If you'll recall, just over a week ago we announced a SB Nation conference redraft, in which 6 conference commissioners were seeking to draft college programs based on whatever criteria they wanted. Once a team was drafted, they'd then work with the conference commissioners to collaborate to select their next pick. This would continue until the conference decided they had as many teams as they wanted. They can stop at 8 teams if they want or go with 30 teams. It's up to each conference. The first two rounds have finished and, not surprisingly, Maryland wasn't selected. A breakdown of the first 12 picks can be found after the jump...
The new conferences haven't announced new names yet, so for the time being, I'm just referring to each by who the conference commissioner is.
BC Interruption's team - 1st round (1st overall) - Texas, 2nd round (12th overall) - Georgia
Black Heart Gold Pants team - 1st round (2nd overall) - Florida, 2nd round (11th overall) - Penn State
Team Speed Kills team - 1st round (3rd overall) - Alabama, 2nd round (10th overall) - Oklahoma
Big East Coast Bias team - 1st round (4th overall) - Ohio State, 2nd round (9th overall) - Florida State
House of Sparky team - 1st round (5th overall) - University of Southern California, 2nd round (8th overall) - Notre Dame
Red Cup Rebellion team - 1st round (6th overall) - LSU, 2nd round (7th overall) - Michigan
Instant analysis:
So there you have it. As you can tell, each conference seems to be going with a "football/revenue" themed draft thus far. Texas being selected 1st is by no means surprising, as they're probably the best cash cow out there and also bring a fantastic football and basketball team to the table, along with a large, very supportive fan base. It would have definitely been my first choice.
Some things that surprised me:
USC was selected so early. With the pending sanctions and possible move of an NFL team to LA in the nearish future, I think they were a reach being drafted at #5, especially with some of the teams that were still on the board. I can understand why, but it still surprised me a little.
I also think Florida State going in the Top 10 was a bit of a surprise. Its obviously a great school with a great fan base and recruiting talent, but when you look at revenue of athletic departments, FSU ranks 53rd (behind Duke, UVA, UNC, BC, Clemson, Va Tech, MD, Georgia Tech and Miami). They were only ahead of NC State and Wake in terms of revenue. Now that could obviously change in a new conference with a new TV deal, etc. But while FSU has a great football tradition, their basketball team has historically been bad and with little to no fan support. Plus, FSU doesn't bring with it a big TV market. Would you really take FSU when teams like Wisconsin and Auburn are still on the table? I sure as hell wouldn't.
Best Conferences Thus Far:
I think BC Interruption and Team Speed Kills have had the best draft thus far. It was obviously a no-brainer start for BC to draft Texas, but to then be able to grab Georgia was rather smart. Team Speed's conference of Alabama and Oklahoma thus far seems rather good as well.
What's next?
The draft will continue until each conference has decided that they've filled out their conference with enough teams. As the next few rounds happen, I'll do another post analyszing the picks and I'll post something once Maryland is selected. It will be interesting to see if anyone builds a conference towards basketball or another feature besides football. That could be happening based on the early 3rd round picks, but we'll have to wait and see. By the way, a 2nd ACC school has been selected in the 3rd round. I think it's a super-mega reach of a pick, but we'll talk more about it when the time comes. Until then, what do you think? Who's doing good thus far? Is there a conference that makes you scratch your head and asking what the fudge were they thinking?