Last Year: 7-6 (3-5 in SEC), beat Ohio State, 24-17, in Gator Bowl.

Why: Despite the fact that the Gators seriously underachieved last year, this team is stocked with talent, especially on defense, where 10 starters return. MLB Jon Bostic led the Gators with 94 tackles, 60 of which were solo. The unit also improved on its sack total by 7 from 2010. Overall, the unit was in the Top 40 in all major FBS categories, including a No. 8 ranking overall. That’s the power of head coach Will Muschamp, one of the best defensive minds in college football. The offensive line returns nearly intact, with senior LT Xavier Nixon serving as the anchor. TE Jordan Reed has the potential to be one of the best in the country. He caught 28 passes last year and he’s the top returning pass catcher on the roster. WR Andre Debose has the potential to be Florida’s next great deep threat.

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Last Year: 8-5 (4-4 in SEC), beat Virginia, 43-24, in Chick-Fil-A Bowl.

Why: The defense is stacked with experience and talent, and has the potential to be one of the best in the SEC, even though last year’s numbers show the Tigers to be a rather middling unit. But this was a young group last year and most of them are back, including senior OLB Daren Bates, who led the Tigers with 104 tackles, and junior Corey Lemonier, who led the Tigers with 9.5 sacks last year. The offense is underrated, with two returning starters at wide receiver, including Emory Blake, who had 36 receptions last year. TE Philip Lutzenkirchen should emerge as a larger threat in the passing offense this year, thanks to his size and improved health. With PK Cody Parkey and P Steve Clark, the Tigers have one of the most reliable kicking games in the SEC.

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The departures of Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East are probably the best for all concerned.

Both schools finally worked out an agreement to leave the Big East for the ACC after the 2012-13 school years. That’s a year ahead of the timetable originally set forth when the two schools accepted the ACC’s invitation to join last year.

Of course, this was only a matter of time. When West Virginia pried itself from the Big East to move to the Big 12 for the 2012 season, you know the Orange and the Panthers were going to find a way to get out of that relationship. These things are just a matter of negotiation and money.

So what happens now for Syracuse, Pittsburgh, the ACC and the Big East? Let’s dig a little deeper.

TV rights. You recall the ESPN/ACC TV deal that Florida State was so upset about a few months ago? Well, that deal took into account the new schools, so that’s locked in. The Big East enters into negotiations this fall, but that was for a deal with their revamped conference. So, for once, this really doesn’t have anything to do with TV.

But it does have to do with bad blood. I imagine the Big East is still pretty ticked off by the departures of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The Orange was a charter member. Basketball in this conference will take a huge hit. Why sit there for two years and swallow all those bad feelings? For the good of the conference? Nah, the time is right for everyone to move on.

The Big East doesn’t need them anymore. Now that Boise State has finally said it will join the Big East in 2013, the new league is set moving forward. Don’t think for one second that these agreements with Syracuse and Pitt aren’t coincidental. The Big East needed to wait to make sure Boise State wouldn’t go back on its commitment. The Broncos waited until the last second. Had BSU officially signed on earlier, these deals probably would have happened earlier.

How it helps the ACC. North Carolina is on probation. Miami is about to go on probation. This conference has been dominated by Virginia Tech for years. Pittsburgh should be competitive right off the bat. Syracuse may need more time. But these are solid programs with great regional followings that should benefit the conference’s long-term view. Plus, it provides some protection if Florida State runs off to the Big 12 or SEC.

Head coaching firings going up? Keep an eye on the new schools for both conferences in 2013. You may see some firings along the way. Syracuse’s Dave Marrone is the most likely to get canned. But if any of the new ACC or Big East schools don’t believe their current coaches have enough “wow” factor for the new league, moves will be made. That’s part of the logic in hiring Larry Brown to coach men’s basketball at SMU. Matt Doherty won’t get anyone talking. Brown will.

In the end, it matters little. There are no more automatic bids for the BCS starting in 2014. If the Big 4 (Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or SEC) decide to go to 16 teams, the Big East will be dismantled for parts. In the future, the ACC will be the best of the rest and the Big East will fight for scraps come postseason time. There is little, if anything, the two conferences can do to fix that, short of one of their teams becoming a national champion. It’s hard to get excited about either’s future, frankly.

Matthew Postins is a blogger for PigskinU.com and is the associate publisher of RoadTripSports.com.

On Tuesday the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee gave its blessing for a four-team college football playoff starting with the 2015 season. It’s a great day for college football fans.

How long have we waited to hear those words? Well, here’s some perspective. I’ve been writing about sports since 1992. I’ve been writing about a college football playoff since 1997. What prompted me to write about a college football playoff? The BCS’s formation in 1997.

That’s how long I’ve been chiming in about this subject. And, you know what? After this news ….

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Can’t keep up with the BCS playoff scenarios? Don’t worry. Here’s your quick review as we head into the final phase of decision making.

SEC. The most relevant and powerful football conference wants a four-team playoff that features the four best teams in the country, regardless of whether they won their conference or not. They seem open to featuring the semifinal and championship games within a bowl structure or bid out. They are also open to the selection process and criteria. The commissioner, Mike Slive, the athletic directors and the coaches seem to be in lock step on this one.

Big 12. As you might expect, the Big 12 is cribbing off the SEC, if their new Champions Bowl agreement is any indication. The Big 12 also wants a four-team playoff with the four best teams, regardless of whether they won their conference title. They would also like the playoff field determined by a selection committee and not necessarily a computer.

Pac-12. No official position. But Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has made it clear that he supports a playoff format that features conference champions only, even if that means a second Pac-12 team is excluded. Scott even resurrected the dreaded “Plus-1” format.

Big Ten. This one’s just weird. The Big Ten has no official position, just preferences. First is to keep the current model. Second is a Plus-1 model. Third would be a four-team playoff with semifinals at bowl games and championship games bid out. The field would be selected by a committee. The Big Ten appears to be doing all it can to preserve its tie-in with the Rose Bowl.

ACC. No official position that I can find.

Big East. The conference appears to be “adamantly opposed” to a plan the SEC and Big 12 would like to implement. The Big East prefers the top 4 conference champions, but may compromise to a 3 conference champion and 1 wild card format, according to ESPN.

So what happens now? Theoretically a decision will be made by the end of the month, but it could take longer. What will happen? Well, here’s how I see it:

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The college football superconference is coming. In fact, it’s closer than you think.

Step one? The loss of regional hegemony. Conferences like the Big 12 and the Big East looked outside their regional footprint for new teams

Step two? The new playoff system, coming to college football in 2014. This is the much rumored format with the top four teams playing in national semifinals, with winners playing in the national championship game. If it’s supposed to make things fairer, it will in terms of competition. But in terms of money and prestige, the stripping of the automatic qualifying status will leave an uneven economic playing field.

Step three? The consolidation of power. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have always had it, thanks to their unyielding allegiance to the Rose Bowl, and they’ve used that chip to influence how the BCS distributes its bowl teams. Now the Big 12 and SEC have joined forced to create their own bowl partnership that pretty much guarantees them a Rose Bowl-level contest every year, regardless of the playoff. It assures that the bowl system is still the most powerful cog in college football.

Step four? It has to be the college football superconference, the 16-team behemoth that the Pac-10 nearly became a couple of years ago. Why? If there’s no automatic qualifying status in the BCS, then the power will be centralized with the conferences that have the teams with the best chance to win a national title. That’s the Big 12, the Big Ten, the Pac-12 and the SEC, so they’ll be the ones to form the new college football superconferences. The ACC and the Big East were built on basketball, and football, frankly, is an afterthought.

Florida State finally figured that out. That’s why they’re making so much noise about joining the Big 12.

So how does this all go down? Well, theoretically there are 16 slots available to create four 16-team superconferences using the Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. Let’s assume that all four conferences get the same idea at the same time – go to 16 teams. Let’s also assume they don’t poach each other. Here’s how I think it goes:

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Even if you’re a die-hard college football fan, keeping with conference realignment is a monumental task. In just the last month, Temple has bolted for the Big East and the Mountain West and Conference USA are contemplating an insane merger, even for conference realignment. They’re courting Sun Belt schools, and in turn the Sun Belt Conference is courting schools they may need to stay viable.

This is the trickle-down effect we anticipated when conference realignment started in earnest a couple of years ago. Remember when Nebraska bolted for the Big Ten and Colorado bolted for the Pac-12? That seems like a decade ago.

Larger conferences are bolstering their coffers. Smaller conferences are scrambling to survive. And it all seems patently unfair, though we are a country that prides itself on survival of the fittest.

But all of this conference realignment leads to instability in college football, instability the game doesn’t need. What’s worse is that it’s disorganized instability. Every man for himself.

So what if we embrace the chaos? What if we bring organization to the instability of conference realignment and make it a little more fair? Or at least a little more fun? Here are a few ideas that have been percolating in my mind as of late:

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Note: This series previously ran at RoadTripSports.com, but given the current climate of conference realignment, stoked by the Big 12, I feel this series of articles is as relevant now as it was a year ago. It will run every few days here at PigskinU.com. Check the PigskinU.com archives for Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.

So in Part One I laid out an overview of building a better college game. In Part 2, we put our commissioner in charge with a mandate – change college football for the better. In Part 3 we re-drew conference lines, though not as radically as I originally intended. In Part 4 we talked about reducing the schedule to 11 games to allow all of our re-drawn conferences to participate in conference championship games.

But do you want a true national champion? Start a playoff. Here’s how.

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September doesn’t define much. It helps pad bowl eligibility and wallets. October is about starting the process of winnowing down the field for the BCS National Championship game. And on the first day of October of this season, that process starts with a buffet of big games.

On Saturday there will be five games that will feature undefeated teams playing one another.

But Nebraska at Wisconsin looms largest.

This game is huge and it’s perfect for prime time. It’s the Big Ten opener for both teams. For Nebraska the game is its first Big Ten game ever. What a way to start. The conference could have chosen to start the Cornhuskers with a patsy like Minnesota. Instead it drew a road trip to Camp Randall. Continue Reading…

And once Oklahoma goes, the Big 12 will never be the same. It’s likely that Oklahoma State will go with the Sooners, if there’s room. If they bolt for the Pac-12, and commissioner Larry Scott can convince texas to integrate its new network into the Pac-12’s TV deal, then texas could follow, along with texas Tech, which will need a new home. Then, it’s easy for texas A&M to go to the SEC, unless Baylor has legal claws we’re unaware of.

And then the Big 12, as we know it, is dead.

The remaining five teams would have a decision to make. Should they try to salvage the Big 12 or cut bait and head for whatever conference will take them? It’s a big decision, considering there’s a BCS automatic berth at stake. Remember – the Big 12, for now, is still a BCS member, and commissioner Dan Beebe will fight tooth and nail to hang on to it.

So let’s play the scenario game with Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Baylor, the five teams that would be left behind. If the Big 12 breaks up, where do the Final Five go? Let’s imagine that Oklahoma decides to go to the Pac 12 and that Scott convinces Oklahoma State, texas and texas Tech to follow. Also, in this scenario, A&M has moved to the SEC. That’s the most likely scenario.

Here is what I think could happen, in order of the remaining teams’ desirability.

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