So let's think about what teams you would want, realizing that anything between 10-16 teams could make sense
You definitely want USC, Oregon, Washington - those are the marquee name programs. In the modern era ('92 on) they rank #11, #14, and #22 in Top 25 appearances and have all had some of the highest highs.
From the Big 12, you'll want Oklahoma St who has been consistently excellent - 35 appearances in CFP rankings (7th most all time), getting as high as #5. Those numbers are the same for Utah so they're in.
So teams that are definitely in are USC, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma St, Utah. Teams that are definitely out are Kansas and Oregon St
Other teams to consider:
Team |
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
BYU |
Strong football history (70s/80s) Currently strong football Strong non-football sports Strong fanbase
|
New to P5 Redundant Geography |
West Virginia |
Period of dominance (RichRod era) Eastern Time Zone access
|
Remote Location |
Cincinnati |
P5 History (Big East) Current best team in either conference Eastern Time Zone
|
New to P5 Smaller fanbase |
UCF |
Huge potential fanbase Florida recruiting access Very high highs for football Eastern Time Zone
|
Geographically Remote New to P5 Inconsistent with football Other sports lacking
|
Houston |
Huge city Great recruiting area Demonstrated willingness to spend big
|
New to P5 |
Baylor |
Texas recruiting access Currently very good
|
Wild swings with football Historically weak program
|
TCU |
Great location - Dallas Important recruiting base Some serious highs
|
Small student base |
Kansas St |
Some REALLY good years.... Terrible location
|
...that were a fair while ago |
Iowa St |
Has recently surged into being pretty good |
Historically mediocre |
Texas Tech |
In Texas (albeit a pretty sparsely populated area) |
One of the worst FBS programs over last decade
|
Colorado |
Very good in the 90s Denver market, most of Colorado
|
One of the worst FBS programs over last decade
|
Arizona St |
Phoenix market (huge + rapidly growing) History of being above average
|
No real huge highs Geographic overlap with Arizona
|
Arizona |
Elite basketball school - almost as good as Kansas
|
Geographic overlap with ASU Almost as bad at football as Kansas right now
|
UCLA |
Huge tradition/prestige Los Angeles market California recruiting Basketball/football success
|
#2 in LA market behind USC
|
Cal |
Elite academics Strong rivalries California market/recruiting
|
Just terrible at sports Geographic overlap with Stanford
|
Stanford |
Elite academics Strong rivalries California market/recruiting Top 10 team in early 2010s Excellent non-football sports
|
Pretty bad currently Geographic overlap with Cal
|
Washington St |
I'm sure something will come to me...
|
Historically mediocre Remote location Geographic overlap with Washington
|
So looking at that I add BYU, Stanford, UCLA to the conference, and Wazzu, Texas Tech, Cal and Arizona are out.
So that gives us USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon, Stanford, Utah, BYU, Oklahoma St in the conference. I want to make sure we get heavy Texas representation so TCU, Baylor, Houston are in. I also respect Colorado's history and the Denver location, so Colorado is in. Arizona St is in since we want at least one from Arizona/Phoenix area, especially with no other major conference teams there.
That brings us to 13 teams. So now to decide if I want to go further east with Cincy, UCF, West Virginia. The alternative is to add one of Iowa St or Kansas St or to add both of them and one of the teams we've bumped out. Ultimately, I want the upside of UCF so I think my final 3 are UCF, Cincy...and Kansas St.
West: Oregon, Washington, USC, UCLA, Stanford, Utah, BYU, Arizona St
East: Colorado, Oklahoma St, Kansas St, Cincy, UCF, Houston, Baylor, TCU
Conference is headquartered in either Denver or Dallas