I’ve always been fascinated with alternate history and college football, which has led me to combine the two from time to time. This scenario...
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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/nointro-225 on 2025-06-04 21:54:01+00:00.

I’ve always been fascinated with alternate history and college football, which has led me to combine the two from time to time. This scenario involves 2 proposed conferences from the 1950s and 60s: the Airplane Conference and Magnolia League. I’ve always found these hypothetical conferences interesting, and I wanted to attempt an alternate conference timeline. I know the butterfly effect can change things drastically, but I tried to keep things somewhat realistic, while at the same time doing things I found interesting. I’ve only figured things out into the late 1980s/early 1990s, so I’d love to hear feedback as well as tips on how to continue!

Airplane Conference: The conference was proposed in 1959 by Pittsburgh, and would have been comprised of independent teams from both the East and West, along with the 3 service academies. While the service academies ended up backing out in real life, let’s say the conference begins play in 1961 with all of its proposed members. This would result in fewer eastern independents, and more notably, no Pac-8 being formed.

  • Washington

  • Stanford

  • California

  • UCLA

  • USC

  • Air Force

  • Notre Dame

  • Pittsburgh

  • Penn State

  • Syracuse

  • Army

  • Navy

Magnolia League: In the early 1950s, Vanderbilt’s athletic director became interested in positioning the school closer to the Ivy League and more academically focused institutions. This later led him to reach out to other private schools around the South, including Duke, SMU, Rice, and Tulane. While talks never ended up going anywhere, for this hypothetical I wanted to see this conference take shape in some way. I included all the members who were in talks to join, along with other notable private/academically focused schools in the South. Most notably, this resulted in the 4 private Texas schools (TCU, SMU, Baylor, and Rice) all leaving the Southwest Conference in the 1960s, leading to a Big 12 that formed much earlier than in our timeline. The Magnolia League begins play in 1964, the same year Georgia Tech left the SEC in our timeline.

  • Tulsa

  • TCU

  • SMU

  • Baylor

  • Rice

  • Tulane

  • Vanderbilt

  • Georgia Tech

  • Duke

  • Wake Forest

Big 8/12: With the private schools leaving the Southwest Conference for the Magnolia, this only leaves Texas, A&M, Tech, and Arkansas. They could invite new members to reload, but outside of Houston, there aren’t many viable candidates. I thought it would be interesting for the 4 schools to stick together and look Northward, creating the Big 12 in 1964. This is essentially the classic Big 12 with Arkansas getting Baylor’s spot.

  • Nebraska

  • Iowa State

  • Colorado

  • Kansas

  • Kansas State

  • Missouri

  • Oklahoma

  • Oklahoma State

  • Arkansas

  • Texas

  • Texas A&M

  • Texas Tech

SEC: Losing 3 members to the Magnolia League, the SEC may be more open to inviting other schools to stop the bleeding. One primary candidate is Florida State, who in our timeline had attempted to join the league numerous times in the 1960s. Here, the Seminoles successfully join in 1966.

  • LSU

  • Ole Miss

  • Mississippi State

  • Alabama

  • Auburn

  • Tennessee

  • Kentucky

  • Georgia

  • Florida

  • Florida State

ACC: Much like the SEC, the ACC may be more proactive in inviting new members as well as keeping their remaining members. Virginia Tech and West Virginia, 2 potential inaugural members, are invited to the league following their exit from the Southern Conference in 1965 and 1968 respectively. Without Duke and Wake Forest, the ACC may be more open to looser academic standards, leading to South Carolina remaining a member. Finally, Georgia Tech remains a member of the Magnolia. East Carolina is invited from independence in its place, as the ACC has less presence in North Carolina. The Pirates begin play in the conference in 1983.

  • Maryland

  • West Virginia

  • Virginia

  • Virginia Tech

  • North Carolina

  • NC State

  • East Carolina

  • Clemson

  • South Carolina

WAC: With the creation of the Airplane Conference, one of the more interesting conferences to think about was the WAC. With no Pac-8, Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State may opt to join the WAC. In fact, the 3 schools were in talks to become founding members of the WAC in real life. As such, the WAC begins play in 1962 with 9 members. New schools are added over the years, including Colorado State and UTEP in 1968, and San Diego State in 1978. Because the conference is now at 12 members this early, Hawaii instead joins the Big West.

  • Washington State

  • Oregon

  • Oregon State

  • Utah

  • BYU

  • Wyoming

  • Colorado State

  • San Diego State

  • Arizona

  • Arizona State

  • New Mexico

  • UTEP

Big Ten: The Big Ten is the least changed conference in this timeline. While Penn State is now a member of the Airplane Conference, the membership of the Big Ten remains the same into the 1990s.

  • Minnesota

  • Wisconsin

  • Iowa

  • Illinois

  • Northwestern

  • Indiana

  • Purdue

  • Michigan

  • Michigan State

  • Ohio State

Independents: The realm of independence is different in this scenario, as many Eastern independents are now a part of the Airplane Conference. As such, a Big East football conference likely doesn’t form. Other than that, the other difference is that Houston remains independent into the 1990s. For the sake of the hypothetical, we’ll say that the Cougars stay as competitive as they did in our timeline.

  • Akron

  • Boston College

  • Cincinnati

  • Louisiana

  • Louisiana Tech

  • Louisville

  • Memphis

  • Miami (FL)

  • Northern Illinois

  • Rutgers

  • Southern Miss

  • Temple

Some ideas for the future: Going into the 90s, I have some ideas on how to progress, but they are less defined. Ideas include:

  • Miami and Houston join the SEC

  • Boston College and Rutgers join the Big Ten

  • Some combination of Louisville/Cincinnati/Memphis/Temple join the ACC for 12 teams

  • No CUSA in the 1990s

  • No WAC expansion in the 1990s, no Mountain West

  • South Florida to the ACC in the 2000s

  • Boise State and Fresno State to the WAC in the 2010s

  • West Virginia and Virginia Tech to the SEC in the 2010s

  • UCF, UConn, and Memphis as potential ACC candidates in the 2010s

  • Potential Airplane Expansion, maybe Oregon and an Eastern team

  • Not sure what will happen to the WAC and Big 12, either could get raided

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I know this isn’t entirely realistic, but I find it fun to speculate on an alternate college football landscape. I’d love to hear feedback and tips on where to go from here!