What If: SBNation Article on Relegation in College Football

SBNation just posted their latest installment in their College Football Relegation series. They imagine a world where college football works like soccer. Each conference is made up of multiple tiers of quality. At the end of the year, the worst team in each tier gets demoted to the next tier down while the best teams in the lower tiers move up. They've carried this thought experiment through 10 years now, and it's a fascinating read. There are so many installments that it gets difficult to follow, so I have compiled the results for the ACC below:

They started in 2005, so this was the membership at the time.
Starting Membership
Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, N.C. State, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Tier 2 for the ACC is the Big East (now AAC)

2005
Drop: Duke
Add: WVU

2006
Drop: N.C. State
Add: Louisville
Sidenote: Duke gets demoted again down to Tier 3 (The Atlantic 10/Colonial). They used to be atrocious.

2007
Drop: Miami
Add: UConn

2008
Drop: Louisville
Add: Cincinnati

2009
Drop: Maryland
Add: Pitt

2010
Drop: Wake Forest
Add: N.C. State (First returning original member)

2011
Drop: Boston College
Add: Miami (Da U is Back!)

2012
Drop: UConn
Add: Lousiville
Sidenote: Duke finally makes it back to Tier 2

2013
Drop: N.C. State
Add: Duke
Add through realignment: Notre Dame & UCF

2014
Drop: UCF
Add: Boston College

Interesting to see some recent additions to the ACC pop up on this list. Amazingly, UVA never got dropped. They were always a hair less bad than someone else.

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Never Forget #1 Overall Seed UVA 54, #64 UMBC 74

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Wet stuff on the red stuff.

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"It might be dark outside, but it's LeDay in here." - Jay Bilas

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No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

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Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

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No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

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No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

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No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

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VT Class of '12 (MSE), MVBone, Go Hokies!

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Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

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Taylor, looking desperately throws it deep..HAS A MAN OPEN DANNY COALE WITH A CATCH ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FIVE!!!!....hes still open

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Marshall University graduate.
Virginia Tech fanatic.
Formerly known as JWillHokieAlum.

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"I'm too drunk to taste this chicken" - Colonel Sanders via Ricky Bobby

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I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction:
“I served in the United States Navy"

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No, I *don't* want to go to the SEC. Why do you ask?

We don't love dem Hoos.

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"It might be dark outside, but it's LeDay in here." - Jay Bilas