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.
