The people all want playoffs. The schools in power want big payday bowls. And then congress comes into play.
There has been all this talk of lobbying congress to get them to change the system. But perhaps what congress should do is work within the current guidelines of the bowl system and give it a little push. Here's a simple plan:
* Ask the BCS to expand by 1 more game
This would be a total of 6 games and 12 teams...new bowl could be in Dallas, Cotton Bowl.
* Provide "automatic bids" to the Conference Championship Game winners from the top 7 conferences and 5 at-large bids
* 5 at-large teams are those rated the highest in BCS standings regardless of conference
That's it. Plain and simple.
But you have to read between the lines.
In order to have a championship game, conferences need to have 12 members. This would force a number of conferences to expand, bringing in teams not currently in BCS conferences. This could mean...
Big Ten: Expands by (1) with Rutgers
Pac 10: Expands by (2) with Utah and BYU (perhaps Colorado and then the Big 12 adds BYU which they originalyl wanted until Baylor was forced on them)
Big East: Expands by (4) with Memphis along with football-only members Army, Navy and Temple. Replaces Rutgers with Notre Dame.
And then there is the #7 Conference. Yes, if there are 7 conferences included, that means there is one more automatic berth added to the BCS:
Mountain West: Expands by (3) with Boise St., Houston and Fresno St; Replaces Utah ans BYU with UTEP and Nevada
With all that shuffling, you'd now have the non-BCS conferences looking for replacements as well. Because they would need to be at 12 teams in order to ever be eligible for a BCS spot. And since the 7 automatic berths are simply the top 7 conferences, a good year could mean a WAC or CUSA school leapfrogs into the #7 spot for conference ratings.
Potential changes could be:
CUSA: replaces Memphis, UTEP, Houston with Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Troy
MAC: Replaces Temple with Middle Tennessee St. and expands to (14) for scheduling with WKU
Sunbelt: folds as they would have zero teams
WAC: Absorbs the sunbelt schools and grows to (13); Replaces Boise St, Nevada, Fresno St with (7) schools - North Texas, Arkansas St, LA- Monroe, LA-Lafayette, South Alabama and FCS upgrades Texas St, UTSA
If you're keeping track of all the schools mentioned, you'll come to a conclusion: EVERY SCHOOL IS INCLUDED.
Yes, it would be difficult for the new look CUSA, WAC or MAC to sneak into the top 7, but it could happen. And if it didn't, those schools would still have a chance to finish in the top 12 individually, and grad an at-large bid on their own.
The only loss would come to the Sunbelt, which would have zero schools left as they all fill slots in the WAC and CUSA.
But it's a chance for every school to have an opportunity if they perform. And right now, the decisions aren't based on performance.
Stick to this plan and you get 6 things:
1) Number of current schools with BCS autobids rise from 65 to 84
2) Remaining 3 conferences (47 total schools) all get chance for automatic bid if their conference finishes in the Top 7
3) Mountain West likely falls into the #7 conference spot
4) Force Notre Dame to align with a conference
5) 6th BCS game added (likely Cotton Bowl in Dallas)
6) Performance based system for BCS bowl rewards
If you want to get a feel for what the new conferences would look like, here they are:
ACC (12 schools)
Atlantic:
Boston College
Clemson
Florida State
Wake Forest
NC State
Maryland
Coastal:
Georgia Tech
Miami (FL)
Duke
North Carolina
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Big 12 (12 schools)
North:
* BYU
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
South:
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Baylor
Big East (12 schools)
North:
Syracuse
Connecticut
* NOTRE DAME
* ARMY
* NAVY
* Temple
South:
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Louisville
West Virginia
* MEMPHIS
South Florida
Big Ten (12 schools)
West:
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
East:
Illinois
Ohio State
Penn State
* RUTGERS
Purdue
Indiana
Conference USA (12 schools)
East:
East Carolina
Marshall
UCF
* FLORIDA ATLANTIC
* FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
* Troy
West:
Rice
Southern Methodist
Southern Miss
Tulane
Tulsa
UAB
Mid-American (14 schools)
East:
Akron
Buffalo
Ohio
Bowling Green
Kent State
Miami (OH)
Toledo
West:
Ball State
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Northern Illinois
Western Michigan
* Middle Tennessee St
* WKU
Mountain West (12 schools)
Mountain:
Air Force
Colorado State
Wyoming
* HOUSTON
TCU
* UTEP
West:
New Mexico
San Diego State
* FRESNO ST
UNLV
* NEVADA
* BOISE ST
Pacific-12 (12 schools)
South:
Arizona
Arizona State
California
Stanford
UCLA
USC
North:
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Washington State
* COLORADO
* UTAH
SEC (12 schools)
East:
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
West:
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
WAC (13 schools)
East:
Louisiana Tech
* Louisiana-Lafayette
* Louisiana-Monroe
* South Alabama
* UTSA ~
* Texas St ~
* ARKANSAS ST
WEST:
Hawaii
Idaho
New Mexico State
San Jose State
Utah State
* NORTH TEXAS
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Comments 5 comments
why would colardao jump from the big 12? the sun belt will also go up to 10 football teams after south alabama comes to division 1 A. With both texas teams coming up and also georgia state. the sun belt can easily get 12 schools. what of the big easts basketball schools also. Temple was kicked out of the big east because they couldn't get enough attendace.
Maybe what Congress should do is stay the heck out of forming playoff systems, and definitely not use this one. This plan would not only destroy college football, but college basketball as well. The Pac-10 doesn't want any new members, period. The Big Ten doesn't want any new members unless they're named Notre Dame, and definitely not Rutgers. MAYBE Syracuse, Pitt, or even Cincinnati, but I doubt it.
Stewart Mandel's playoff system causes a whole lot less disruption and is something that actually has a chance of satisfying almost everyone.
There are things I like about this plan and things I don't.
I like the fact that every school could be included in a potential BCS payday.
However, I don't like the fact that there is no mention of how to determine which conferences would be the top conferences. Further, I don't like the fact that with this system, you'd still potentially have the issue that could surface this year, with undefeated teams not being able to play for a championship.
These responses are all great. But they are all directly or indirectly saying the same thing regarding big picture: want for a playoff system
I sure would like to see one.
But playoffs don't exist now. And if the only option was to make changes within the BCS as it is, I'll take these...especially since the reason for this website is to discuss conference realignment ;)
As for how conferences are ranked...you can see that now each week at http://www.realtimerpi.com/football/ncaaf_conf_Men.html
It's a bogus system because all conferences don't have the same number of schools and there are so few games for football (vs basketball).
And as for Colorado, you can just use the search function of this site for that. In addition to the original invite they got in the 1990's, the Pac 10 has discussed expansion again and Colorado is a name that has come up. The Big 12 has been a great home, but the differences between the north and south continues to grow.
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