Welter: College football conference realignment is multiverse mayhem

By Pat Welter

It's the year of the multiverse. String theory has never been more top of mind with movies like "Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once," dominating the box office this summer. For those new to the concept, I'm talking about parallel universes. Imagine for every decision we make there is a universe where we make a different one. This could theoretically go into infinity.  Try not to think too hard about it.  In this universe you're a successful banker, well maybe in another one you're a country singer all because of a few different choices.  It makes for a fun storytelling device, it's also a great way to understand college football conference realignment.

The official announcement of USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten in 2024 has turned college football upside down. It's left many of us verklempt over the future of the sport. (I've never used the word verklempt in my life, I wonder what universal possibilities I just opened by writing it?). The move is shocking, but it shouldn't be. We all saw this coming when Texas and Oklahoma announced their plans to join the SEC a year ago. With the Big Ten about to secure a new TV deal which could be worth up to an estimated $1 billion, the financial pressure was in place for another domino to fall.

It's natural to feel nostalgic about college football as the fabric of the sport appears to be shredding apart. What is going to happen to our rivalries? What will happen to the schools that get left out of these new emerging super conferences? What about college basketball? Could there really be a world without UNC vs. Duke? Coach K got out just in time.

I like to believe there's a universe out there where Maryland is still in the ACC and Nebraska never left the Big 12. The truth is it feels like this end is inevitable no matter how many times we play it out. Even in a universe without money, there'd still be some other incentive for self preservation. As the movie "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once" shows there's a universe where we all have hotdogs for fingers and learned to do incredible things with our feet. Who are you and I to say it doesn't exist?

Texas, Oklahoma, USC and UCLA have us barreling through time and space towards a world of the SEC, the Big Ten and everyone else. It's a prophecy that was foretold long ago:

What makes the college football situation even more troubling is we are simultaneously dealing with NIL and the transfer portal. We all bashed the NCAA for years about athlete's being exploited financially and the hypocrisy of coaches being able to leave anytime when the players could not. Turns out we could have used a slower roll out. The ability to transfer freely has created full fledge college football free agency. Name, image and likeness deals are becoming the deciding factor among high profile transfers and recruits. The NCAA says schools aren't allowed to induce players with NIL deals, but everyone I've talked to around college football says good luck enforcing it.

You're probably familiar with Marvel's Dr. Strange take on the multiverse. Avoiding major spoilers the film is about Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and her quest to find a universe where she can live happily with her children who don't exist in hers. (If Elizabeth Olsen becoming more famous than her twin sisters Mary Kate and Ashley isn't proof of multiverse theory then I don't know what is).

"Everything, Everywhere, All at Once," is a movie I imagine less people know. It's directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert and features an international cast. The plot revolves around Evelyn Quan Wang, played by Michelle Yeoh, a Chinese immigrant who is struggling to connect with her husband and her daughter. As her personal life and business are on the verge of ruin, she's contacted by her husband from another universe who tells her she is the only one who can save the world. As Evelyn learns more about the multiverse she wrestles with two conflicting beliefs: Life is meaningless and love gives life meaning. (You could argue the most important question the film poses is can you actually put "everything" on a bagel, but you'll have to see the movie to get the answer to that).

I think a lot of college football players, coaches, administrators, fans and media can relate to Wanda and Evelyn right now. We'd give up a lot to travel to a universe where our favorite school is relevant and in its proper conference. With the transfer portal, NIL, and conference realignment college football truly has everything, everywhere, all at once and if we have all that do we really have anything at all?

Maybe Notre Dame is the hero of this story. They are Dr. Strange floating in with their independent cape and third eye to save the day. A full-time move to the ACC in conjunction with some sort of alliance or merger with the Pac-12 could stabilize the sport, but who are we kidding. Notre Dame is going to do what's best for them, when it's best for them. Hard to believe that means joining one of the floundering conferences.

It's okay to want to fight this, but ultimately I think we are going to have accept it. College football is going to eventually have two super conferences. We will get used to it, we will adapt. Remember there used to be a world where Princeton and Yale claimed the national championship every year. The AP Poll didn't start naming their national champion after the bowl games until 1968. (They tried it in 1965 and said hold on let's think about this for another couple years first, it makes way too much sense).

I don't know what's going to happen to Ohio State vs. Michigan or Duke vs. UNC. I do know we will still attend these schools. We will meet our best friends at them and marry our husbands and wives. We will wear their colors and donate our hard earned money. College represents the best years of our lives and conference realignment can't take that away.  There is no universe where this plays out perfectly, but in every universe we will love college sports.  That love is just going to look different tomorrow than it does today.