Fixing the College Football Realignment Mess–Update
Since my earlier post on this topic, there have been several more moves, and the long and the short of it is that the Power 4 conferences now have 67 teams. If you add the last remaining vestiges of the Pacific-12 (Oregon State and Washington State) and Notre Dame, that would be 70 schools.
So, taking my “Premier League” concept, with a 70-team superconference structure, it is plainly obvious what needs to happen here: seven conferences of 10 teams each, geographically based, in which every conference member plays each other, and the seven conference champions, plus one at-large team, go to the playoffs.
Here’s how this idea would shake out:
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest.
This alignment would restore the original ACC, plus Virginia, Florida State and Georgia Tech. Rivalries restored would include North Carolina-South Carolina and Maryland-Virginia.
BIG TEN CONFERENCE: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin.
This would get us back to the Big Ten that existed from 1953-1991, after Michigan State took the spot vacated by the University of Chicago and before the addition of Penn State started all the realignment dominoes.
BIG TWELVE CONFERENCE: Brigham Young, Cincinnati, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Missouri, Nebraska, Utah.
This would restore six members of the original Big Eight and add western rivals BYU and Utah, along with eastern rivals Cincinnati and Louisville, none of whom have any other sensible place to land. Despite being widespread, it would still be more or less geographically contiguous, as Utah borders on Colorado and Kentucky borders on Missouri. I’d like to see it change its name (maybe something like the Heartland Conference). This alignment would restore the Kansas-Missouri rivalry and the Colorado-Nebraska rivalry.
EASTERN CONFERENCE: Boston College, Central Florida, Miami, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
This would be the conference that the original Big East football conference always should have been. It would restore the tradition of eastern football and bring Notre Dame into its natural footprint as well. Despite its Midwestern location, Notre Dame’s fan following in the northeast, and its traditional rivalries with Boston College and Miami, makes it a natural to round out this eastern league. On a 12-game schedule, it could keep its rivalries with USC and Stanford. (Unless the Irish and their fans just can’t get enough of playing Marshall and East Tennessee State.) Should Notre Dame balk and decide to stay independent, the league could plug in another former Big East member (Connecticut, South Florida or Temple) or stay at nine schools. Rivalries restored would include West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh, Penn State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech; Penn State vs. Pittsburgh and Syracuse; Miami vs. Notre Dame.
PACIFIC TEN CONFERENCE: Arizona, Arizona State, California, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State, Southern California, Stanford, Washington, Washington State.
Another conference that would be restored to its moorings (and senses), the Pac-10 would return to what it was from the 1970s to the addition of Colorado and Utah.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
The SEC would be restored to what it was from 1966 until the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina, both of whom would also return to their traditional homes (see SWC, ACC).
SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE: Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Southern Methodist, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Christian, Texas Tech.
This alignment would restore the traditional SWC (minus Rice) and add in the Oklahoma schools–the best of the old SWC and Big XII. Rivalries restored would include Oklahoma-Oklahoma State; SMU-TCU; and everybody vs. Texas.
Four bowls would become “playoff bowls,” with the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions once again squaring off in the Rose Bowl, as it should be. The SEC champion would once again go to the Sugar Bowl. The Big XII or Heartland champion would take the Big Eight’s traditional spot in the Orange Bowl, and the Southwest Conference champion would take that league’s traditional spot in the Cotton Bowl. The ACC and Eastern Conference champions, as well as one at-large team (the highest-ranked team that failed to win a conference title), would fill out the other three spots, possibly on a rotating basis or based on rankings. The four playoff bowl champions would be seeded 1-4, with #1 playing #4 and #2 playing #3.
But what about TV revenue? Simple. Put the Big Ten Network in charge of the whole thing, since it is clearly the most successful conference network in history, and dole out equal revenues to all 70 teams. Schools can make additional dollars marketing their merchandise independently, so Notre Dame and other leading programs would be able to pull down their outsized shares of money that way.
While schools could naturally schedule whichever three nonconference opponents they like, some nonconference rivalries really should be played every year:
Arkansas-LSU
Arkansas-Missouri
Florida-Florida State
Georgia-Georgia Tech
Illinois-Missouri
Indiana-Kentucky
Iowa-Iowa State
Iowa-Nebraska
Kentucky-Louisville
LSU-Texas A&M
Maryland-West Virginia
Miami-Florida
Nebraska-Oklahoma
Notre Dame-USC
Notre Dame-Stanford
Virginia-Virginia Tech
Nobody can tell me that this wouldn’t be a superior solution compared to the mess we’ve got now.
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