College Football Realignment: What the SuperConferences Should Look Like

Does anyone else feel dizzy? No, not from watching Oklahoma run circles around Texas yesterday. I’m woozy from trying to keep up with all this realignment madness going on in the college football world.

Nebraska is now in the Big Ten, Texas A&M is headed to the SEC, and “Pac-12” really doesn’t roll off the tongue the same. TCU ditched the Big East to save the Big 12, the ACC snatched Syracuse and Pitt, and who knows where Missouri will end up?

It’s all one big mess. Who has two thumbs and thinks everything needs to be blown up and re-constructed from scratch? This guy! And I might have the solution.

My criteria:

Nobody gets demoted to the FCS

Four SuperConferences based on geography

Don’t destroy classic rivalries or upset the balance of power

God forbid I get rid of the almighty BCS system

Keep in mind that it affects college basketball, too

Now that the rules are in place, let’s make like LSU, and Geaux:

SuperNorthern Conference

Leaders Division

1. Illinois
2. Indiana
3. Iowa
4. Iowa St.
5. Minnesota
6. Nebraska 
7. Northwestern
8. Notre Dame 
9. Purdue 
10. Wisconsin

 

Legends Division 

1. Boston College 
2. Cincinnati 
3. Connecticut 
4. Michigan 
5. Michigan St.
6. Ohio St. 
7. Penn St. 
8. Pittsburgh
9. Rutgers 
10. Syracuse

As you can see, this is mostly a combination of teams from the Big East and Big Ten. You'll notice that all my SuperConferences keep in-state rivalries together (Iowa and Iowa St., Michigan and Michigan St. for example). 

This SuperConference encompasses the Great Lakes region and most of New England. Still, we have the Michigan vs. Ohio St. game every year. The biggest change is Notre Dame being swayed to leave independence and join the SuperNorthern Conference. 

The Irish add some firepower to an already dominant SuperConference. Michigan, Michigan St., Ohio St., Penn St., Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Notre Dame would seem to round out the top four in each division. Still, the other six teams in each either aren't slouches or would have a shot to contend on cycles. 

As for basketball, the Legends Division is absolutely loaded and would have a strong case for the most unbeatable group in the country. Yet, the Leaders Division is stacked in its own right for hoops. 

No doubt, the SuperNorthern would be an annual favorite to send a representative to the National Championship.

SuperEastern Conference

Atlantic Division

1. Duke
2. Florida
3. Florida St.
4. Georgia
5. Georgia Tech
6. Miami
7. North Carolina
8. North Carolina St.
9. South Florida
10. Wake Forest

Coastal Division 

1. Clemson
2. Kentucky
3. Louisville
4. Marshall
5. Maryland
6. South Carolina
7. Tennessee
8. Virginia
9. Virginia Tech
10. West Virginia

The SuperEastern mostly gets scraped together from the ACC, SEC and some chips off the Big East block. Again, the Virginia teams stay in the same division, the Florida teams all manage to sneak into one together, and both Carolina states are kept together, too.

The Eastern coast of the United States and the Greater D.C. area is mostly what is represented by this SuperConference. Florida and Florida St. will play every season. The Gators play the Canes.

The only one that might confuse is Marshall. Geographically, it makes sense (they are located in Huntington, W. Va.) and their history makes them one of the more attractive schools that can move up for a SuperConference slot.

Both divisions in this conference are absolutely loaded with history. Clemson and Virginia Tech are undefeated in 2011. West Virginia and South Carolina are both one-loss teams. The thought of all these programs being forced to play each other in one season is borderline orgasmic. And the Atlantic Division boasts the big programs in Florida and Georgia, plus some up-and-comers like North Carolina and Wake Forest. 

And my goodness, if this wouldn't be the hotbed of college basketball. Duke and North Carolina stay in the same division, and Kentucky and Louisville square off in the Coastal Division. Unbelievable.

Now, this raises the issue of the seven teams in the Big East right now that don't have a football team, but do have a basketball team.

Where do Georgetown or St. John's go? Just slot them in to this SuperConference; whether it be Atlantic or Coastal, I could care less. Drop Providence (sorry, you're the smallest and probably the least likely to contend) to a non-SuperConference, and when basketball rolls around, the SuperEastern expands to 26 teams. There. Happy? Good.

SuperSouthern Conference

American Division

1. Baylor
2. Houston 
3. LSU 
4. Mississippi St. 
5. Ole Miss 
6. SMU 
7. TCU 
8. Texas 
9. Texas A&M 
10. Texas Tech

National Division

1. Alabama 
2. Arkansas 
3. Auburn 
4. Kansas 
5. Kansas St. 
6. Missouri 
7. Oklahoma 
8. Oklahoma St. 
9. UAB 
10. Vanderbilt 

Holy pigskin. The Big 12 and SEC combine to form the powerhouse that becomes the SuperSouthern Conference. Alabama, Kansas, Oklahoma and most importantly, Texas, are strongly represented in this SuperConference. Both divisions have an insane amount of firepower. 

The Deep South is represented by the SuperSouthern. Texas, the hotbed of pre-professional football, Alabama, and Mississippi are all over it. You can see I have TCU and Houston finally getting a shot with the big boys. And UAB may be a surprise in the National Division, but they have the most basketball potential, so they won out for the coveted 20th spot in this SuperConference.

TCU and Houston add some intrigue to the SuperConference that already boasts the last two BCS champions. We don't lose the Red River Shootout, as that's a no-brainer for one of the out-of-division games for the Sooners and Longhorns.

Plus, it allows for a lot of new rivalries to be born (does anyone else foresee a Case Keenum vs. Robert Griffin III match up in a do-or-die game?). 

Baylor and Texas are just a couple of the names that stand out in the American Division for basketball prowess, and we all know what the Kansas schools are made of on the court.

I'd be pretty shocked not to see a team from the SuperSouthern Conference play for a National Championship every season.

SuperWestern Conference

Pacific Division

1. Boise St. 
2. Cal 
3. Hawaii 
4. Nevada 
5. Oregon 
6. Oregon St. 
7. San Jose St. 
8. Stanford 
9. Washington 
10. Washington St. 

 

Mountain Division

1. Arizona 
2. Arizona St. 
3. BYU 
4. Colorado
5. Colorado St. 
6. Fresno St. 
7. San Diego St.
8. UCLA 
9. USC 
10. Utah 

This was the easiest SuperConference to put together. I kept the original 12 of the new Pac-12, and added the best of the West that weren't in a major conference. Boise St. was a no-brainer and actually could be a favorite already in the SuperWestern.

Hawaii, Nevada and San Jose St. were the best options geographically and in simple levels of talent for the Pacific Division. San Diego St., Fresno St., Colorado St. and BYU all have good football track records and add a little punch to the basketball competition, too. 

The biggest addition has to be the Boise St. Broncos. Perennially underrated, they have been in the thick of the National Championship hunt for years, but the one knock has always been the weak competition. Well, if they can take out teams like Oregon, Stanford, USC and Arizona St. on the way to an undefeated season, you won't see much argument about their schedule anymore.

The regional rivalries in this area are extremely celebrated. The Apple Cup in Washington, the Civil War in Oregon, the Big Game in Northern California; in most cases we are talking about two major programs battling for supremacy of an entire state. It doesn't get much better than that.

And the SuperWestern Conference welcomes another, much overlooked in-state rivalry in Colorado vs. Colorado St. to the Mountain Division.

Pac-12 basketball has been overshadowed as of late, but with the new additions, it's an exciting powerhouse. And, BYU basketball leaves the West Coast Conference to make this football move happen.

I'm thinking for basketball season, the SuperWestern Conference expands to 28 teams and welcomes all the unnoticed, yet exceptionally electric teams of the West Coast Conference (Gonzaga, anyone?) in. Just for basketball, of course.

I would be drooling over the new match-ups in both sports in this SuperConference.

Non-SuperConferences

Gulf Conference

1. Louisiana-Lafayette
2. Louisiana-Monroe
3. Louisiana Tech
4. Middle Tennessee St.
5. North Texas
6. Tulane
7. Tulsa
8. Rice

Panhandle Conference

1. Arkansas St.
2. Central Florida
3. East Carolina
4. Florida Atlantic
5. Florida International
6. Memphis
7. Southern Miss
8. Troy

Urban Conference

1. Army
2. Ball St.
3. Bowling Green
4. Buffalo
5. Navy
6. Northern Illinois
7. Temple
8. Western Kentucky

Lake Conference

1. Akron
2. Central Michigan
3. Eastern Michigan
4. Kent St.
5. Miami (OH)
6. Ohio
7. Toledo
8. Western Michigan

Desert Conference

1. Air Force
2. Idaho
3. New Mexico
4. New Mexico St.
5. UNLV
6. Utah St.
7. UTEP
8. Wyoming

These conferences don't need as much explaining (but could definitely use some re-naming). Each one has eight teams that are located close to one another. They would play each other once, then play a SuperConference team and two more games against each other or FCS opponents.

The top two from each conference would go to a playoff after 10 games (maybe as guinea pigs for a bigger picture playoff system down the road). 

Ten teams begin, and one champion remains. The top two overall seeds get a bye for the first round, and we go in a single-elimination, March Madness style tournament for the final three rounds.

If the non-SuperConference champion is undefeated, absolutely dominated all season, knocked off a big SuperConference program and finished their 14 games ranked in the top 10 of the BCS standings, there is a slight shot at them getting into a major bowl. It's unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

Sure, it would have to be a perfect storm, but it still offers hope. And at the very least, the teams over .500 still qualify for a spot in a bowl game, regardless of if they make the playoffs or not. The division winners and the overall champion would be guaranteed a bowl bid (the runner-up for the division from which the champion came gets an automatic bid too). That allows the underdogs of D-I football six automatic bowl berths every year and a chance for plenty more.

Contrary to what you may think looking at this measly list of teams, this could make for some very exciting football. Army and Navy still play each other every season, and teams like Tulsa and East Carolina have shown flashes of brilliance in years past. Most importantly, this keeps all 120 Division I programs in the FBS, as promised.

How Do We Crown a Champion?

This is where it always gets tricky. So many different variables go into determining who is the absolute best team in the nation over a long season. But here's my shot at it. In a perfect world...

...there would be a 14-game football schedule: Nine divisional match ups per team, two against teams from the other division, one from a non-SuperConference, and two from teams in different SuperConferences. For example, Notre Dame would play the other nine teams in the Leaders Division, then Ohio St. and Michigan from the Legends Division, Akron, USC and West Virginia. 

The winners of each division in each SuperConference would play for the SuperConference Championship and an automatic BCS bowl berth. So, the potential for 16 games is out there; for teams like LSU, this is almost an inevitability.

The worst teams in each conference will just play out their 14-game schedule. Teams over .500 can qualify for a bowl, just like it is now (allowing the possibility of 14 games plus a bowl game to make 15). And teams vying for the National Championship will play that added SuperConference Championship game before any bowl game to make 16.

We don't have to change the BCS bowls at all. We still have the five big ones: National Championship, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Orange Bowl. The No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the BCS standings after SuperConference Championship Weekend would play for the National Championship. The four major bowls would be represented by one team from each SuperConference.

The SuperWestern Conference champion plays in the Rose Bowl, SuperNorthern Conference champion plays in the Sugar Bowl, SuperEastern Conference champion plays in the Orange Bowl, and the SuperSouthern Conference champion plays in the Fiesta Bowl.

Let's say this year, for the sake of argument, that LSU plays Wisconsin for the National Championship. According to my new SuperConference layout, the supposed representative for the Sugar and Fiesta Bowls are off playing for the whole shebang. In that case, whoever LSU and Wisconsin beat in their SuperConference Championship (the winner of the other division) would take their spots.

There is no need to cry foul on that ruling. After all, if a school can be the second-best team in a conference that boasts LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Alabama, Auburn, etc., then they have probably earned that chance to play in a BCS bowl. So, who do the two other SuperConference Champions and the replacements play in their respective BCS games? 

How It Would Look

Let's not skirt the obvious. The college football bowl system always has been and always will be about money. Players compete for the glory, their athletic directors and university powers-that-be compete for the cash.

Everyone knows the bigger the bowl game, the more money, the more attention, the better recruits, and the cycle continues until the sun swallows the Earth.

That said, there are four spots to fill. The BCS committee will choose the match-ups, as long as they don't pair SuperConference teams against each other. They know which match-ups will bring in the most revenue for everyone, and it will probably be the same as the rankings anyway.

So, we have Wisconsin vs. LSU for the National Championship. Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. Michigan represents the Sugar Bowl and Oklahoma represents the Fiesta Bowl.

In this example, I'm going to say Arizona St., the SuperWestern runner-up, gets the matchup against Michigan. Oklahoma will play the Florida Gators, who lost to Virginia Tech in the SuperEastern final. 

That leaves two spots for any non-SuperConference teams who might have made a Cinderella run. It would probably take a massive upset in their game against a SuperConference team, plus an undefeated season to warrant any consideration for that to happen.

A fair estimate is that 99 percent of the time, the last two spots will be filled by whichever teams rounded out the top 10 in the rankings but weren't already in a BCS bowl. 

In a season like 2011, there are plenty of options. Oregon, Boise St., Alabama, Oklahoma St., and Texas are the first names that jump out at me. All might be one-loss powerhouses on the outside looking in. This is when the win quality and strength of schedule comes in to consideration. Oregon and Boise St. play in a weaker SuperConference than the other three, so they are out.

Now, let's say Alabama beat Clemson, Texas beat UCLA, and Oklahoma St. beat Nebraska in their respective contests against other SuperConference teams. Chances are, Oklahoma St. will be squaring off against Stanford and Alabama vs. Virginia Tech in the remaining two slots.

If they have the best strength of schedule and most quality wins of the teams remaining, they are probably No. 9 and 10 in the BCS rankings at this point anyway.

This is how it would break down:

National Championship:

(1) LSU/SuperSouthern Champion vs. (2) Wisconsin/SuperNorthern Champion

Rose Bowl:

(4) Stanford/SuperWestern Champion vs. (10) Oklahoma St./At-Large, SuperSouthern

Orange Bowl:

(3) Virginia Tech/SuperEastern Champion vs. (9) Alabama/At-Large, SuperSouthern

Sugar Bowl:

(7) Michigan/SuperNorthern Runner-Up vs. (8) Arizona St./SuperWestern Runner-Up

Fiesta Bowl:

(5) Oklahoma/SuperSouthern Runner-Up vs. (6) Florida/SuperEastern Runner-Up

**Keep in mind, the Sugar and Fiesta Bowls wouldn't always be a matchup of second-place teams. Two bowls will be, but it would depend on which SuperConferences are represented in the National Championship.**

Would It Work?

Let's go back to the checklist I made on the first slide. My criteria started with no teams getting demoted to the FCS. We still have the same 120 teams, just re-shuffled and re-structured to better take advantage of location, rivalries and talent. Four SuperConferences for the major programs rule the landscape, and rightfully so.

The balance of power was not upset and classic rivalries still persist. The SuperWestern is the weakest conference right now, but on the upswing. The other three SuperConferences are all very balanced, division by division, as far as records go.

I promised to not get rid of the BCS system, because I don't want NCAA goonies busting through my living room windows with rifles and clubs. I may have done the impossible and actually improved the system (imagine that...). And the only change outside of realignment to the college basketball landscape, is that the SuperEastern and SuperWestern Conferences each add an even amount of teams for basketball season.

To conclude, the college football championship format won't be fair and perfect until there is a playoff, March Madness style. For the time being, this is as close as we are going to get. There will always be snubs, but my system attempts to limit them to being teams that could have gotten in, rather than should have.

In this set up, the teams who play in the BCS bowls have really earned it. And a team in a non-SuperConference must have a legendary season and knock off one of the best SuperConference programs in the country to even spark that controversy.

It also severely limits the chances that more than two teams go undefeated in a season. In 2011, there are seven teams who could feasibly run the table, which makes for a big ol' mess come BCS time. 

Everyday we shufflin'. Seriously, the realignment talk has just gotten out of control. There is a better chance of the Chicago Cubs winning a World Series than of my system rising from the depths of these archives and finding its way into reality.

But hopefully, I've at least shed light on a solution that would, hypothetically, solve a lot of ridiculous problems that have got college football fans stumbling.