{"id":1782,"date":"2012-04-23T09:50:06","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T14:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=1782"},"modified":"2012-04-24T10:38:51","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T15:38:51","slug":"a-proposal-for-college-football-conference-realignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/a-proposal-for-college-football-conference-realignment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Sensible Alignment of College Football Conferences Ever Posted"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
West Virginia's Geno Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What a sneaky title this is.\u00a0 While the main premise of this article is to propose a more logical realignment of the current college football conferences,\u00a0 it is also a sneaky way to slip in yet another Division I playoff format.\u00a0 This way we can do something logical in this sport like crown a champion by what happens on the field.<\/p>\n

My conference realignments serves to group college football programs into regional areas (another thing that makes sense but isn’t done).\u00a0 It also serves to include all college football teams in the quest for the championship and not eliminate programs by lumping all the 2nd tier schools into one conference.<\/p>\n

With 120 Division I-A teams,\u00a0 this is the perfect time and perfect number for something like this to be done.\u00a0 With 120 teams,\u00a0 it is now possible to have 10 college conference consisting of 12 teams.\u00a0\u00a0 This allows every conference to have a championship game.\u00a0 Just the very thought of that should excite every college football fan as well as the teams, players and coaches.<\/p>\n

Grouping the teams by region creates awesome rivalries that will mean something.\u00a0 Of course some previous conference rivalries will be lost but provisions can be made for every program’s biggest rivalry to remain in tact.\u00a0 Also the regional conference groupings set up a great situation for a playoff system that makes sense.<\/p>\n

My proposal calls for a West Region and an East Region with five conferences in each region.\u00a0 Each conference will have six teams on one side and six on the other.\u00a0 Initially,\u00a0 the split can be done to have balance of program strength between each side.\u00a0 A realignment of the conference splits can be done every three to four years to maintain the balance between both sides of each conference.\u00a0 The realignment will be based by the performance of each team over the previous three to four years.<\/p>\n

So before I dive headlong into the intricacies of this realignment along with offering rebuttals to arguments people may have,\u00a0 allow me to reveal to you the proposed conferences and their teams.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course,\u00a0 the names of the conferences can be tinkered with but I went with made most sense at the time I put them together.<\/p>\n

I placed teams in each sides of the conference based on my recollection of their recent historical performance in college football.\u00a0 I will continue this article after the tables showing the realigned conferences with the meat and potatoes of how this proposal will improve college football to levels never before seen.<\/p>\n

Here they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
East Region<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nWest Region<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Southern Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nSouthwest Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Miami<\/td>\nAlabama<\/td>\n<\/td>\nLSU<\/td>\nTex A&M<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FSU<\/td>\nFlorida<\/td>\n<\/td>\nTCU<\/td>\nTexas<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Georgia Tech<\/td>\nGeorgia<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBaylor<\/td>\nHouston<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FAU<\/td>\nUSF<\/td>\n<\/td>\nLouisiana Tech<\/td>\nSMU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
UCF<\/td>\nTroy St.<\/td>\n<\/td>\nRice<\/td>\nN. Texas<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
FIU<\/td>\nUAB<\/td>\n<\/td>\nULL<\/td>\nArkansas St.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Southeast Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nMid-American Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Auburn<\/td>\nSouth Carolina<\/td>\n<\/td>\nIowa<\/td>\nPittsburgh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tennessee<\/td>\nClemson<\/td>\n<\/td>\nPurdue<\/td>\nIllinois<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Miss. St.<\/td>\nOle Miss.<\/td>\n<\/td>\nNotre Dame<\/td>\nMissouri<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Memphis<\/td>\nVanderbilt<\/td>\n<\/td>\nIowa St.<\/td>\nIndiana<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
S. Miss.<\/td>\nTulane<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBall St.<\/td>\nMiami Ohio<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mid. Ten. St.<\/td>\nLou. Monroe<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBowling Green<\/td>\nMarshall<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Northeastern Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nMidwestern Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Penn St.<\/td>\nOhio St.<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOklahoma<\/td>\nNebraska<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boston College<\/td>\nU.Conn<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOklahoma St.<\/td>\nArkansas<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Syracuse<\/td>\nCincinnati<\/td>\n<\/td>\nColorado<\/td>\nKansas<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Navy<\/td>\nRutgers<\/td>\n<\/td>\nColorado St.<\/td>\nKansas St.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Army<\/td>\nTemple<\/td>\n<\/td>\nTulsa<\/td>\nWyoming<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Buffalo<\/td>\nKent. St.<\/td>\n<\/td>\nAir Force<\/td>\nIdaho<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mideastern Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nMountain West Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Virginia Tech<\/td>\nNorth Carolina<\/td>\n<\/td>\nTexas Tech<\/td>\nBoise St.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Virginia<\/td>\nWake Forest<\/td>\n<\/td>\nArizona<\/td>\nBYU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
West Virginia<\/td>\nNC State<\/td>\n<\/td>\nArizona St.<\/td>\nUtah<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Louisville<\/td>\nMaryland<\/td>\n<\/td>\nUNLV<\/td>\nNevada<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kentucky<\/td>\nEast Carolina<\/td>\n<\/td>\nNew Mexico<\/td>\nUtah St.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
W. Kentucky<\/td>\nDuke<\/td>\n<\/td>\nNew Mexico St.<\/td>\nUtep<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Northern Lakes Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nWestern Conference<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wiconsin<\/td>\nMichigan<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOregon<\/td>\nCalifornia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Minnesota<\/td>\nMichigan St.<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOregon St.<\/td>\nStanford<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Toledo<\/td>\nNorthwestern<\/td>\n<\/td>\nWashington<\/td>\nUSC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
W. Michigan<\/td>\nEastern Michigan<\/td>\n<\/td>\nWashington St.<\/td>\nUCLA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
C. Michigan<\/td>\nN. Illinois<\/td>\n<\/td>\nSan Jose St.<\/td>\nHawaii<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Akron<\/td>\nOhio<\/td>\n<\/td>\nFresno St.<\/td>\nSan Diego St.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Now let’s talk about the realignments, scheduling, competition and the all important playoff system.<\/p>\n

No more independents<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enough with the flying solo.\u00a0 The NCAA puts their foot down on a lot of things when it comes to college football but continue to get pushed around on other very important things.\u00a0 Tell Notre Dame the gig is up and that if you want any shot at playing for a national title,\u00a0 you have to take your conference assignment.\u00a0 Yes,\u00a0 I propose that the NCAA become Nazis with regard to this.\u00a0 They also need to say the same to Army and Navy.\u00a0 Everyone’s in a conference.\u00a0 That’s as fair as fair can get.<\/p>\n

Conference strengths<\/strong><\/p>\n

There’s no way to make every conference have equal strength but this is as close as you can get.\u00a0 At first glance it looks like Wisconsin would have an easy path to the conference title game each year but who knows if one or more of the other teams in their conference don’t improve dramatically when the prize of a national title becomes real.\u00a0 There is no more MAC conference or Conference USA or WAC where we lump in all of the weaker programs and have the king of that conference crying about how they don’t have a chance for a title.\u00a0 Those smaller programs are spread throughout the conferences.\u00a0\u00a0 I am sure someone will come with the argument that putting those programs in with bigger programs will keep them away from ever winning a conference title.\u00a0 My reply is that these teams are winning conference titles now and the ones who are winning titles should welcome the chance to step it up against the big boys.\u00a0 In looking at the alignments,\u00a0 there is a tremendous amount of balance between them.<\/p>\n

Regional Bragging Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n

Setting these conferences up soley by geographical location sets up a situation where each region can develop a sense of pride about the way they play football. Also a\u00a0 program can take pride in knowing that they reign supreme over a conference that is comprised entirely of teams within a small radius of their location.\u00a0 No more Lousiana Tech battling Hawaii in a Western Athletic Conference game.<\/p>\n

But What About the Loss of Conference Rivalries?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What about it?\u00a0 When college football programs bolt from one conference to another in search of better television deals or revenue sharing,\u00a0 no one seems to care about destruction of conference rivalries.\u00a0 I was watching the 30 for 30 special on ESPN about “The Death of SMU” and remembered that there was once a conference called the SWAC. There was also a Metro-Conference.\u00a0 Conferences come and go and new rivalries get formed.\u00a0 I think rivalries are more powerful when they occur between teams in close proximity to each other.\u00a0 There’s the chance that every week will be emotional in these conferences.<\/p>\n

Scheduling<\/strong><\/p>\n

With six teams on each side of each conference,\u00a0 every team will have five conference division games.\u00a0 I am then proposing that we take a page out of the NFL book and make the out of conference games pit one conference against another.\u00a0 So, for instance,\u00a0 Florida St. would play conference division members Miami, Georgia Tech, FAU, UCF and FIU equaling five games and then have another six games against the members of one side of the Southwest Conference.\u00a0\u00a0 So for example they would play Texas A&M, Texas, Houston, SMU, N. Texas and Arkansas St..\u00a0 That would give them 11 and everyone else 11 games.\u00a0 Every program will also have a 12th game which would be used for rivalry games, historical games, interesting matchups etc.\u00a0\u00a0 So for example,\u00a0 Texas Tech,\u00a0 who is no longer in a conference with Texas can have their last game be against Texas if the two schools want to preserve some type of rivalry.<\/p>\n

Now the Playoffs<\/strong><\/p>\n

To have a playoff system under this alignment,\u00a0 we would need either 14 or 16 teams from each region to enter the playoffs.\u00a0 I am proposing 14 teams from each region and issue bye weeks in the first round to a team from each region.\u00a0 Before we get to the playoffs though,\u00a0 every conference would have their championship game.\u00a0 The winner of each division within a conference would meet at the end of the year to determine a champion.\u00a0\u00a0 Once that has been done we then issue a first round bye in the East Region to the highest ranked conference champion and then also do the same for the highest ranked conference champion in the West Region.\u00a0\u00a0 We would then also have the need to select two wild card playoff participants from each region.\u00a0 I propose that the two highest ranking conference runner ups from each region be selected as playoff wildcards.\u00a0 So you now see two ways in which the ranking system remains relevant in how we arrive at a champion.\u00a0 After the teams with byes,\u00a0 the next two highest ranked conference champs would face the two wild cards.\u00a0 The other game would pit a conference champ against another conference champ.\u00a0 So let’s see what that would look like.\u00a0 I am going to use the 2010 season as an example and make some hypothetical assumptions about who would win the conference title games:<\/p>\n

Conference Title games:<\/strong><\/p>\n

East Region
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Southern Conference:<\/strong> #16 Alabama defeats #23 Florida St.
\nSoutheast Conference:<\/strong> #1 Auburn defeats #20 South Carolina
\nNortheast Conference:<\/strong> #6 Ohio St. defeats Boston College
\nMideastern Conference:<\/strong> #11 Virginia Tech defeats North Carolina
\nNorthern Lakes Conference:<\/strong> #4 Wisconsin defeats #7 Michigan St.<\/p>\n

West Region<\/strong><\/p>\n

Southwest Conference:<\/strong> #3 TCU defeats #18 Texas A&M
\nMid-American Conference:<\/strong> #14 Missouri defeats Iowa
\nMidwestern Conference:<\/strong> #8 Oklahoma defeats #9 Arkanasas
\nMountain West Conference:<\/strong> #10 Boise St. defeats Arizona
\nWestern Conference:<\/strong> #2 Oregon defeats #4 Stanford<\/p>\n

So here’s what the playoff brackets would look like.\u00a0 Some quick notes, in seeding the regions for playoffs,\u00a0 the two top teams would be split between the upper and lower part of the regional brackets.\u00a0 The rest will be paired high rank vs low rank.\u00a0 So highest ranking team will play lowest ranked team, etc.\u00a0 EXCEPT in cases in which the pairing would result in an immediate rematch of a conference title game.<\/p>\n

Here’s what the playoff bracket would look like based on my hypothetical conference championship winners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nEastern Region<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nAuburn<\/td>\n<\/td>\nAuburn<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nBye<\/td>\n<\/td>\nAuburn<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nvs<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nAlabama<\/td>\n<\/td>\nMichigan St.<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wc<\/td>\nMichigan St.<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nAuburn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nOhio St.<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOhio St..<\/td>\nvs<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nVirginia Tech<\/td>\n<\/td>\nWisconsin<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nvs<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nWisconsin<\/td>\n<\/td>\nWisconsin<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wc<\/td>\nSouth Carolina<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nWestern Region<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nOregon<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOregon<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nBye<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOregon<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nvs<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nBoise St.<\/td>\n<\/td>\nStanford<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wc<\/td>\nStanford<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nTCU<\/td>\n<\/td>\nTCU<\/td>\nvs<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wc<\/td>\nMissouri<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOklahoma<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nvs<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nOklahoma<\/td>\n<\/td>\nOklahoma<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nArkansas<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

wc stands for wildcard…<\/p>\n

Before anyone says anything like,\u00a0 after all that we still have the same two teams playing for the championship.\u00a0 Well,\u00a0 that only happened because I did the simple thing of having the higher ranked team win each matchup so of course we would end up with the same matchup the BCS has produced.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 I think we all know that there would undoubtedly be upsets especially with the potential of a lower ranked team being better than a higher ranked team with the faulty measures used to do rankings.<\/p>\n

But What About the Bowls?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bowls still remain and there would be a ton of good matchups amongst bowl eligible teams that did not make the playoffs.\u00a0 For instance:\u00a0 Miami v. LSU or Oklahoma St. v BYU or Michigan v. Texas Tech and many more.\u00a0 The bowl committees can set up parameters centered around what conference seed would face what other conference seed in the bowls.\u00a0 Plenty of awesome matchups would still be available.<\/p>\n

A Playoff Would Make the Regular Season Irrelevant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t need to spend much time on this.\u00a0 Under a system like this,\u00a0 that would be false.\u00a0 Each game in each conference has meaning as there is a division and conference race going on every week.\u00a0 Also,\u00a0 the rankings have a meaning so teams must play at a high level every week in and week out.<\/p>\n

The Perks of this System<\/strong><\/p>\n

Personally,\u00a0 I would be glued to my television set each week if a system like this were in place.\u00a0 I would be able to see the playoff and national title picture unfold on the field and not necessarily have to just wait till Sunday evening to see where we are at.\u00a0 The playoffs would also be riveting.\u00a0 Every other level of football has playoffs (pop warner, high school and pro football).\u00a0\u00a0 This set up is much like the NFL’s which is the best run sport in this country.<\/p>\n

What could also happen under this realignment is under performing programs of the past who have wallowed in mediocrity in conferences full of other mediocre teams may now feel the pressure to improve and stay relevant.\u00a0 This could lend itself to more parity as programs try to avoid embarrassment.<\/p>\n

Feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would love to hear from those of you who love college football and have read this proposal.\u00a0 What could go wrong?\u00a0 Where would we have a problem with this?\u00a0 What do you like about it?\u00a0 Comment away.\u00a0 I want to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a sneaky title this is.\u00a0 While the main premise of this article is to propose a more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[518,515,516,517,152,520,324,217,521,263,519,25],"class_list":["post-1782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-auburn","tag-bcs","tag-college-bowls","tag-college-conferences","tag-college-football","tag-lsu","tag-miami","tag-notre-dame-football","tag-ohio-st","tag-oklahoma","tag-oregon","tag-usc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}