Note: This series previously ran at RoadTripSports.com, but given the current climate of conference realignment, stoked by the Big 12, I feel this series of articles is as relevant now as it was a year ago. It will run every few days here at PigskinU.com. Check the PigskinU.com archives for Parts 1 and 2.
So in Part One I laid out an overview of building a better college game. In Part 2, we put our commissioner in charge with a mandate – change college football for the better.
Now the real work begins. In order to sell our new college game to television and to the masses, our commissioner must construct a framework for the new college game, and it must start with conferences.
Why? Well, in my model every conference will have a TV network. In addition, every conference will have a champion that receives an automatic berth into the postseason. So before our commissioner can even go in front of television networks and sell the product, it must be defined. You want a true national champion? Realign the conferences.
Currently there are 11 different FBS conferences at varying degrees of quality. I think most would agree that the SEC is No. 1 and the Sun Belt is No. 11. You can debate the rest. But there are the six haves (the ones that get BCS automatic bids) and the five have-nots (the ones that don’t). In order for us to have a true, fair college football playoff, our commissioner must be a trust-buster.
Yes, that means breaking up the big boys – to a certain degree.
My rationale when I started this series was that I would create true regional conferences. My desire was to truly mingle the big boys and the smaller boys together. For instance, I created a conference that included all seven Florida schools, along with both Georgia schools, both South Carolina schools and East Carolina.
I submitted those conferences a friend who pointed out a couple of things, the biggest of which was the fact that by creating true regional conferences, I was destroying some of the traditions college football fans hold dear. There was also the matter of smaller schools’ stadiums not being able to accommodate fans of these larger programs. Plus, our commissioner must be an honest broker. By now, he’s gotten all 120 schools to sign off on creating new conferences. If he goes and breaks up the Big 12 or the Big Ten (and I pretty much did), revolt will certainly follow.
So I re-examined the conferences, and while they’re not truly regional, I think they are more truly reflective of the intent of this exercise.
Now, we all know that super-conferences are coming. We also know, based on the WAC experiment in the 1990s, that it has all the makings of a waste of time. The fact is we have 120 FCS football teams. Why not just do the most logical thing and divide them up evenly?
In this scenario, that’s what our new commissioner would do. Those 120 schools would be divided into 10, 12-team conferences with two divisions each. Twelve teams, to me, is perfect. Anything more and it just becomes a mess to schedule and to determine a fair champion.
These new conferences are designed to make more sense. It reduces the number of leagues from 11 to 10 (sorry Mountain West). I made minor tweaks to the ACC, the SEC and the Big 12. The Big East received a major overhaul out of necessity, and geographically I think it makes much more sense. By borrowing a couple of teams from the SEC, I think I was able to make Conference USA stronger and give those two teams a better chance of reaching the playoffs. The Pac 10 (now Pac 12) got its two teams, just not the two you would think. And I provided the WAC with an anchor school that gives it a bit more clout, historically.
Below you’ll find the new conferences that I came up with. They include all 120 current FBS teams (yes, even the independents) and were based on three major factors:
Geography: Again, I stress, it’s not true geography. For instance, the Sun Belt is more far-flung than I wanted. Oddly enough, the three schools that I struggled with the most were New Mexico, New Mexico State and texas-El Paso. They’re kind of in college football no man’s land. When you look at the map, there are 27 teams west of texas, and that throws off the 12-team conference model. It was difficult to find those three teams a home.
Tentpole Teams: One thing I wanted to do for the smaller conferences was give them at least one program that has had some success, or is in a power conference, to help give it some clout, especially early in the transition to this system. Again, I did this when it made geographic sense. That happened in the WAC and Conference USA. I really couldn’t make it happen in the Sun Belt and the Mid-American. You can do that if you go to a true geographic format (and I included my original “regional” conferences in the next story).
In-State Rivalries: I wanted to see if I could build in some more in-state rivalries in these conferences. I made it happen in the SEC, the ACC, the WAC, the Sun Belt and Conference USA. I think anytime you can have two state rivals play each other with conference standing on the line, it just makes that rivalry better.
Understand that these new conferences aren’t about providing a handout to smaller programs. It’s about creating a system that is fair and equitable to every program. We don’t have that right now. It’s not even close. This conference system provides the foundation in which to give every team a shot at a national title. Each conference gets a bid to the playoffs, even the smaller ones. From there, they have to earn their way forward. Imagine if we had a system like this when Utah went undefeated, or Boise State, or even Tulane. Maybe they’ll never be as good as Alabama or texas, but they deserve the chance to find out, and that’s what this series is all about. Determining the participants in a national championship game should not come down to strength of schedule or quality wins. It should come to what happens on the field.
Next up: We have our conferences. Now, let’s talk about the schedule.
HERE ARE MY PROPOSED CONFERENCES:
ACC: Central Florida, Duke, East Carolina, Florida State, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Florida, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Why? I shuffled three programs out of this league because I thought they were better fits elsewhere. Bringing in Central Florida and South Florida gives the conference a firm hold in a fertile football market (Florida). East Carolina is one of the better programs in Conference USA and should catch up quickly, in terms of the conference’s competition.
Big East: Army, Boston College, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Marshall, Navy, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, West Virginia.
Why: This conference needed a huge makeover. Moving BC to this league gives them a foothold in a Top 10 TV market, along with New York/New Jersey (Rutgers). Buffalo comes over from the MAC, and the service academies on the east coast need a home, too. Navy will be competitive here. I’m not sure Cincinnati should be here, but they’re a bit farther east than Louisville, which I moved to another league.
Big Ten: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin.
Why? This one was easy. Notre Dame needs a home in the new formula and the Big Ten is the most natural fit. The Irish don’t become an immediate favorite in this league. But it will end up being one of the most powerful leagues in the land.
Big 12: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, texas, texas A&M, texas Christian, texas Tech.
Why? Welcome back, Nebraska. The Huskers don’t make a whole lot of sense in the Big Ten, but they make much more sense in the Big 12. I moved Colorado out (but not where you would think) and moved texas Christian in, a team that has proven it deserves a spot in a big-time conference. Now they get the chance to prove year-in, year-out they belong.
Conference USA: Air Force, Alabama-Birmingham, Houston, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Rice, Southern Methodist, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, Vanderbilt.
Why? I really contemplated several options here. There are 27 teams out west, and that makes the 12-team model a little difficult. I think Air Force was a good fit here. It’s a quality program that fits in well in this league. Louisville moves in, along with Kentucky and Vanderbilt, a pair of SEC programs that should be better fits here.
Mid-American: Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Troy, Western Michigan
Why? Buffalo had to move to the Big East, in my opinion. And, after moving Marshall, I needed a team to bring in. Troy has been a dominant team in the Sun Belt for a while now and should bring a competitive program to the Mid-American. Travel will be a bit of a pain for them, being the southernmost program.
Pac 10: Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Brigham Young, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Southern California, Stanford, UCLA, Washington, Washington State
Why: Keeping the Pac 10 intact was the easy part. Picking the two teams that would join them was harder. Boise State has earned the right to be in a top league, based on its play the past seven years. BYU, to me, is a slightly better fit than Colorado. It’s closer to the coast and has a solid fan base west of its campus location.
SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, South Carolina
Why: Adding Clemson and Georgia Tech to replace Vandy and Kentucky creates great in-state rivalries for Georgia and South Carolina. The conference gets a bit stronger, as if it needs to get any stronger.
Sun Belt: Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico, New Mexico State, North texas, texas El-Paso, Western Kentucky
Why? This was the hardest league to put together. I had to add the two New Mexico schools, along with UTEP, in keeping with the conference’s name. Just as it is now, the Sun Belt is probably the weakest league. But, North texas and FIU bring Top 20 TV markets.
WAC: Colorado, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State, San Jose State, Utah, Utah State, Wyoming.
Why? This conference is deceptively strong. Fresno State, Hawaii and Utah have all had big seasons recently. Colorado brings a big TV market and annual rivalries with Colorado State. Nevada is in the midst of a tremendous season. This league could definitely be competitive with the new C-USA.
And, just for fun, here are the “rough draft” conferences Postins created, based on true geography:
Conference 1: Army, Boston College, Buffalo, Connecticut, Maryland, Navy, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia.
Conference 2: Duke, Marshall, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Western Kentucky, Vanderbilt.
Conference 3: Central Florida, Clemson, East Carolina, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Miami (Fla.), South Carolina, South Florida
Conference 4: Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio U., Ohio State, Toledo.
Conference 5: Ball State, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue, Western Michigan, Wisconsin.
Conference 6: Alabama, Alabama-Birmingham, Auburn, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Troy, Tulane.
Conference 7: Air Force, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Colorado, Colorado State, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming.
Conference 8: Baylor, Houston, North texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Rice, Southern Methodist, texas, texas A&M, texas Christian, texas Tech, Tulsa.
Conference 9: Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Brigham Young, Idaho, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, texas-El Paso, Utah, Utah State.
Conference 10: California, Fresno State, Hawaii, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Washington, Washington State.
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