Arena Fanatic

Independent Teams Find A Conference

By Tyler Smith 7/9/2020

​With the Big Ten and ACC announcing that they will switch to playing only conference foes. It had me thinking, what happens to Independent teams if all conferences go this route?

Will they only play each other?

Cancel the season? 

Or perhaps join a conference for one season? 

The last option sounds like the best option. Maybe not the most ideal, but the entertainment value would be high.

Independent Teams

Army
BYU
Liberty
New Mexico State
Notre Dame
UConn
UMass


Option 1: Cancel The Season

Honestly, this isn’t going to happen unless conferences start canceling seasons.

This option is a big no from me. 

Option 2: Scheduling Each Other:

Let’s shoot for 9 games. 
Each team would have 6 games by just playing each other. Add in 3 home and home games. 
Not sure BYU and Notre Dame would be thrilled with this option. 
I would count this one out. Plus, the ACC has offered to help Notre Dame already. 
If Notre Dame is out then you would nearly have a home and home with each of the five teams. Not a horrible option. 


OPTION 3: EACH TEAM JOINS A CONFERENCE FOR ONE YEAR

OH YEAH!

Let’s break this down. 

Army (AAC): Easy decision here, AAC. Location wise it makes a lot of sense. Navy is already in this conference. AAC is currently at 11 teams, adding them in gives them an even 12. 

BYU (Big 12): This is my toughest decision out of the 7 teams. My heart says BYU in the Big 12 would be fantastic from a fan’s perspective. Plus it gives the Big 12 the opportunity to interview BYU for a spot in their 10 team conference. BYU would be competitive too. 

MWC seems like a likely destination. I would not be disappointed if that is where BYU ends up. But damn, give me the Big 12!

PAC 12 is out to me. Too many teams. 

Liberty (Sun Belt): This addition makes a lot of sense. Location wise they are in the region. It would be a test run for the conference to see if they bring any value to the conference, with no loss attached. The Flames would be competitive as well. 

New Mexico State (Sun Belt): With my decision to add BYU to the Big 12, placing NMSU in the MWC just feels odd. MWC would be at 13 teams, wouldn’t competitive either. Based on Geography, it makes the most sense.

NMSU welcome to the Sun Belt. 
I have added Liberty to the conference already. That places the conference at 11 teams, the Aggies would make 12. The competition level is a bit fairer too. 

Notre Dame-ACC: They are already a partial member of the ACC. The conference said they would be happy to help them out. This makes sense across the board, and we finally get to see the Fighting Irish in a conference! 

UConn-MAC: Honestly, this seems like a good way for this program to just bounce out of FBS football. This program hasn’t had a winning season since 2010. They just left the AAC. Not a chance in hell I would let them in their former conference for one year. Enjoy the MAC and losing many games in 2020.

UMass-MAC: No other viable options. They aren’t competitive enough to be in the AAC, and I already added Army to bring them to an even 12 teams. Welcome back to the MAC.

There you go! 

I want to hear your thoughts on Twitter! Tweet me (@arenafanatic) your placements for all 7 teams. 

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