I created the following map of the current division 1-A football conferences. Its a little small, but I hope that you find it useful. ;D

Wow cybercat, good job... :)

I just love maps...I can look at them for long periods of time...course I love travel too, and they sort of go together... ;)

Wonderful way of visualising which schools might most logically go together geographically and travel-distance wise.

Particularly instructive to see the various overlaps of the mid-level conferences...

Thanks a lot... ;D

Cool beans, Cybercat. Is it available in a GIS compatible format? I can imagine having lots of fun with people amending the affiliations/colors for each school! Very nice.

Also confirms my impression of the WAC feeling the most scattered and illogical.

Have to offer one small dig, but very lightheartedly; Why the Easter colors, man?!! ;D

Wonderful Map CyberCat.

Really sheds a new light on potential expansions...especially out west.

thanks a bunch...

Great Map.

Notice the location of Marshall. Not very far east are they? Not very far south either. The truth is they are in the Mid-West and belong in the MAC.

Look how close South Carolina is to heavy weights Tennesse and Georgia. They play Clemson anyway, and why would they want to trade Georgia (85,000avg) for Georgia Tech (50,000avg) and Tennesse(105,000avg) for NC State (50,000avg)?

I thought Oregon State was more remote than that. Their fan base must be ready to explode.

GunnerFan, No it was created in PowerPoint and exported in GIF format. I didn't modify the MSFT map clipart state colors. And I was just looking for 12 colors that would show up on the map as text and "dots".

Are you using xp or 2000 office if so were would you go to download it. Because my clipart doesn't have it.

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The Bear may be dead but he still hates Tennessee. Roll Damn Tide

footballgod, I am using Office 2000. I tried to make the PowerPoint version available after GunnerFan's inquiry about the map's format. My ISP (Mindspring), only allows me to upload files of the types gif, jpg, jpeg to my Web site. I guess it must have something to do with virus protection. I wasn't aware of this until I tried it yesterday. In addition, this board's software only allows me to "Insert Images" that are out on the Web and not on my PC. Perhaps this has to do with the router and software firewall I have in place. If you send me your e-mail address, I will send you the file in ppt format.

I didn't have any map cliparts either until a couple of days ago. I checked around on the Web and saw various sites that had map clipart for a price. Being on a limited budget (paying for my two daughters college educations), I explored further. In PowerPoint 2000, from the tool bar do an insert, picture, clipart, Clips Online, and then answer OK. This opens a Web page (http://dgl.microsoft.com/?CAG=1) where if you search on "maps", brings up about 1,000 cliparts for download, free of charge. You may be able to go directly to the URL and start downloading, I didn't have a need to test it out, as I downloaded all that I wanted the first time.

In regards to being the "Map King", I love maps. I have a large map collect at home. I created this map, because I couldn't find a good football map on the Web. IMO, we progress best through individual contributions to the "team". I would rather see others use their skills to improve upon my work and embellish this thread with additional maps. :)

Thanks for the great map. It really does highlight some interesting points of geography, such as:

West Virginia is an eastern school, not because the state is eastern but that WVU is so close to the PA border. It also explains its rivalry with Pitt. In a sense, WVU is an eastern school with West Virgnia not being an eastern state

The Univ. of Iowa has always been a good fit in the Big Ten even if the state of Iowa differs from the more urbanized states in the rest of the conference. Iowa City is so far east in Iowa that it shares a lot in common with the states east of the Mississippi. In fact, it is close enough to Chicago to draw about 30% of its enrollment comes from the metro area. Iowa State and Mizzou, two XXII schools mentioned in Big Ten scenerios, do not have that type of geographicl connection.

Arkansas suffered in both the old SWC and the SEC because it is so far removed from schools like Mizzou and OU which are closer to its location in n.w. Ark. Maybe the Big XXII would be a better fit.

Penn State is so far removed from the eastern seaboard that it really may have more in common with other Big Ten schools than with schools along the east coast.

bgdz, great observations! What stands out most for me, looking at the map, is that Idaho is in the Sun Belt conference. They’re almost in Canada!!! ???

Sensational job, Cybercat! 8-) I, too, love maps. This one's a keeper, so I'm saving it. Like the old map of the USSR, I think it will soon need some revisions. ;) Thanks for doing this. :)

bgdz, great observations! What stands out most for me, looking at the map, is that Idaho is in the Sun Belt conference. They’re almost in Canada!!!

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Totally agree, Cybercat, but if they moved the Univ. of Idaho a little bit north, just across the Canadian border, technically they would be in Canada's Sun Belt!

Of course, you have to be careful with discussions that pinpoint a college's location in Moscow!

Way to go CyberCat!!! :) 8-) ;D

I was hoping someone would do what you did. THANK YOU!!

I will state my opinion on the geography later.

FBfan

It would be nice if someone could modify this map to catagorize schools by number of times in the top 25 during the last 10 years instead of conference. Then those would want to dream about ideal conferences could balance them out with 2 or 3 good teams per conference.

However, this is still an EXCELLENT map. Thanks again cybercat. :)

Fbfan

FBfan, I can create another map, but I would like to be clear on the data source first. Since the BCS hasn't been around for ten years, I propose to use the AP and USA Today final polls for 1993 to 2002. This data can be found at: http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/polls_1936_2000.html. In this case the max score would be twenty, if the school appeared in both polls, each year, over the ten-year period. Let me know if this source is OK or if you have an alternative in mind.