NCAA Football: A Logical Dream of Eight SUPER Conferences

The ultimate goal will eventually be realized—a playoff system crowning a true National Champion in College Football.

Can we agree to leave the NCAA in the dust? Thank you...they don't crown a real National Champion anyway.

My dream world consists of many things, but this isn't the forum to talk about the red light frequency at intersections or tazering loud-mouth dads at fourth-grade hoop games.

No, college football needs a makeover in the worst way. Let's keep the 120 teams. Let's give everyone the same opportunity.

What better way to pave the way for an eight-team playoff than to have (gasp) eight super conferences? And what's even better? Eight super conferences that are set up to near, geographical perfection.

What you will see in this proposal is something all appealing sports leagues have: symmetry.

NCAA's March Madness: 64 teams with the winner crowned on the field.

MLB Playoffs, NBA Playoffs, NFL Playoffs, and the NHL Playoffs all crown their champion on the field.

Each team in those leagues has at least a chance to win the championship at the end of the year. This is even true in golf—the champion is crowned on the field after each competitor has had his or her shot.

The Northwest Conference

Considering that the following schools probably do the most traveling anyway (outside of Hawaii), I don't see too many problems here.

Old rivalries are maintained and new ones can be developed.

Just as in every other super conference in my dreamworld scenario, there are 15 teams in the Northwest Conference:

Wisconsin
Minnesota
Wyoming
Idaho
Boise State
Washington State
Washington
Oregon
Oregon State
Colorado
Air Force
BYU
Utah
Utah State

None of the above schools will ever complain about playing in "bad weather". Outside of Wisconsin and Minnesota, this still remains a geographical conference, even though it's the one that covers the most ground.

The Southwest Conference

No, this isn't the rebirth of one of the greatest conferences in the history of college sports.

In this new, super conference system, you will see every school in the same conference as the other schools within their respective states. This is true except in two instances: UTEP and Florida State.

There are 10 schools in Texas. UTEP will not be in the same conference with the other 9 Texas schools.

The Southwest Conference:

UTEP
New Mexico
New Mexico State
Arizona
Arizona State
California
Stanford
San Jose State
Fresno State
USC
UCLA
San Diego State
Hawaii
UNLV
Nevada

Nobody will ever be able to solve the travel nightmare that is Hawaii. Nothing should change regarding this, except that the big boys may go over to the island a bit more often.

The Central West Conference

This super conference is dominated by existing rivalries, most of whom reside in Texas, which is a good thing.

TCU can now get more chances at the bigger schools, as will every other "small" school, like Houston and North Texas.

Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Baylor
Rice
Houston
TCU
SMU
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Tulsa
Kansas
Kansas State
Nebraska
North Texas

Talk about simple travel!

The Central North Conference

We can finally realize a situation where Notre Dame is in a conference.

Again, this conference makes sense, geographically and historically.

Michigan
Michigan State
Eastern Michigan
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Indiana
Purdue
Notre Dame
Ball State
Northern Illinois
Illinois
Missouri
Northwestern
Iowa
Iowa State

The Central East

Ohio
Ohio State
Miami (OH)
Bowling Green
Toledo
Akron
Kent State
Kentucky
Louisville
Western Kentucky
Middle Tennessee
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Memphis

The Northeast Conference

Just as with teams in the Northwest Conference, it's doubtful that these 15 teams will ever complain about the weather.

It's classic power versus classic speed.

Syracuse
Buffalo
Army
Boston College
UCONN
Temple
Pitt
Penn State
Rutgers
Maryland
Navy
West Virginia
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Marshall

The Southern Conference

Considering how far west Florida State sits, it's only fitting to remove them from their Florida brethren and place them with the like of 'Bama, Mississippi, and LSU.

Granted, this may appear to be the toughest conference, but things will, eventually, even out. Plus, in this system, having a loss or two doesn't automatically remove a team from still having a shot at the National Championship.

Florida State
Alabama
Troy
UAB
Auburn
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Southern Miss
LA Lafayette
LA Monroe
LSU
LA Tech
Arkansas
Arkansas State
Tulane

The Southeast Conference

Simply a modification of the ACC, this conference continues the trend of making sense geographically while, at the same time, including small schools and big time schools.

North Carolina
NC State
Wake Forest
Duke
South Carolina
Clemson
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Florida
Central Florida
South Florida
Florida International
Florida Atlantic
Miami
East Carolina

The Process

The ultimate goal should be the crowning of a National Champion on the field, with each and every team within the field of 120 having an equal shot.

This currently isn't the case. Let's make it so.

Consider the eight Super Conferences. Allow that the top two teams from each conference compete in a 16-team playoff or the top team compete in an 8-team playoff.

The sacrifice is small. The benefit will be nearly immeasurable, as debates will be removed and a true champion will be crowned every year.

Polls? Sure, they have their place. But just as in college hoops, they shouldn't assist in determining the champion.