I propose NCAA division 1 football breaks into 8 conferences of 10 teams each with a 16 team playoff. Each conference champion gets an automatic bid and 8 at large bids. This conference realignment is for football only no other sports are to be touched. Yes I know this will exclude 50 teams but does anyone really think a school like Rice or UTEP are at the same level as a power 5 team or even want to compete at that level?
The teams such as Memphis smu and other non current power 5 schools must commit to a certain minimum amount of new investment in their football facilities and football department over the course of the next 10 years. Make it steep enough that certain schools like UNT won’t be able meet the requirement making the selection of the 80 schools easier.
As I mentioned above each of the 8 conferences will have 10 teams so a 9 game conference schedule with a champion easily being decided. They will also be able to schedule 3 additional games of their choosing.
The conference would be broken down along regional lines and try to stick to historical conference alignments as much as possible.
Conferences are as follow and this was just a quick breakdown so wouldn’t be set in stone.
BIG10 easy
Ohio state
Michigan
Michigan state
Wisconsin
Iowa
Illinois
North western
Minnesota
Purdue
IU
East coast conference
Penn state
Pitt
Rutgers
Syracuse
Boston college
Maryland
Navy
Army
UVA
Virginia Tech
SEC
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
LSU
Tennessee
Memphis
Southwest conference
OU
UT
Texas A&M
Oklahoma State
Arkansas
Texas Tech
Houston
SMU
Baylor
TCU
PAC 10
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State
Cal
Stanford
USC
UCLA
Arizona
Arizona State
Great Plains conference
Utah
BYU
Boise State
Colorado
Colorado State
Airforce
Nevada
Fresno state
San Diego state
Kansas state
ACC
UNC
NC state
Duke
Wake forest
Clemson
South Carolina
FSU
Miami
UCF
USF
MID WEST CONFERENCE
Notre Dame
Nebraska
Cincinnati
Louisville
Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Missouri
Wear Virginia
Kansas
Iowa state
The teams such as Memphis smu and other non current power 5 schools must commit to a certain minimum amount of new investment in their football facilities and football department over the course of the next 10 years. Make it steep enough that certain schools like UNT won’t be able meet the requirement making the selection of the 80 schools easier.
As I mentioned above each of the 8 conferences will have 10 teams so a 9 game conference schedule with a champion easily being decided. They will also be able to schedule 3 additional games of their choosing.
The conference would be broken down along regional lines and try to stick to historical conference alignments as much as possible.
Conferences are as follow and this was just a quick breakdown so wouldn’t be set in stone.
BIG10 easy
Ohio state
Michigan
Michigan state
Wisconsin
Iowa
Illinois
North western
Minnesota
Purdue
IU
East coast conference
Penn state
Pitt
Rutgers
Syracuse
Boston college
Maryland
Navy
Army
UVA
Virginia Tech
SEC
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
LSU
Tennessee
Memphis
Southwest conference
OU
UT
Texas A&M
Oklahoma State
Arkansas
Texas Tech
Houston
SMU
Baylor
TCU
PAC 10
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State
Cal
Stanford
USC
UCLA
Arizona
Arizona State
Great Plains conference
Utah
BYU
Boise State
Colorado
Colorado State
Airforce
Nevada
Fresno state
San Diego state
Kansas state
ACC
UNC
NC state
Duke
Wake forest
Clemson
South Carolina
FSU
Miami
UCF
USF
MID WEST CONFERENCE
Notre Dame
Nebraska
Cincinnati
Louisville
Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Missouri
Wear Virginia
Kansas
Iowa state
