conference" status. It was once highly regarded, but then the ACC stole three of its top teams, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. It rebounded somewhat, though no current member of the conference has made the BCS title game. However, its future is uncertain with Syracuse (a founding member) and Pittsburgh leaving for the ACC in 2014. The Big East has responded by to the loss of those two and West Virginia (which left for the Big 12) by inviting multiple other teams. Temple joined in 2012, and Boise State, Central Florida, Houston, San Diego State, and Southern Methodist will join in 2013, decidedly making the name an ArtifactTitle.

* ''Southeastern Conference ([=SEC=])'': [Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt]: Yet another "power conference" (the last of the six), this one tied to the Sugar Bowl (no, not [[SugarBowl that one]]). A lot of these teams are historical powerhouses - Florida has been one of the most dominant teams of late, and Alabama is the defending national champion. [=LSU=] has also been quite dominant as of late. Alabama-Auburn is considered one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. The SEC was the first conference to split into divisions ("East" and "West" in its case) and hold a conference championship game between the top teams of each division. This was implemented in 1992, after the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina made it impractical for all teams in the conference to play each other every year (doing so would have allowed only one non-conference game per season). Observers often consider this the strongest league, and it has held a monopoly on the national championship in recent years. Since the implementation of the BCS, SEC schools are 8-1 in the championship game, and the one loss was due to a matchup of two SEC members. Its fans are not reluctant to point this out. At great length. The conference gets a lot of games televised, especially on CBS, with whom it has an extraordinarily lucrative contract. Texas A&M and Missouri are joining in 2012, bringing the conference to a massive 14 teams.

* ''Western Athletic Conference ([=WAC=])'' [Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Utah State]: What was a sixteen-team conference as recently as 1998 is now down to seven, though only one school (San Jose State) remains from the "super-conference" era. The [=WAC=] is mostly regarded as not playing defense, leading to lots of very high-scoring games.

* ''Conference [=USA=] ([=C-USA=])'' [Alabama-Birmingham, Central Florida, East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, Southern Methodist, Southern Mississippi, Texas-El Paso, Tulane, Tulsa]: One of the newer conferences - they've been gaining some prestige as of late, throwing off the "SEC-Lite" nickname that came from the initially similar geographical footprint with the more prominent Southeastern Conference. Will merge with the Mountain West, possibly as soon as 2012. After the merger (officially described as an "alliance"), [=C-USA=] and Mountain West will act as separate conferences during the regular season, after which the [=C-USA=] champion will play the Mountain West champion for a combined championship. The ultimate goal is for the winner of this championship to receive a BCS automatic qualifier spot[[hottip:*:Either the one currently going to the Big East or a new, 7th AQ berth...which the BCS has indicated may be added in 2014]], when the next BCS contract is negotiated in 2014.

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Wyoming]: Formed in 1999 by a group of 8 disgruntled Western Athletic Conference schools unhappy with the arrangement of the WAC's "super-conference" alignment. Today, it is one of the most competitive non-BCS conferences in FBS, though ironically it has absorbed other former WAC schools during the realignment shake-ups of the 2000s and 2010s (the most recent being San Jose State and Utah State, joining in 2013).

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Wyoming]: Formed in 1999 by a group of 8 disgruntled Western Athletic Conference schools unhappy with the arrangement of the WAC's "super-conference" alignment. Today, it is one of the most competitive non-BCS conferences in FBS, though ironically it has absorbed other former WAC schools during the realignment shake-ups of the 2000s and 2010s.

* ''Mountain West'': [Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, New Mexico, San Diego State, Wyoming]: Write-up coming soon.

* ''Mid-American Conference ([=MAC=])'' [Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Massachusetts Miami-Ohio, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan]: Much like Conference [=USA=], they haven't done too much of note. Like the Sun Belt, it's a conference that big-name teams look to for {{padding}} their schedule with an easy win or two.