Tier 3, WAC

Membership : Colorado State, Eastern Washington, Hawaii , Montana, Montana State, Northern Arizona , San Jose State, UC Davis, Washington State, Wyoming

: Colorado State, Eastern Washington, , Montana, Montana State, , San Jose State, UC Davis, Washington State, Wyoming Champion : Washington State

: Washington State Demoted to Big Sky : UC Davis

: UC Davis Promoted from Big Sky : UNLV

2013 SEC column

Tier 1, SEC

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

: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, , South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt Champion : Auburn

: Auburn Demoted to Sun Belt : Kentucky

Tier 2, Sun Belt

Membership : Arkansas State, Appalachian State , Furman, Georgia Southern, Middle Tennessee, South Alabama (new program), Troy, UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe , Wofford

: Arkansas State, , Furman, Georgia Southern, Middle Tennessee, South Alabama (new program), Troy, UL-Lafayette, , Wofford Champion : UL-Lafayette

: UL-Lafayette Demoted to Southern : Wofford

Tier 3, Southern

Membership : Chattanooga, Coastal Carolina , Elon , Florida Atlantic (left for Conference USA in real life, but the Owls seem fine right here), Florida International (as do the Panthers), North Texas, Western Kentucky

: Chattanooga, , , Florida Atlantic (left for Conference USA in real life, but the Owls seem fine right here), Florida International (as do the Panthers), North Texas, Western Kentucky Champion : North Texas

: North Texas Demoted to Big South : Florida International

: Florida International Promoted from Big South : Liberty

David Cutcliffe wins Coach of the Decade for simply bringing Duke back to the ACC, North Dakota State narrowly misses out on a Rose Bowl bid (the Bison would have finished around third in the Big Ten and wouldn't have lost head coach Craig Bohl to Wyoming), Nevada somehow survives another year in the Pac-12, and Mark Stoops' stud recruiting class at Kentucky falls apart when the Wildcats are demoted in favor of Mark Hudspeth's Ragin Cajuns.

Houston is in the Big 12, Bowling Green joins NDSU, NIU, and Toledo in the Big Ten, and Maine and SMU are now conference mates. So are West Virginia and UTEP.

2014

This is Dino Babers. He's Bowling Green's new head coach. He'd be running Art Briles' offense in the Big Ten, if we were in charge. (Bradley Leeb, USA Today)

So here's how the membership would shake out in 2014.

2014 ACC column

Tier 1, ACC

Membership : Cincinnati, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, UCF, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Cincinnati is saved! The Bearcats aren't doomed to second-tier life by realignment!

At this point, many conferences have awkward numbers. The ACC is at 13 teams, and there's probably not anyone else who'd want to jump over from another Tier 1 conference. Let's say it wants to expand to 14 and decides to start testing the rules. Should top conferences be able to give out one-time-only "get out of Tier 2 free" cards to original members (Boston College, NC State, Wake Forest) that got demoted? Could they be required to only add teams that they didn't already demote?

The latter is unrealistic (then again, anything could be made realistic in this entirely unrealistic alternate universe), and the former would open the door for some serious behind-the-scenes shenanigans. "You were demoted, [Original Member]? Don't worry. We'll just add you back anyway." So we'll leave the rules how they are, but know that college football will always follow the rules creatively.

Big East

Membership : Boston College, Connecticut, Maine, Navy, NC State, Syracuse, Temple, USF, Wake Forest

Colonial Membership : Army, Delaware, James Madison, Lehigh, Lafayette, New Hampshire, Old Dominion, Richmond, Stony Brook, Towson, Villanova, William & Mary 2014 Big 12 column

Tier 1, Big 12

Membership : Baylor, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech

With Kansas entering year three as a conference rival of Cal Poly, the Big 12-C-USA arrangement is actually working out pretty well as a whole. The Big 12 has always had at least one or two dead-weight teams, and C-USA has always had at least one or two rock-solid teams.

Tier 2, Conference USA

Membership : Cal Poly, Central Arkansas, East Carolina, Kansas, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee (realignment!), North Texas (the double-jump: both promotion and realignment), Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UTEP, West Virginia

Obviously realignment could still have shaken the rosters of C-USA and the Big East up quite a bit, and since they're on the same tier, there's nothing saying that SMU et al would have actually left C-USA for Big East territory. (The same goes for North Texas, MTSU, etc., obviously.) But in the end, there's something poetic and merit-based about Kansas sharing a conference with Cal Poly and Central Arkansas.

Tier 3, Southland

Membership : McNeese State, Memphis, New Orleans, Sam Houston State, SE Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, UTSA

Yes, Southern Miss was just Robert Griffin III away from reaching the Big 12 in 2011 and is now in Tier 4.

2014 Big Ten column

Tier 1, Big Ten

Membership : Bowling Green, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Toledo, Wisconsin

The Big Ten-MAC pairing actually works out as well as any pairing in this experiment. Teams like Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, and Purdue have played like MAC teams for most of the last half-decade (or longer), while programs like Northern Illinois, Toledo, and, yes, North Dakota State, have played at a higher level than the lowest Big Ten team for quite a while now.

Tier 2, MAC

Membership : Ball State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Illinois, Illinois, Indiana, Kent State, Maryland (realignment!), Minnesota, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Purdue, Rutgers (realignment!), Southern Illinois

Just like MAC teams have been able to jump up and compete in the Big Ten, Missouri Valley champs have been able to do the same in the MAC. The result: the MAC becomes a Hub Conference, with only five of 13(ish) original members occupying the roster in 2014.

Do Maryland and Rutgers still slide from the ACC's column to the Big Ten's? They made the move in real life because of money, and the Big Ten would still have more money to offer in this scenario. Joining the big MAC herd would decrease their chances of reaching the top tier, though.

Tier 3, Missouri Valley

Membership : Eastern Kentucky, Illinois State, Jacksonville State, Miami (Ohio), Missouri State, South Dakota State, Tennessee State, UMass, Western Illinois, Western Michigan, Youngstown State

2014 Pac-12 column

Tier 1, Pac-12

Membership : Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, BYU, Nevada, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington

This is another perfect example of how promotion and relegation would have made top-tier conferences better. Siphoning off the Washington States of the late-2000s for Boise State would have made this conference brutally tough. Meanwhile, the constant shifts in the MWC-WAC-Big Sky pairing is a perfect illustration of how close in quality so many Western teams really are.

Tier 2, Mountain West

Membership : California, Colorado, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State, Washington State