CryptoMiner
Active Member
When realignment leaves a school behind: 10 teams and how they fared
The good news for Oregon State and Washington State -- spurned by power conferences -- is that teams have been left behind before. Some, like TCU, eventually survived.
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Demise of the Southwest Conference
The dawn of the superconference brought quite a bit of expansion. The Big Ten added Penn State in 1993; the SEC attempted to add Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M before settling for just the Hogs and South Carolina in 1992; and the Pac-10 weighed expansion into intriguing TV markets such as Denver (Colorado, Colorado State, Air Force), Dallas (SMU, TCU) and Houston (Houston, Rice) before bailing on the idea.
Eventually, the Big 12 formed from the members of the Big Eight and half the scandal-plagued SWC. With the Pac-10 choosing against expansion, the other half of the SWC was left on the outside looking in. Over the SWC's final five seasons, the abandoned half -- Houston, Rice, SMU and TCU -- had gone a combined 71-144-6 with one bowl appearance among those schools. NCAA sanctions had crushed Houston and SMU in particular, and they had all chosen a bad time to not have their respective acts together.
It was a long journey back, but with SMU joining the ACC in 2024, three of the SWC's four left-behind programs are now back on power-conference rosters. (Yes, we're still calling the ACC and Big 12 power conferences even if the Big Ten and SEC have formed a big two of sorts.)
TCU Horned Frogs
Last 10 years before demotion: 4.8 average wins, 33.8% average SP+ percentile rating
First 10 years after demotion: 7.3 average wins, 48.9% average SP+ percentile rating
Bill Connelly
After a combination of NCAA sanctions and general ineptitude had rendered TCU an afterthought of a football program -- the Horned Frogs finished above .500 just twice in the 22 seasons from 1972 to 1993 -- it was beginning to show signs of life under Pat Sullivan when the SWC fell apart. That quickly ceased, however: The Horned Frogs went 5-17 in their first two seasons in the expanded WAC, and Sullivan was replaced by Dennis Franchione.
Under first Franchione and then Gary Patterson, however, TCU turned itself around. It also had no qualms in jumping from opportunity to opportunity. In the WAC, Conference USA and Mountain West, the Frogs won double-digit games nine times from 2000 to 2011, peaking with a 36-3 run, three top-10 finishes and a Rose Bowl win from 2008 to 2010. That, plus their residence in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, made them obvious candidates for Big 12 membership when the conference looked to replenish recent realignment losses in 2012. They've enjoyed four more top-10 finishes over the past 10 years. This is the model left-behind program.
