RE: To have divisions, or not, that is my question.
With the larger conferences, if the goal is to play more schools regularly, then dumping the divisions would be one way to accomplish this.
In the SEC/ACC/B1G (14 schools), if you protect three games for each school, then you can play everyone in your conference home/away every four years with an 8-game schedule. Five of the non-protected schools in years 1 & 2, the other five schools in years 3 & 4. If you went to a 9-game schedule, you could protect five games per year, and play everyone in your conference home/away every four years by playing four of the non-protected schools in years 1 & 2 and the other four in years 3 & 4.
The conference championship game would pit the top 2 teams against each other every year. Guessing most schools would be happy if they could protect three games a year and almost all should be happy if they could protect five.
I'm a Big Ten West guy, but would be perfectly happy division-less with 5 protected schools each year. Gives you that regional feel while being able to play all the schools more often.
Nebraska examples:
8-Game schedule
Protected: Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota
Years 1 & 2: Ohio State, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue, Maryland
Years 3 & 4: Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Rutgers
9-Game schedule
Protected: Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Penn State
Years 1 & 2: Ohio State, Indiana, Maryland, Illinois
years 3 & 4: Michigan, Michigan State, Rutgers, Purdue
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2021 05:23 PM by Eggszecutor.)
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