I think we are eventually looking at eliminating conferences and throwing the P5+ teams together into a super alliance. Here is my thought on realignment and the playoff. My goal was to have each team play 12 games and to try and maintain the New Year 6 bowl games.
Form 9 8 team conferences based on location. This would help generate fan interest with regional rivalries that would likely increase attendance. I wanted 8 conferences but western geography just won't work.
Each conference crowns a champion from round robin play and the champs get an automatic bid to the playoff. Non-conference games will be played among the other 8 conferences with each team allowed a maximum of one game against non P9 teams. No FCS games.
16 team playoff. The 9 conference champs and 7 at large teams. The first round of the playoffs will be held instead of conference championship games with the higher seeded team hosting.
Teams that do not make the playoff will have a final game the week before the playoffs start. Since no one will know before the season who will make the playoffs, there needs to be a way to schedule the last games among non playoff teams. My proposal is to have the 2nd place team from conference A play the 2nd place team from conference B right down the line to the last place teams pairing off. Switch the conferences each year so that in year 2 conference A would play its corresponding team from conference C and so forth. There would need to be some shuffling and maneuvering since there are 9 conferences, but teams from the unaligned conference can be used to fill out the schedule for conferences that lose one or more teams to the playoff. When scheduling the first 11 games, make sure that conference A and B teams don't play to avoid rematches in the last games.
After the first round of the playoffs reseed the teams and play 4 of the NY6 bowl games. Reseed again and the semifinals are played in the remaining 2 NY6 bowl sites. Championship game at whatever site is chosen that year. The non NY6 bowls go on as normal. This would allow the post season to have a break for finals like it has now and keep the kids from playing 16 games. It would also allow the bowl system to continue to exist and each team would play 12 regular season games.
Here is my geographical breakdown of the conferences. This is a purely geographic breakdown and I can already hear the howls from the old SEC schools.
Washington, Oregon, OSU, Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA, WSU
Utah, BYU, Arizona, ASU, Colorado, Boise State, San Diego St. Nevada
ISU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, KSU, KU, Mizzou
Notre Dame, Northwestern, Illini, Purdue, Indiana, OSU, Michigan, Michigan State
Cincy, Penn State, Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, Boston College, Maryland, Rutgers
Florida, FSU, UCF, Miami, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Auburn
Clemson, South Carolina, North Carolina, NC State, Wake, Duke, Virginia Tech, Virginia
Mississippi State, Mississippi, Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, Louisville, Arkansas, LSU
UT, TAMU, Houston, Baylor, TCU, TTU, OU, OSU
The "PAC 8" and "Ricky Mountain" conferences are obviously very weak and the "Texas" and "Deep South East" conferences very strong, but I don't know how else you'd divide up the teams. Any time you realign, there are going to be unhappy campers. Just a loooooong thought on how to realign the college landscape for the better. Boredom is a terrible thing.
Form 9 8 team conferences based on location. This would help generate fan interest with regional rivalries that would likely increase attendance. I wanted 8 conferences but western geography just won't work.
Each conference crowns a champion from round robin play and the champs get an automatic bid to the playoff. Non-conference games will be played among the other 8 conferences with each team allowed a maximum of one game against non P9 teams. No FCS games.
16 team playoff. The 9 conference champs and 7 at large teams. The first round of the playoffs will be held instead of conference championship games with the higher seeded team hosting.
Teams that do not make the playoff will have a final game the week before the playoffs start. Since no one will know before the season who will make the playoffs, there needs to be a way to schedule the last games among non playoff teams. My proposal is to have the 2nd place team from conference A play the 2nd place team from conference B right down the line to the last place teams pairing off. Switch the conferences each year so that in year 2 conference A would play its corresponding team from conference C and so forth. There would need to be some shuffling and maneuvering since there are 9 conferences, but teams from the unaligned conference can be used to fill out the schedule for conferences that lose one or more teams to the playoff. When scheduling the first 11 games, make sure that conference A and B teams don't play to avoid rematches in the last games.
After the first round of the playoffs reseed the teams and play 4 of the NY6 bowl games. Reseed again and the semifinals are played in the remaining 2 NY6 bowl sites. Championship game at whatever site is chosen that year. The non NY6 bowls go on as normal. This would allow the post season to have a break for finals like it has now and keep the kids from playing 16 games. It would also allow the bowl system to continue to exist and each team would play 12 regular season games.
Here is my geographical breakdown of the conferences. This is a purely geographic breakdown and I can already hear the howls from the old SEC schools.
Washington, Oregon, OSU, Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA, WSU
Utah, BYU, Arizona, ASU, Colorado, Boise State, San Diego St. Nevada
ISU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, KSU, KU, Mizzou
Notre Dame, Northwestern, Illini, Purdue, Indiana, OSU, Michigan, Michigan State
Cincy, Penn State, Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, Boston College, Maryland, Rutgers
Florida, FSU, UCF, Miami, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Auburn
Clemson, South Carolina, North Carolina, NC State, Wake, Duke, Virginia Tech, Virginia
Mississippi State, Mississippi, Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, Louisville, Arkansas, LSU
UT, TAMU, Houston, Baylor, TCU, TTU, OU, OSU
The "PAC 8" and "Ricky Mountain" conferences are obviously very weak and the "Texas" and "Deep South East" conferences very strong, but I don't know how else you'd divide up the teams. Any time you realign, there are going to be unhappy campers. Just a loooooong thought on how to realign the college landscape for the better. Boredom is a terrible thing.
