College football Relegation - 2010

This is the fifth entry in my series on relegation in college football (I recommend reading the preceding posts first).

2010, I remember it (mostly) fondly. My first year in Los Angeles! 18 hour work days selling ladies' shoes!

The 'Canes massively underachieved this year (shocker, I know), resulting in a 7-6 record and the firing of Randy Shannon despite a F/+ that was 24th in the country. Knowing what we know about that team's inability to win games against big time opponents (blown out by Ohio State and Florida State) and weakness at the QB position (freshman Stephen Morris and Jacory Harris), it is hard to imagine them doing much better in a Big 12 that had 5 teams ranked in the Top 25 at season's end.

The Big 12 also included one of the most fascinating relegation battles, not because of the team that ended up losing (Colorado) but because of the team that narrowly escaped the jaws of death: a 5-7 overall, 2-6 in-conference Texas Longhorn team.

The same Texas that the next season would launch its own TV network. Arguably the most important, certainly the most influential program in college football. THAT Texas.

Relegations:

ACC - Wake Forest

Big East - Rutgers

Big 10 - Central Michigan

Big 12 - Colorado

PAC 10 - UCLA

SEC - Ole Miss

At this point, Ole Miss getting relegated seems cruel and unusual. Interestingly, this was the timeframe when TV cemented its place at the center of the college football universe...and teams from the 2 biggest media markets both find themselves knocked down a level. Central Michigan ends a 4 year run in the Big 10, while Colorado and Wake Forest finally fall after years on the bubble.

Promotions:

Conference USA - UCF

MAC - Miami (OH)

Mountain West - San Diego State

Sun Belt - FIU

WAC - Nevada

At-large - Baylor

This is a pretty terrible group outside of Baylor. Miami (OH) is our latest example of chaos reigning in college football, getting in by virtue of a conference championship game upset of a far superior Northern Illinois team despite an F/+ ranking so low (94th) that it seems impossible they would have even qualified for a conference championship game.

In the expansion draft, a Baylor program lead by emerging star Robert Griffin III is nabbed first by the SEC, a move  to expand into Texas that would foreshadow their eventual IRL move to poach Texas A&M from the Big 12.

The PAC-10 nabs Nevada, coming off an impressive season with Colin Kaepernick at quarterback. The Big 12 takes UCF to pair with Miami, the Big 10 opts for the regional doormat Miami (OH), the ACC gets back in to the Miami market with FIU and the Big East stretches as far West as possible with San Diego State.