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Sound the alarum! Lots of crazy stuff has happened in the last week, much of it kicked off by the Big Ten's adoption of those adorable waifs from Maryland and New Jersey. The direct responses to this: Louisville has joined the ACC, and Tulane joined the Big East in all sports while East Carolina has joined for football. (The Pirates are now officially homeless in all other sports after next year, which is a story everyone really needs to keep an eye on. They are not a huge player, and it's entirely possible they might have accidentally doomed themselves to independence if they're not careful... though the CAA might welcome them back.)
With the Louisville move, every team that has never been a member of Division I-AA and has ever been in a BCS conference is now in one of the five big leagues. In case you're scratching your head, Cincinnati spent a year in I-AA in the 1980s. Also worth noting, courtesy of Ivan Maisel: in 2003, there were 63 teams in the BCS conferences. There are now 63 teams in the five conferences with contracts to the major bowls. The only real changes are that the Big East no longer matters, and Utah and TCU have replaced Cincinnati and Connecticut in the 63.
The follow-on moves happened late this morning, as Conference USA replaced the Green Wave and Pirates with Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic from the Sun Belt. Their failure to grab New Mexico State as a travel partner for UTEP really rings the bell for the Aggies, who quite clearly are unwanted by anyone at this stage, and are probably doomed to remain independent themselves.
Meanwhile, we've got coaching follies galore. Mark Stoops has decamped from Florida State to take over the reins at Kentucky, while Arkansas is apparently extending honest-to-God tender offers to any coach with a pulse. They've been confirmed to have offered Les Miles a deal, widely reported to have made an offer to Gary Patterson, and who knows what other coaches they've extended contracts to? What if two coaches both say yes? CHAOS!
Simultaneously, Jon Gruden's involved in some arcane nonsense with Tennessee and the Cleveland Browns that's just too convoluted to get into.
Fun times, everyone. Fun times indeed.
Anyway, on to the Midweek. The usual weekly suspects: The Numerical, Troll Tuesday, Shutdown Fullback, BlogPoll, Power Rankings, Weekly Awards, BCS analysis, and Spencer's top 25 review. Also we've got Jon Bois bemoaning the absolute tragedy of his beloved Cardinals joining the ACC, Andy Hutchins on Notre Dame (the best SEC team not in the SEC), and Bill Connelly's rundown of coaching candidates.
Enjoy, and remember: we're safe until 2025.