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| Justin Jones, Managing Editor |
taught us, it’s that college football is a business. Cries of “think of the
student-athlete” have fallen on deaf ears as conference commissioners and
television executives continued to look for as many ways as possible to fill
the airwaves. Before you read further, this is not a commentary on the COVID-19
pandemic. This is a viewpoint on the state of college football in 2020 and how we can improve it in 2021 and beyond.
The “Power 5” has always been a
myth in college football. What it should be called is the “Wealthiest 5”
conferences. Looking at information provided by the Knight Commission (seriously, check this site out) and making educated guesses on private schools
who are not required to disclose this information, it is clear that the “power”
that these conferences hold really comes from wealth. In fact, the ACC, B1G,
SEC, Big XII, and Pac 12 hold 64 of the top 65 schools in total athletic spending.
Only FBS independent UConn had more athletic spending than at least one P5 conference
member, but its number is expected to dip with the loss of television money
from the American Athletic Conference.
The haves and have-nots are not
just limited to the FBS ranks. It is clear among the FCS ranks as well. There
is no solution for the money disparity to even the spending, but there is a way
to make for better football. Instead of two subdivisions of Division I
football, let’s double that to four subdivisions.
How does this work? First, we’re
separating football from other sports and creating football-specific
conferences. There are currently 258 schools that are currently playing or in
the process of transitioning to Division I football. The breakdown will be 65,
64, 64, and 65 teams in each subdivision. We can call these subdivisions
whatever we want to, but for the purpose of this exercise, we’ll refer to them
as Division 1A (wealthiest quartile) through Division 1D (least wealthy
quartile). Notre Dame will be allowed to remain as an independent in Division
1A and the non-scholarship Ivy League and Pioneer League will be placed in Division
1D.
Each subdivision is broken up into
four regions of sixteen teams each. This can allow for regional super
conferences with two eight-team divisions or smaller eight-team conferences. I’ll
advocate for eight conferences in this article for reasons that will become obvious
later. Division 1D is unique due to the two non-scholarship leagues. Instead of
four sixteen-team regions, there are four twelve-team regions with eight
six-team divisions or smaller conferences.
This scenario allows for promotion
and relegation (which is something I support), but I’ll leave that for another
day.
Division 1A
There
are 64 teams with one independent.
With eight conferences, an eight-team
playoff would be easy to implement with all conference champions making the
field. Second place teams would be able to qualify if the playoff were expanded
to twelve or sixteen teams. Notre Dame can qualify for the playoff as an
independent only if they are ranked ahead of a conference champion in a playoff
of at least twelve teams. There would be a ten-game regular season with teams
allowed to schedule no more than one game against a team below their
subdivision. One non-conference game must be against a team from another
region. Teams not qualifying for a playoff position can qualify for a bowl game
against a team from another region.
West Region
Conference 1
California
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Washington
Washington State
Conference 2
Arizona
Arizona State
Baylor
Colorado
TCU
Texas
Texas Tech
Utah
North Region
Conference 1
Illinois
Iowa
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Conference 2
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisville
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
South Region
Conference 1
Arkansas
LSU
Mississippi State
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
Conference 2
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Florida State
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Miami (FL)
Vanderbilt
East Region
Conference 1
Clemson
Duke
NC State
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Conference 2
Boston College
Maryland
Penn State
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Syracuse
Virginia
West Virginia
Division
1B
With eight conferences, an eight-team playoff would be easy to implement
with all conference champions making the field. Second place teams would be
able to qualify if the playoff were expanded to twelve or sixteen teams. There
would be a ten-game regular season with teams allowed to schedule no more than
one game against a team below their subdivision. There are no regional
requirements for non-conference games in this subdivision as teams are allowed
to play teams from the higher subdivision. Teams not qualifying for a playoff
position can schedule a nonconference game at a neutral site against a team
from another region who finished in the same place in their conference.
West Region
Conference 1
Cal Poly
Fresno State
Hawaii
Nevada
San Diego State
San Jose State
UC Davis
UNLV
Conference 2
Air Force
Boise State
BYU
Colorado State
New Mexico
Utah State
UTEP
Wyoming
North Region
Conference 1
Cincinnati
Memphis
Miami (OH)
Middle Tennessee
Ohio
Tulsa
Western Kentucky
Akron
Conference 2
Army
Buffalo
Central Michigan
Eastern Michigan
Kent State
Marshall
Toledo
Western Michigan
South Region
Conference 1
Houston
Louisiana
North Texas
Rice
SMU
Arkansas State
Texas State
UTSA
Conference 2
FIU
Florida Atlantic
South Alabama
South Florida
Troy
Tulane
UAB
UCF
East Region
Conference 1
Delaware
Liberty
Navy
New Hampshire
Stony Brook
Temple
UConn
UMass
Conference 2
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Coastal Carolina
East Carolina
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
James Madison
Old Dominion
Division 1C
With eight
conferences, an eight-team playoff would be easy to implement with all
conference champions making the field. Second place teams would be able to qualify
if the playoff were expanded to twelve or sixteen teams. There would be a
ten-game regular season with teams allowed to schedule no more than one game
against a team below their subdivision. There are no regional requirements for
non-conference games in this subdivision as teams are allowed to play teams
from the higher subdivision. Teams not qualifying for a playoff position can schedule
a nonconference game against a team from the other conference in the region.
West Region
Conference 1
Eastern Washington
Idaho
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
Portland State
Southern Utah
Weber State
Conference 2
Lamar
New Mexico State
Northern Arizona
Northern Colorado
Prairie View A&M
Sacramento State
Sam Houston State
Stephen F. Austin
North Region
Conference 1
Illinois State
North Dakota
North Dakota State
Northern Illinois
Northern Iowa
South Dakota
South Dakota State
Western Illinois
Conference 2
Ball State
Bowling Green
Eastern Illinois
Indiana State
Missouri State
Southeast Missouri State
Southern Illinois
Youngstown State
South Region
Conference 1
Alabama State
Central Arkansas
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana-Monroe
Northwestern State
Southeastern Louisiana
Southern
Southern Miss
Conference 2
Austin Peay
Chattanooga
East Tennessee State
Eastern Kentucky
Jacksonville State
Kennesaw State
Murray State
Tennessee Tech
East Region
Conference 1
Albany
Central Connecticut
Delaware State
Maine
Morgan State
Rhode Island
Towson
Villanova
Conference 2
Norfolk State
North Carolina A&T
North Carolina Central
Richmond
The Citadel
VMI
Western Carolina
William & Mary
Division 1D
There are 65 teams, including eighteen non-scholarship schools
With ten conferences,
an eight-team playoff would not be enough to provide a spot for each conference
champion so a playoff of twelve or sixteen teams would be necessary. There
would be a ten-game regular season with teams allowed to schedule no more than
one game against a team above their subdivision. One non-conference game must be
against a team from the other conference in the region, not including the
non-scholarship teams. There are no regional requirements for non-conference
games in this subdivision as teams are allowed to play teams from the higher
subdivision.
Southwest Region
Conference 1
Abilene Christian
Dixie State
Houston Baptist
Incarnate Word
Tarleton State
Texas Southern
Conference 2
Alcorn State
Grambling
Jackson State
McNeese State
Mississippi Valley State
Nicholls
South Region
Conference 1
Alabama A&M
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Bethune-Cookman
Florida A&M
North Alabama
Samford
Conference 2
Charleston Southern
Mercer
South Carolina State
Tennessee State
UT Martin
East Region
Conference 1
Campbell
Elon
Furman
Gardner-Webb
Hampton
Wofford
Conference 2
Duquesne
Georgetown
Howard
Monmouth
Morehead State
Wagner
Northeast Region
Conference 1
Bryant
Fordham
Holy Cross
LIU
Merrimack
Sacred Heart
Conference 2
Bucknell
Colgate
Lafayette
Lehigh
Robert Morris
Saint Francis
Non-scholarship Region
Ivy League
Brown
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Harvard
Penn
Princeton
Yale
Pioneer League
Butler
Davidson
Dayton
Drake
Marist
Presbyterian
San Diego
St. Thomas
Stetson
Valparaiso
College football is something special and is something that needs to be saved through measures like this.
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