(08-14-2014 02:55 AM)Attackcoog Wrote: (08-13-2014 06:25 PM)DaSaintFan Wrote: (08-12-2014 04:33 PM)ESE84 Wrote: (08-12-2014 03:57 PM)DaSaintFan Wrote: I still vote Zipper configuration.... thus nobody has any advantage travelwise over anyone else...
No. We're at 14 because we wanted some geographic rivals. The four Texas programs, and Louisiana Tech, need to play each other every year. I feel lucky to see the storied Southern Mississippi program also slotted into the West.
So add in a permament rotation for game #7 and then a "free choice" for #8. (i'm assuming an 8 game conference slate and 4 OOC games.)
Permament Rival Rotating Division
Texas 1............. UTSA Rice Texas 2/ Gulf Coast
UTSA would have to play La Tech or UNT every other year
RIce would have to play USM or UTEP every other year.
Texas 2............. UTEP UNT Texas 1/Gulf Coast
UTEP would have to play Rice or La Tech every other year
UNT would have to play USM or UTSA every other year
Appalachian....... Marshall WKY TN Valley/Florida
Marshall: UAB or Charlotte
WKY: MTSU or FIU
Gulf Coast......... USM La Tech Texas 1/Texas 2
USM: UNT or Rice
La Tech: UTEP or UTSA
East Coast........ ODU Charlotte Florida/TN Valley
ODU: FAU or UAB
Charlotte; FIU or MTSU
TN Valley.......... MTSU UAB Appalachian/East Coast
MTSU: WKY or Charlotte
UAB: Marshall or ODU
Florida.............. FIU FAU East Coast/Appalachian
FIU: Charlotte or WKU
FAU: Marshall or ODU
If FIU were to play charlotte than FAU would have to play Marshall that year. And vice-versa. The only catch is you have to be willing to divvy up the home/aways to make it right for everyone.
Deregulation will allow a conference like CUSA to design schedules that make sense. Once degregulation happens, I'd divide the conference into clusters. Those clusters would play every year---and the rest of their schedules would rotate evenly through the rest of the conference.
So the Texas cluster Rice/UTSA/N Tx/UTEP play each other every year. The Florida cluster (FIU/FAU) just play each other every year--beyond that, they rotate equally through everyone else. The Eastern cluster (ODU/ Char/Marshall/WKU/MTSU) play each other evey year. The central gulf coasters (S Miss/LaTech/UAB) play each other each year. So you just play the games in your cluster every year--the rest of your games just rotate equally through the rest of the conference. That lets you see the othe teams in the conference more regularly while preserving the annual games that are most likely to become heated rivalries. The CCG would just be the two best records (or putting the two highest ranked schools in the CCG might be better for capturing the access bowl). I'm hoping the AAC eventually does something like this cluster system im describing.
Hello, I'm new to this board. I had an idea along those lines. I think an 8-game schedule where each team plays three opponents annually and rotates five opponents on for two years, then the remaining five opponents for the next two years, could work very well. This way, every team in the conference plays every other team in the conference at least once on the road and once at home in a four-year cycle.
Opponents for every year:
UTEP: UTSA, North Texas, Rice
UTSA: UTEP, North Texas, Rice
North Texas: UTEP, UTSA, Louisiana Tech
Rice: UTEP, UTSA, Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech: North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss
Southern Miss: Louisiana Tech, UAB, MTSU
UAB: Southern Miss, MTSU, Charlotte
MTSU: Southern Miss, UAB, WKU
WKU: MTSU, Marshall, FAU
Charlotte: UAB, Old Dominion, FIU
Old Dominion: Charlotte, Marshall, FAU
Marshall: WKU, Old Dominion, FIU
FIU: Charlotte, Marshall, FAU
FAU: WKU, Old Dominion, FIU
If divisions no longer are mandatory for CCG's, what would you think about this?