There was some discussion over at the ACC board about who should be each school's permanent rivals. The context was men's basketball because as of now football is still required to be in round robin divisions to have a conference championship game.

But let's say they get rid of the rule once and for all and conferences can just play a schedule where every team gets to play its permanent rivals every year and rotate everyone else in football? There would be some teams everyone would want to play or not want to play whether it's because they are a good draw at the gate vs. a bad draw, a nearby opponent vs. a far away one, a desirable location vs. an undesirable, a tough opponent vs. an easy one. But what if everyone wants to play the same team(s) or there's a team no one wants to play.

So here's a fun exercise. I call it the Conference Permanent Rival Draft. Teams will choose their permanent rivals. I'm going to use the current conference makeups, not accounting for any realignments. I'm going to assume the current conference schedules (8 games for ACC/SEC, 9 for Big Ten/Pac 12). The draft order will be the same as the conference records I listed in a previous thread: https://csnbbs.com/thread-897963.html. So Ohio State will get to choose its rivals first in the Big Ten, Clemson first in the ACC, Alabama first in the SEC, and Stanford first in the Pac 12. No one can block a nomination, if a team chooses you, you're stuck with them.

Big Ten: 14 teams, 9 game conference schedule. Each team plays 5 permanent rivals, the other 8 rotate, 4 a year.

ACC/SEC: 14 teams, 8 game conference schedule. Each team plays 3 permanent rivals, the other 10 rotate, 5 a year.

Pac 12: 12 teams, 9 game conference schedule. Each team plays 7 permanent rivals, the other 4 rotate, 2 a year. It's probably easier to pick which teams each school doesn't want to play every year:)

Big 12: Everyone plays everyone every year!

Big Ten:

1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. Penn State
5. Iowa
6. Northwestern
7. Michigan State
8. Minnesota
9. Nebraska
10. Indiana
11. Purdue
12. Maryland
13. Illinois
14. Rutgers

ACC:

1. Clemson
2. Florida State
T3. Pittsburgh (Same 2019, better 2018 record)
T3. Miami
5. Virginia Tech
6. Louisville
7. North Carolina
8. Georgia Tech
9. NC State
10. Virginia
11. Duke
12. Boston College
13. Wake Forest
14. Syracuse

SEC:

1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. LSU
4. Florida
5. Texas A&M
6. Auburn
T7. South Carolina (Tiebreaker was 2017 record)
T7. Mississippi State
9. Missouri
10. Mississippi
11. Tennessee
12. Kentucky
13. Vanderbilt
14. Arkansas

Pac 12:

1. Stanford
2. Oregon
3. USC
4. Washington
5. Arizona State
6. Utah
7. UCLA
8. Washington State
9. Arizona
10. California
11. Oregon State
12. Colorado

Have at it!

Big Ten:

1. Ohio State: Michigan, Penn State, Illinois, Indiana, ? (Probably Rutgers or Maryland, depending on which state/area they'd rather recruit)
2. Wisconsin: Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, ? (Northwestern?) (Michigan?)
3. Michigan: Ohio State, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State?, (Wisconsin?)
4. Penn State: Ohio State, Rutgers, Maryland, Michigan?, Michigan State?
5. Iowa: Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, ?, ?
6. Northwestern: Illinois, ? (I don't know how many schools above them would choose NW)
7. Michigan State: Michigan
8. Minnesota: Iowa, Wisconsin
9. Nebraska: Iowa, Wisconsin
10. Indiana: Purdue, Ohio State?
11. Purdue: Indiana
12. Maryland: Penn State
13. Illinois: Ohio State, Wisconsin, Northwestern
14. Rutgers: Penn State

ACC:

1. Clemson: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech
2. Florida State: Clemson, Miami, Georgia Tech
T3. Pittsburgh (Same 2019, better 2018 record): Syracuse, Louisville, Boston College
T3. Miami: Florida State, Boston College, Virginia Tech
5. Virginia Tech: Clemson, Miami, Virginia
6. Louisville: Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia
7. North Carolina: Duke, NC State, Virginia
8. Georgia Tech: Clemson, Florida State, Wake Forest
9. NC State: North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke
10. Virginia: Virginia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina
11. Duke: North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest
12. Boston College: Pittsburgh, Miami, Syracuse
13. Wake Forest: NC State, Georgia Tech, Duke
14. Syracuse: Pittsburgh, Louisville, Boston College

I think Georgia Tech would want Duke over Wake Forest but then I went further and Wake Forest wound up with only NC State so I switched it around.

SEC:
1. Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee, LSU
2. Georgia: Florida, Auburn, South Carolina
3. LSU: Alabama, Texas A&M, Arkansas
4. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina (Spurrier), Kentucky (Basketball)
5. Texas A&M: LSU, Missouri, Arkansas
6. Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi
7. South Carolina (Tiebreaker was 2017 record): Georgia, Florida, Kentucky
8. Mississippi State: Mississippi, Missouri, Vanderbilt
9. Missouri: Texas A&M, Arkansas, Mississippi State
10. Mississippi: Auburn, Mississippi State, Mississippi
11. Tennessee: Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
12. Kentucky: Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina
13. Vanderbilt: Tennessee, Mississippi State, Mississippi
14. Arkansas: LSU, Texas A&M, Missouri

The Pac-12 was too confusing.

(04-19-2020 08:13 PM)schmolik Wrote:  The Pac-12 was too confusing.

The Pac-12 would be rather simple, everything revolves around California, each school would have essentially the same "draft board".
1. Southern California
2. Northern California
3. Regional Rivals
4. Cross selections between Mountain & Northwest schools based on potential future recruiting regions/distance/climate...

Would ultimately end up something like:

Stanford: USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Cal, Oregon St & Colorado
Oregon: USC, Stanford, Washington, Washington St, Oregon St, ASU & Utah
USC: Stanford, Oregon, Cal, Washington, ASU, Utah & UCLA
Washington: USC, Stanford, Oregon, Washington St, Oregon St, Arizona & Colorado
Arizona St: USC, California, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Utah & Washington St
Utah: USC, Cal, Colorado, ASU, Arizona, Oregon & Oregon St
Wash St: UCLA, Cal, Washington, Oregon, Oregon St, ASU & Arizona
Arizona: UCLA, Cal, ASU, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Washington St
California: USC, UCLA, ASU, Utah, Washington St, Arizona & Stanford
Oregon St: UCLA, Stanford, Oregon, Washington, Washington St, Colorado & Utah
Colorado: UCLA, Stanford, Utah, Arizona, ASU, Oregon St & Washington