Happy Wednesday, college football fans, and welcome to a special edition of the GCR as Army has been accepted to join the American Athletic Conference as a football only school next season. The move has little to do with the rivalry with Navy (in fact, the Army/Navy game will continue to be played in week 15 after the conference championships as a non-conference game in the agreement), but to replace SMU, who is going to the ACC next season, to maintain the current 14 team structure. They will also continue to play Air Force each year. The Black Knights played there first game in 1891 and has been an Independent their entire existence except for a brief and unsuccessful foray into Conference USA (they were 9-41 in that conference) from 1998-2004. That will leave just UMASS, UCONN, and Notre Dame as the remaining non-attached schools.
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By the way, FIU is hosting Jacksonville St as we speak and the JAX Gamecocks are up 7-0 with 9:05 in the first.
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Prior to the 2023 season, there were 9 teams that shifted conference (see table below), 3 that moved from independent status to conference membership, and 2 that promoted from FCS to FBS. Before we start up next August there are now at least 13 conference changes, Army joining the AAC, and a single promotion from FCS to FBS. Here’s a rundown with some notes about what could happen next:
| Conference (’22 members/’24 members) | 2023 Adds | 2023 Losses | 2024 Adds | 2024 Losses | Notes |
| ACC (14/17) | — | — | California, Stanford, SMU | — | Notre Dame, an ACC member except in football, plays 5-6 ACC teams a year. The addition of rival Stanford and Army giving up Indie status could put pressure on the Irish |
| Big 12 (10/18) | BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, UCF | — | Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, Utah | Oklahoma, Texas | 10 members to 10 changes in 2 years. The most volatile Power 5 conference is bigger, but will it be stronger (in 2023 the top two teams are the ones leaving) |
| Big Ten (14/18) | — | — | Oregon, Southern Cal, UCLA, Washington | — | The power of the Pac 12 (except for Utah) will make this a formidable, albeit a true coast-to-coast conference |
| Pac 12 (12/2) | — | — | — | Arizona, Arizona St, California, Colorado, Oregon, Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Utah, Washington | With only Oregon St and Washington St remaining the two may try to go on their own as a 2-member conference (yes, it’s possible for a short time), but they will probably merge with the Mountain West |
| SEC (14/16) | — | — | Oklahoma, Texas | — | The first conference to 14 teams, the first conference with divisions, the first conference with a championship game will become the smallest Power 5 conference. But the teams added fit the existing mode and are better football adds than more recent additions |
| AAC (11/14) | Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, UTSA | Cincinnati, Houston, UCF | Army | SMU | Army is not going to add a lot of football value to a (at least for now) loss of serious competition to the Big 12, but it’s fun anyway |
| C-USA (12/10) | Jacksonville St (FCS), Liberty, New Mexico St, Sam Houston (FCS) | Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, UTSA | Kennesaw St (FCS) | — | First Kennesaw St who used to be a very good FCS football team is, not to be blunt, awful this year. However, the smallest FBS conference could get to 12 members by taking UCONN and UMASS |
| Indies (7/3) | — | BYU, Liberty, New Mexico St | — | Army | During the 70s and 80s, the independent golden era, there were dozens of teams – at some point conference TV money talks |
| MAC (12/12) | — | — | — | — | I think they missed out on improving their brand by joining the mad rush. Other than UCONN, UMASS, growth will have to come from the FCS ranks (South Dakota St, North Dakota St)? |
| Mountain West (12/12) | — | — | — | — | There have been talks of creating a larger MWC that includes the Oregon St and Washington St with a relegation type set up between Power 5 and Group of 5. However it works out, I think the PAC 2 will be better off with the MWC than as Indies |
| SUN (14/14) | — | — | — | — | With the 2022 additions of James Madison (FCS), Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss, the Sun Belt has continued its slow build to relevance. I look forward to one of their members being the G5 representative to the 12-team playoff |
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Jacksonville St scored twice more to take a 21-0 lead over FIU with 11:30 to go. UTEP at Sam Houston will kick off at 8:00 Eastern as the Bearkats try to get out of the one-team winless club at home tonight. UTEP is just 2-6, so it could happen.
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Of course, this post is only about the FBS. Kennesaw St, by the way is the lone FCS independent this year. I haven’t researched FCS conference changes for 2024 yet, but I will for a future post.
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An update of the Michigan sign-stealing situation. Apparently, there were 2 folks at last week’s Penn St/Ohio St game (both of whom are on Michigan’s schedule later this season) and were caught on stadium cameras. There is also a story that, in addition to the 11 Big Ten schools illegally scouted (in over 30 games), at least 3 SEC teams were also targeted. More to come.
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One final thing, my daughter attends Chattanooga (Go Mocs) and attended the W Carolina game with a good high-school friend of hers who made the trip from Cullowhee, NC to see the game. It was a shootout with WCAR winning 52-50 on a last-minute field goal. I’ve attached a picture from their seats enjoying the pregame festivities as I promised her I would.
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FIU gets on the board just under the GCR wire: 21-3 with 7:11 in the 2nd.
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That’s it for today. Thank you for reading and sharing with others. Let me know your thoughts about today’s post in the comments. G
