Know Your 2023 NCAA Conference Realignment

Article ByKyle Garlett

July 5, 2023

Spread the Word:

Posted in: US Sports Betting News, US Gambling News

The big conference moves are still a year away, when Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC, and USC and UCLA leave the Pac-12 after 65 years and join the Big Ten.

However, for the sheer volume of moving schools, 2023 is also a landmark year. There will be 14 FBS college football teams playing in new conferences this fall, and a total of 19 schools making changes with their basketball programs.

The New Big 12 Conference

Oklahoma and Texas are leaving. But the Big 12 Conference made some big additions this year that should help ease those coming losses. They will have 14 schools for the upcoming college sports seasons, and then go back to 12 on July 1, 2024.

BYU Cougars

A national champion in football in 1984, and a former “Quarterback U” that turned out Super Bowl-winning signal callers Jim McMahon and Steve Young, BYU ends 13 seasons of independence by joining the Big 12.

Formerly of the Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference, BYU joins the Big 12 on a five-year bowl appearance streak. 

Cincinnati Bearcats

A great football team just two years removed from a trip to the College Football Playoffs, Cincinnati is on its fourth conference since 1996. They were four-time conference champions in the Big East, and three-time champions in the American Athletic Conference. But according to Sportsbetting.ag, they are just +5000 to win the Big 12 this year.

The last time the men’s basketball team appeared in the NCAA Tournament was 2019. But they have six Final Four appearances in their history, and have been in the Sweet 16 some 13 times.

Houston Cougars

Another traditional power in men’s basketball is Houston, who joins the Big 12 coming off a fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth straight appearances in the Sweet 16. Houston also has six Final Four appearances, including most recently in 2021.

The football team joins the Big 12 coming off two straight bowl victories and 20 wins over the last two years.

UCF Knights

The University of Central Florida football team reached its peak in 2017, when it finished the year 13-0 and anointed themselves national champions. They were not invited to the College Football Playoff, thus creating the need for the self-congratulations.

Under head coach Gus Malzahn, they have still been very good, winning nine games in each of the last two years and extending their bowl appearance streak to seven straight years.

American Athletic Conference

Gone from the American Athletic Conference are Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, but taking their place in the AAC are six other schools. The 2023 football season will have 14 teams competing in the AAC, as compared to the 11 football teams last year.

Joining the conference for 2023 are the Charlotte 49ers, Florida Atlantic Owls, North Texas Mean Green, Rice Owls, UAB Blazers, and UTSA Roadrunners.

The men’s basketball team at Florida Atlantic was in the Final Four three months ago, and they were Conference USA football champions in 2017 and 2019. Charlotte has never played East Carolina in its football history, but now they have an in-state and in-conference rivalry. And with the additions of North Texas, Rice, and University of Texas at San Antonio, the AAC now has four schools in the Lone Star State.

Sportsbetting.ag has Tulane as +225 favorites to repeat as conference champions in football. UTSA is third at +475, and Florida Atlantic has the fifth-shortest odds at +900.

Conference USA

While the Big 12’s additions keep it in line with the rest of the Power Five Conferences, and it’s easy to see how the AAC has improved its profile and competitiveness, the changes for Conference USA are not so positive.

Gone are Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA. That’s a Final Four team in men’s basketball and four bowl teams in football in just the last year. Replacing those departing six teams are Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State, and Sam Houston. C-USA is down from 11 teams to nine, and none of the new four schools bring a tradition of winning in any NCAA sport.

According to Sportsbetting.ag, Liberty is the most likely to make a first season impact. They are paying +230 to win the conference in football, which puts them second behind Western Kentucky at +140.

Other Conference Changes

There are five schools that don’t play FBS football that have also made conference changes for the upcoming fall semester.

Campbell University goes from the Big South to the Colonial Athletic Conference. The University of Hartford has dropped from Division I to Division III and are now a member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference. LeMoyne College makes the move up to Division I and is now in the Northeast Conference.

St. Francis Brooklyn has left the Northeast Conference and all of sports, ending their athletic programs after the spring semester. Western Illinois has moved all of its sports over to the Ohio Valley Conference, except for football and men’s soccer. Those teams will join the rest of the Leathernecks in the OVC in 2024.