# Realign D-I football YOUR way **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 18, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203 "2011-08-18T18:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/1 "2011-08-18T18:26:53Z")
If you were the omnipotent king of cfb, and could start from scratch, how would you align the conferenes? Feel free to promote from I-AA if needed. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/2 "2011-08-18T19:28:28Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > If you were the omnipotent king of cfb, and could start from scratch, how would you align the conferenes? Feel free to promote from I-AA if needed. Do we get to install a championship tournament, or do we have to work within the confines of the current system? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/3 "2011-08-18T19:41:22Z")
You can install a playoff. I was just curious how you’d realign the teams into new/different conferences. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/4 "2011-08-18T20:03:02Z")
I’d find a way to make D-1 smaller and more manageable. I’ve always felt that the “National Championship” was a stupid red herring that largely detracted from what was best about CFB. CFB was at it’s best when it was a regional game, effectively a series of separate but equal fiefdoms who battled for regional supremacy. The winner of the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-10 conference titles were the most important thing. It was an ideal situation. Local interest was at a peak and attendance was always fantastic. TV revenues were less because there wasn’t quite the national exposure there is now, but that was less important then. The middle and lower tier schools in the major conferences really had something to play for back then. First, they always had a legitimate shot at winning a conference title every couple decades. All they needed to do was topple the big dogs in any given year. Nowadays, even if they accomplish that, it’s relatively meaningless because they aren’t getting a crack at a “championship” game. They’ll get a BCS berth and a big chunk of change, but they aren’t getting a title shot. If I were king I’d do one of 2 things to CFB. 1. Get rid of the BCS altogether. Squash any talk of a playoff and relegate the “National Champion” to nothing more than a media creation like it was 30 years ago. If there’s a “national champion” let ESPN hand out the trophy and host the team, the NCAA should stay out of it. Redefine the Bowl games as rivalry games between conferences. The Rose Bowl is the Big Ten vs. Pac-10 champ. The Sugar is the SEC champ vs. the Big 12 champ and so on. Kill off the stupid bowl sprawl and limit the number of at large bids. Make every NCAA sanctioned and operated (get rid of the bowl committees altogether) bowl a prescribed contest between conference finishers. Make every conference have a conference title game to decide the bids. I’d say that no more than the top 3 finishers in the major conferences get bowl bids plus a few at large bids. 2. If people insist on having a national title game and aren’t content with anything short of a playoff, then we should break D-I into divisions. Make a D-I East and a D-I West. The East champ plays the West champ for a championship game. Make some tough choices and get rid of many of the lesser D-I schools. Keep it to say 48 schools in each division. Implement relegation at the bottom to give those middle tier schools like Troy and Akron a chance to move up. Use the lesser bowls as conference title games. Use the major bowls as playoffs games between conference champs. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/5 "2011-08-18T20:16:28Z")
Step 1: Cut the number of D1 programs in about half. Step 2: Get rid of conferences. You end up with one league consisting of about 60 teams. Those teams can still handle their own scheduling and so forth. You can probably even keep the BCS in this situation as very few, if any, teams would actually get through a season unscathed. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/6 "2011-08-18T20:29:06Z")
**Big East** BC Syracuse Pitt Penn St Temple Uconn Rutgers Villanova Georgetown Umass Buffalo Army Navy **Big 10** Michigan Michigan St Ohio St Cincinnati Indiana Purdue Notre Dame Illinois Northwestern Mizzou Iowa Iowa St Wisconsin Minnesota **ACC** South Carolina Clemson UNC NC St Duke Wake UVA Va Tech West Virginia Marshall Maryland ECU WCU **SEC** UGA GT Florida FSU Miami-FL Ole Miss MS St 'bama Auburn LSU Tulane Arkansas Tennessee Vandy Memphis Kentucky Louisville **C-USA** Arkansas St So MS UAB LA Tech Troy ULL ULM FIU FAU Middle TN Florida A&M EKU WKU Tenn St Tenn Tech Tenn-Martin **Big 12** TCU SMU UTEP Rice Baylor Houston Texas Texas Tech Texas A&M Oklahoma Ok St Tulsa Kansas K-St. **Mt West** Utah Utah St Colorado Colorado St AFA BYU Arizona Arizona St New Mexico New Mexico St Wyoming Montana Montana St Idaho Idaho St Boise St Northern AZ Weber St **Pac 10** USC UCLA Cal Stanford SDSU SJSU Sacramento St Fresno St East WA Washington Washington St Hawaii Oregon Oregon St Portland St Nevada UNLV **MAC** Bowling Green Akron Ohio Kent Miami-OH Ball St WMU EMU CMU Toledo North IA SIU EIU WIU NIU Mizzou St Youngstown St IL St IN St ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/7 "2011-08-18T20:33:56Z")
Think I’d go with 4 Super Conferences of 16 teams. SEC, Big 10+6, Big 12+4 , and PAC 16. Conference Champions go to a 4 team playoff, seeding by random draw, two winners play for the National Title, two losers play because somebody will watch the advertising during the game I guess. Bowl Eligible Non-Champions in each Super Conference can go to traditional bowls for bragging rights. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/8 "2011-08-18T20:46:24Z")
This was produced last year when all the hubbub about conference re-alignment was a hot topic. I have seen nothing that made more sense since then: > **[What the English Premier League Can Teach College Football](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704009804575308782794344398)** > > The recent college-conference realignment hasn't fixed some of college football's fundament problems. A model for fixing the sport without ruining its traditions could be found in English Premier League soccer. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realign-d-i-football-your-way/593203/9 "2011-08-19T02:32:10Z")
Keep the SEC just as it is. Abolish all the other conferences. All the newly-independent teams would have to battle it out with each other just to see who has the privilege of getting its ass kicked by the SEC champion (Florida) in the national title game.