Why the new title game rules will spark the next round of expansion
The ACC is bringing forth a proposal that would give conferences greater flexibility when it comes to determining the participants in the conference championship games. The proposal would allow conferences to do away with divisions and take the top 2 teams in the conference based on record, AP rank, etc.
The interesting thing about the abolition of divisions is that it allows much greater scheduling flexibility during the regular season. Rather than a team being forced to play 5 or 6 in-division games (at 12 and 14 teams, respectively) and limiting play against teams from the other division to 3 or 2 games, conferences could create much more balanced schedules that ensure that everyone (even in large conferences of 16 or 18 members) play each other 2 teams in 4 years.
So how does the Big XII fit in? For starters, the Big XII wants a championship game. Secondly, the Big XII wants to expand to keep up with the other power conferences, but they've been concerned about scheduling.
Under the current setup for instance, if the Big XII adds Cincy and Memphis, it could create a new Big XII North and have enough teams for a championship game. However, why would Iowa St, Kansas, Kansas St, and West Virginia want to play 5 games in the Big XII North and only 3 games against the South? Many of these teams' recruits come from Texas, and they would be limiting their exposure to those recruiting grounds to 1 or 2 games a year.
There are lots of potential division proposals that have been floated around (zipper, north/south, east/west) with a whole host of potential expansion teams (UCF, USF, Memphis, Cincy, Boise St, BYU, etc.), but each proposal ran into scheduling issues for current Big XII members. Either Texas and Oklahoma would end up split, or the non-Texas division would end up without enough games in Texas. Even potential south divisions wouldn't be happy, because only one of Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma St could ever be in the title game in a given year, even if the north division is terrible.
Along comes the ACC proposal. Suddenly, the Big XII can expand to 12 or 14 teams without worrying about scheduling issues. They can pit their top 2 teams against each other in an exciting, ratings-monster championship game while retaining all current rivalries and while expanding into new markets.
If I were the AAC or MWC, I'd be on the lookout for potential poaching!
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