Make College Football Great Again Part 1.

Today the college football playoff committee released its 4 teams that will play in the playoff and the national championship. One of them didn’t win the division nor the conference championship (Ohio State) but left the team that did beat them and won the conference title out of the playoff (Penn State). I will discuss the conference realignments and the new playoff format that would make the playoffs more entertaining and you don’t need a committee to do this.

Also, the bowl game factor will come into play on this blog. Some bowl games will become part of the playoff, others will be part of the new bowl season. Part 2 will discuss the FCS along with their conference realignments, teams, and bowl games that should go to the FCS and be part of their playoff.

1. Conference Realignment

The NCAA FBS currently has 10 conferences (11 if you count the Independent). This year, the Big 12 interviewed programs with the talk of expanding into a bigger conference but eventually decided to stay put with 10 teams leaving West Virginia at a disadvantage. With West Virginia closest opponent Iowa State which is about 868 miles or over a 12-hour drive leaving West Virginia with no nearby opponents to play.

In order to make this work, 2 conferences must be gone. And they are the Big 12 and the Sun Belt. I don’t think the other big conferences like the Big 10, SEC or ACC expand. Let’s face it, there are some schools who don’t need to be in the FBS at all. These schools get beaten pretty badly by teams like Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, USC and so on and it doesn’t look good for them at all.

These schools should consider leaving the FBS and join the FCS where they can compete with other teams at their level and compete to win championships. So here is what the new college football conferences would look like. Some stay put, one of the big conferences gets 2 more teams, 2 conferences get teams from the demise of the Big 12 and 1 from the Sun Belt, some programs leave the FBS for the FCS. So here we go starting with the PAC 12.

PAC 12 becomes PAC 14 with the additions of Boise State and BYU. Here is what the conference would look like.

PAC 14

North Division

Washington

Washington State

Stanford

Oregon

Oregon State

California

Boise State

South Division

Colorado

Utah

USC

UCLA

Arizona

Arizona State

BYU

The ACC stays put in its conference format.

ACC

Atlantic Division

Clemson

NC State

Wake Forrest

Louisville

Florida State

Syracuse

Boston College

Coastal Division

Virginia Tech

Pittsburgh

Miami

North Carolina

Georgia Tech

Duke

Virginia

The SEC stays put in its conference format.

SEC

East Division

Florida

Tennessee

Georgia

Kentucky

South Carolina

Vanderbilt

Missouri

South Division

Alabama

Texas A&M

Arkansas

Auburn

LSU

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

The Big 10 stays put in their conference format.

BIG 10

East Division

Ohio State

Michigan

Penn State

Indiana

Michigan State

Maryland

Rutgers

West Division

Nebraska

Iowa

Wisconsin

Purdue

Northwestern

Minnesota

Illinois

The Mountain West takes a slight hit losing Boise State to the PAC 14 and terminates Hawaii from the conference to get it to a 10-team conference.

Mountain West

Mountain Division

Wyoming

New Mexico

Air Force

Colorado State

Utah State

West Division

San Diego State

Fresno State

Nevada

UNLV

San Jose State

The AAC becomes part of the Big 6 conference by adding 6 teams from the old Big 12 conference (West Virginia, TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) and letting go of some teams (Memphis, Navy, Tulane and SMU) from the conference.

AAC

East Division

West Virginia

Temple

East Carolina

UConn

Cincinnati

UCF

USF

West Division

Houston

TCU

Texas Tech

Baylor

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Tulsa

The MAC goes under construction and gets rid of 6 teams ( Ball State, Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami (OH), Eastern Michigan, and Akron) and keeps 6 and adds 3 from the old Big 12 conference (Iowa State, Kansas, and Kansas State), 3 from the AAC (SMU, Tulane and Memphis) and 2 from C-USA ( Louisiana Tech and North Texas) and also become part of the Big 6 conference.

MAC

North Division

Iowa State

Ohio

Northern Illinois

Western Michigan

Buffalo

Toledo

Central Michigan

South Division

Kansas

Kansas State

Memphis

SMU

Tulane

Louisiana Tech

North Texas

The C-USA gets 5 teams from the old Sun Belt conference (Arkansas State, Troy, UL Monroe, UL Lafayette and Texas State) but lose Louisiana Tech and North Texas to the MAC.

C-USA

East Division

Western Kentucky

Middle Tennessee

Marshall

FIU

Florida Atlantic

Arkansas State

Troy

West Division

Southern Mississippi

UTEP

Rice

UTSA

UL Monroe

UL Lafayette

Texas State

The teams that will be Independent in football but will have other sports programs in other conferences. Texas opts to go independent for football but joins a conference for all other sports just like Notre Dame is doing with the ACC. Hawaii and Navy also go independent as well.

Independent Teams

Texas

Notre Dame

Navy

Army

Hawaii

Teams that leave FBS for the FCS.

UMass

Idaho- Will move to FCS in 2018 to the Big Sky Conference

New Mexico

South Alabama

Georgia Southern

Appalachian State

Coastal Carolina- joined Sun Belt in 2017 but they should stay in the FCS

Georgia State

Old Dominion

Akron

Eastern Michigan

Miami (OH)

Kent State

Bowling Green

Ball State

UAB- when they return to football

Charlotte

2. Playoff format

With the Big 12 and the Sun Belt gone, we can now set up a true playoff system. Expand the playoff from 4 to 12 teams. Conference winners automatically get into the playoff with the top 4 teams with the best records receiving a bye. The remaining conference winners will be the home teams in the bowl games and the 4 wild card teams will be the away teams. More bowl games become part of the playoff. I will use the current college football playoff system to give you an idea of what the playoffs would look like under the new playoff format.

Top 4 teams with the bye:

Alabama 13-0 (SEC Champs)

Western Michigan 13-0 (MAC Champs)

Clemson 12-1 (ACC Champs)

Washington 12-1 (PAC 12 Champs)

1st Round Playoff:

Russell Athletic Bowl: Boise State 10-2 (WC) vs Temple 10-3 (AAC Champs)

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl: Ohio State 11-1 (WC) vs San Diego State 10-3 (MWC Champs)

Outback Bowl: USF 10-2 (WC) vs Penn State 11-2 (Big 10 Champs)

Liberty Bowl: Michigan 10-2 (WC) vs Western Kentucky 10-3 (C-USA Champs)

So now let’s say Boise State, Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan win the first-round games. Here is the second round.

2nd Round Playoff:

Orange Bowl: Boise State vs Alabama

Cotton Bowl: Ohio State vs Western Michigan

Sugar Bowl: Penn State vs Clemson

Rose Bowl: Michigan vs Washington

Now let’s say Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, and Michigan win the 2nd round. Here is the Semi-Final round.

Semi-Final:

Peach Bowl: Ohio State vs Alabama

Fiesta Bowl: Michigan vs Clemson

Now let’s say that Alabama and Michigan won the Semi-Final round. Here is the championship.

CFP National Championship: Michigan vs Alabama

That is what the new college football playoff would look like. Simple and you are getting the best teams in the playoffs from all conferences; now every team has something to play for. As for the other teams that didn’t get into the playoff but have a good record thus are rewarded a bowl game. There are 8 bowl games with a total of 16 teams playing in these bowl games. You will no longer get average teams with 6 wins instead you will get teams with 9 wins or more playing in these other bowl games. Again, using the current records for the teams (Appalachian State and Old Dominion aren’t included in this as they are in the FCS). This is what the bowl games would look like.

Bahamas Bowl: USC 9-3 vs West Virginia 10-2

Hawaii Bowl: Louisville 9-3 vs Oklahoma 10-2

Military Bowl: Navy 9-3 vs Florida State 9-3

Armed Forces Bowl: Houston 9-3 vs Wisconsin 10-3

Holiday Bowl: Toledo 9-3 vs Stanford 9-3

Sun Bowl: Tulsa 9-3 vs Nebraska 9-3

Independence Bowl: Oklahoma State 9-3 vs Troy 9-3

Music City Bowl: Virginia Tech 9-4 vs Air Force 9-3

These games along with the playoff would make a very interesting bowl season. You are truly getting the best teams competing against each other. For the other teams that didn’t get into the playoff or the other bowl games, they have something to go after from here on out.

How would you make College Football Great Again? Leave a comment below.

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About Michael Heilman 6537 Articles
My name is Michael Heilman. I'm the Founder of BGMSportsTrax. An independent blog dedicated to covering regional and national sports, while presenting commentary on sports-related stories.