The Eastern Conference, by not being being formed, became the moth's wing beat in Siberia that ultimately caused the damaging winds over Hawaii.
The foundation of conference realignments IMHO goes back to 1981 when Paterno's vision of an Eastern Conference did not materialize.
In 1991, when the Big East transitioned from basketball to a football/basketball conference, it did so without Penn State who had joined the Big Ten in 1990. It might have been a different landscape had the Nittany Lions played in an Eastern Conference.
Penn State leaving independence for the Big Ten and the formation of the Big East hurried the end for the last southern independents...VT joined the Big East for football in 1991, Miami joined the Big East in 1991, South Carolina joined the SEC in 1992, FSU joined the ACC in 1992.
And away we have been to the races.