In 1978 the ACC was just 7 teams. The Big Ten was 10 teams. The PAC-10 was 10 teams. And the SEC was 10 teams. The B12 didn't exist yet, but there was the Big Eight with 8 teams. We also still had the Southwest with 9 teams. And there were a butt load of independents. Between 1978 and 2010 the ACC expanded four times with five teams total and started the raid process: - GT (independent) in '83 - FSU (independent) in '92 - Miami (BE) and VT (BE) in '04 - BC (BE) in '05 In that same time period ('78-'10) the others combined had: - SEC added Arkansas (Southwest) in '91 - Big Ten added Penn State (independent) in '93 - Big 12 was born in '96 by merging Big Eight with Southwest (Baylor, Texas, A&M, Texas Tech) - Big East football was born in '91 from a bunch of independents In 2011 the flood gates finally opened after the ACC had grown to 12 football schools and raided the BE: - Pac 10 added Colorado and Utah in '11 - SEC added Missouri and Texas A&M in '12 - Big 12 lost 2 to SEC and adds TCU and WVU in '12 - ACC added Pitt and Syracuse (and ND for non-football) in '13 - Big East football died after the final ACC raid in '13 As for the College Football Association (CFA), well that goes back to 1984 and the Supreme Court case that opened up conferences to negotiate media contracts. Apparently that was the first snowflake that started the avalanche. And the link I have below has some very interesting history on the B12. Granted it is wikipedia, but the basics lay out a history where the B12 really never should have been created. Back in the 90's A&M was already flirting with the SEC and Texas with the PAC but outside parties seem to have derailed that and forced the B12 as a compromise. The more I read, the less I blame the BIG and SEC for the current state of things. ** Edited by HokieAl at 4/18/2024, 10:37:05 AM