The Future of College Football...?

This is an entry in the USCBlitz.com contest.  It's a terrific look into the possible future of college football (written by Trey).  Hope you enjoy the read, and thanks for supporting the site!

June 9th, 2016

Yesterday, on the fiftieth anniversary of the NFL-AFL merger, the National Football League announced another landmark merger.  For the last few years, the NFL has been attempting to recover from a cheating and steroids scandal that brought the sport to its knees and brought on the baseball renaissance and the surging popularity of the NHL and NASCAR.

This scandal eventually resulted in the contraction of the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Arizona Cardinals, and the formation of the Las Vegas Gamblers from the relocation of the New Orleans Saints, leaving the number of NFL teams at 29.

However, rumors had been swirling for months that the NFL was pursuing a merger with Division I of NCAA football in an attempt to regain the attention and the fan base that left following the devastating string of scandals.

Division I-A itself split into two distinct factions: the current Division I-A and the current Division I-AA.  The old Division 1-AA (FCS) was renamed Division I-AAA.  The current Division I-A was formed from the ashes of the six BCS conferences, minus a few key teams who left due to academic concerns or a worry that they could not commit enough money to the new system.

Boston College, Duke, Virginia, Rutgers, Syracuse, Northwestern, Purdue, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Cal, Stanford, USC (still a surprise, but the program never recovered from Pete Carroll’s jump to the San Diego Chargers), Vanderbilt, and all of the military academies left, leaving the number of teams in this new Division I-A at 49.

However, Boise State, Florida Atlantic, Southern Methodist (buoyed by June Jones), TCU, Southern Miss, Central Florida, Central Michigan, Utah, Brigham Young, and Troy decided to dedicate the money and effort necessary to jump to the next level, moving the number of teams up to 59.

With fewer teams, the competition (and the injuries) ramped up in Division I-A, and the oft searched-for playoff was immediately dashed off the board for a renewed, more lucrative BCS.  Conference alignments remained largely the same due to the teams that left, with the teams that jumped up joining the old conferences.

Division I-AA promptly introduced a playoff, which was won by Jim Harbaugh's Stanford Cardinal in the first season over Boston College.

The NFL attempted to woo the NCAA, but they were met with initial resistance by professors and those concerned that college life (and education) would disappear.  However, the historic windfall that would be paid to the teams that jumped, and to Division I-A as a whole (rumored to be over $2 billion—the final number was not released), outshone all detractors.

But the NFL could only accept a limited number of teams.  The prelude to the press conference announcing the merger was a tense silence, as universities waited to be named.  Only 19 would make the jump (to make a solid 48).

The roll call went as follows.

From the Rocky Mountain Conference (made up of the former Pac-10 and some WAC and MWC teams):

Oregon, Arizona State, and Boise State

*Notably absent from this list was UCLA, who is still recovering from the death penalty the NCAA levied on them at the tail end of Rich Neuheisel's corrupt coaching tenure.  A large number of notable programs such as USC and Cal had not remained on the Division I-A side of the split.*

From the Great Plains Conference (The Big 12, Sun Belt, MAC, and C-USA):

Oklahoma, Texas, SMU, Colorado, and Nebraska

*The Big 12 was, along with the SEC, least affected by the first split.*

From the SEC (they didn't even have to change their name; it still worked):

LSU, Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, FAU (Schnellenberger led this program to a championship in 2013...they aren't leaving), and Miami (FL)

*Kentucky quickly faded into obscurity shortly after their "comeback" in 2007, while Georgia was the "first team out"*

From the Appalachian Conference (Big Ten, Big East, ACC):

Ohio State, Michigan, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech

*Florida State and Penn State fell off the map once their star coaches, Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno, passed away on the same date in 2012.*

Notre Dame, who already had faced enormous flak for their decision to chase the money over their famed academic programs, could not silence their alumni and staff this time, and the Fighting Irish were forced to remain in Division I-A.

These 19 teams will join Division II of the new NPCFL (National Professional and Collegiate Football League), along with the five worst teams from the final season of the NFL.

The NFL has now implemented a system similar to European soccer in which the top four teams from Division II will jump to Division I, while the bottom four teams in Division I will fall to Division II.  This new system will begin in the 2017-2018 season.

The teams will play 12 regular season games (a drop from the NFL's 14, implemented after the 2014 season) and will participate in an eight-team playoff by division.

It is not known what will happen to the teams left in Division I-A, though the consensus is that they will, with their tails between their legs, merge with Division I-AA.

The effects of this merger have yet to be fully known, but the repercussions are already being felt.  The 19 universities that merged have been soundly criticized by other institutions of higher learning the world over for agreeing to this merger, seeing as academics seem to be continually pushed under the rug.

A small number of students have begun to transfer to the schools that remain in the NCAA for their academic success and to keep a semblance of college life intact, but with the joint announcement that students will now be paid to play, this number is negligible.

This announcement has sparked talks between the NBA and NCAA Basketball for a 16-team tournament at the end of the year between the top eight teams from the NCAA and the top eight teams from the NBA.

"This is a shining moment of true evolution for collegiate football, and for the NCAA as a whole," says NCAA president Myles Brand.  Brand, in his final year, has his legacy.

The question now is, "How will history remember this legacy?"  That remains to be seen.