Every 2024 College Football Conference Realignment Move Taking Place Today

Today, July 1, marks the beginning of a new NCAA athletics year. Most years, that brings slight changes to the sport. But in 2024, the start of a year athletic calendar ushers in a new era of college football. Many of the most influential and recognizable college football brands are participating in conference realignment. Also beginning this year is the 12-team College Football Playoff.

While most everyone is familiar with the landscape-changing moves of Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, and USC, there’s so many movements becoming official today that it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. So, let’s take a look at every college football team playing in a new league this coming season with the most dramatic conference realignment to date.

College Football Conference Realignment: The Major Conferences

This year’s conference realignment sees the end of the Pac-12. Only Oregon State and Washington State remain technical members, with plenty of litigation sorting out who gets the revenue cuts. Ultimately, the schools won the lawsuits and were awarded full control of league operations.

The last true major conference realignment kicked off in 2010 and wrapped up in 2014. That year saw Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas A&M change Power conferences. It resulted in the dissolution of the Big East (much like the Pac-12 this time around), sending Maryland to the Big Ten, West Virginia to the Big 12, and Louisville and Pitt to the ACC.

The two realignments mark the most major shakeups in modern college football. With 2024 seeing six of the sport’s most recognizable and historic brands realigning, an argument can be made that this time around is the most major realignment to date.

• Find all the latest conference realignment news here!

SEC

In July 2021, a proverbial meteor of historic proportion hit college football. Oklahoma and Texas announced they would be departing the Big 12 in favor of the SEC beginning in 2024. To a majority of the sporting world, this was unexpected and shocking. But what the majority of the sporting world didn’t realize, this was just the beginning.

Texas and Oklahoma are the fourth- and sixth-winningest programs of all time (note: Texas is tied with Notre Dame after the 2023 season with 948 wins). The Longhorn brand goes beyond the Big 12 and perhaps stands along with Notre Dame as the most powerful brands in college football. Texas has operated the Longhorn Network since 2011, the lone subsidiary of ESPN dedicated to a single college team.

As of 2023, Texas brought in the second-most revenue in college football ($239M) and Oklahoma, the 10th-most ($177M).

Just over 18 months after announcing their intentions to leave, the two schools finalized a 2024 move to the SEC.

• Added: Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Longhorns

Big Ten

While the SEC’s additions kicked off a tsunami of conference realignment, the Big Ten perhaps kicked off the mass panic of separation between the FBS’ top powers and the rest of the schools. In the SEC’s case, Oklahoma and Texas fell under a loser, but still sensible geographic expansion. The Big Ten destroyed regional college football.

It’s not the first time – adding Nebraska and Maryland stretched the Big Ten’s footprint to over 1,200 miles. In 2024, the Big Ten adds four West Coast teams in Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. The distance between Nebraska and UCLA (the two closest schools now) is over 1,400 miles.

Now, the Big Ten’s footprint truly stretches from coast to coast, spanning over 2,700 miles between its two furthest points (Rutgers and USC).

This is the move that caused the downfall of the Pac-12 Conference. Not long after the league’s four most prominent members announced their departure, six other programs would leave, stranding its two final members.

• Added: Oregon Ducks, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans, Washington Huskies

Big 12

While adding Oklahoma and Texas makes some regional sense, the Big 12 went and added teams that make cultural sense. This year, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah join the Big 12. Notably, Colorado played in the Big 7/8/12 for over 60 years, leaving for the Pac-12 in 2011. Since leaving, the Buffaloes have kept some old rivalries alive, notably against Nebraska.

It’s tough to build an argument for regionality given the conference now stretches from Cincinnati to an hour north of the Mexico/US border. But of the teams in the Pac-12, the four added feel most like Big 12 programs. Utah joins alongside BYU and the Arizona schools come in together.

In general, the Arizona schools also don’t add much travel in the new league. Previously, the closest school was USC at about 490 miles away. Now, Texas Tech is the closes at just shy of 640 miles.

Taking a multi-decade average of talent, the four schools also fall in line with the rest of the Big 12. Overall, this league benefitted perhaps the most and is the most intriguing moving forward to watch.

• Added: Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils, Colorado Buffaloes, Utah Utes
• Lost: Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Longhorns

ACC

The Big Ten tore down regional college football, but the ACC made perhaps the most nonsensical regional moves. Now in a full-fledged panic, Cal and Stanford bolted from the remaining four Pac-12 teams joined the only Power league willing to take them in… the Atlantic Coast Conference.

To split the difference, the ACC also accepted SMU as a member starting this season. The moves were thinly veiled from being desperate from both parties. Currently, the threat of losing its most prominent members looms large. Clemson, Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina have all expressed a desire to realign as the league fell behind the top two (Big Ten, SEC).

Unlike in the Big Ten, Cal and Stanford stand alone, stranded in the Pacific Time Zone. In 2024, prepare for conference games like Syracuse at Cal and Stanford at Clemson.

Culturally, regionally, and competitively, the additions didn’t make sense.

• Added: Cal Golden Bears, SMU Mustangs, Stanford Cardinal

American

To supplement losing SMU to the ACC, the American added Army to its ranks. The Black Knights have been an independent team for all but seven seasons dating back to 1891. From 1998-2004, Army competed in Conference USA but failed to win any more than two league games in a season, prompting a return to independence in 2005.

Notably, arch rival Navy also plays in the American. The CFP Committee determined the game would not affect playoff seeding and the American won’t recognize the annual rivalry as a conference game. The Army-Navy game will remain on its own Saturday following conference championship weekend.

Army announced the move in October 2023, a move that was quickly overshadowed by the news of the ongoing college football season.

• Added: Army
• Lost: SMU

The 134th FBS Member

As Division I-A continues to expand each year, the Kennesaw State Owls will the newest member of the FBS starting this year. The school first introduced a football program in 2015, joining the Big South Conference. The Owls quickly became a league power, winning Big South championships in 2017, 2018, and 2021. Prior to its last conference title, Kennesaw State announced it would leave the Big South in favor for the ASUN.

In October 2022, the school announced another move, this time making the jump to the FBS and joining Conference USA in time for the 2024 football season.

Kennesaw State’s status as the FBS newbie will be short lived. In 2025, Delaware will become the 135th FBS member.

All College Football Conference Realignment Moves In 2024

Team	New Conference Affiliation	Old Conference
Arizona	Big 12	Pac-12
Arizona State	Big 12	Pac-12
Army	American	N/A
Cal	ACC	Pac-12
Colorado	Big 12	Pac-12
Kennesaw State	Conference USA	N/A (FCS)
Oklahoma	SEC	Big 12
Oregon	Big Ten	Pac-12
SMU	ACC	American
Stanford	ACC	Pac-12
Texas	SEC	Big 12
UCLA	Big Ten	Pac-12
USC	Big Ten	Pac-12
Utah	Big 12	Pac-12
Washington	Big Ten	Pac-12

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