RE: Maximum size before conference gets unwieldy
Since we have already passed the point of unwieldiness (IMO), I tried to combine an exercise to construct my ideal ACC conference with one where I rearranged all 130 FBS schools. I came up with seven conferences of 12 each (2 divisions of 6) and four with 10 schools each. They are (with their 10 year average Sagarin rating in parentheses):
SEC (80): Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Miami, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Kentucky and Vanderbilt
ACC (78): Clemson, Georgia, Florida State, Florida, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Duke and Virginia
Big 12 (78): South: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Arkansas, Texas Tech, and Nebraska; North: TCU, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Kansas
PAC (77): Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Southern Cal, Utah, Arizona State, UCLA, Arizona, Washington State, Cal, Oregon State and Colorado
B1G (77): Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Northwestern, Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois
AAC (71): East: Baylor, Central Florida, Houston, Temple, Memphis, and South Florida; West: Boise State, BYU, Navy, San Diego State, Air Force and SMU
NEC (New Eastern Conference)(72): Penn State, West Virginia, Louisville, Pitt, Cincinnati, Boston College, Syracuse, Maryland, Wake Forest and Rutgers
MAC (59): Toledo, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Western Michigan, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Buffalo, Ball State, Miami (O), Kent State, Eastern Michigan, and Akron
CUSA (59): Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Western Kentucky, Southern Miss, Middle Tennessee, Florida Atlantic, UAB, North Texas, Rice, Florida International, Old Dominion, and Charlotte
SBC (59): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Tulsa, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, Troy, Tulane, LA Monroe, Coastal Carolina, South Alabama, Texas State and Georgia State
MWC (59): Utah State, Fresno State, Nevada, Colorado State, Wyoming, Hawaii, San Jose State, UNLV, New Mexico, UT San Antonio, UTEP and New Mexico State
INDY: Notre Dame, East Carolina, Army, UConn, Liberty and UMass
That enables a CFP that includes the seven power conference champions plus the highest ranked team from the G4 and Independents.
Using the individual 2019 year ranks as a substitute for conference champs (since they weren't already in their new conferences) the CFP would have been:
#1 LSU vs #8 Baylor
#4 Oklahoma vs #5 Oregon
#2 Ohio State vs #7 Notre Dame
#3 Clemson vs #6 Penn State
Of course, none of this could possibly happen. But it is fantasy after all, so why not fantasize?
(This post was last modified: 03-28-2020 06:48 PM by ken d.)
|