(11-16-2018 01:12 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(01-30-2018 05:34 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  So there is already at least one large conference that lacks divisions and uses protected matchups for football: the Big Sky Conference. There will be 14 football schools in the Big Sky in the 2018 and 2019 seasons (technically 13, as UND is FCS independent but is still playing a Big Sky schedule). Each team has 2 protected rivals, as shown here.

Right now they're using an 8-game conference schedule, but they may be moving to 9 games in 2020. That year North Dakota football joins the MVFC, leaving 13 football schools once again. Presumably, if the conference sticks with 2 protected matchups, MSU and UNC (UND's partners) will just play each other.

Since Idaho is rejoining as a football school this year, EWU is losing its protected matchup with UM. This could be reversed in 2020 by increasing the number of protected matchups. This also would allow Idaho to play ISU every year. Having 3 protected matchups in a 13-team conference means that one team is perpetually going to end up with 2 or 4 protected matchups, so perhaps 4 matchups across the board would be better.

Here's my proposal for the protected matchups for 2020 on:

Cal Poly: Sac State, UC Davis + NAU, SUU
EWU: Idaho, PSU + Montana, MSU
Idaho: EWU, Montana + ISU, PSU
ISU: Weber + Idaho, Montana, MSU (- PSU)
Montana: Idaho, MSU + EWU, ISU
MSU: Montana + EWU, ISU, UNC, (- UND)
NAU: SUU, UNC + Cal Poly, UC Davis
PSU: EWU + Idaho, Sac State, UC Davis (- ISU)
Sac State: Cal Poly, UC Davis + PSU, Weber
SUU: NAU, Weber + Cal Poly, UNC
UC Davis: Cal Poly, Sac State + NAU, PSU
UNC: NAU + MSU, SUU, Weber (- UND)
Weber: ISU, SUU + Sac State, UNC

With an 8-game schedule, each team can play half the 8 non-protected opponents every year. A 9-game schedule is doable; it just makes these pairings more frequent. Note that a 9-game conference schedule with 13 teams means one team will end up with 8 or 10 conference games. The team affected by this can be rotated annually.

Here's the Big Sky schedule proposed above in table form, plus 2 more columns of opponents:

Code:

CAL POLY            Sacramento State    UC Davis            Northern Arizona    Southern Utah      | Idaho               Northern Colorado  
EASTERN WASHINGTON  Idaho               Portland State      Montana             Montana State      | Idaho State         UC Davis            
IDAHO               Montana             Eastern Washington  Portland State      Idaho State        | Montana State       Cal Poly            
IDAHO STATE         Weber State         Idaho               Montana State       Montana            | Northern Colorado   Eastern Washington  
MONTANA             Montana State       Idaho State         Idaho               Eastern Washington | Weber State         Portland State      
MONTANA STATE       Idaho State         Montana             Eastern Washington  Northern Colorado  | Portland State      Idaho              
NORTHERN ARIZONA    Cal Poly            Southern Utah       Northern Colorado   UC Davis           | Sacramento State    Weber State        
NORTHERN COLORADO   Northern Arizona    Montana State       Southern Utah       Weber State        | Cal Poly            Idaho State        
PORTLAND STATE      Eastern Washington  Sacramento State    UC Davis            Idaho              | Montana             Montana State      
SACRAMENTO STATE    UC Davis            Cal Poly            Weber State         Portland State     | Southern Utah       Northern Arizona    
SOUTHERN UTAH       Northern Colorado   Weber State         Cal Poly            Northern Arizona   | UC Davis            Sacramento State    
UC DAVIS            Portland State      Northern Arizona    Sacramento State    Cal Poly           | Eastern Washington  Southern Utah      
WEBER STATE         Southern Utah       Northern Colorado   Idaho State         Sacramento State   | Northern Arizona    Montana

The first 4 columns of opponents are for an 8-game conference schedule with 4 protected opponents and the additional 2 columns are for a 9-game schedule with 6 protected opponents. In each case, a team plays its protected opponents and half the non-protected opponents every year (alternating biennially).

And here is an alternate divisionless schedule that includes NMSU, in case they decide to throw in the FBS towel like Idaho:

Code:

CAL POLY            Northern Arizona    UC Davis            Sacramento State   | Southern Utah       New Mexico State    
EASTERN WASHINGTON  Portland State      Montana             Idaho              | Sacramento State    UC Davis            
IDAHO               Montana             Idaho State         Eastern Washington | Montana State       Portland State      
IDAHO STATE         Idaho               Montana State       Weber State        | Montana             Sacramento State    
MONTANA             Eastern Washington  Idaho               Montana State      | Weber State         Idaho State        
MONTANA STATE       Idaho State         Northern Colorado   Montana            | Portland State      Idaho              
NEW MEXICO STATE    Southern Utah       Northern Arizona    Northern Colorado  | Cal Poly            Weber State        
NORTHERN ARIZONA    New Mexico State    Cal Poly            Southern Utah      | UC Davis            Northern Colorado  
NORTHERN COLORADO   Montana State       Weber State         New Mexico State   | Northern Arizona    Southern Utah      
PORTLAND STATE      Sacramento State    Eastern Washington  UC Davis           | Idaho               Montana State      
SACRAMENTO STATE    UC Davis            Portland State      Cal Poly           | Idaho State         Eastern Washington  
SOUTHERN UTAH       Weber State         New Mexico State    Northern Arizona   | Northern Colorado   Cal Poly            
UC DAVIS            Cal Poly            Sacramento State    Portland State     | Eastern Washington  Northern Arizona    
WEBER STATE         Northern Colorado   Southern Utah       Idaho State        | New Mexico State    Montana

The first 3 columns of opponents are for an 8-game conference schedule with 3 protected opponents and the additional 2 columns are for a 9-game schedule with 5 protected opponents. In each case, a team plays its protected opponents and half the non-protected opponents every year (alternating biennially).

With 14 teams, the Big Sky could instead go with a 2-division alignment, like so:

North: Eastern Washington, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Montana State, Northern Colorado, Portland State
South: Cal Poly, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona, Sacramento State, Southern Utah, UC Davis, Weber State

But of course there's less incentive to do so in FCS, where there are few conference championship games due to the tournament.

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EDIT: As it turns out, the Big Sky is not actually planning to move to 9 conference games in 2020: https://www.foxsports.com/college-footba...ule-102116

This is evidenced by Cal Poly's 2020 schedule, which can be found here: https://fbschedules.com/ncaa/cal-poly/

I like the idea to replace the conference championship games with CFP expansion. Then, the FBS conferences could more easily move to division-less scheduling.