As detailed in the explanation of college conferences, Flip the Field will really only follow the college football teams in the classification of Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly called Division I-A. You could also call this group of teams, the ones that really matter.
List of College Conferences:
ACC
American Athletic
Big 12
Big Ten
C-USA
MAC
MWC
PAC -12
SEC
Sun Belt
Then there is a list of independent teams that don’t play in a specific conference. Notre Dame is one of those teams. Some say it is because they think too highly of themselves and others say it is because their fan base is too large to just be in a single conference. I say it is because they are the GDI’s of football, the non-joiners.
List of College Teams in FBS Conferences:
Here are the teams within each of these conferences. You’ll notice that several conferences have 2 divisions within them and that most conferences are now up to 12 teams in them (even though their name may not reflect the more recent change):
ACC
Atlantic
Boston College
Clemson
Florida State
Louisville
North Carolina State
Syracuse
Wake Forest
Coastal
Duke
Georgia Tech
Miami
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
Virginia
Virginia Tech
American Athletic
East
Cincinnati
Connecticut
East Carolina
South Florida
Temple
UCF
West
Houston
Memphis
Navy
Southern Methodist
Tulane
Tulsa
Big 12
Baylor
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
TCU
Texas
Texas Tech
West Virginia
Big Ten
East
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers
West
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin
C-USA
East
Charlotte
East Carolina
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Old Dominion
Western Kentucky
West
Louisiana Tech
North Texas
Rice
Southern Miss
UAB
UTEP
UTSA
MAC
East
Akron
Bowling Green
Buffalo
Kent State
Miami (OH)
Ohio
West
Ball State
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Northern Illinois
Toledo
Western Michigan
MWC
West
Fresno State
Hawaii
Nevada
San Diego State
San Jose State
UNLV
Mountain
Air Force
Boise State
Colorado State
New Mexico
Utah State
Wyoming
PAC -12
North
California
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
Washington
Washington State
South
Arizona
Arizona State
Colorado
UCLA
USC
Utah
SEC
East
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Missouri
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
West
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
Sun Belt
East
Appalachian State
Coastal Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Troy
West
Arkansas State
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana-Monroe
South Alabama
Texas State
Independent teams
Army
Brigham Young University
Idaho
Liberty
New Mexico State
Notre Dame (loosely affiliated with the ACC)
UMass
You’ll notice that for each of the conferences, they generally follow some type of geographical location where the teams are relatively close to each other or make sense based on the conference name. However, then you’ll find one or two teams that make no sense at all! For example, how did West Virginia get in with the teams in the Big 12 which are all ‘plains’ states kind of places.
Generally, you can count on that team being a late addition to the conference having moved from a different conference at some point. This kind of thing happens all the time. Why? Family feuds, trying to be noticed more, or more money!! Isn’t that the answer to almost anything?!
College Conferences Explained
BCS Explained