COLLEGE FOOTBALL DIVISION REALIGNMENT

[PhilSimms11]

I'd love to see the 10 conferences divided into 2 separate divisions of 5, each with a conference championship game. I know it's a dream, but I think it'd be great for college football. The 5 conference champs would get an automatic bid to the playoffs with 3 at-larges. That would make an 8-team playoff in each division. I bumped some teams "down" to Division-B (Colorado, Duke, Wake Forest, Purdue, Indiana, Kentucky). I'd have 60 teams in D-A and 68 in D-B. Again, I know it would take an act of God, but it sure would be nice. I just don't understand the resistance. Every sport under the sun has a playoff structure...except when it comes to major college football. It's baffled me for years. I know it's not about money.

Division-A
ACC North (6)--Boston College, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia, Va Tech, West Virginia
ACC South (6)--Clemson, Florida St, Ga Tech, Miami (FL), No Carolina, No Caro St

Big-10 East (6)--Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Penn St, Pittsburgh, Syracuse
Big-10 West (6)--Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Wisconsin

Big XII North (6)--Iowa St, Kansas, Kansas St, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma St
Big XII South (6)--Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech

Pac-12 East (6)--Arizona, Arizona St, BYU, Utah, Washington, Washington St
Pac-12 West (6)--Cal, Oregon, Oregon St, Stanford, UCLA, USC

SEC East (6)--Florida, Georgia, Louisville, So Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
SEC West (6)--Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Miss St, Ole Miss
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Division-B
AAC North (7)--Army, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, UMass, Navy, Temple
AAC South (7)--Duke, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, Wake Forest

C-USA East (6)--UAB, Appalachian St, Charlotte, Kentucky, Marshall, Old Dominion
C-USA West (6)--No Texas, La Tech, Rice, So Miss, UTEP, UTSA

MAC East (7)--Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Indiana, Kent St, Miami (OH), Ohio
MAC West (7)--Ball St, Cent Michigan, East Michigan, No Illinois, Purdue, Toledo, West Michigan

MWC East (7)--Air Force, Colorado, Colorado St, New Mexico, New Mexico St, Utah St, Wyoming
MWC West (7)--Boise St, Hawaii, Fresno St, Nevada, UNLV, San Diego St, San Jose St

Sun Belt East (7)--UCF, FAU, FIU, Ga Southern, Georgia St, So Florida, Troy
Sun Belt West (7)--Arkansas St, Midd Tenn St, UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe, So Alabama, Texas St, West Kentucky

 

[theboardref]

Nopeeeee.

 

[WhiteMamba]

well we are headed that way.

But a lot of holes in the teams in various conferences.

Any team in the SEC, PAC, B1G, and ACC are all locked into these conferences long term.

And the Big 12 is only growing deeper and stronger roots.

I also counted 10 teams that would need inclusion into the power 5 before this moved forward including several conference mainstays that are now all of the sudden excluded from the big 5 group.

 

[Hook'Em0608]

Dude you bumped down 3 schools who have either played in a BCS game or won a national championship in football not all that long ago. Not to mention your Big 12 remarriage isn't ever going to happen.

 

[24seven]

I'd rather see conferences with 10 teams that play round robin, no CCGs because the winner would be determined by head to head results.

 

[Codaxx]

I'd rather see conferences with 10 teams that play round robin, no CCGs because the winner would be determined by head to head results.

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Money is the issue. Ugly truth to OOC play is the money. Consider a big shools motivation for a moment. lets say Team X has a 100k capacity stadium. Lets call an average ticket $50. That is 5mm in revenue per home game. Playing north west directional state in 2012 and southwest directional state in 2013 brings in 10mm. Do a home and home and that number is cut in half. There are payments and other added benefits, but that shoudl give you an idea why we will not see a 12 game round robin or 12 game schedule with no patsies anytime soon, unless there is some new financial benefit to playing a crazy schedule.

 

[geneh_33]

-
Money is the issue. Ugly truth to OOC play is the money. Consider a big shools motivation for a moment. lets say Team X has a 100k capacity stadium. Lets call an average ticket $50. That is 5mm in revenue per home game. Playing north west directional state in 2012 and southwest directional state in 2013 brings in 10mm. Do a home and home and that number is cut in half. There are payments and other added benefits, but that shoudl give you an idea why we will not see a 12 game round robin or 12 game schedule with no patsies anytime soon, unless there is some new financial benefit to playing a crazy schedule.

 

[PhilSimms11]

Dude you bumped down 3 schools who have either played in a BCS game or won a national championship in football not all that long ago. Not to mention your Big 12 remarriage isn't ever going to happen.

-UConn and Cincinnati who won the Big Least.
-Boise St who's everyone's darling every season (LOL).
-Hawaii played in the Sugar Bowl.
-No Illinois played in the Fiesta Bowl.
-Purdue was in the Rose Bowl.
-Wake Forest was in the Orange Bowl.
-Would Colorado be that team that won a National Championship...in 1990?

I counted 8 teams, not 3.

 

[john01992]

colorado shouldnt be downgraded. sure we suck but we traditionally are a pretty solid program

 

[WhiteMamba]

The Buffs played in the 2001-02 Fiesta

 

[geneh_33]

colorado shouldnt be downgraded. sure we suck but we traditionally are a pretty solid program

Nobody in one of the "Big 5" conferences is going to get downgraded. Just not going to happen.

 

[jalopy]

You are a lot more likely to see 4 super-conferences with 16 teams separate from the NCAA. The SEC, B1G, & PAC-12 re givens with the B12 and the ACC fighting it out for the last. Don't expect any progress on this until the O'Bannon lawsuit is settled. Once that happens, depending on which way the suit goes, things will start shaking up again.

 

[WhiteMamba]

You are a lot more likely to see 4 super-conferences with 16 teams separate from the NCAA. The SEC, B1G, & PAC-12 re givens with the B12 and the ACC fighting it out for the last. Don't expect any progress on this until the O'Bannon lawsuit is settled. Once that happens, depending on which way the suit goes, things will start shaking up again.

ACC is locked with that new deal for 15 or 20 years.

 

[LawDawg]

-
Money is the issue. Ugly truth to OOC play is the money. Consider a big shools motivation for a moment. lets say Team X has a 100k capacity stadium. Lets call an average ticket $50. That is 5mm in revenue per home game. Playing north west directional state in 2012 and southwest directional state in 2013 brings in 10mm. Do a home and home and that number is cut in half. There are payments and other added benefits, but that shoudl give you an idea why we will not see a 12 game round robin or 12 game schedule with no patsies anytime soon, unless there is some new financial benefit to playing a crazy schedule.

Correct. And, in all my reading on this, it isn't just the gate receipts. You also have all the related income to the university, which is substantial. But, then you have the financial impact on the local economy. I don't recall the exact numbers, but a home game in Athens brings in a couple million to the local economy. The universities are very sensitive to protecting that income. Our AD was quoted this year as saying something to the effect that his job is to protect the university and Athens.

 

[PhilSimms11]

The Buffs played in the 2001-02 Fiesta

True that.

 

[LawDawg]

I'd love to see the 10 conferences divided into 2 separate divisions of 5, each with a conference championship game. I know it's a dream, but I think it'd be great for college football. The 5 conference champs would get an automatic bid to the playoffs with 3 at-larges. That would make an 8-team playoff in each division. I bumped some teams "down" to Division-B (Colorado, Duke, Wake Forest, Purdue, Indiana, Kentucky). I'd have 60 teams in D-A and 68 in D-B. Again, I know it would take an act of God, but it sure would be nice. I just don't understand the resistance. Every sport under the sun has a playoff structure...except when it comes to major college football. It's baffled me for years. I know it's not about money.

Division-A
ACC North (6)--Boston College, Maryland, Rutgers, Virginia, Va Tech, West Virginia
ACC South (6)--Clemson, Florida St, Ga Tech, Miami (FL), No Carolina, No Caro St

Big-10 East (6)--Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Penn St, Pittsburgh, Syracuse
Big-10 West (6)--Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Wisconsin

Big XII North (6)--Iowa St, Kansas, Kansas St, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma St
Big XII South (6)--Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech

Pac-12 East (6)--Arizona, Arizona St, BYU, Utah, Washington, Washington St
Pac-12 West (6)--Cal, Oregon, Oregon St, Stanford, UCLA, USC

SEC East (6)--Florida, Georgia, Louisville, So Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
SEC West (6)--Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Miss St, Ole Miss
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Division-B
AAC North (7)--Army, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, UMass, Navy, Temple
AAC South (7)--Duke, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, Wake Forest

C-USA East (6)--UAB, Appalachian St, Charlotte, Kentucky, Marshall, Old Dominion
C-USA West (6)--No Texas, La Tech, Rice, So Miss, UTEP, UTSA

MAC East (7)--Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Indiana, Kent St, Miami (OH), Ohio
MAC West (7)--Ball St, Cent Michigan, East Michigan, No Illinois, Purdue, Toledo, West Michigan

MWC East (7)--Air Force, Colorado, Colorado St, New Mexico, New Mexico St, Utah St, Wyoming
MWC West (7)--Boise St, Hawaii, Fresno St, Nevada, UNLV, San Diego St, San Jose St

Sun Belt East (7)--UCF, FAU, FIU, Ga Southern, Georgia St, So Florida, Troy
Sun Belt West (7)--Arkansas St, Midd Tenn St, UL-Lafayette, UL-Monroe, So Alabama, Texas St, West Kentucky

Tons of reasons why this won't happen ... but the big one is the assignment of media rights in all but the SEC. Expansion is over in the AQ conferences until the mid 2020s, with the possible exception of some of the danglers - BYU, Cincy, UConn or other ACC schools - getting picked up by the BigXII or the ACC.

 

[jalopy]

ACC is locked with that new deal for 15 or 20 years.

Deals are irrelevant at this point. ND would buy their way out in a heartbeat if the other conferences bolted and the ACC didn't.

 

[WhiteMamba]

Deals are irrelevant at this point. ND would buy their way out in a heartbeat if the other conferences bolted and the ACC didn't.

ACC is a locked in conference. Any scenario where their was a division of the big boys they are 100% included ND or not.

 

[jalopy]

ACC is a locked in conference. Any scenario where their was a division of the big boys they are 100% included ND or not.

Just not true. There are NO conference alignments at this point. And I repeat, the 4th conference will likely be a combination of the ACC and SEC. It will happen.

 

[jalopy]

Wish I had the time to debate this because it will dominate college football politics (with the impending PED crisis) the next five years but I just don't have time. Maybe at a later point.