Imagine all of the exciting games during the year. No more Savannah State or Langston University games. OSU's three non-divisional games could be rivalry games with teams like Missouri, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Texas, etc. each year.
LEAGUE RULES
* teams only get to play 12 games per year (9 in division + 3 other divisions)
* teams must play 3 games from another division (2 games to begin the season and 1 to end the season) and these could be established rivalry games or computer calculated games based on previous year wins
* automatic playoff bid if a team wins their division (but must be ranked in the top 15)
* the top 8 teams are selected and seeded based on the old BCS system (to remove the current committee bias)
* first round of playoffs start Christmas weekend with top 4 teams getting home field advantage
* semifinal round played on New Year's Day
* championship game played the first full week after the New Year on a Saturday
LEAGUE SETUP
- create a new NCAA division with 1 conference of 60 teams (no more cupcake games)
- negotiate a massive TV contract for the new conference for all 60 teams (larger payouts than NFL deal plus their own network)
- 6 regions with 10 teams in each keeping most rivalries intact
- teams play 12 regular season games total (schedules must be 6 home + 6 away)
- of those 12 regular season games, teams will play 3 teams from other divisions (some years it will be 2 home + 1 away and some years it will be 1 home + 2 away), but a teams overall schedule MUST stay balanced with only 6 home games (no more stacking 7-9 home games on a schedule)
- for the 3 games outside of their division, if teams don't already have an existing or natural rivalry, a computer will match similar strength teams (like the NFL does) based on wins from the previous year (with some preference given to geographical proximity):
+ pool A teams with 12-9 wins previous year (only for teams without a rivalry game in another division)
+ pool B teams with 8-5 wins previous year (only for teams without a rivalry game in another division)
+ pool C teams with 4-1 wins previous year (only for teams without a rivalry game in another division)
POTENTIAL TWIST
- at the end of each year, the lowest rated team from each division are evaluated (based on average wins over the past 3 years) and 2 teams must move down to a lower division and are replaced by the current top 2 teams from the lower levels and similar geographical location will be considered during placement (like the European professional soccer leagues). However, certain blue blood programs would be protected from this (with probably between 20-25 teams protected). All of the other division 1 teams not in this new league would create another 60 team league with new additions from some lower level schools to round out the other league
- use old BCS formulas to rank teams after 3 weeks of games
- first 2 games and the last game of the year are non division games / possible rivalry games
- each of the 6 division winners get an automatic playoff birth if ranked in top 15, but if divisions do not have a team meeting this criteria they do not get a representative
- the last 2 teams for the 8 team playoff are the highest ranked BCS teams available (like a wildcard spot regardless of division)
- the top 4 teams play a home game to start the first round of the playoffs
Who would your 60 teams be? Here's my stab at the new 60 team NCAA division, conference, and league. All teams in RED are fringe schools and could be replaced by other RED fringe schools. This would be my personal favorite with the best "name" schools, history of the service academies, and geographical locations taken into consideration.
NORTHWEST
Oregon
Oregon State
USC
UCLA
Stanford
California
Washington
Washington State
Utah
Boise State (ID)
SOUTHWEST
OU
Oklahoma State
Nebraska
Arizona
Arizona State
TCU
Texas Tech
Kansas State
Colorado
BYU (UT)
SOUTH CENTRAL
Texas
Texas A&M
Baylor
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Arkansas
Missouri
Tennessee
Memphis (TN)
SOUTHEAST
Alabama
Auburn
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Florida
Florida State
Miami
South Carolina
North Carolina
NC State (NC)
NORTHEAST
Ohio State
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Clemson
West Virginia
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Syracuse
Kentucky
Louisville (KY)
NORTH CENTRAL
Notre Dame
Michigan
Michigan State
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
Iowa State
Illinois
Indiana
Purdue (IN)
FRINGE SCHOOLS (RED)
Air Force (CO)
Army (NY)
Navy (MD)
Houston (TX)
Maryland (MD)
UCF (FL)
Vanderbilt (TN)
Northwestern (IL)
Cincinnati (OH)
Boston College (MA)
Wake Forest (NC)
Colorado State (CO)
Fresno State (CA)
SMU (TX)
South Florida (FL)
UNLV (NV)
Louisiana Tech (LA)
Louisiana Raging Cajuns (LA)
Southern Mississippi (MS)
Hawaii (HI)
San Diego State (CA)
Utah State (UT)
Duke (NC) - consideration due to basketball
Kansas (KS) - consideration due to basketball
Connecticut (CT) - consideration due to basketball
BASKETBALL TWIST
Do NOT allow the following 3 schools into the above Super Conference. Instead, these 3 schools go independent in basketball and create their own basketball schedules each year.
1) Duke (NC)
2) Kansas (KS)
3) Connecticut (CT)