Greetings, oh great and wonderful College Football Fans. I know the Major League season is only 1/3 of the way through and the NBA/NHL are still playing, but it’s time to kick off another season of everyone’s, or rather my, favorite blog. We are 89 days from the week 0 games and the time is going to fly. The schedule for the 2 3/4 months will be similar to previous years except for this one. After today, I’ll start with the conference with the weakest GCR pre-season schedule (based on results of last season) and move upward through all 25 (including FCS and FBS independents) until we get to the conference with the most challenging road ahead. If you’d like to take a guess on the most-difficult conference, make a comment. The final pre-games post will be a look at week 0 to get us started. But, today, is about the conference changes this season – and there are a bunch.
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Let’s start with the FCS and with the status quo conferences. The 12-team Big Sky is remaining the same as 2022 along with the Ivy League (8), the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference or MEAC (6), the Patriot League (7), the Northeast Conference (8), the Pioneer League (11), the Southern Conference (9), the Southland (8), the Southwestern Athletic Conference or SWAC (12). Here is a table with the changes:
| Conference (2022 Number of Teams) | Teams Added | Teams Lost | 2023 Teams Count |
| Big South (6) | none | Campbell, North Carolina A&T, Bryant, Charleston Southern, Gardner Webb, Robert Morris | 0 – merged with OVFC |
| Ohio Valley Football Conference or OVFC (7) | none | Murray St, E Illinois, Lindenwood, SEMO, Tennessee Martin, Tennessee St, Tennessee Tech | 0 – merged with Big South |
| Big South/OVFC (0) | Bryant, Charleston Southern, E Illinois, Gardner Webb, Lindenwood, Robert Morris, SEMO, Tennessee Martin, Tennessee St, Tennessee Tech | none | 10 |
| Colonial Athletic Association (13) | Campbell, North Carolina A&T | none | 15 |
| FCS Independent (0) | Kennesaw St | none | 1 |
| Missouri Valley Football Conference (11) | Murray St | none | 12 |
| Atlantic Sun or ASUN (6) | none | Austin Peay, C Arkansas, E Kentucky, Jacksonville St, Kennesaw St, N Alabama | 0 – merged with WAC |
| Western Athletic Conference or WAC (6) | none | Abilene Christian, S Utah, Sam Houston, Steph F Austin, Tarleton, Utah Tech | 0 – merged with ASUN |
| United Athletic Conference | Abilene Christian, Austin Peay, C Arkansas, E Kentucky, N Alabama, S Utah, Steph F Austin, Tarleton, Utah Tech | none | 9 |
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The Big South/OVFC merger seems a little temporary to me, but in the FCS world a conference must have 6 teams to qualify for playoffs so it might change names and stick. The UAC feels more permanent. Jacksonville St and Sam Houston are promoting themselves to the FBS level joining Conference USA for 2023. Kennesaw St will join them next year.
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Now let’s look at the FBS world. The ACC (14), the Big Ten (14), the Mid-American Conference or MAC (12), the Mountain West Conference or MWC (12), the Pac 12 (12), the SEC (14), and the Sun Belt (14) remain unchanged this season, but there are already changes coming in the next couple of years and that may continue for a bit. Let’s look at who is moving to a new home next year:
| Conference (2022 Number of Teams) | Teams Added | Teams Lost | 2023 Teams Count |
| American (11) | Charlotte, FAU, N Texas, Rice, UAB, UTSA | Houston, UCF, Cincinnati | 14 |
| Big 12 (10) | BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, UCF | none | 14 |
| Conference USA (11) | Jacksonville St, Liberty, New Mexico St, Sam Houston | Charlotte, FAU, N Texas, Rice, UAB, UTSA | 9 |
| Independents (7) | none | BYU, Liberty, New Mexico St | 4 |
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Congratulations to BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF for promotion to the Power 5. Overall, 11 conferences added or lost teams, or merged. 2 new conferences were founded. 6 teams promoted themselves out of the 24 teams (not counting mergers) that changed homes. It will take a little getting used to, but will be a lot of fun learning about how these changes impact the season.
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That’s it for today. Welcome back and look for the first of the pre-season strength of schedule posts coming soon. As always, thank you for reading and, especially for sharing with others. Leave comments and let’s get ready for 2023, G!
