College Football is in turmoil. Texas A&M has fled the Big 12 and joined the Southeastern Conference. So the Big 12 is now down to nine teams. And Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech are expected to leave as well. Are we witnessing the beginning of the super-conferences? Will the Big 10 expand again? Will they go after the remnants of the Big 12 or will they invade the Big East or ACC? Will the Big East and ACC join forces to produce their own super-conference? And where in the heck does Notre Dame fit in all this realignment mess? Will this be the end of major college football as we know it?
The consensus says we will wind up with 4 super-conferences consisting of 16 teams each. I don’t like that. Too many schools will be left out of this. What happens to a school like Boise State? College football is eating itself. This is capitalism at its worst. Unfortunately, the NCAA has little control over the conferences. In an ideal world, the NCAA would be in charge, and they would decide what conference a school belongs to. What we need is a football czar. Television rights need to be split. Conferences and schools should not be getting their own television packages.
In my own fantasy world, I would be the czar of college football. I would create the following system for major college football. I would have 4 major conferences. Each conference would have 2 divisions with 9 teams in each division. You would play all 8 opponents in your division. You win your division if you have the best record in your division and play the other division winner in your conference for the conference championship. Each of the four conference champions would play in a national semi-final game. The games would be played at the higher seeded schools. A national championship game would be played two weeks later. The money from the national championship game would be split amongst all 72 schools. A playoff! What a concept!
Here is my breakdown of conferences and divisions:
North Conference
| Division 1 | Division 2 |
|---|---|
| UConn | Ohio St |
| Pittsburgh | Michigan |
| Rutgers | Michigan St |
| Syracuse | Indiana |
| Penn St | Purdue |
| Boston College | Northwestern |
| Cincinnati | Illinois |
| Nebraska | Wisconsin |
| Notre Dame | Minnesota |
East Conference
| Division 3 | Division 4 |
|---|---|
| Virginia Tech | South Carolina |
| Clemson | South Florida |
| North Carolina | Florida St |
| North Carolina St | East Carolina |
| Miami | Florida |
| Virginia | Kentucky |
| Maryland | Georgia |
| Georgia Tech | Central Florida |
| West Virginia | Louisville |
South Conference
| Division 5 | Division 6 |
|---|---|
| Alabama | TCU |
| Auburn | Texas |
| Ole Miss | Texas Tech |
| Mississippi St | Texas A&M | LSU | Baylor |
| Tulane | Oklahoma |
| Arkansas | Oklahoma St |
| Southern Miss | Missouri |
| Houston | Tennessee |
West Conference
| Division 7 | Division 8 |
|---|---|
| Iowa | Washington |
| Arizona St | Washington St |
| Iowa St | Oregon |
| Kansas | Oregon St |
| Kansas St | Boise St |
| Arizona | Stanford |
| Colorado | California |
| Utah | UCLA |
| BYU | USC |
I’m allowed to dream, right?
