4 Power Conferences?

[nepg]

1		2			3			4
Texas		Ohio State		Auburn			UCLA
Oklahoma	Michigan		Alabama			USC
Texas A&M	Penn State		Florida			California
Oklahoma State	Purdue			Florida State		Stanford
Arkansas	Kentucky		Miami			Oregon
Kansas		Louisville		Tennessee		Oregon State
Kansas State	Indiana			North Carolina		Washington
Missouri	Michigan State		North Carolina State	Washington State
Iowa State	Virginia Tech		Georgia			Arizona
Iowa		West Virginia		Georgia Tech		Arizona State
Texas Tech	Virginia		Vanderbilt		Utah
TCU		Pittsburgh		Clemson			Colorado
Nebraska	Syracuse		South Carolina		Boise State
Minnesota	Maryland		Mississippi		BYU
Illinois	Notre Dame		Mississippi State	
Wisconsin	Boston College		LSU	
		Northwestern		
		Connecticut

So I've devised a 64-team league. There is just one snag to evening the conferences out with only 14 in conference 4 (Pac/Mtn). And 2 extra in conference 2 (northeast). Any ideas (also struggled with leaving Baylor & Duke out)?

The league would work like the same theory that's been tossed around. 8 8-team divisions with the Conference Championships acting as the Quarterfinals and the Semifinals being the Rose Bowl and whatever the SEC-Big XII calls their new game.

[mightytitan9]

I don't know how Baylor could be left out, they'd be a natural in Conference 1 and with the talent surrounding them it may be slowly developing into a national power.

I'd add Baylor to conference 1, of course if you're wanting to stay at 64 teams someone would have to be moved from there. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, seem like the most likely to be moved. Of course, in that scenario they'd be best to be moved to Conference 2.

Duke could probably be left off the list in all honesty.

[Giantsfan1080]

No Rutgers?

[jrdrylie]

If this is just football, I would remove Kansas, Indiana, Connecticut, and Vanderbilt. Rutgers definitely deserves a spot as does Baylor. The last two spots I would give to BYU and UCF.

[nepg]

I'm contemplating going up to 72 as the conferences could more easily be evened out.

[mightytitan9]

Personally, I'm not buying into the mega-conference thing because it'd simply put too much strain on a lot of commissioners. I think, in reality it's going to be 8 conference ranging from 8-10 teams each.

Essentially, how yours works but they'd be conference instead of divisions. Then, they just have a contract that the champion of conference 1 plays conference 2's champion and so on.

I like the thought put behind it, but realistically it's just a lot of work to commish and look over a conference that expands Wisconsin to Texas for example.

Of course, a way to get around this is to basically give each division it's own commissioner and have anything relating to the conference as a whole up to vote or however you want a tie-breaker

I see teams like Houston and Tulsa, smaller schools that are moving being left out and it'd hurt for me to see that because if half the teams in NCAA football are in 4 conferences, the other half of the teams are going to basically be second class citizens

[nepg]

Well, the biggest distance in the probably northern division of what would basically be the Big 12 is Manhattan, KS to Madison, WI (~10 hours). And probably Lubbock, TX to Fayetteville, AR (9.5 hours). When the Big XII is already talking about going from Ames, IA to Tallahassee, FL (further than Austin to Madison and also in a different time zone), I don't see how going from Austin-to-Madison isn't viable.

[bearsfan_51]

What is the purpose of this thing, exactly? Is this supposed to be at all realistic?

[diabsoule]

Originally Posted by bearsfan_51

What is the purpose of this thing, exactly? Is this supposed to be at all realistic?

I was just about to post that same sentiment.

[bearsfan_51]

Well, if this is just for fun make-believe, I'll put mine out there.


Midwest-Mid-Atlantic
East
1) Penn State
2) Ohio State
3) Pittsburgh
4) Virginia
5) Rutgers
6) UCONN
7) Maryland
8) Syracuse

West
1) Michigan
2) Notre Dame
3) Wisconsin
4) Illinois
5) Michigan State
6) Purdue
7) Indiana
8) Northwestern

South
East
1) Florida
2) Georgia
3) Miami
4) Virginia Tech
5) Clemson
6) UNC
7) Duke
8) South Carolina

West
1) Alabama
2) Auburn
3) Tennessee
4) Florida State
5) Georgia Tech
6) Kentucky
7) West Virginia
8) N.C. State

Southwest/Plains States
1) Texas
2) Texas A&M
3) Oklahoma
4) LSU
5) Nebraska
6) Iowa
7) Missouri
8) Minnesota
9) Arkansas
10) Oklahoma State
11) Texas Tech
12) TCU
13) Baylor
14) Kansas

West Coast
1) USC
2) UCLA
3) Cal
4) Stanford
5) Washington
6) Oregon
7) Arizona State
8) Arizona
9) BYU
10) Colorado
11) Utah
12) Oregon State

Teams left out: Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Iowa State, Louisville, South Florida, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, Wake Forest, Kansas State, Washington State

[hawkeye123]

Interesting to see you left out Boise State

[bearsfan_51]

Not at all. I didn't even consider Boise State. There's a reason the Pac 12 and the Big 12 have repeatedly passed on them.

The Big East is incredibly desperate to stay relevant in football.

[TACKLE]

Originally Posted by bearsfan_51

Not at all. I didn't even consider Boise State. There's a reason the Pac 12 and the Big 12 have repeatedly passed on them.

Is that reason academic patheticness?

[bearsfan_51]

No, although academic patheticness doesn't help.

Boise State simply doesn't make that much money compared to the bigger college sports programs. They averaged 27 million in non-subsidized revenue from 2006-2011. By contrast, a smallish program like Purdue made 66 million.

Now, a lot of that has to do with TV money, which Purdue gets, and Boise State really doesn't. But the reason why Boise State doesn't, is because the Boise, Idaho market isn't exactly pulling in the eyeballs.

They are a tremendous mid-major program. Probably the best. They have a potentially good thing worked out with the Big East where they can scratch each other's backs. But there is a definite ceiling to a program like Boise State, and I wouldn't even consider them if I was starting a mega conference. The point is to make money.

[wicket]

Objective, 15 8 team conferences that make sense geografically yet are somewhat balanced strengthwise. The reason for 8 is that it imo is the ideal conference size as it allows for a decent OOC schedule (and therefore maintaining the vital rivalries) and also allowing a full conference schedule:

Conference California and Hawaii:
Hawaii
USC
UCLA
San Diego State
San Jose State
Fresno State
Stanford
California

Northwest Conference
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State
UNLV
Nevada
Idaho
Boise State

South West Conference, has nothing to do with the old one
New Mexico
New Mexico State
Utep
Utah
Utah State
BYU
Arizona
Arizona State

Big Texas
Texas
Baylor
Houston
North Texas
Rice
SMU
Texas A&M
TCU

Gulfcoast Conference
Tulane
LSU
L-Monroe
L-Lafayette
L-Tech
Miss State
Ole Miss
Southern Miss

Central American Conference
Texas Tech
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Tulsa
Colorado
Colorado State
Air Force
Wyoming

The Big Cornfield
Wisconsin
Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Nebaska
Missouri
Kansas
Kansas State

Chicago-Indianapolis conference
Northern Illinois
Illinois
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Indiana
Ball State
Purdue
Miami (oh)

Lakeside Conference
Michigan
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Western Michigan
Toledo
Kent State
Bowling Green

Southern Ohio and mountainside conference
Ohio
Ohio State
Akron
Cincinnati
WVU
Marshall
Penn State
Pitt

NorthEast conference
BC
Syracuse
UConn
Army
Buffalo
Rutgers
Temple
Navy

Central East Coast
Maryland
UNC
NC State
Duke
East Carolina
Wake
Virginia
Virginia Tech

Non-Coastal Soutern conference
Arkansas
Arkansas State
Kentucky
Louisville
Western Kentucky
Memphis
Vanderbilt
Middle Tennessee State

Florida Conference
Miami(FL)
Florida
Florida State
FIU
FAU
USF
UCF
Troy

Southern Conference
UAB
Alabama
Auburn
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Tennessee
Clemson
South Carolina

What then:
a 24 team playoff with 8 byes, only conference champs are eligibile for a bye, all 15 conference champs make the playoffs and no more than 2 teams from a conference. That basically means 23 total postseason games with at most 5 playoff games for any team (which would however mean that a team would need to make it to the NCG from a bye).

I know itll never happen but was fun to think how it looked with all the conferences moving weirdly and nowhere

[mightytitan9]

Originally Posted by bearsfan_51

Teams left out: Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Iowa State, Louisville, South Florida, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, Wake Forest, Kansas State, Washington State

You're left out list is humorous to say the least

[mightytitan9]

Originally Posted by bearsfan_51

Not at all. I didn't even consider Boise State. There's a reason the Pac 12 and the Big 12 have repeatedly passed on them.

The Big East is incredibly desperate to stay relevant in football.

I think the largest reason they're getting passed over is their other sports, for the Pac and Big 12 to look at schools, they've got to have other programs as well.

TCU is somewhat of an exception, but their other programs are still better than Boise's and they've got the talent in their recruiting area to grow as a program. Boise has a limited ceiling, and if they were in the Big 12 or Pac I would have a hard time seeing them finish higher than middle of the pack.

People will argue their history of showing up in big games, but that's one game. It's not big games on consecutive weeks of the season

[nepg]

I think Boise State would grow exponentially if they were put in a better regional situation where they are a real option for athletes in both football as well as other sports. They have natural rivals in Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, and the Utah schools.

[bearsfan_51]

Originally Posted by nepg

I think Boise State would grow exponentially if they were put in a better regional situation where they are a real option for athletes in both football as well as other sports. They have natural rivals in Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, and the Utah schools.

Grow how? You can't create fans out of nowhere. Washington State and Utah are small potatoes too. If there was a new re-alignment, Washington State would most certainly be left out. Utah is borderline, but the Pac 12 didn't have a lot of options when Texas turned them down, and they needed to get to 12.

[nepg]

Washington State and Utah are (or should be in Utah's case) cogs in the larger wheels that are Washington and BYU respectively (rivalries were a very important part of my original 64).

I don't disagree with your ideas of why the big conferences aren't high on Boise. Nor do I disagree that they don't want Boise. But I think, as a football program, they've put themselves in a "can't be ignored" position. And if I'm making fantasy conferences, I'm going to include them.

I'm also probably including San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State (probably not C-State), and Air Force if I get around to expanding it to 72 to even out the conferences.

[FUNBUNCHER]

Boise State and Va Tech IMO are equivalent programs.

You put Boise in a major conference and all their sports teams become more competitive. If the Pac took Boise, they'd be up to speed across the board academically and overall athletics in about 5 years.
College football is going to hell all over greed. It's a shame.
Of all the proposals, I like wicket's the best, but damn it seems complicated.

[Johnbrett5]

I think its good but you can describe more things to this post so we can understand.....

Thanks
JB