An Attempt At Quantifying Changes In Success When Changing Conferences

[Mavric]

I haven't looked through it enough to figure it all out but it's at least an interesting attempt. Here's the quick summary:

 

We found teams don't really play any better or worse after changing conferences. Overall, there was less than a one-point shift in any of the four seasons after teams joined a new conference, with two seasons being positive and two negative leaving teams in about the same position they were prior to changing leagues.

Those that join Power 5 conferences tend to perform slightly worse, but these effects are driven by few teams. Colorado and Utah got even worse after joining the Pac-12. Nebraska has gotten a tad worse each season after joining the Big 10. On the other hand, Missouri and Texas A&M improved after joining the SEC.

 

Link

 

 

So apparently most teams joining a Power 5 conference did moderately worse but the two teams joining the SEC did noticeably better. Hmmmmm........