College Football Relegation - 2014

This is the ninth entry in my series on relegation in college football (you should read the preceding posts first).

The first year of the College Football Playoff...think it is safe to say Miami, who finished 6-7 in the ACC, would not have qualified.

SMU continues our realignment by bailing on the ACC for Big 12, a natural fit for the conference, along with Houston and a newly pursued Kansas, giving the Big 12 further presence in the Dallas and Houston markets after the departure of Texas A&M as the conference looks to expand to the 12 it needs for a championship game.

As for the relegations:

ACC - UConn

Big 10 - Bowling Green

Big 12 - SMU

PAC 12 - Washington State

SEC - Vanderbilt

Karma swings around on the Mustangs, who bailed on the ACC for the more competitive Big 12, leaving behind a conference that included bottom-feeders UConn and Virginia, both of whom could have provided a buffer.

Promotions:

Conference USA- Louisiana Tech

MAC- Toledo

Mountain West- Colorado State

Sun Belt- Arkansas

At-large- Temple (also in the mix: Air Force, Memphis, Georgia Southern)

This was the most boring year for promotions and relegations, with no big names (or quite frankly even any other interesting names) other than Arkansas going either way.

The Big 10 grabs Arkansas to expand south and slap the SEC after celebrating Ohio State's title, the PAC 12 takes in Colorado State, the SEC stays regional with Louisiana Tech, the ACC grabs another Northeastern school in a big market with Temple, and the Big 12 is (regrettably) left with Toledo, a school that makes no sense for them despite a solid program.

This year wasn't fun, so while we're here, let's do the Top 12 TV shows of 2016 (in no order):

Atlanta (FX) - Absolutely brilliant

American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson (FX) - Travolta's hairline alone...

OJ Simpson: Made in America (ESPN) - One of the best commentaries on race relations in America ever done

Quarry (Cinemax) - Feels like you are actually in 1972 Memphis, and the last episode might be the best 90 minutes of TV made this year

Veep (HBO) - The Queen stays The Queen

The Americans (FX) - Habitually underrated

Black Mirror (Netflix) - Starting to feel like a documentary

Game of Thrones (HBO) - The best movie of the year

Full Frontal w/ Samantha Bee (TBS) - Stepped up and took Jon Stewart's throne as a biting critic during this election season

Last Week Tonight w/ John Oliver (HBO) - Sam Bee was the most biting voice but Oliver was perhaps the hardest hitting, with an extra 8 minutes per night due to HBO's lack of ads

Stranger Things (Netflix) - Pure fun

The Night Of (HBO) - A true crime mini-series in which the "whodunnit" is the least interesting aspect

BONUS 8:

You're The Worst (FXX)

High Maintenance (HBO)

Better Things (FX) 

Fleabag (Amazon Prime) 

Catastrophe (Amazon Prime) 

The Night Manager (AMC)
Insecure (HBO)
Broad City (Comedy Central)