Who will have the most success in their new conference?

[Rufus]

2024 will see 8 teams change conferences within the P5. Which team do you think will have the most success? For purposes of the poll, this includes all sports. If you want to give a different answer for a specific sport, say that in the comments below.

 

[Kolumbo]

UCLA, USC, Texas, Oklahoma - they are all being neutered. moving to more difficult conferences more or less outside their territory.
Cincinnati has always had so much potential but always held back by Ohio State. Cincy should be able to capitalize on its excellent athletic department and being in a top to bottom excellent conference with no alpha dog like Texas. Houston will also do very well.

 

[Waquoit]

I think UCF is the pick. They are a FB team first, part of a college second. I think they thrive in a wild west scenario as part of a better conference.

 

[shizzle787]

I think UCF is the pick. They are a FB team first, part of a college second. I think they thrive in a wild west scenario as part of a better conference.

Honestly, I think they do the worst. They will run into our problem- playing in a league with no rivals and far away from everyone else.

 

[Hoophound]

Honestly, I think they do the worst. They will run into our problem- playing in a league with no rivals and far away from everyone else.

I’m interested in the B12 saying over and over that they will be a national conference. No conference is “national” without a northeastern representative. UConn along with UCF, WVU and Cincy could help the isolation issue a little bit for the eastern schools. Between that and the different rumors, there may be some smoke to UConn joining the B12. However, it definitely seems that any teasing of big things to come by AD Dave insinuated that the ACC was the likely destination.

 

[Ldandy]

I'm going with UCF. They have done more with less than just about any program in America over the last decade. They will soon have financial parity with a number of schools that they had already surpassed on the field despite their sizable resource disadvantage.

The State of Florida has such an obscene amount of FBS Level Football Players that UCF can build a legit P5 Roster through both HS Recruiting and Portal Activity. They will be in a great position to pick up a bunch of kids who leave the state and then want to transfer home. Who knows maybe they'll pluck a few recruits from Texas and The Midwest?

As for the rest, I see both Cincy and UH settling in nicely in The Big 12, however I'm not high on either of their current coaches. I think BYU will struggle when they are suddenly not "special" They've shown that they can compete with most P5 Schools, however we've not had to see them play out an entire season's schedule worth of them. I think OU will ultimately be fine after adjusting to the level of competition in The SEC. They always have good players, coaches, and great recruiting. USC should also be fine, due to offensive coaching and access to talent, but I think they'll be surprised by the physicality of the B1G on a weekly basis. Utah beat the living hell out of them twice last year. There are a number of schools that will play that exact same way who will be on their schedule.

Finally, I think UCLA and UT are in real trouble. Despite location and access to talent, they are in for a rude awakening. UCLA is butter soft and will have their a** repeatedly handed to them by The Iowas and Minnesotas that want to play bully ball. Texas on the otherhand views themselves as the king of whatever conference they are in. This will be put to bed immediately when they roll into Tuscaloosa, or Death Valley for a night game. A little humbling is good for everyone, I'm not sure that their players or boosters are ready for what they are about to receive.

 

[Slasher]

I think Cincinnati. The teams going to the SEC and B1G are going to struggle. SEC because of the enormous football depth and the Pac 12 schools simply due to the constant grind in hoops and the totally different playstyle that is B1G football. Houston/UCF haven't even been in a true power conference (notwithstanding the very old SWC before all these kids were born.) Cincinnati won multiple Big East titles in football, played in a bunch of tournaments in a row in the Big East and they are just on the cusp of being good again after the John Brannen disaster.

 

[UConnJim]

On the football side, the schools going to the Big 12, Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, and BYU will struggle the most. Why? Using last year's Sagarin ratings, the new additions would have been ranked 7th (Cincinnati), 10th (UCF), 11th (BYU), and 12th (Houston) in the new B12 out of 12 teams which excludes Texas and Oklahoma. Although the new Big 12 does not have marquee brands, they are pretty good at football (and basketball as well).

In 2022, USC would have ranked 4th in the new Big 10 and UCLA would have ranked 8th out of 16. I think both teams will be competitive. Texas would have been ranked 4th in the new SEC and Oklahoma (down year) would have been ranked 6th out of 16 teams.

 

[Husky25]

I think UCF is the pick. They are a FB team first, part of a college second. I think they thrive in a wild west scenario as part of a better conference.

If recent realignment history has shown anything, it is that any program jumping major conferences will all struggle. Typically they are (perceived to be) at the top of their heap in their former conference for a reason, but the SEC cupcakes are better than PAC-12 or Big 12 cupcakes and the new additions will regress to their new mean. This doesn't even consider that neither Texas nor Oklahoma have not performed up to their own standards.

The Former AAC schools will probably fair a little better, but again, the Big XXII mean is higher than that of the AAC. In other words, any school who was the big fish in a little ponds tend to be normalized, if not become smaller prey, once they find themselves in deeper waters.

The program with the best chance to succeed IMO is BYU for a similar reason you believe UCF will succeed (Wasn't UCF supposed to feed NASA?). They are a religious feeder system first and college second. Their recruiting pipeline knows no state or regional boundary. They, by and large, don't seem to care about regional rivalries or inter-timezone travel. They will still get the players and 26 year old men coming off a mission will still beat up on 19 year old boys...for the most part.