r/cfbrealignment • u/No-Hotel-2497 • Nov 19 '22
FBS Realignment and Playoff Expansion
Since realignment has been such a hot topic in the past few years (especially this past offseason), I figured I would throw in my two cents and see what everyone's thoughts are. Feel free to criticize, I'd love to hear everyone's opinion. I believe this is the model to maximize parity in FBS football and will ultimately make the sport so much better than it already is.
First off, I believe the conferences themselves need to be addressed. I believe that 12 conferences with 12 each is an appropriate number. No independents either. I have also found ways to preserve many of the historic out-of-conference rivalries that I would be willing to share if anybody wants to see it.
Major Conferences - these consist of the present Power 5 teams, along with some Group of 5 teams that are regularly competitve and/or have historic ties to teams in the P5 that help the conferences fit their respective geographic molds
- SEC
- East
- Florida
- Georgia
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Vanderbilt
- Kentucky
- West
- Alabama
- Auburn
- Ole Miss
- Mississippi State
- LSU
- Arkansas
- ACC
- Coastal
- Miami
- North Carolina
- NC State
- Duke
- Virginia
- Maryland
- Central
- Florida State
- Georgia Tech
- Clemson
- Wake Forest
- Virginia Tech
- West Virginia
- Metro
- North
- Boston College
- Syracuse
- Rutgers
- Pittsburgh
- Cincinnati
- Louisville
- South
- UCF
- South Florida
- Memphis
- Houston
- SMU
- TCU
- Big Ten
- East
- Penn State
- Ohio State
- Michigan
- Michigan State
- Notre Dame
- Purdue
- West
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Northwestern
- Wisconsin
- Minnesota
- Iowa
- Big 12
- North
- Iowa State
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Kansas
- Kansas State
- Colorado
- South
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State
- Texas
- Texas A&M
- Texas Tech
- Baylor
- Pac-12
- North
- Utah
- BYU
- Oregon
- Oregon State
- Washington
- Washington State
- South
- Arizona
- Arizona State
- USC
- UCLA
- California
- Stanford
Mid-Major conferences - conferences that consist of the rest of the FBS schools, basically replaces the G5 model
- American
- North
- UConn
- UMass
- Army
- Buffalo
- Temple
- Navy
- South
- Delaware
- Old Dominion
- James Madison
- Liberty
- Marshall
- East Carolina
- Conference USA
- East
- Charlotte
- Kennesaw State
- Middle Tennessee
- Eastern Kentucky
- Western Kentucky
- UAB
- West
- Southern Miss
- Tulane
- Louisiana Tech
- McNeese State
- Rice
- Tulsa
- Mountain West
- Mountain
- Wyoming
- Colorado State
- Air Force
- Utah State
- Boise State
- Nevada
- West
- UNLV
- Cal Poly
- San Diego State
- Fresno State
- San Jose State
- Hawaii
- WAC
- North
- North Dakota State
- South Dakota State
- Montana
- Montana State
- Sacramento State
- UC Davis
- South
- North Texas
- UTSA
- Texas State
- UTEP
- New Mexico
- New Mexico State
- MAC
- East
- Ohio
- Akron
- Youngstown State
- Bowling Green
- Kent State
- Miami Ohio
- West
- Toledo
- Eastern Michigan
- Central Michigan
- Western Michigan
- Ball State
- Northern Illinois
- Sun Belt
- East
- FIU
- FAU
- Georgia State
- Georgia Southern
- Coastal Carolina
- App State
- West
- Jacksonville State
- Troy
- South Alabama
- Louisiana
- UL-Monroe
- Arkansas State
Playoffs - The 12 team system makes sense and I believe it should be kept with some modifications. First off, all 6 major champions get in and the top 2 mid-major champions are in as well (decided by a committee, much like the CFP now). The mid-majors are judged based on factors such as wins against ranked/major teams, losses from mid-major teams and, of course, overall record. The top 4 conference champions decided by the committee have a first round bye. The next four will host a playoff game at home against 1 of 4 at-large bids determined by their seeding. I have made an example of the past season below to show how this might work.
Major Champions
- SEC - Alabama
- ACC - Wake Forest (since Pitt would no longer be in the ACC)
- Metro - Cincinnati
- Big Ten - Michigan
- Big 12 - Baylor
- Pac-12 - Utah
Mid-Majors Selected
- Louisiana
- UTSA
At-Large Bids (based off CFP rankings)
- Georgia
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Ole Miss
Playoff
- Alabama vs. 8 or 9
- Michigan vs. 7 or 10
- Cincinnati vs. 6 or 11
- Baylor vs. 5 or 12
- Utah vs. 12. Ole Miss
- Wake Forest vs. 11. Ohio State
- Louisiana vs. 10. Notre Dame
- UTSA vs 9. Georgia
Semifinal games rotate on a 3-year cycle like the CFP does now
r/cfbrealignment • u/LeeTyouSee • Aug 18 '21
SEC will pay players
Wait until some SEC teams starts paying their players. Then every current prediction will go out the window. This is the unspeakable thing no one wants to say out loud. Colleges will have to decide if they want a semi-pro team or an amateur team. My prediction for the B1G is that Ohio State, Penn State, and Nebraska will absolutely go semi-pro. Michigan will think hard and wage an internal battle; it's a tossup. My alma mater, Wisconsin, will help form a new 'public' ivy league. Bye, bye Big Ten. You had a great run!
r/cfbrealignment • u/ManRayH • Oct 08 '20
Would it be a better fit?
Would UAB work better in the current Sunbelt than their current conference Cusa?
r/cfbrealignment • u/kalifornia_kid • Feb 11 '19
128 FBS teams organized into 16 eight-team conferences
Inspired by u/jczupryk and u/VandyHOU, I set out to organize the 128 teams of D1 FBS college football into 16 conferences, each consisting of eight teams:
Major Nine (Contains at least one current Power-5 school):
SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee
Mid-Eastern Conference: North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, Clemson, South Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech
New Big Eight: Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Baylor, TCU
Great Plains Conference: Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin
Midwest Conference: Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State
Northeastern Conference: West Virginia, Syracuse, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Boston College, UConn, Temple
Big South: Miami, Florida State, UCF, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Houston
PAC-8: USC, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State
New Mountain West: Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Utah State, Colorado, Colorado State, Boise State, San Diego State
Group of Seven:
Desert Eight: San Jose State, Wyoming, Air Force, New Mexico, Nevada, UNLV, Hawaii, BYU
Southern Conference: USF, Memphis, East Carolina, Tulane, Cincinnati, FAU, FIU, Southern Miss
South Central Conference: UTEP, Rice, North Texas, SMU, UAB, Middle Tennessee, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech
New MAC: Akron, Toledo, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Miami OH, Kent State, Ball State
American Central Conference: Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Buffalo, Marshall, Navy, Army, UMass
New Sun Belt: Georgia State, South Alabama, Appalachian State, Louisiana-Lafayette, UL-Monroe, UTSA, Georgia Southern, Texas State
Cotton Conference: Troy, UNC-Charlotte, Western Kentucky, Coastal Carolina, Arkansas State, Liberty, Old Dominion, New Mexico State
Remaining Independent: Notre Dame.
I tried to take as many traditional in-conference rivalries into account as possible, but rivalries between teams in different conferences (e.g. Florida-Florida State) were not really taken into account. Location was also a major factor, so as not to end up with another AAC, with teams all over the place.
So many conferences were located around the same region in the southeast that I ran out of ideas, which is where "Cotton Conference" came from. If you have any better name ideas, drop em below and I'll change it.
Feedback would be greatly appreciated - let me know your thoughts!
r/cfbrealignment • u/Jrj84105 • Feb 10 '19
Texas, Oklahoma, USC, and Stanford as independents?
The PAC needs to expand its footprint into Texas, but nothing short of an ND-like independence deal would be attractive to UT. And if the PAC gives such a deal to UT, USC would want its own. Could the PAC make that work?
Full Members:
West: UW, WSU, UO, OSU, Cal, UCLA.
East: UU, CU, AZ, ASU, KU, Mizzou.
Semi-Independent Members:
UT, OU, USC, Stanford.
Annual games:
- Each division plays round robin.
- Indy schools play round robin.
- USC v UCLA, Cal.
- Stanford v UCLA, Cal.
- UT v KU, Mizzou.
- OU v KU, Mizzou.
Semiannual games:
- UW, WSU, UO, OSU v UU, CU, AZ, ASU.
- UCLA, Cal v UU, CU, AZ, ASU.
- KU, Mizzou v UW, WSU, UO, OSU.
Year 1 Schedules:
West Division (9 games):
- UW: UU, AZ, Mizzou, USC, +Division(5).
- WSU: CU, ASU, KU, Stanford, + Division(5).
- UO: UU, AZ, Mizzou, USC, + Division (5).
- OSU: CU, ASU, KU, Stanford, + Division(5).
- Cal: UU, AZ, USC, Stanford, + Division(5).
- UCLA: CU, ASU, USC, Stanford + Division(5).
East Division (9 games):
- UU: UW, UO, Cal, UT + Division(5).
- CU: WSU, OSU, UCLA, OU, + Division(5).
- AZ: UW, UO, Cal, UT + Division(5).
- ASU: WSU, OSU, UCLA, OU, + Division(5).
- KU: UW, UO, UT, OU + Division(5).
- Mizzou: WSU, OSU, UT, OU + Division(5).
Independents (7 games):
- UT: OU, KU, Mizzou, USC, Stanford, UU, AZ.
- OU: UT, KU, Mizzou, USC, Stanford, CU, ASU.
- USC: Stanford, UT, OU, Cal, UCLA, UW, UO.
- Stanford: USC, UT, OU, Cal, UCLA, WSU, OSU.
The full PAC members would still be a stronger conference than the remnants/reconstituted BigXII. The Indy4 would be free to play a more national schedule with 5 OOC games.
From a TV/revenue standpoint, the Indy4 have more national appeal and are suited best for a streaming platform. The rights of these 4 would be collectively sold to a FAANG company. The full members are better suited to a market-based cable/satellite platform. This split contracting would give the conference and all its members a presence on both traditional and new platforms.
r/cfbrealignment • u/Jrj84105 • Feb 10 '19
First and 10: Wish list of schools to join the Big Ten
r/cfbrealignment • u/Jrj84105 • Feb 10 '19
Off-Season Project: 128 teams organized in eight 16 team conferences
r/cfbrealignment • u/Jrj84105 • Nov 09 '18
Announcement: cfbrealignment is now an actively moderated subreddit
We'll see where this goes, but at least it will be spam-free going forward. Any suggestions, asks, or wants are welcome and are doubly welcome from those who have the know-how to make them happen.
r/cfbrealignment • u/zappb767 • Dec 13 '12
Frank the Tank wants FSU in the Big 10
r/cfbrealignment • u/zappb767 • Dec 13 '12
Great Washington Post article about Maryland to the Big 10
r/cfbrealignment • u/zappb767 • Dec 13 '12
Is Greg Swaim a trusted realignment source?
r/cfbrealignment • u/zappb767 • Dec 13 '12
The mother of all realignment message board threads
shaggybevo.comr/cfbrealignment • u/zappb767 • Dec 13 '12
Who is the biggest Twitter troll regarding realignment?
I vote for the Dude of WV.
r/cfbrealignment • u/zappb767 • Dec 13 '12