Column: Laying the ground work for the Super Conferences, and expanded playoff

Only three days remain before the NCAA votes to change multiple rules. I’ve been critical of what is being called the “Saban Rule,” but on the flip side, the targeting rule modifications hold merit.

I don’t know that this would be classified as a rule change per say, however, the NCAA will be voting to separate the AQ conferences from the mid-major conferences, allowing them to be able to vote on their own legislation. However, I believe this means more than just that. Eventually, the NCAA at the major level will need to reorganize.

This goes hand and hand with the new College Football Playoff system. Separating the major schools into their own class; this is the beginning of the formation of the super conferences. The four team playoff is simply a test run for the full playoff system.

In order for an expanded CFP to work effectively, much like the NFL, the current landscape of College Football will need to be reorganized.

There are five conferences, with various number of teams per conference, which would make it difficult to organize a multiple team playoff, such as a ten team playoff.

There are also benefits to realignment, teams who normally would not play each other until a bowl game, would have to face each other on a regular basis. From not only the playoff stand point, that would allow a team to build a more impressive resume, but from the fans standpoint, we would have excellent out of conference match-ups on a regular basis.

I mentioned that there would have to be some reorganization for the conferences. Currently there are five conferences with 64 teams. However, we do run into a slight problem as Notre Dame would make 65 Teams. Hard to have 4 16 teams with a +1. Not counting Notre Dame, I have divided the other 64 teams into 4 new divisions/conferences. I have based this all on geographical locations.

Indiana

Maryland

Michigan

Michigan State

Northwestern

Ohio State

Penn St

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

Syracuse

Virginia

Virginia Tech

Wake ForestNorthwest:ColoradoIowaIowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Minnesota

Missouri

Nebraska

Oregon

Oregon State

Purdue

Stanford

Utah

Washington

Washington State

WisconsinSoutheast:AlabamaAuburnClemson

Florida

Florida State

Georgia

Georgia Tech

Kentucky

Louisville

Miami

North Carolina

NC State

South Carolina

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

West VirginiaSouthwest:ArizonaArizona StArkansas

Baylor

Cal

LSU

Mississippi State

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Ole Miss

Texas

Texas A&M

Texas Christian

Texas Tech

UCLA

USC

I would surmise the following will happen concerning Notre Dame:

1. They will remain to be an independent.
2. Three additional teams are added to each division making a total of 68 teams. However, as to who the three other teams will be, I’ll address at another time.
3. A team from the above list is removed, to be replaced with Notre Dame.

I don’t believe that the NCAA will remove a school from the list to replace it with Notre Dame. Notre Dame has been independent for right at a 100 years. However, I believe they will decide to become part of a conference.

Should the NCAA go OCD and have all the conferences the same size, that’ll remain to be seen. Good candidates should they add teams to make it four 17 team conference would be, BYU, Boise State, Air Force, Navy, and Army, just to name a few.

Once the conferences are realigned, the next phase would be to expand the playoff. Which is would be the ultimate goal of the conference realignment.

Most likely a 12-14 team playoff will be the final transformation of the CFP. Each division will play their championships, those four teams would be seeded 1-4. Runner ups in each division would be seeded 5-8, then a third tier for each division’s at large bids, and if a 14, two additional random at large bids.

College Football is on the precipice of being able to increase it’s popularity. A full playoff system could send the sport past the NFL. It would good for the fans, it would be good for the competitors. A true undisputed champion can be crowned, no questions asked. I for one, am looking forward for all of this to unfold.