The Terminators of College Football

"Listen and understand. The terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fer. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." - Kyle Reese in Terminator

The latest wave of Conference Realignment talk was triggered yesterday on the Paul Finebaum show when ESPN SEC Blogger Chris Low said that Virginia Tech was on the radar screen of the SEC. Conference Realignment has been going on in some form or fashion since the SEC acquired Arkansas and South Carolina back in 1991. It has shown no remorse for traditional rivalries (Texas vs. Texas A&M, Kansas vs. Missouri, Arkansas vs, all of their old Southwestern Conference foes) and left many smaller conferences for dead (See the WAC, Mountain West, Big East, and Conference USA).  They continually pursue their target of more money for their conferences and pushing the smaller, weaker conferences out of major college football. 


Now many critics are saying that the Big Four (SEC, Big XII, Big Ten and Pac 12) are going to ruin the game of college football by pushing out these smaller conferences and going to damage each other. I strongly disagree about the latter while agreeing wholeheartedly with the former. The Big Four are making their play to dominate college football by eliminating all the non-automatic qualifying schools' claim on the BCS money. We've seen two of the Big Four start their own tv networks with the SEC Network supposedly launching in the next two years. The tv network is another revenue generator that allows the Big Four to keep all the money in house. The ultimate money move is being built up too with the Big Four and it will absolutely annihilate all of the teams not a part of the Big Four. 


Many people from Tim Brando to Rick Reilly have argued for a college football playoff. They want to see the Boise States and Houstons of the world get their shot at the big boys on a neutral site for the championship. It's not going to happen. The Big Four are going to become super conferences first and ride out the new BCS contract that will come to fruition in the next two years (If the don't sabotage it by making the superconferences before the current TV deal expires). After that, the Big Four will secede and furnish their own league and television deal raking in bookoo bucks and leaving everyone else out in the cold. 


The Big Four want one thing and one thing only: the absolute control of all the money in major college athletics. The relentless march by the Big Four to this conclusion will upset many of the proponents of the non-AQ schools. The Big Four will continue to march on and terminate all who stand in their way of total domination. They'll hire great writers and drop bugs in the ears of the analysts in their corner to spin, spin, spin the story in their favor. College Athletics, particularly College Football is all about the money and the Big Four will not stop, ever, until the current system is dead and replaced by the one they want.