Over the past few years, college sports have undergone a major power shift that has sent ripple effects throughout the entire landscape. That power shift goes by many names, but the most prominent of all is "conference realignment". Universities rising up and falling down across the collegiate athletic world has been inevitable, and many schools have been forced to jump on the wagon or be left behind.
Though BYU has benefitted greatly from this change--jumping from independence and the WCC to the Big 12--some schools like Oregon State and Washington State of the now defunct Pac-12 have been helpless as their "power conference" credentials were stripped away.
But as the dust is finally settling on conference realignment--at least for a minute--the Big 12's squeaky wheel has gone on record with a prediction for future major shakeup. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham predicted another major round of realignment to radio host John Canzano.
"I think there is a major realignment coming, and it'll be a big one. I think it will create even more of a divide and exclusivity for the teams that are on the right side of that line. 20 months to four years? How about that for a time frame? In my opinion, it's going to look very much like an NFL minor league."Kyle Whittingham
Whittingham isn't alone in his opinion. In fact, many doom and gloom predictors feel the death of college sports as we know it is unstoppable, as the exclusive club of the "true" power conferences shuts the door on the lesser leagues' chance to battle for a national title.
For me? I think we're all a bit tired of conference realignment and find it hard to see an end to the shakeup, but this "NFL Minor League" prediction is just that: a prediction. When the College Football Playoff began with 4 spots per year, it was easy to say that the power conferences were keeping at-large bids of apparent lesser competition out of contention. With UCF and Cincinnati--now members of a power conference--leading the charge for group of 5 consideration, the playoff format was forced to change.
The expanded playoff format includes a guaranteed bid to the power conference champions, a top group of 5 conference champion, and a handful of additional at-large bids. While this inclusion doesn't mean that Whittingham's prediction was baseless, I think that the realignment momentum has forced some to overlook the signs that absolute exclusivity may be further away than many realize.
If anything is certain about the modern age of college sports, it's that we're never done changing. Let's just hope it'll change for the better.