America's (civil) War Game

There’s a notable difference between the programs who comprise the two major conferences that now remain in college football.

There’s a pretty stark subplot to all of the college football realignment taking place that has been largely unexplored. I figure this blog of all places has to try and tackle it, no one else is going to do it quite like we will.

Let’s start with this handy Wikipedia map of the state of things in American in 1864 amidst the Civil War. The blue states are the Union states, the red ones were in the Confederacy, the light blue were Union states which were slave states but didn’t join the Confederacy.

Can you guess where I’m going with this?

Here’s how the current SEC and Big 10 maps for 2024 overlay onto the historical one above.

Our new major football conferences and the postseason they will create is like a reenactment of the American Civil War…