Conference Realignment and Playoff Proposal: Part Deux

Written by Chris Canada, Gatorsfirst.com Co-Founder

I recently read over James’s original realignment plan and I found it very interesting. It was basically a way to allow the six BCS conferences to make a few minor additions and subtractions to make sure they will be guaranteed a championship game.

He then went on to mention the Wetzel Plan, which calls for a 16-team playoff.

However, after reading both, I found that there were a couple of flaws. So, mainly because I have a lot of free time and have nothing better to do, I decided I would make some updates to both plans...

The main point I’d like to start with is that I propose to make eight, 12-team conferences, each of which will be entered into the BCS. Yes you read that correctly, the BCS will stay. As much as the BCS has failed to determine the final two teams to play for the national championship game, it has done a good job on a much larger scale figuring out where teams stand. Read further and you’ll see where I’ll use it.

As a 12-team conference, each will be required to have a championship game, and the winner of that game will earn an automatic bid into a 16-team BCS championship playoff, similar to the NCAA college basketball tournament.

The remaining eight playoff spots will go to the top eight teams in the BCS standings that are not already guaranteed a spot in the playoff. This usage of the BCS should quell people’s fears, because the only teams that might have an argument against the BCS will be those teams that feel their team deserved a chance when they were the ninth or 10th best team left of those not already guaranteed a spot.

In my eyes, this argument holds no weight, because your team clearly wouldn’t have shown itself to be one of the top five best teams in the country at that point and you should stop your bitching. But I digress...

With that being said, you might be wondering to yourself “Wait, if there are eight 12-team leagues, that means there are only 96 BCS teams. What happens to the other 24 teams in the bowl subdivision?”

The remaining 24 teams will still have a chance to play in the tournament, as long as they have a BCS ranking that is in the top eight of the remaining slots. It’s that simple. I will discuss their role later. I have looked hard at the top 96 teams in college football with respect to current play, history, and current conference value. I chose to leave out those teams that have little value out of the eight new conferences


Here are the current conference lineups:

SEC
East—Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee
West—Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Mississippi State

Big 12
North—Iowa St, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas State, Kansas, Missouri
South—Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

Big 10
Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Penn State

ACC
Atlantic—Florida St, Boston College, Maryland, Wake Forest, Clemson, NC State
Coastal—Miami (FL), North Carolina, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech

Big East
Syracuse, Connecticut, Rutgers, West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Pittsburgh

Pac-10
Arizona, Arizona State, Southern Cal, UCLA, Stanford, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State

MAC
East—Temple, Buffalo, Kent State, Akron, Ohio, Miami (OH), Bowling Green
West—Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Ball State

Conference USA
East—Central Florida, UAB, East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss
West—Tulane, Houston, Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UTEP

Sun Belt
FAU, FIU, Middle Tennessee, Arkansas St, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette, North Texas, Troy

WAC
Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Utah State, Boise St, Nevada, San Jose State, Fresno State, Idaho, Hawaii

Mountain West
TCU, New Mexico, Air Force, Colorado St, Wyoming, BYU, Utah, UNLV, San Diego State

Independent
Notre Dame, Western Kentucky, Army, Navy


With my proposal, here are the new conference alignments:
SEC

East—Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Clemson, Georgia Tech
West—Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Kentucky

Notes: The SEC doesn’t change much. However, they replace Vanderbilt and Arkansas with Clemson and Georgia Tech. Vanderbilt isn’t very “SEC” and Arkansas isn’t geographically near the other SEC schools. Clemson would be a great fit because they, out of any other school in the southeast, resemble a true SEC school, as well as their longstanding rivalry with South Carolina. Georgia Tech also would fit in the East because of their rivalry with Georgia. Kentucky moves to the West Division due to geographic complications.

Big 12
North—Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas St, Kansas, Missouri, Tulsa
South—Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas

Notes: The Big 12 also doesn’t change much. They replace Iowa State and Baylor with Tulsa and Arkansas. Iowa State seems like they should belong in the Big 10. Baylor has sucked at football for a long time now, and belongs with the likes of SMU, Rice, and Houston as poor teams from Texas. They never seem to beat any of the good Big 12 teams. Tulsa would fit right in with the other teams from Oklahoma, especially with Gus Malzhan’s new offense. Arkansas used to be in the defunct Southwestern Conference, with a slew of other current Big 12 members. They’ll fit right in.

Big 10 + 2
East—Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame
West—Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa State

Notes: The Big 10 + 2 finally conforms to the conference championship game model that has worked for other major conferences. They replace Penn State with Notre Dame and Iowa State. Penn State joined the Big 10 in the early 1990’s, so leaving won’t take away from much of the tradition they have built over the last 15 years or so. They belong with other Big East teams. Iowa State has a major rivalry with Iowa, and this allows them to play every year within their conference. Notre Dame needs to get over themselves and join a conference already. This opportunity allows them to play big schools in their area. The conference will split evenly into two divisions, East and West. Also, they get to keep their traditional “Big Ten” name in their conference name, even though they have 12 teams. I’d like to see the clever logo they come up with next.

ACC
North—North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke, NC State, Virginia Tech, Virginia
South—Miami (FL), Florida State, Central Florida, South Florida, Vanderbilt, East Carolina

Notes: The ACC changes a lot. They replace Boston College, Maryland, Clemson, and Georgia Tech with Central Florida, South Florida, Vanderbilt, and East Carolina. I figured that Boston College and Maryland regionally fit with other teams in the northeast. Also, Clemson and Georgia Tech have big rivalries with other schools in the SEC and remind me of SEC college towns (Georgia Tech is better than Vanderbilt). For those coming in, it made sense to group the other Florida schools together as well as bringing in another school from the Carolinas. Vandy matches well with other schools of higher education like Duke, Virginia, and UNC.

Pac 12
South—Southern Cal, UCLA, Stanford, Hawaii, UNLV. Fresno State
North—California, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Boise State

Notes: The Pac 12 also finally conforms to the conference championship game model. They replace Arizona and Arizona State with Hawaii, UNLV, Fresno State, and Boise State. Remember, Arizona and Arizona State joined the Pac 8 to form the Pac-10 in the late 1970’s, so leaving won’t take away from much of the tradition they have built over the last 30 or so years. They belong with other Southwestern teams. Hawaii is about as Pacific as you can get, Fresno State and UNLV belong with the other California schools, and Boise State belong with the other northwestern schools. I’d be intrigued to see how Boise State fares with regular stiff competition, especially on the blue turf! The conference will split evenly into two divisions, North and South.

Big Kinda Northeast
Northeast—Syracuse, Connecticut, Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Boston College
Southwest—West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Kent State, Akron, Ohio, Marshall

Notes: This conference brings together five teams from the current Big East, as well as a past member in Boston College, a current ACC member, and four current members of the MAC to form the Big Kinda Northeast Conference. I chose to do this because it makes sense regionally. The current Big East has only eight members, yet they get a guaranteed spot in the BCS, while the Big 12 and the SEC (considerably better from top to bottom) have 12 teams and only get one guaranteed spot. At the very least, this move allows for a more legit argument for their inclusion. The conference will split evenly into two divisions, Northeast and Southwest.

Conference USA
North—Ball State, Central Michigan, Bowling Green Cincinnati, Toledo, Miami (OH)
South—UAB, Tulane, Southern Miss, Memphis, Louisiana Tech, Louisville

Notes: This conference brings together five teams from the current MAC, four from the current Conference USA, two from the current Big East (yet former members of Conference USA), and Louisiana Tech, who inexplicably plays in the WAC with the likes of Boise State, Fresno State, and even Hawaii! I figured that I would call them Conference USA, mainly because they are the most spread out of any of my new conferences. On another note, did you know that the MAC current has 13 teams, six in one division and seven in another? Me neither! The conference will split evenly into two divisions, North and South.

Southwestern (SWC?)
Lone Star—TCU, Rice, SMU, UTEP, Houston, Baylor
Four Corners—BYU, Air Force, Arizona State, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico

Notes: This conference brings together five teams from the current Mountain West conference, four from the current Conference USA, two from the current Pac-10, and Baylor, who leaves the Big 12. I will call this the Southwestern Conference, mainly because they are in the southwestern part of the United States of America. The conference will split evenly into two divisions, Lone star (consisting of all Texan schools) and Four Corners (I think the name explains itself.)

Non BCS Schools

Temple, Buffalo, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, FAU, FIU, Middle Tennessee, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette, North Texas, Troy, New Mexico State, Utah State, Nevada, San Jose State, Idaho, Colorado State, Wyoming, San Diego State, Western Kentucky, Army, Navy

Notes: I chose to exclude these schools from the BCS for many reasons. But the one that kept sticking out in my mind was the fact that all of these schools have either not been relevant for a long, long time, or never all at all. When I think of these teams, they are the first to come to mind when a major school schedules a pancake. With that said, I feel that these teams will have the opportunity to still make it to the BCS playoff that I will discuss shortly. All they will have to do is schedule some tough games and try to build their program with big wins. Maybe in the future, I would even put in a clause that they could replace another failing team from a BCS conference if they have a string of consecutive winning seasons and upset, as in English Premier League Soccer.
 

Here is my BCS Playoff Proposal:

1) Each conference will have a championship game held after the completion of the regular season. The winner of each division in the conference will represent their division in the championship game. The winner of said game will gain an automatic spot into the BCS playoff, regardless of their position in the BCS standings.

2) The remaining eight (8) “at-large” slots will be determined by the eight highest teams in the BCS standings, not already guaranteed a spot in the playoff tournament.

3) At most, three (3) teams from one conference can be represented in the playoff tournament.

4) At most, one (1) team from a non-BCS conference can participate in the playoff tournament.

5) The seeding of the tournament will be determined by the final BCS standings, which will be released shortly after all of the conference championship games.

6) First and second round games would be played at the home stadium of the team with the higher seed.

Imagine the possibilities of having a championship tournament.

Every conference can have their chance to shine. A true champion will be determined.

Also, the bowl system will still stay mostly in tact. For example, every bowl will have the opportunity to select teams after they have been eliminated from the tournament. All teams not in the tournament that have a winning record will still have the same chance of playing in a bowl game. The first place game will be the BCS National Championship game, and the third place game can move to each of the current BCS bowl locations every four years, guaranteeing a premier matchup in that game.


Here is an example of what could happen:

Championship Game Results (seeds)

SEC: Florida (2) defeats Alabama
Big 12: Oklahoma (1) defeats Missouri
Big 10 + 2: Ohio St (11) defeats Iowa
ACC: North Carolina (12) defeats Florida St
Pac 12: Southern Cal (4) defeats Boise St
Big Kinda Northeast: Penn St (8) defeats West Virginia
Conference USA: Ball St (13) defeats Louisville
Southwestern: Utah (5) defeats TCU

The remaining eight highest BCS teams could be:

Texas (3)
Alabama (6)
Texas Tech (7)
Georgia (9)
Boise St (10)
Michigan St (14)
Oregon (15)
West Virginia (16)


Here’s the bracket, and how I think it would happen:

	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals	Champion
	at lower seed	at lower seed	at neutral field	at neutral field
1	Oklahoma
		Oklahoma
16	West Virginia
			Oklahoma
8	Penn St
		Georgia
9	Georgia
				Southern Cal
5	Utah
		Utah
12	North Carolina
			Southern Cal
4	Southern Cal
		Southern Cal
13	Ball St
					Florida
6	Alabama
		Alabama
11	Ohio St
			Texas
3	Texas
		Texas
14	Michigan St
				Florida
7	Texas Tech
		Texas Tech
10	Boise St
			Florida
2	Florida
		Florida
15	Oregon

Imagine the possible games!

In the first round alone, you could get a rematch of last year’s Fiesta Bowl, a fairy tale chance for Ball State to upset USC, and another chance for Ohio State to redeem themselves over a top SEC team.

In the second round, you could get three matchups of SEC vs. Big 12 teams, with Oklahoma vs. Georgia, Texas vs. Alabama, and Texas Tech vs, Florida.

In the semifinals, you can see the top four teams matchup with Oklahoma vs Southern Cal and Florida vs Texas.

What great games!

In the championship game, I think you could see Southern Cal vs. Florida, with Florida winning it all.

Am I a homer? Probably. Am I a college football fan? Most definitely!

P.S. – After I had written this, I ran into Merrill Hoge of ESPN at the airport and discussed this at length with him (He’s a hell of a nice guy). Although he said he would be in favor of the current bowl system, he gave me his endorsement of my proposal. That probably means nothing to the readers of this, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Any thoughts?

You can view the original article here