I would create four conferences with two divisions of eight teams. The 64 teams would only be allowed to play one another and I would have a fairly structured schedule as well as a structured playoff system.
Using the current top conferences here is a scenario for how it might look. Not sure teams like Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, or Northwestern would make this cut, but you can pick who you want to plug in there.
I would also stipulate the following for players. Players could either choose to take a four year college scholarship, they would have to stay the full four years, or they could opt out of the scholarship and instead choose to play on salary. They could opt out at any time and go to the NFL, but they could also be cut at any time. Players on scholarship would be protected for the full four years.
| East | North |
| DivA | DivA |
| Duke | Ohio St. |
| N.C. State | Penn St. |
| Wake Forest | Wisconsin |
| Maryland | Purdue |
| Boston College | Indiana |
| North Carolina | Illinois |
| Syracuse | Iowa St. |
| Georgia Tech | Iowa |
| DivB | DivB |
| Virginia Tech | Northwestern |
| Clemson | Michigan St. |
| Virginia | Minnesota |
| Florida St. | Nebraska |
| Georgia | Notre Dame |
| Florida | West Virginia |
| South Carolina | Michigan |
| Miami | Kansas |
| South | West |
| DivA | DivA |
| Auburn | Oregon |
| Mississippi | Stanford |
| Louisville | Oregon St. |
| Vanderbilt | Washington |
| Missouri | California |
| Tennessee | Washington St. |
| Kentucky | Colorado |
| Alabama | Arizona St. |
| DivB | DivB |
| Texas A&M | USC |
| LSU | Arizona |
| Mississippi St. | Utah |
| Texas | UCLA |
| Arkansas | Kansas St. |
| Texas Tech | Oklahoma St. |
| Baylor | BYU |
| TCU | Oklahoma |
Regular Schedule (cannot schedule any games outside of these four conferences)
7 games in division
2 games in conference
3 games out of conference
Playoffs
Conference Championships
East vs North | South vs West
(this would switch around, and two out of conference games would be affected by who your conference was playing that year in the playoffs.)
Championship Game
Example Schedule for Kentucky
at Washington (South vs West crossover)
Colorado (South vs West crossover)
at Indiana (Out of conference rival game)
LSU (Conference Game)
at Baylor (Conference Game)
Alabama (Division Schedule Begins)
at Mississippi
Missouri
at Auburn
Vanderbilt
at Tennessee
Louisville
Would you actually prefer this to the current system, or is this just something you think could happen?
ReplyDeleteI have to say the more I think about it the more I realize I would actually prefer this.
ReplyDeleteDo I think it could happen? Not really but with the collapse of the Big East we are definitely at a place where there are legitimately five conferences that are competing for the national title. Why should those 64 or so teams mess with sharing money with the University of Idaho and the NCAA?
Why would you prefer this arrangement?
ReplyDeleteFor one I have wanted some sort of playoff for quite some time. This would take care of that. Two it would make for much more interesting regular season games as it would eliminate 60 bad teams from being on the top tier schedules. Third it would put teams like Idaho back at a level where they could compete to win not just to make a buck.
ReplyDelete