Brett McMurphy's report on the seven teams the Big Ten thinks would make sense - Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Washington, Notre Dame, Miami and FSU - was surprising and got me thinking what this could look like.
My latest thought would be a 24-team superconference with four 6-team pods. 11 conference games, one non-conference warmup. Each pod plays an entire other pod every year, so all teams in a pod play the same opponents and you rotate through the whole conference every three years. A four-pod system allows for tight geographic rivalries and reduced travel.
So here's what I have...
WEST: USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Washington
MIDWEST: Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois
NORTH: Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State
EAST: Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia, FSU, Miami
Needless to say, the SEC would probably match by doing their own 4 x 6...
WEST: Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Kansas
CENTRAL: LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Bama, Auburn
NORTH: Cincinnati, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
SOUTH: Florida, Georgia, Clemson, South Carolina, North Carolina, Duke
(SEC is going to be killer at basketball, probably better than the Big Ten, with Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, and Kansas.)
Each conference will have its own 4-team playoff, with semifinals on campus, and the two champions will meet for the national championship.
What of the rest of the Power 5 schools?
A 4 x 6 western "super" conference could be cobbled together...
NORTHWEST: Washington State, Oregon State, Boise State, Utah, BYU, Wyoming
SOUTHWEST: San Diego State, Arizona State, Arizona, UNLV, Nevada, Hawaii
SOUTHEAST: Baylor, Houston, TCU, SMU, Texas Tech, Louisiana
NORTHEAST: Kansas State, Iowa State, Colorado, Colorado State, Air Force, Tulsa
And Gonzaga might be part of this as a non-football school. It'll at least be a pretty good basketball conference with them, Arizona, Baylor and Houston with Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Utah, and SDSU often being good.
In the East, you already have the 11-team Big East (with UConn as the only football school),
Joining UConn in a 10-team resurrected Big East football conference would be Syracuse, BC, Pitt, Louisville, Memphis, Wake Forest, NC State, Georgia Tech and Central Florida. Along with the existing Big East basketball schools, this will be a fantastic hoops conference.
One problem that may be unavoidable, though, is that with 19 former Power 5 schools dropping down in to a second tier... the Big Ten and SEC are just going to raid these new conferences for every player that works out.
One way to mitigate this would be to have "transfer windows". Players can't just leave at will, They can leave after their first year if they find it's not a fit, and then they can leave again after three years if they want. And just give everyone five years to play five.
My latest thought would be a 24-team superconference with four 6-team pods. 11 conference games, one non-conference warmup. Each pod plays an entire other pod every year, so all teams in a pod play the same opponents and you rotate through the whole conference every three years. A four-pod system allows for tight geographic rivalries and reduced travel.
So here's what I have...
WEST: USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Washington
MIDWEST: Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois
NORTH: Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State
EAST: Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia, FSU, Miami
Needless to say, the SEC would probably match by doing their own 4 x 6...
WEST: Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Kansas
CENTRAL: LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Bama, Auburn
NORTH: Cincinnati, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
SOUTH: Florida, Georgia, Clemson, South Carolina, North Carolina, Duke
(SEC is going to be killer at basketball, probably better than the Big Ten, with Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, and Kansas.)
Each conference will have its own 4-team playoff, with semifinals on campus, and the two champions will meet for the national championship.
What of the rest of the Power 5 schools?
A 4 x 6 western "super" conference could be cobbled together...
NORTHWEST: Washington State, Oregon State, Boise State, Utah, BYU, Wyoming
SOUTHWEST: San Diego State, Arizona State, Arizona, UNLV, Nevada, Hawaii
SOUTHEAST: Baylor, Houston, TCU, SMU, Texas Tech, Louisiana
NORTHEAST: Kansas State, Iowa State, Colorado, Colorado State, Air Force, Tulsa
And Gonzaga might be part of this as a non-football school. It'll at least be a pretty good basketball conference with them, Arizona, Baylor and Houston with Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Utah, and SDSU often being good.
In the East, you already have the 11-team Big East (with UConn as the only football school),
Joining UConn in a 10-team resurrected Big East football conference would be Syracuse, BC, Pitt, Louisville, Memphis, Wake Forest, NC State, Georgia Tech and Central Florida. Along with the existing Big East basketball schools, this will be a fantastic hoops conference.
One problem that may be unavoidable, though, is that with 19 former Power 5 schools dropping down in to a second tier... the Big Ten and SEC are just going to raid these new conferences for every player that works out.
One way to mitigate this would be to have "transfer windows". Players can't just leave at will, They can leave after their first year if they find it's not a fit, and then they can leave again after three years if they want. And just give everyone five years to play five.
