I think programs like Michigan and Ohio State would rather have a foot in both the Eastern and Midwestern regions. They don't want to give up games vs Minnesota, Wisconsin or Iowa. Nebraska they may live without but the former three plus Indiana in basketball are important to them.

I have thought that putting the Michigan schools and Wisconsin/Minnesota together would greatly anchor a northern division, then attach Iowa and Northwestern to them. Call it the Lakes & Plains North division. Then put Nebraska, Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas, Purdue and Illinois into Lakes & Plains South division. That would push Notre Dame, Indiana and Ohio State eastwards, with Penn State, Pitt and Syracuse.

Lakes & Plains North

Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern

Lakes & Plains South

Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Purdue, Iowa State

Eastern Lakes

Notre Dame, Indiana, Ohio State, Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse

North Atlantic

Boston College, Rutgers, Maryland, West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati

South Atlantic

North Carolina, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech


Then this is how I would reorganize the ACC/SEC/Big 12:

Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Clemson, South Carolina, Miami

Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, LSU, Vanderbilt

Mississippi, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Texas A&M, TCU, Baylor

Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Kansas State, South Florida

(03-14-2020 01:08 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-14-2020 12:16 PM)bullet Wrote:  But if we played out that 6X11 I would try to minimize changes from the traditional conferences:
Pac-USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Oregon St., Washington, Washington St., Arizona, Arizona St., Utah (drop CU)
Big 10-Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan St., Ohio St., Nebraska (drop PSU, MD, RU)
SEC-LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas. (drop A&M, MU, USCe)
ACC-Florida St., Georgia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina, North Carolina St., Wake Forest, Duke, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Miami (first 9+USCe and Miami)
Southwest Conference-Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., BYU, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas St.
New Big East-Boston College, Syracuse, Pitt, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, West Virginia, Louisville, Notre Dame, Missouri, Iowa St., Penn St.

But then Florida and Florida State, Virginia and Virginia Tech, Kentucky and Louisville, Utah and BYU, and Indiana/Purdue and Notre Dame are in different conferences. Assuming round robin each conference, then each of these teams except for the Indiana schools would have to use of their nonconference games each year on the in state game. I believe I kept all schools from the same state in the same conference. I guess it depends on what you prioritize.

If they coordinated to do this, then they could coordinate to allow an 8 game conference schedule and still have a ccg.

(03-14-2020 01:40 PM)TerryD Wrote:  

(03-14-2020 10:13 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(03-14-2020 09:14 AM)TerryD Wrote:  Cut to the chase.

Create one single entity, one P5 "conference" if you will.

Have that single entity negotiate the next TV contracts with the networks.

Create four (or eight) new geographic divisions, like the NFL does with conferences and divisions.

Dismantle the existing conferences in full and create an "NFL like" entity.

Otherwise, why bother with half measures?

As a Notre Dame fan, you don't understand the significance of conference rivalries.

Neither did many of the realignment moves since at least 2003.

Your point?

I don't recall the SEC, Big 10, ACC, Pac 12 or Big 12 kicking anyone out.
CU was a better fit in the Pac. NU, with CU gone, had no real rivalries in the Big 12 North. A&M had been wanting the SEC since 1989. The Big East schools all bailed for survival and the ACC and Big 10 wanted more exposure in the east.

(03-14-2020 09:14 AM)TerryD Wrote:  Cut to the chase.

Create one single entity, one P5 "conference" if you will.

Have that single entity negotiate the next TV contracts with the networks.

Create four (or eight) new geographic divisions, like the NFL does with conferences and divisions.

Dismantle the existing conferences in full and create an "NFL like" entity.

Otherwise, why bother with half measures?

I have to agree.

We'll never alter the dynamics with media companies if we're competing against each other for money and air time.

For the sake of competition, regional frameworks can be in place to make sure those games are played. Just like the Dallas Cowboys are in the NFC East because they have long standing rivalries with the teams in that region, we could create a system that accounts for cross-region rivalries as well.

With everyone under the same roof, the only limits are the ones we impose on ourselves.

People seem to link the Big Ten and Pac-12 together for the obvious reason being the Rose Bowl but I associate the Big Ten and ACC more closely (distance plus ACC-Big Ten challenge). Instead of a merge of the Big Ten and Pac 12 and Penn State having to play Wazzou and Oregon State why not hook up with the more geographic friendly ACC instead? In this exercise, the SEC can annex the Big 12.

Now if we include Notre Dame as part of the ACC, that means the Big Ten+ACC has 29 which doesn't work. Since the Big Ten has academic standards, Louisville gets the boot, the SEC can have them if they want to pair with Kentucky. So 28 works.

We can keep the same Big Ten and ACC divisions with Notre Dame taking Louisville's place in the ACC Atlantic division.

We can do the ACC the Big Ten's way and align the ACC geographically, keeping the Big Ten's divisions the same.

ACC North: Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest (someone from Carolina had to go North)
ACC South: North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami

Or we can move Maryland and Rutgers over to the ACC North and Pittsburgh and Notre Dame to the Big Ten East from the last alignment.

If the SEC and Big 12 merge, they have 24. If they add Louisville as well, they have 25 which is pretty awkward (5 divisions of 5 but how would you schedule it?). If they wanted to keep pace with the Big Ten+ACC, they could add UCF (the Big Ten has FSU and Miami), Houston, and Cincinnati for 28, or two of the three for 27 and have three divisions of 9. Or they could not add Louisville for 24 (3x8 or 4x6) or keep Louisville and not add one Big 12 member (Iowa State? Baylor? West Virginia?) I'll let the SEC/Big12 members (JRSec, AllTideUp, bullet, etc decide what they want out of an SEC/Big 12 merge.

P5=65 teams

Group 1
ESPN owned: SEC and ACC (28)+1
add all of the remaining SWC teams still playing at the P5 level: +Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, and TCU.
Total 32 +1.

Group 2
B1G (14) plus PAC (12) plus all of the remaining Big 8 schools that are not already in the PAC or SEC (5) plus West Virginia.
Total 32.

You can divide those groups in multiple ways if necessary:
divide by 2 and you get 4 x 16 and a tag along
divide by 3 after adding BYU or Cincinnati to group 2 you get 6 x 11
divide by 4 you get 8 x 8 plus a tag along

The only reasonable way I can think of for dividing 65 teams (P5 + ND) evenly would be 5 divisions/conferences of 13 which means you'd play everyone in your division/conference and no one else. I don't know if anyone would support that.

I mean if push came to shove and Notre Dame had to choose some rivalries just because of course we're all bored out of our minds by now Notre Dame would choose to keep USC and Stanford so they'd go with the Pac-12 and besides would anyone else fit out there as the oddball?

The Big Ten has to give someone the boot so Nebraska is the one non AAU member and they seem to fit in the Big 12 so there you go. The SEC has to give up someone. They'll just give Missouri back to the Big 12 since they're the worst fit. Finally, the ACC gives up Louisville to the Big 12. The Big 12 adds the three "rejects", Nebraska, Missouri, and Louisville.

Problem of course is a ton of in state rivalries never like Florida/Florida State, Clemson/South Carolina, etc. never get played. Maybe the SEC and ACC do some switching to make sure they do, Florida and Kentucky to the ACC and Clemson and Georgia Tech to the SEC. Or teams get permission for 13 games. Conference championships won't need to be played.

Here's another setup I came up with. I didn't put it in Jrsec's challenge since I already listed my official entry.

For this one, I have seven conferences of 10 for 70 teams total. I believe I included every current P5 team.

Big Ten: Boston College, Connecticut, Syracuse, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple, Rutgers, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State

ACC: Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, Clemson, South Carolina, West Virginia

SEC: Florida, Florida State, Miami, UCF, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State

Great Midwest: Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Louisville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Big 8: Utah, BYU, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota

SWC: Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, Houston, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, LSU, Arkansas

Pac: UCLA, USC, California, Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State

All seven conferences play a full round robin and there's room for three non conference games/team. We end with an 8 game national championship playoff with the seven champions and one wild card.

Of course UConn and Temple were getting golden tickets. In order to get geographically reasonable conferences, I had to leave Cincinnati out. BYU, UCF, and Houston are the remaining teams who got in.