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Divisionless Football Conferences?
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Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Offline
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Post: #61
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
It’s certainly an interesting idea and I appreciate the work you’ve done here. However, from my school’s perspective (Pitt), I don’t see anything that’s better than our current situation. Therefore, I would be inclined to vote against this type of proposal. However, it is interesting to see.
03-01-2018 11:31 PM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #62
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(08-18-2017 09:38 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  While I'm not really a fan of abandoning divisions, doing so would allow for a schedule in which even a school in a conference of 14 could play all the other schools in the conference at least twice in 4 years (and with only an 8-game conference schedule). I was inspired by this article. Basically, for a 14-team conference, each team gets 3 protected annual matchups and alternates between half of the other 10 opponents every 2 years. The author proposes a different scheme for the ACC, adding ND as a full member and having 4 protected matchups. Here I'm working with the ACC as is and giving them 3 protected matchups like the Big Ten and SEC. I also changed some of the matchups around in each conference. I tried to retain traditional/desired rivalries while still remaining somewhat competitively balanced.

The last 2 columns for the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC are the matchups I'd add if the conferences wanted to expand to 5 protected matchups and a 9-game schedule. This also allows each school to play every conference opponent at least twice in 4 years.

ACC
Code:
BOSTON COLLEGE  Syracuse        Miami-FL        Pittsburgh     | NC State        Virginia Tech  
CLEMSON         Georgia Tech    Florida State   NC State       | Louisville      Miami-FL        
DUKE            Wake Forest     Georgia Tech    North Carolina | Virginia        NC State        
FLORIDA STATE   Miami-FL        Clemson         Georgia Tech   | Syracuse        Louisville      
GEORGIA TECH    Clemson         Duke            Florida State  | Virginia Tech   North Carolina  
LOUISVILLE      Pittsburgh      Virginia Tech   Virginia       | Clemson         Florida State  
MIAMI-FL        Florida State   Boston College  Virginia Tech  | Pittsburgh      Clemson        
NC STATE        North Carolina  Wake Forest     Clemson        | Boston College  Duke            
NORTH CAROLINA  NC State        Virginia        Duke           | Wake Forest     Georgia Tech    
PITTSBURGH      Louisville      Syracuse        Boston College | Miami-FL        Wake Forest    
SYRACUSE        Boston College  Pittsburgh      Wake Forest    | Florida State   Virginia        
VIRGINIA        Virginia Tech   North Carolina  Louisville     | Duke            Syracuse        
VIRGINIA TECH   Virginia        Louisville      Miami-FL       | Georgia Tech    Boston College  
WAKE FOREST     Duke            NC State        Syracuse       | North Carolina  Pittsburgh

Big Ten
Code:
ILLINOIS        Northwestern    Purdue          Rutgers        | Iowa            Indiana        
INDIANA         Purdue          Rutgers         Northwestern   | Maryland        Illinois        
IOWA            Nebraska        Wisconsin       Minnesota      | Illinois        Ohio State      
MARYLAND        Rutgers         Minnesota       Purdue         | Indiana         Penn State      
MICHIGAN        Michigan State  Ohio State      Penn State     | Minnesota       Wisconsin      
MICHIGAN STATE  Michigan        Penn State      Ohio State     | Nebraska        Northwestern    
MINNESOTA       Wisconsin       Maryland        Iowa           | Michigan        Nebraska        
NEBRASKA        Iowa            Northwestern    Wisconsin      | Michigan State  Minnesota      
NORTHWESTERN    Illinois        Nebraska        Indiana        | Purdue          Michigan State  
OHIO STATE      Penn State      Michigan        Michigan State | Wisconsin       Iowa            
PENN STATE      Ohio State      Michigan State  Michigan       | Rutgers         Maryland        
PURDUE          Indiana         Illinois        Maryland       | Northwestern    Rutgers        
RUTGERS         Maryland        Indiana         Illinois       | Penn State      Purdue          
WISCONSIN       Minnesota       Iowa            Nebraska       | Ohio State      Michigan

SEC
Code:
ALABAMA         Auburn          Tennessee       LSU            | Georgia         Florida        
ARKANSAS        Texas A&M       Missouri        Mississippi St | Ole Miss        LSU            
AUBURN          Alabama         Georgia         Florida        | Texas A&M       Ole Miss        
FLORIDA         Georgia         South Carolina  Auburn         | Tennessee       Alabama        
GEORGIA         Florida         Auburn          South Carolina | Alabama         Tennessee      
KENTUCKY        South Carolina  Vanderbilt      Tennessee      | Missouri        Mississippi St  
LSU             Ole Miss        Texas A&M       Alabama        | Mississippi St  Arkansas        
MISSISSIPPI ST  Missouri        Ole Miss        Arkansas       | LSU             Kentucky        
MISSOURI        Mississippi St  Arkansas        Texas A&M      | Kentucky        Vanderbilt      
OLE MISS        LSU             Mississippi St  Vanderbilt     | Arkansas        Auburn          
SOUTH CAROLINA  Kentucky        Florida         Georgia        | Vanderbilt      Texas A&M      
TENNESSEE       Vanderbilt      Alabama         Kentucky       | Florida         Georgia        
TEXAS A&M       Arkansas        LSU             Missouri       | Auburn          South Carolina  
VANDERBILT      Tennessee       Kentucky        Ole Miss       | South Carolina  Missouri

I also have one for the Pac-12. The protected matchups were obvious. I suppose they could go with an 8-game schedule, but if they stick with 9 games, every team can play 3 California schools per season.

Pac-12
Code:
ARIZONA         Arizona State   Colorado        Utah            
ARIZONA STATE   Arizona         Utah            Colorado        
CALIFORNIA      Stanford        UCLA            USC            
COLORADO        Utah            Arizona         Arizona State  
OREGON          Oregon State    Washington      Washington St  
OREGON STATE    Oregon          Washington St   Washington      
STANFORD        California      USC             UCLA            
UCLA            USC             California      Stanford        
USC             UCLA            Stanford        California      
UTAH            Colorado        Arizona State   Arizona        
WASHINGTON      Washington St   Oregon          Oregon State    
WASHINGTON ST   Washington      Oregon State    Oregon

Here's my setup for the ACC with 15 schools (ND goes all in). Each school has 4 protected matchups and alternates between half the other 10 every 2 years.

ACC
Code:
BOSTON COLLEGE  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        Pittsburgh      Notre Dame      Miami-FL        
CLEMSON         Virginia Tech   NC State        Florida State   Georgia Tech    (South Carolina)
DUKE            BYE/OTHER       Georgia Tech    NC State        North Carolina  Wake Forest    
FLORIDA STATE   Georgia Tech    Louisville      Clemson         Miami-FL        (Florida)      
GEORGIA TECH    Florida State   Duke            Notre Dame      Clemson         (Georgia)      
LOUISVILLE      Pittsburgh      Florida State   Virginia Tech   Virginia        (Kentucky)      
MIAMI-FL        Notre Dame      Virginia Tech   BYE/OTHER       Florida State   Boston College  
NC STATE        BYE/OTHER       Clemson         Duke            Wake Forest     North Carolina  
NORTH CAROLINA  Virginia        BYE/OTHER       Wake Forest     Duke            NC State        
NOTRE DAME      Miami-FL        Pittsburgh      Georgia Tech    Boston College  (Stanford/USC)  
PITTSBURGH      Louisville      Notre Dame      Boston College  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        
SYRACUSE        Wake Forest     Boston College  Virginia        BYE/OTHER       Pittsburgh      
VIRGINIA        North Carolina  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        Louisville      Virginia Tech  
VIRGINIA TECH   Clemson         Miami-FL        Louisville      BYE/OTHER       Virginia        
WAKE FOREST     Syracuse        BYE/OTHER       North Carolina  NC State        Duke

What do you think of the whole scheme? Any matchups I should change?

I revamped the protected matchups for the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC in the OP to (hopefully) better accommodate rivalries and strength of schedule. Let me know what you think! I'm certainly open to suggested changes.
(This post was last modified: 11-13-2018 11:28 PM by Nerdlinger.)
11-13-2018 05:17 PM
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Attackcoog Offline
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Post: #63
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
Id be happy if the NCAA would allow conferences to have as many divisions as they like. As conferences get bigger---this will become a bigger issue.
11-13-2018 06:26 PM
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Wedge Offline
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Post: #64
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(11-13-2018 06:26 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Id be happy if the NCAA would allow conferences to have as many divisions as they like. As conferences get bigger---this will become a bigger issue.

What isn't allowed is for a conference to have more than one football conference title game that is exempt from the limit on the number of regular season games. And that's the sticking point. Extending the regular season by one or two more weeks so that a conference can have a 4 or 8 team football tournament, without giving extra games to every other team in FBS, is a non-starter.
11-13-2018 06:42 PM
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dunstvangeet Offline
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Post: #65
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(08-18-2017 01:41 PM)Wedge Wrote:  
(08-18-2017 09:38 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  Pac-12
Arizona: Arizona State, Colorado, Utah
Arizona State: Arizona, Colorado, Utah
California: Stanford, UCLA, USC
Colorado: Arizona, Arizona State, Utah
Oregon: Oregon State, Washington, Washington State
Oregon State: Oregon, Washington, Washington State
Stanford: California, UCLA, USC
UCLA: California, Stanford, USC
USC: California, Stanford, UCLA
Utah: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado
Washington: Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State
Washington State: Oregon, Oregon State, Washington

Someone proposed this back when Utah and Colorado first joined, and also came up with a way to do it while still having two football divisions. Their Tumblr page explaining the idea is still up: http://pac12cooler.tumblr.com/post/77380...r-proposal
The essential graphic was [Image: tumblr_l53r0tysa21qbymuj.jpg]

This basically put rivals on opposite sides. You'd play your half of the graphic, along with the teams in your rows (which are Northwest, California, and Mountain), and then play 2 of the other 4 teams that you miss (probably doing one in each row).

So, for instance, Oregon State's schedule would be (no particular order):
Every year Division: Arizona State, Stanford, Washington State, Utah, USC
Every year cross-divisional: Oregon, Washington
2 out of every 4 years: UCLA, Cal, Colorado, Arizona

It really was quite elegant, especially with the California schools wanting to play eachother every year.
11-13-2018 11:54 PM
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Attackcoog Offline
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Post: #66
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(11-13-2018 06:42 PM)Wedge Wrote:  
(11-13-2018 06:26 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Id be happy if the NCAA would allow conferences to have as many divisions as they like. As conferences get bigger---this will become a bigger issue.

What isn't allowed is for a conference to have more than one football conference title game that is exempt from the limit on the number of regular season games. And that's the sticking point. Extending the regular season by one or two more weeks so that a conference can have a 4 or 8 team football tournament, without giving extra games to every other team in FBS, is a non-starter.

True. But the rules governing CCG's also specifically prevent a conference from dividing into any more than 2 divisions for purposes of a title game. A 4 pod system, for instance, is not allowed--even if the conference has a tie breaker method to determine which 2 pod champs would actually play in a single CCG. The truth is, for some conferences--especially the more spread out ones---a pod system would work much better than 2 larger divisions. To be clear---its not necessary to have a 4 game playoff within the conference simply because you have 4 pods---you just have to have a reasonable tie breaker method for determining which 2 pod winners advance to the CCG. The season need not be expanded. Honestly, its really no more illegitimate than the way we crown our national champion. We have 10 FBS conference winners---but only 4 teams advance to the playoff (hell, the playoff participants may not all necessarily even be conference champs). We've simply set up a system to decide who advanced into a 4 team playoff. Before the CFP, the BCS had a system to select who advanced into a single title game (which is very much how a 4-pod system would work with a single title game).
(This post was last modified: 11-14-2018 01:45 AM by Attackcoog.)
11-14-2018 01:34 AM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #67
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(11-14-2018 01:34 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  
(11-13-2018 06:42 PM)Wedge Wrote:  
(11-13-2018 06:26 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Id be happy if the NCAA would allow conferences to have as many divisions as they like. As conferences get bigger---this will become a bigger issue.

What isn't allowed is for a conference to have more than one football conference title game that is exempt from the limit on the number of regular season games. And that's the sticking point. Extending the regular season by one or two more weeks so that a conference can have a 4 or 8 team football tournament, without giving extra games to every other team in FBS, is a non-starter.

True. But the rules governing CCG's also specifically prevent a conference from dividing into any more than 2 divisions for purposes of a title game. A 4 pod system, for instance, is not allowed--even if the conference has a tie breaker method to determine which 2 pod champs would actually play in a single CCG. The truth is, for some conferences--especially the more spread out ones---a pod system would work much better than 2 larger divisions. To be clear---its not necessary to have a 4 game playoff within the conference simply because you have 4 pods---you just have to have a reasonable tie breaker method for determining which 2 pod winners advance to the CCG. The season need not be expanded. Honestly, its really no more illegitimate than the way we crown our national champion. We have 10 FBS conference winners---but only 4 teams advance to the playoff (hell, the playoff participants may not all necessarily even be conference champs). We've simply set up a system to decide who advanced into a 4 team playoff. Before the CFP, the BCS had a system to select who advanced into a single title game (which is very much how a 4-pod system would work with a single title game).

You're talking about pods as if they were divisions unto themselves. The idea of the pod system is to have them rotate between divisions, WAC-16 style. So it's certainly permitted under the current rules.
11-14-2018 08:28 AM
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ken d Offline
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Post: #68
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(11-13-2018 05:17 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  
(08-18-2017 09:38 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  While I'm not really a fan of abandoning divisions, doing so would allow for a schedule in which even a school in a conference of 14 could play all the other schools in the conference at least twice in 4 years (and with only an 8-game conference schedule). I was inspired by this article. Basically, for a 14-team conference, each team gets 3 protected annual matchups and alternates between half of the other 10 opponents every 2 years. The author proposes a different scheme for the ACC, adding ND as a full member and having 4 protected matchups. Here I'm working with the ACC as is and giving them 3 protected matchups like the Big Ten and SEC. I also changed some of the matchups around in each conference. I tried to retain traditional/desired rivalries while still remaining somewhat competitively balanced.

The last 2 columns for the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC are the matchups I'd add if the conferences wanted to expand to 5 protected matchups and a 9-game schedule. This also allows each school to play every conference opponent at least twice in 4 years.

ACC
Code:
BOSTON COLLEGE  Syracuse        Miami-FL        Pittsburgh     | NC State        Virginia Tech  
CLEMSON         Georgia Tech    Florida State   NC State       | Louisville      Miami-FL        
DUKE            Wake Forest     Georgia Tech    North Carolina | Virginia        NC State        
FLORIDA STATE   Miami-FL        Clemson         Georgia Tech   | Syracuse        Louisville      
GEORGIA TECH    Clemson         Duke            Florida State  | Virginia Tech   North Carolina  
LOUISVILLE      Pittsburgh      Virginia Tech   Virginia       | Clemson         Florida State  
MIAMI-FL        Florida State   Boston College  Virginia Tech  | Pittsburgh      Clemson        
NC STATE        North Carolina  Wake Forest     Clemson        | Boston College  Duke            
NORTH CAROLINA  NC State        Virginia        Duke           | Wake Forest     Georgia Tech    
PITTSBURGH      Louisville      Syracuse        Boston College | Miami-FL        Wake Forest    
SYRACUSE        Boston College  Pittsburgh      Wake Forest    | Florida State   Virginia        
VIRGINIA        Virginia Tech   North Carolina  Louisville     | Duke            Syracuse        
VIRGINIA TECH   Virginia        Louisville      Miami-FL       | Georgia Tech    Boston College  
WAKE FOREST     Duke            NC State        Syracuse       | North Carolina  Pittsburgh

Big Ten
Code:
ILLINOIS        Northwestern    Purdue          Rutgers        | Iowa            Indiana        
INDIANA         Purdue          Rutgers         Northwestern   | Maryland        Illinois        
IOWA            Nebraska        Wisconsin       Minnesota      | Illinois        Ohio State      
MARYLAND        Rutgers         Minnesota       Purdue         | Indiana         Penn State      
MICHIGAN        Michigan State  Ohio State      Penn State     | Minnesota       Wisconsin      
MICHIGAN STATE  Michigan        Penn State      Ohio State     | Nebraska        Northwestern    
MINNESOTA       Wisconsin       Maryland        Iowa           | Michigan        Nebraska        
NEBRASKA        Iowa            Northwestern    Wisconsin      | Michigan State  Minnesota      
NORTHWESTERN    Illinois        Nebraska        Indiana        | Purdue          Michigan State  
OHIO STATE      Penn State      Michigan        Michigan State | Wisconsin       Iowa            
PENN STATE      Ohio State      Michigan State  Michigan       | Rutgers         Maryland        
PURDUE          Indiana         Illinois        Maryland       | Northwestern    Rutgers        
RUTGERS         Maryland        Indiana         Illinois       | Penn State      Purdue          
WISCONSIN       Minnesota       Iowa            Nebraska       | Ohio State      Michigan

SEC
Code:
ALABAMA         Auburn          Tennessee       LSU            | Georgia         Florida        
ARKANSAS        Texas A&M       Missouri        Mississippi St | Ole Miss        LSU            
AUBURN          Alabama         Georgia         Florida        | Texas A&M       Ole Miss        
FLORIDA         Georgia         South Carolina  Auburn         | Tennessee       Alabama        
GEORGIA         Florida         Auburn          South Carolina | Alabama         Tennessee      
KENTUCKY        South Carolina  Vanderbilt      Tennessee      | Missouri        Mississippi St  
LSU             Ole Miss        Texas A&M       Alabama        | Mississippi St  Arkansas        
MISSISSIPPI ST  Missouri        Ole Miss        Arkansas       | LSU             Kentucky        
MISSOURI        Mississippi St  Arkansas        Texas A&M      | Kentucky        Vanderbilt      
OLE MISS        LSU             Mississippi St  Vanderbilt     | Arkansas        Auburn          
SOUTH CAROLINA  Kentucky        Florida         Georgia        | Vanderbilt      Texas A&M      
TENNESSEE       Vanderbilt      Alabama         Kentucky       | Florida         Georgia        
TEXAS A&M       Arkansas        LSU             Missouri       | Auburn          South Carolina  
VANDERBILT      Tennessee       Kentucky        Ole Miss       | South Carolina  Missouri

I also have one for the Pac-12. The protected matchups were obvious. I suppose they could go with an 8-game schedule, but if they stick with 9 games, every team can play 3 California schools per season.

Pac-12
Code:
ARIZONA         Arizona State   Colorado        Utah            
ARIZONA STATE   Arizona         Utah            Colorado        
CALIFORNIA      Stanford        UCLA            USC            
COLORADO        Utah            Arizona         Arizona State  
OREGON          Oregon State    Washington      Washington St  
OREGON STATE    Oregon          Washington St   Washington      
STANFORD        California      USC             UCLA            
UCLA            USC             California      Stanford        
USC             UCLA            Stanford        California      
UTAH            Colorado        Arizona State   Arizona        
WASHINGTON      Washington St   Oregon          Oregon State    
WASHINGTON ST   Washington      Oregon State    Oregon

Here's my setup for the ACC with 15 schools (ND goes all in). Each school has 4 protected matchups and alternates between half the other 10 every 2 years.

ACC
Code:
BOSTON COLLEGE  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        Pittsburgh      Notre Dame      Miami-FL        
CLEMSON         Virginia Tech   NC State        Florida State   Georgia Tech    (South Carolina)
DUKE            BYE/OTHER       Georgia Tech    NC State        North Carolina  Wake Forest    
FLORIDA STATE   Georgia Tech    Louisville      Clemson         Miami-FL        (Florida)      
GEORGIA TECH    Florida State   Duke            Notre Dame      Clemson         (Georgia)      
LOUISVILLE      Pittsburgh      Florida State   Virginia Tech   Virginia        (Kentucky)      
MIAMI-FL        Notre Dame      Virginia Tech   BYE/OTHER       Florida State   Boston College  
NC STATE        BYE/OTHER       Clemson         Duke            Wake Forest     North Carolina  
NORTH CAROLINA  Virginia        BYE/OTHER       Wake Forest     Duke            NC State        
NOTRE DAME      Miami-FL        Pittsburgh      Georgia Tech    Boston College  (Stanford/USC)  
PITTSBURGH      Louisville      Notre Dame      Boston College  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        
SYRACUSE        Wake Forest     Boston College  Virginia        BYE/OTHER       Pittsburgh      
VIRGINIA        North Carolina  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        Louisville      Virginia Tech  
VIRGINIA TECH   Clemson         Miami-FL        Louisville      BYE/OTHER       Virginia        
WAKE FOREST     Syracuse        BYE/OTHER       North Carolina  NC State        Duke

What do you think of the whole scheme? Any matchups I should change?

I revamped the protected matchups for the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC in the OP to (hopefully) better accommodate rivalries and strength of schedule. Let me know what you think! I'm certainly open to suggested changes.

There's an alternative to the five protected game model that doesn't require a nine game league schedule. In your three protected game model, every school will play non-protected rivals twice every four years. If a school were to play whichever of their two additional rivals were not on their conference schedule OOC, they would be happy, and teams which want to preserve their 4 OOC games for schools outside the conference (Clemson comes to mind in the ACC) could still choose to do so.
11-14-2018 10:29 AM
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Attackcoog Offline
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Post: #69
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(11-14-2018 08:28 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  
(11-14-2018 01:34 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  
(11-13-2018 06:42 PM)Wedge Wrote:  
(11-13-2018 06:26 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Id be happy if the NCAA would allow conferences to have as many divisions as they like. As conferences get bigger---this will become a bigger issue.

What isn't allowed is for a conference to have more than one football conference title game that is exempt from the limit on the number of regular season games. And that's the sticking point. Extending the regular season by one or two more weeks so that a conference can have a 4 or 8 team football tournament, without giving extra games to every other team in FBS, is a non-starter.

True. But the rules governing CCG's also specifically prevent a conference from dividing into any more than 2 divisions for purposes of a title game. A 4 pod system, for instance, is not allowed--even if the conference has a tie breaker method to determine which 2 pod champs would actually play in a single CCG. The truth is, for some conferences--especially the more spread out ones---a pod system would work much better than 2 larger divisions. To be clear---its not necessary to have a 4 game playoff within the conference simply because you have 4 pods---you just have to have a reasonable tie breaker method for determining which 2 pod winners advance to the CCG. The season need not be expanded. Honestly, its really no more illegitimate than the way we crown our national champion. We have 10 FBS conference winners---but only 4 teams advance to the playoff (hell, the playoff participants may not all necessarily even be conference champs). We've simply set up a system to decide who advanced into a 4 team playoff. Before the CFP, the BCS had a system to select who advanced into a single title game (which is very much how a 4-pod system would work with a single title game).

You're talking about pods as if they were divisions unto themselves. The idea of the pod system is to have them rotate between divisions, WAC-16 style. So it's certainly permitted under the current rules.

Thats was my whole original point. I'd like to see the NCAA give the the conferences the ability to divide into as many divisions as they like. Yes, you can use pods today---but your really just using the pods to mimic two divisions. What I'm proposing is simply allowing conferences to decide how many divisions to split into. The single CCG per conference rule is fine and would not need to change. A true 3 or 4 division format would give conferences far more scheduling flexibility than the current model.
(This post was last modified: 11-14-2018 11:11 AM by Attackcoog.)
11-14-2018 11:07 AM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #70
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(11-14-2018 10:29 AM)ken d Wrote:  There's an alternative to the five protected game model that doesn't require a nine game league schedule. In your three protected game model, every school will play non-protected rivals twice every four years. If a school were to play whichever of their two additional rivals were not on their conference schedule OOC, they would be happy, and teams which want to preserve their 4 OOC games for schools outside the conference (Clemson comes to mind in the ACC) could still choose to do so.

True, this is an alternative, but I'm not sure many schools would sign off on a conference schedule that requires them to play in-conference rivals OOC.

(11-14-2018 11:07 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Thats was my whole original point. I'd like to see the NCAA give the the conferences the ability to divide into as many divisions as they like. Yes, you can use pods today---but your really just using the pods to mimic two divisions. What I'm proposing is simply allowing conferences to decide how many divisions to split into. The single CCG per conference rule is fine and would not need to change. A true 3 or 4 division format would give conferences far more scheduling flexibility than the current model.

I too am in favor of letting conferences decide how to organize their own members and set their own schedule. I don't see why either of those need to be regulated by the NCAA. I'm also in favor of giving conferences control over their championship structure, although I can see for the players' sake why the NCAA wants to limit the number of extra games. I don't think permitting 3 extra games per conference (for a 2-round championship) instead of just 1 extra game would result in that much of an additional burden.
(This post was last modified: 11-21-2018 10:26 PM by Nerdlinger.)
11-15-2018 12:18 PM
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Post: #71
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(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:
SCHOOL              OPPONENTS WITH 2 PROTECTED             | ADD'L OPPONENTS WITH 4 PROTECTED       | ADD'L OPPONENTS WITH 6 PROTECTED
CAL POLY            Sacramento State    UC Davis           | Southern Utah       Northern Arizona   | Idaho               Northern Colorado  
EASTERN WASHINGTON  Montana             Portland State     | Idaho               Montana State      | UC Davis            Sacramento State    
IDAHO               Portland State      Idaho State        | Montana             Eastern Washington | Montana State       Cal Poly            
IDAHO STATE         Idaho               Weber State        | Montana State       Montana            | Northern Colorado   Southern Utah      
MONTANA             Montana State       Eastern Washington | Idaho State         Idaho              | Weber State         Portland State      
MONTANA STATE       Northern Colorado   Montana            | Eastern Washington  Idaho State        | Portland State      Idaho              
NORTHERN ARIZONA    Southern Utah       Northern Colorado  | Cal Poly            UC Davis           | Sacramento State    Weber State        
NORTHERN COLORADO   Northern Arizona    Montana State      | Weber State         Southern Utah      | Cal Poly            Idaho State        
PORTLAND STATE      Eastern Washington  Idaho              | UC Davis            Sacramento State   | Montana             Montana State      
SACRAMENTO STATE    UC Davis            Cal Poly           | Portland State      Weber State        | Eastern Washington  Northern Arizona    
SOUTHERN UTAH       Weber State         Northern Arizona   | Northern Colorado   Cal Poly           | Idaho State         UC Davis            
UC DAVIS            Cal Poly            Sacramento State   | Northern Arizona    Portland State     | Southern Utah       Eastern Washington  
WEBER STATE         Idaho State         Southern Utah      | Sacramento State    Northern Colorado  | Northern Arizona    Montana

The first 2 columns of opponents are for a conference schedule with 2 protected opponents, the next 2 columns are additional opponents for a schedule with 4 protected opponents, and the last 2 columns are even more opponents for a schedule with 6 protected opponents.

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

The first 3 columns of opponents are for a conference schedule with 3 protected opponents, the additional 4th column is for a schedule with 4 protected opponents, and the additional 5th column is for a schedule with 5 protected opponents.

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.

---

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/
(This post was last modified: 01-16-2019 08:49 PM by Nerdlinger.)
11-16-2018 01:12 PM
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Post: #72
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
The Southland Conference has had 11 football teams in a divisionless slate since 2014, and they've played a 9-game conference schedule since 2015. Because of the odd numbers, this has meant one team actually plays just 8 conference games every year. This team was Houston Baptist in 2015 and 2016 (and will be in 2019 and 2020) and Incarnate Word in 2017 and 2018. The league may go back to an 8-game conference schedule in 2021, permitting all teams to play the same number of conference games.

I haven't found anything about which annual football matchups between Southland members are being protected (if any), but I've come up with a scheme that should work for 2, 4, or 6 protected matchups. I tried to protect the most important rivalries first. Let me know what you think!

Code:
SCHOOL              OPPONENTS WITH 2 PROTECTED             | ADD'L OPPONENTS WITH 4 PROTECTED       | ADD'L OPPONENTS WITH 6 PROTECTED        
ABILENE CHRISTIAN   Houston Baptist     Incarnate Word     | Central Arkansas    Stephen F. Austin  | Lamar               Sam Houston        
CENTRAL ARKANSAS    Nicholls State      SE Louisiana       | Incarnate Word      Abilene Christian  | Northwestern State  McNeese State      
HOUSTON BAPTIST     Incarnate Word      Abilene Christian  | Lamar               Sam Houston        | McNeese State       Nicholls State      
INCARNATE WORD      Abilene Christian   Houston Baptist    | Sam Houston         Central Arkansas   | Stephen F. Austin   Northwestern State  
LAMAR               McNeese State       Sam Houston        | Stephen F. Austin   Houston Baptist    | Nicholls State      Abilene Christian  
MCNEESE STATE       Northwestern State  Lamar              | Nicholls State      SE Louisiana       | Central Arkansas    Houston Baptist    
NICHOLLS STATE      SE Louisiana        Central Arkansas   | Northwestern State  McNeese State      | Houston Baptist     Lamar              
NORTHWESTERN STATE  Stephen F. Austin   McNeese State      | SE Louisiana        Nicholls State     | Incarnate Word      Central Arkansas    
SAM HOUSTON         Lamar               Stephen F. Austin  | Houston Baptist     Incarnate Word     | Abilene Christian   SE Louisiana        
SE LOUISIANA        Central Arkansas    Nicholls State     | McNeese State       Northwestern State | Sam Houston         Stephen F. Austin  
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN   Sam Houston         Northwestern State | Abilene Christian   Lamar              | SE Louisiana        Incarnate Word

Some info on the different scenarios, which vary depending on how many conference games and protected matchups there are:

Code:
Total Conference Games     8     9     8     9     8     9
Protected Opponents        2     2     4     4     6     6
Non-Protected Opponents    8     8     6     6     4     4
Games vs. Non-Protected    6     7     4     5     2     3
Years to Play All Teams    1.33  1.14  1.50  1.20  2.00  1.33
(This post was last modified: 05-09-2019 08:13 PM by Nerdlinger.)
11-19-2018 04:30 PM
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Post: #73
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(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.

---

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.
11-19-2018 06:47 PM
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Post: #74
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
Like the Big Sky and Southland (and most FCS conferences), the CAA lacks divisions. Unlike the Big Sky and Southland, however, the CAA actually has an even number of football teams (12), so any number of protected matchups per team can work for them. The conference schedule is 8 games. Below is a schedule for 3, 4, or 5 protected matchups. Again, I tried to protect the biggest rivalries first. Any thoughts on this?

Code:
ALBANY          Maine           Stony Brook     New Hampshire  | Rhode Island   | James Madison  
DELAWARE        Towson          Villanova       James Madison  | William & Mary | Richmond        
ELON            William & Mary  Richmond        Towson         | James Madison  | Villanova      
JAMES MADISON   Richmond        William & Mary  Delaware       | Elon           | Albany          
MAINE           New Hampshire   Albany          Rhode Island   | Villanova      | Stony Brook    
NEW HAMPSHIRE   Rhode Island    Maine           Albany         | Stony Brook    | Towson          
RHODE ISLAND    Stony Brook     New Hampshire   Maine          | Albany         | William & Mary  
RICHMOND        Elon            James Madison   William & Mary | Towson         | Delaware        
STONY BROOK     Albany          Rhode Island    Villanova      | New Hampshire  | Maine          
TOWSON          Villanova       Delaware        Elon           | Richmond       | New Hampshire  
VILLANOVA       Delaware        Towson          Stony Brook    | Maine          | Elon            
WILLIAM & MARY  James Madison   Elon            Richmond       | Delaware       | Rhode Island

The schedule with 5 protected matchups could have worked out the same as if the teams were split into the following nice geographic divisions:

North: Albany, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Stony Brook, Villanova
South: Delaware, Elon, James Madison, Richmond, Towson, William & Mary

... except that Delaware/Villanova had to be protected, which meant a bunch of other "cross-division" matchups (of dubious rivalry value) also had to be protected.

Actually, a divisional setup like this might work well:

North: Albany, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Stony Brook, Towson
South: Delaware, Elon, James Madison, Richmond, Villanova, William & Mary

This just swaps Towson and Villanova in order to keep Delaware and Villanova together. Each team could play its division plus half the other division every year for an 8-game conference schedule.
(This post was last modified: 11-20-2018 10:59 AM by Nerdlinger.)
11-19-2018 09:39 PM
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Post: #75
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(11-19-2018 06:47 PM)YNot Wrote:  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.

I don't think that will ever happen, since conferences control their own CCG revenue. It's more likely that conference championships go to 4 teams than the CFP goes above 4. Such a change could occur due to a deregulation of CCGs, meaning dropping divisions would be an option for larger conferences.
11-19-2018 09:42 PM
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Post: #76
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
Continuing my tour of the larger FCS conferences: North Dakota will be joining the MVFC in 2020, giving that conference 11 members. This means there can only be an even number of protected opponents per team. Below is a proposed MVFC setup for 2, 4, or 6 protected opponents. As before, I focused on the protecting the most important rivalries first. Constructive feedback is appreciated!

Code:
SCHOOL              OPPONENTS WITH 2 PROTECTED             | ADD'L OPPONENTS WITH 4 PROTECTED       | ADD'L OPPONENTS WITH 6 PROTECTED        
ILLINOIS STATE      Western Illinois    Youngstown State   | Indiana State       Southern Illinois  | North Dakota State  Missouri State      
INDIANA STATE       Youngstown State    Southern Illinois  | Western Illinois    Illinois State     | South Dakota State  North Dakota        
MISSOURI STATE      Southern Illinois   Northern Iowa      | South Dakota        Youngstown State   | Illinois State      Western Illinois    
NORTH DAKOTA        North Dakota State  South Dakota       | Youngstown State    South Dakota State | Indiana State       Northern Iowa      
NORTH DAKOTA STATE  South Dakota State  North Dakota       | Northern Iowa       South Dakota       | Youngstown State    Illinois State      
NORTHERN IOWA       Missouri State      Western Illinois   | South Dakota State  North Dakota State | North Dakota        South Dakota        
SOUTH DAKOTA        North Dakota        South Dakota State | North Dakota State  Missouri State     | Northern Iowa       Southern Illinois  
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE  South Dakota        North Dakota State | North Dakota        Northern Iowa      | Western Illinois    Indiana State      
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS   Indiana State       Missouri State     | Illinois State      Western Illinois   | South Dakota        Youngstown State    
WESTERN ILLINOIS    Northern Iowa       Illinois State     | Southern Illinois   Indiana State      | Missouri State      South Dakota State  
YOUNGSTOWN STATE    Illinois State      Indiana State      | Missouri State      North Dakota       | Southern Illinois   North Dakota State
(This post was last modified: 11-21-2018 02:14 PM by Nerdlinger.)
11-20-2018 08:26 PM
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Post: #77
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
Returning to FBS: a divisionless CUSA setup for 3, 4, or 5 protected opponents. Not sure if this is any better than the current 2-division lineup. Since CUSA is such a recently cobbled-together conference, most teams don't have many strong in-conference rivalries to protect.

Code:
CHARLOTTE         Old Dominion      Western Kentucky  FAU              | FIU              | Marshall          
FAU               FIU               Old Dominion      Charlotte        | Marshall         | Western Kentucky  
FIU               FAU               Marshall          Southern Miss    | Charlotte        | Old Dominion      
LOUISIANA TECH    Southern Miss     Middle Tennessee  UAB              | North Texas      | Rice              
MARSHALL          Western Kentucky  FIU               Old Dominion     | FAU              | Charlotte        
MIDDLE TENNESSEE  UAB               Louisiana Tech    Western Kentucky | UTSA             | North Texas      
NORTH TEXAS       Rice              UTEP              UTSA             | Louisiana Tech   | Middle Tennessee  
OLD DOMINION      Charlotte         FAU               Marshall         | Western Kentucky | FIU              
RICE              North Texas       UTSA              UTEP             | Southern Miss    | Louisiana Tech    
SOUTHERN MISS     Louisiana Tech    UAB               FIU              | Rice             | UTEP              
UAB               Middle Tennessee  Southern Miss     Louisiana Tech   | UTEP             | UTSA              
UTEP              UTSA              North Texas       Rice             | UAB              | Southern Miss    
UTSA              UTEP              Rice              North Texas      | Middle Tennessee | UAB              
WESTERN KENTUCKY  Marshall          Charlotte         Middle Tennessee | Old Dominion     | FAU
(This post was last modified: 11-21-2018 02:10 PM by Nerdlinger.)
11-21-2018 02:04 PM
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Post: #78
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(08-18-2017 09:38 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  While I'm not really a fan of abandoning divisions, doing so would allow for a schedule in which even a school in a conference of 14 could play all the other schools in the conference at least twice in 4 years (and with only an 8-game conference schedule). I was inspired by this article. Basically, for a 14-team conference, each team gets 3 protected annual matchups and alternates between half of the other 10 opponents every 2 years. The author proposes a different scheme for the ACC, adding ND as a full member and having 4 protected matchups. Here I'm working with the ACC as is and giving them 3 protected matchups like the Big Ten and SEC. I also changed some of the matchups around in each conference. I tried to retain traditional/desired rivalries while still remaining somewhat competitively balanced.

The last 2 columns for the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC are the matchups I'd add if the conferences wanted to expand to 4 or 5 protected matchups. Having 5 protected matchups works well with a 9-game conference schedule, permitting each team to play all other teams at least twice in 4 years.

ACC
Code:
BOSTON COLLEGE  Syracuse        Miami-FL        Pittsburgh     | Florida State  | Wake Forest    
CLEMSON         Georgia Tech    Florida State   NC State       | Louisville     | Virginia Tech  
DUKE            Wake Forest     Georgia Tech    North Carolina | NC State       | Virginia        
FLORIDA STATE   Miami-FL        Clemson         Georgia Tech   | Boston College | Louisville      
GEORGIA TECH    Clemson         Duke            Florida State  | Virginia Tech  | Miami-FL        
LOUISVILLE      Pittsburgh      Virginia Tech   Virginia       | Clemson        | Florida State  
MIAMI-FL        Florida State   Boston College  Virginia Tech  | Syracuse       | Georgia Tech    
NC STATE        North Carolina  Wake Forest     Clemson        | Duke           | Syracuse        
NORTH CAROLINA  NC State        Virginia        Duke           | Wake Forest    | Pittsburgh      
PITTSBURGH      Louisville      Syracuse        Boston College | Virginia       | North Carolina  
SYRACUSE        Boston College  Pittsburgh      Wake Forest    | Miami-FL       | NC State        
VIRGINIA        Virginia Tech   North Carolina  Louisville     | Pittsburgh     | Duke            
VIRGINIA TECH   Virginia        Louisville      Miami-FL       | Georgia Tech   | Clemson        
WAKE FOREST     Duke            NC State        Syracuse       | North Carolina | Boston College

Big Ten
Code:
ILLINOIS        Northwestern    Purdue          Rutgers        | Indiana        | Iowa            
INDIANA         Purdue          Rutgers         Northwestern   | Illinois       | Maryland        
IOWA            Nebraska        Wisconsin       Minnesota      | Michigan State | Illinois        
MARYLAND        Rutgers         Penn State      Purdue         | Minnesota      | Indiana        
MICHIGAN        Michigan State  Ohio State      Penn State     | Wisconsin      | Nebraska        
MICHIGAN STATE  Michigan        Northwestern    Ohio State     | Iowa           | Penn State      
MINNESOTA       Wisconsin       Nebraska        Iowa           | Maryland       | Northwestern    
NEBRASKA        Iowa            Minnesota       Wisconsin      | Ohio State     | Michigan        
NORTHWESTERN    Illinois        Michigan State  Indiana        | Purdue         | Minnesota      
OHIO STATE      Penn State      Michigan        Michigan State | Nebraska       | Wisconsin      
PENN STATE      Ohio State      Maryland        Michigan       | Rutgers        | Michigan State  
PURDUE          Indiana         Illinois        Maryland       | Northwestern   | Rutgers        
RUTGERS         Maryland        Indiana         Illinois       | Penn State     | Purdue          
WISCONSIN       Minnesota       Iowa            Nebraska       | Michigan       | Ohio State

SEC
Code:
ALABAMA         Auburn          Tennessee       LSU            | Georgia        | Florida        
ARKANSAS        Texas A&M       Missouri        Mississippi St | LSU            | Ole Miss        
AUBURN          Alabama         Georgia         Florida        | Ole Miss       | Texas A&M      
FLORIDA         Georgia         South Carolina  Auburn         | Tennessee      | Alabama        
GEORGIA         Florida         Auburn          South Carolina | Alabama        | Tennessee      
KENTUCKY        South Carolina  Vanderbilt      Tennessee      | Mississippi St | Missouri        
LSU             Ole Miss        Texas A&M       Alabama        | Arkansas       | Mississippi St  
MISSISSIPPI ST  Missouri        Ole Miss        Arkansas       | Kentucky       | LSU            
MISSOURI        Mississippi St  Arkansas        Texas A&M      | Vanderbilt     | Kentucky        
OLE MISS        LSU             Mississippi St  Vanderbilt     | Auburn         | Arkansas        
SOUTH CAROLINA  Kentucky        Florida         Georgia        | Texas A&M      | Vanderbilt      
TENNESSEE       Vanderbilt      Alabama         Kentucky       | Florida        | Georgia        
TEXAS A&M       Arkansas        LSU             Missouri       | South Carolina | Auburn          
VANDERBILT      Tennessee       Kentucky        Ole Miss       | Missouri       | South Carolina

I also have one for the Pac-12. The protected matchups were obvious. I suppose they could go with an 8-game schedule, but if they stick with 9 games, every team can play 3 California schools per season.

Pac-12
Code:
ARIZONA         Arizona State   Colorado        Utah            
ARIZONA STATE   Arizona         Utah            Colorado        
CALIFORNIA      Stanford        UCLA            USC            
COLORADO        Utah            Arizona         Arizona State  
OREGON          Oregon State    Washington      Washington St  
OREGON STATE    Oregon          Washington St   Washington      
STANFORD        California      USC             UCLA            
UCLA            USC             California      Stanford        
USC             UCLA            Stanford        California      
UTAH            Colorado        Arizona State   Arizona        
WASHINGTON      Washington St   Oregon          Oregon State    
WASHINGTON ST   Washington      Oregon State    Oregon

Here's my setup for the ACC with 15 schools (ND goes all in). Each school has 4 protected matchups.

ACC
Code:
BOSTON COLLEGE  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        Pittsburgh      Notre Dame      Miami-FL        
CLEMSON         Virginia Tech   NC State        Florida State   Georgia Tech    (South Carolina)
DUKE            BYE/OTHER       Georgia Tech    NC State        North Carolina  Wake Forest    
FLORIDA STATE   Georgia Tech    Louisville      Clemson         Miami-FL        (Florida)      
GEORGIA TECH    Florida State   Duke            Notre Dame      Clemson         (Georgia)      
LOUISVILLE      Pittsburgh      Florida State   Virginia Tech   Virginia        (Kentucky)      
MIAMI-FL        Notre Dame      Virginia Tech   BYE/OTHER       Florida State   Boston College  
NC STATE        BYE/OTHER       Clemson         Duke            Wake Forest     North Carolina  
NORTH CAROLINA  Virginia        BYE/OTHER       Wake Forest     Duke            NC State        
NOTRE DAME      Miami-FL        Pittsburgh      Georgia Tech    Boston College  (Stanford/USC)  
PITTSBURGH      Louisville      Notre Dame      Boston College  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        
SYRACUSE        Wake Forest     Boston College  Virginia        BYE/OTHER       Pittsburgh      
VIRGINIA        North Carolina  BYE/OTHER       Syracuse        Louisville      Virginia Tech  
VIRGINIA TECH   Clemson         Miami-FL        Louisville      BYE/OTHER       Virginia        
WAKE FOREST     Syracuse        BYE/OTHER       North Carolina  NC State        Duke

What do you think of the whole scheme? Any matchups I should change?
Where is the U. Cincinnati?---Louisville vs Cincinnati
11-21-2018 02:18 PM
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Nerdlinger Offline
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Post: #79
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
(11-21-2018 02:18 PM)MrCincy Wrote:  Where is the U. Cincinnati?---Louisville vs Cincinnati

With a few exceptions, this thread has been about existing or upcoming conference lineups. Until Cincinnati is invited to the ACC, Louisville can't play them in-conference. 03-wink

EDIT: But since you asked nicely, here's a divisionless setup for the ACC plus ND (full) and Cincinnati, for 3, 4, or 5 protected opponents. You like?

Code:
BOSTON COLLEGE  Notre Dame      Cincinnati      Syracuse       | Miami-FL       | Pittsburgh      
CINCINNATI      Louisville      Boston College  Pittsburgh     | Syracuse       | Wake Forest    
CLEMSON         Georgia Tech    NC State        Florida State  | Virginia Tech  | Miami-FL        
DUKE            Wake Forest     North Carolina  Georgia Tech   | NC State       | Virginia        
FLORIDA STATE   Miami-FL        Georgia Tech    Clemson        | Louisville     | North Carolina  
GEORGIA TECH    Clemson         Florida State   Duke           | Notre Dame     | Virginia Tech  
LOUISVILLE      Cincinnati      Virginia        Virginia Tech  | Florida State  | Notre Dame      
MIAMI-FL        Florida State   Virginia Tech   Notre Dame     | Boston College | Clemson        
NC STATE        North Carolina  Clemson         Wake Forest    | Duke           | Syracuse        
NORTH CAROLINA  NC State        Duke            Virginia       | Wake Forest    | Florida State  
NOTRE DAME      Boston College  Pittsburgh      Miami-FL       | Georgia Tech   | Louisville      
PITTSBURGH      Syracuse        Notre Dame      Cincinnati     | Virginia       | Boston College  
SYRACUSE        Pittsburgh      Wake Forest     Boston College | Cincinnati     | NC State        
VIRGINIA        Virginia Tech   Louisville      North Carolina | Pittsburgh     | Duke            
VIRGINIA TECH   Virginia        Miami-FL        Louisville     | Clemson        | Georgia Tech    
WAKE FOREST     Duke            Syracuse        NC State       | North Carolina | Cincinnati
(This post was last modified: 11-22-2018 07:39 AM by Nerdlinger.)
11-21-2018 02:22 PM
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virgosports Offline
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Posts: 704
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Post: #80
RE: Divisionless Football Conferences?
[quote='Nerdlinger' pid='14513733' dateline='1503116800']
Proposals for some G5 conferences:

American
Central Florida: East Carolina, South Florida, Temple
Cincinnati: Connecticut, Memphis, South Florida
Connecticut: Cincinnati, South Florida, Temple
East Carolina: Central Florida, Navy, Temple
Houston: Navy, SMU, Tulane
Memphis: Cincinnati, Tulane, Tulsa
Navy: East Carolina, Houston, SMU
SMU: Houston, Navy, Tulsa
South Florida: Central Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut
Temple: Central Florida, Connecticut, East Carolina
Tulane: Houston, Memphis, Tulsa
Tulsa: Memphis, SMU, Tulane


This is fun to read. For Memphis (personal preference), I would replace Tulsa with Houston. For Houston, I imagine it would be SMU, Tulsa, Memphis. Cincy seems correct and for Navy, I assume it would be SMU, Tulane, Ecu.
11-25-2018 01:01 PM
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