If one unnamed official is to be believed, the next round of realignment could deal with conferences eliminating teams, not adding them.

It’s an interesting thought, especially after years of expansion talk, but as the teams at the top of college football continue to put distance between themselves and those at the bottom, it’s not a totally outrageous proposition. Some serious dominoes would start falling if this scenario ever played out and schools would likely start wheeling and dealing to ensure they didn’t become the victims of a round of contraction.

It’s not clear which schools would potentially be on the chopping block but after revealing this information in a recent Yahoo! Sports story, Pete Thamel did bring up Vanderbilt, Oregon State and Rutgers. Check out this excerpt from one of Thamel’s most recent columns at Yahoo! Sports:

One official floated an interesting theory that’s not particularly realistic (but fun to think about). He said it’s more likely that most major conferences would consider eliminating schools before adding them. And before Vanderbilt, Oregon State and Rutgers fans start shuddering, there are likely way too many legal and political complications for that notion to be a common-sense point than a reality. But it underscores that the power still lies most in the biggest brands that command the most eyeballs. The era of scurrying for quantity appears to have passed.

Could you see this scenario ever playing out?