My College Football Format

     I hate what is happening to college football. I don't mind changing the divisions, but you can't change rivalries and you can't put fucking Boise State in the Big East. It doesn't make any sense! Also, I'm sick of these listless weeks of no action. All the games are 62-7 or 45-7 or 17-6. It's been a weak year for college football so far, but I know how to fix it. You need to restructure the divisions by having no more than 8 teams in a division based geographically. Each division will have a lower level sort of speak, where if you finish somewhere in the bottom, you move down while if you finish in the top of the lower division, you move up. Next, you need to have an NFL like schedule, where the top team in a conference will face other top teams in other conferences. Also, you have 5 out of conference games in order to keep in tact the rivalry games. Here is a further explanation of my college football format.


Northeast Conference (NEC)
Boston College Eagles
Pittsburgh Panthers
Syracuse Orange
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
UConn Huskies
Louisville Cardinals
West Virginia Moutaineers
Virginia Tech Hookies


Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC)
Vanderbilt Commodores
South Florida Bulls
Clemson Tigers
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
N.C. State Wolfpack
Maryland Terripans
Virginia Cavaliers
North Carolina Tar Heels 


Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
South Carolina Gamecocks
Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Florida State Seminoles
Miami Hurricanes
Florida Gators
Tennessee Volunteers
Kentucky Wildcats


North Central Conference (NCC)
Wisconsin Badgers
Michigan Wolverines
Penn State Nittany Lions
Michigan State Wolverines
Ohio State Buckeyes
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Iowa Hawkeyes
Minnesota Golden Gophers


Central American Conference (CAC)
Iowa State Cyclones
Kansas State Wildcats
Northwestern Wildcats
Purdue Boilmakers
Illinois Fighting Illini
Indiana Hoosiers
Missouri Tigers
Kansas Jayhawks


Southeastern Conference (SEC)
LSU Tigers
Alabama Crimson Tide
Arkansas Razorbacks
Auburn Tigers
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Ole Miss Rebels
Texas A&M Aggies
Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles


Mid West Conference (MWC)
Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Houston Cougars
Texas Longhorns
TCU Horned Frogs
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Baylor Bears 


Southwestern Conference (SWC)
Stanford Cardinal
Arizona State Sun Devils
USC Trojans
California Golden Bears
UCLA Bruins
Arizona Wildcats
San Diego State Aztecs 
Nevada Wolfpack


North Pacific Conference (NPC)
Boise State Broncos
Oregon Ducks
Washington Huskies
Oregon State Beavers
Washington State Cougars
Utah Utes
Colorado Buffaloes
BYU Cougars


     So those are your nine major conferences. After that, there are six non-major conferences of 8, which means there will be 120 division 1 teams. Here is how the schedule works with this format.
     Let's use Alabama as my first example. Alabama plays in the SEC, where they play their 7 division opponents once each. Alabama then has five out of conference games. Since teams in the SEC used to be in the same league as teams from my new ACC like Florida and Georgia, Alabama and the rest of the SEC will play the ACC in two of their out of conference games. Now, which teams would they play on a year to year basis. It will be based on where Alabama finishes the year prior. If Alabama finishes first the year prior, they will play the team that finished first the year prior in my ACC. Say Alabama and Florida both finished first, they will meet in the regular season. As for Alabama's other out of conference games, they will play teams from other conferences. The conferences will rotate on a year to year basis. Here is a sample schedule, assuming Alabama finished first in the SEC the year before.

Alabama
1 vs Florida (#1 in ACC)- Alabama would play the division winner in other divisions, a schedule format very similar in the NFL
2 @Mississippi State (Division Opponent)
3 @ Kansas State (#1 in CAC)- Another case like the Florida game where Alabama plays division winner Kansas State
4 v.s. Texas A&M (Division Opponent)
5 BYE- Bye weeks remain in tact because the season is still 13 weeks long
6 @ Oregon (#1 in NPC)- Same scenario as Florida and Kansas State game, Alabama plays games against other teams that finished first in other divisions
7 @Southern Mississippi (Division Opponent)
8 v.s. Texas Tech Red Raiders (#8 in MWC)- Alabama won't always face the best from each conference, but it makes for some interesting out of conference games
9 v.s. Arkansas (Division Opponent) 
10 v.s. LSU (Division Opponent)
11 @Florida State (#4 in ACC)- Alabama won't always play the best from the year before because the schedule needs to have some balance, but it doesn't mean it will be easy with teams like Florida State
12 v.s. Ole Miss (Division Opponent) 
13 @Auburn (Division Opponents, Rival)- Rivalry games would remain in tact because Alabama and Auburn always play each other in the last game of the season.

     Now I want you to look at his schedule. The great in conference games remain in tact, but look at the out of conference games. Instead of Alabama playing teams like Duke and San Jose State, they will be playing Oregon and Florida State, etc. There aren't many easy games with a schedule like this.

Here are two more sample schedules

Notre Dame (#3 in NCC year before)
1 @Iowa (Division Opponent)- College football needs better week one games and games like this would do that
2 @Rutgers (#6 in NEC)
3 vs Michigan (Division Opponent)
4 vs Wisconsin (Division Opponent) 
5 @Minnesota (Division Opponent) 
6 vs Georgia (#3 in ACC)
7 BYE
8 @Oklahoma State (#3 in MWC) 
9 @USC (Rivalry Game)- Historic rivalry games aren't going to be damaged by my format. With the five out of conference games, Notre Dame has plenty of schedule room to take on USC each year
10 vs Michigan State (Division Opponent)
11 vs Purdue (#6 in CAC)
12 vs Ohio State (Division Opponent)
13 @Penn State (Division Opponent) 


Texas (#2 in MWC)
1 vs West Virginia (#2 in NEC)
2 @Nebraska (Division Opponent)
3 BYE
4 vs Kentucky (#7 in ACC)
5 vs Oklahoma (Division Opponent)
6 @Houston (Division Opponent)
7 @Baylor (Division Opponent)
8 vs Oklahoma State (Division Opponent)
9 @Boise State (#2 in NPC)
10 vs TCU (Division Opponent)
11 @California (#2 in SWC)
12 @Texas Tech (Division Opponent)
13 vs Texas A&M (Rivalry Game)


     As you can see, my format is basic and it provides some exciting matchups both in and out of conference. Now, the playoff format. There are some options that I thought of. I ruled out sticking with the BCS system just because there needs to be change. Then I thought about how many teams would be perfect for a playoff system. In my format, the regular season would end at the same time the season normally ends now. I would do without the conference championships that don't seem to mean anything and aren't very exciting. So that leaves 4-5 weeks of possible playoff weeks. Here are some possibilities for a playoff format:

64 Team March Madness Style- It could be fun, but there just aren't enough teams for this to be nearly as good. Also, it would take around six weeks to play, and that just isn't feasible.

32 Team March Madness Style- Now we're talking. This could be a great money grab, but it is still way to watered down for my liking.

16 Team Format- It is less watered down, but teams like Penn State and Arizona State, possible teams that could sneak into this format are not even close to the caliber of an LSU, Stanford or Oklahoma State.

10 Team Format- I really like this format. The ten best teams get in, 7 plays 10, 8 plays 9 and then you're left to 8. It would take only about 3 weeks or so but the matchups this format could provide would be unbelievable.

8 Team Format- Similar to the ten team format.

4 Team Format- Obviously the final four is as non-watered down as you can get, but I don't think it would generate as much money as some of the other formats could provide to make it happen.

      So what format would I use? I am a huge fan of the 10 team format. Everyone talks about being in the top 10. It's a nice clean number. The scheduling works out perfectly as well. And usually, on most years, past the top 10, there aren't many very good teams. My final pro with the 10 team format is that teams like Oklahoma who slip up don't get left out of say a 4 team format. You truly have the elite schools battling against each other. Also, I would have no automatic bids with this. It is based strictly on rankings and a selection process like college basketball.

Here is what a ten team format could look like this year:

1 LSU 12-0
2 Stanford 12-0
3 Boise State 12-0
4 Alabama 11-1
5 Oklahoma 11-1
6 Oklahoma State 11-1
7 Virginia Tech 11-1
8 Houston 12-0
9 Wisconsin 10-2
10 Oregon 10-2


I might as well post my predictions for what would happen in this format.

10) Oregon over 7) Virginia Tech   37-14
9) Wisconsin over 8) Houston   45-35


1) LSU over 10) Oregon   24-20
2) Stanford over 9) Wisconsin   38-21
3) Boise State over 6) Oklahoma State   44-41
4) Alabama over 5) Oklahoma   27-19


4) Alabama over 1) LSU   13-10
2) Stanford over 3) Boise State   27-24


4) Alabama over 2) Stanford   21-17


     That concludes my college football format.