Fixing College Football Part 1: Realignment
Taking a sledgehammer to today's random nonsense we call "conferences"
If we look past the typical rivalry arguments and the old adage of “billable hours remain undefeated,” there’s one conversation that will always, no matter what happens to college athletics, that will always be relevant. One question that someone, likely many someones, will ask no matter what. “How do we fix college football?”
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that very same question. What’s wrong with the sport? How do we get back to what made college football truly special? And how does that happen without putting the genie back into the bottle with NIL and compensation rights?
The easy answer is it’s impossible. There will always be people that are unhappy. But, that’s for people with bigger brains and bigger degrees and bigger wallets than mine to solve.
So, I’ve been tinkering with this for a long time. It really comes back to late 2024, when friend of the newsletter Colin Cerniglia (subscribe to Colin if you haven’t already!) pitched an idea to me. What is my fantasy idea? How would I tackle the superleague pitches getting tossed around?
Well, it only took me a year and a half, but here it is. At least, Part One of it.
I’m going to pitch you, my friends, a vastly different world of college athletics. Of course, we’ll focus on football, but to fix college football as a whole, we also have to look at the entire structure of college athletics. Over the course of this week, with five individual articles tackling five major problem areas in college athletics, we’ll hopefully come out on the other side with the perfect blend of past and present. Tradition and innovation. Everything we love about college football and none of the bad stuff.
We’ll start here, with the easiest to digest of the bunch. The on-field product. Or, to be more specific, realignment.
That’s really where it all went wrong for most of us, right? The death of the PAC-12. The ACC spanning the entire contiguous United States. The Big Ten featuring much-acclaimed rivalries like Rutgers-UCLA and Washington-Maryland.
So, to kick off a week of fixing college football, let’s start at it’s simplest. It’s time to redraw the conferences so they make sense.
The Methods
Before we get into the conferences, I wanted to discuss how I went about creating these conferences and the rules we’ll see over all of the leagues.
First off, let’s start with the Playoff. Yes, I’m expanding it to 16 teams. But please, hold onto your pitchforks. That will be looked at in depth next week.
But, even further is the fact that adding more conferences makes the 16-team structure make more sense.
How, you may ask? Because I’m setting limitations on each conference. Namely, each league must have 10 teams and play a full round robin nine-game slate. That means you’ll see everyone in your league each year.
With 138 teams in the FBS ranks - I’m not relegating anyone to the FCS or pulling up any FCS teams - that means we’ll have 13 conferences and eight teams that have been historically independent or just don’t fit into a league. We’ll get into the postseason tomorrow in full, but long story short, we’re moving to a 24-team dance with autobids for each and every conference.
You may also be interested in how I set up the conferences. Easy - I looked to the past. Most of the leagues you see here are structured in historical truth, where the teams spent most of their time in the FBS. I emphasized location - take that, modern NCAA! - and tried to preserve rivalries. However, there are still some primarily non-conference rivalries that would take place. I’ll note those in each league.
So, with all that covered, let’s get into the leagues.
We’ll start on the Atlantic coast where the ACC’s footprint has shrunk vastly. Instead of journeying out west or into Kentucky, the conference sits in the Carolinas, Maryland, Georgia and Florida. Not too bad, right?
This league is likely going to have the same parity and madness we see now all over the place. Clemson and Florida State have slipped. Duke and Georgia Tech look like sustainable programs. How do Maryland and South Carolina look in this more more balanced league? Will Virginia be able to capitalize? What about mid-tier programs like NC State and Wake Forest. And, finally, would Bill Belichick be able to build North Carolina into a strong contender here?
Rivalries are paramount in this league, though we do lose the Commonwealth Cup (Virginia-Virginia Tech) to non-conference status. Duke-North Carolina is here, as well as North Carolina-NC State. The Palmetto Bowl (Clemson-South Carolina) gets pulled into a conference game and a potential rivalry between UNC and South Carolina can get built up.
Long story short, I expect this to be a very parity-driven league with dynasties hard to come by. But, it should still be one of the nation’s better leagues.
Yes, this one is still a conglomeration of random, far-flung teams. But the American has been surprisingly stable since the downfall of the Big East.
In all reality, this is essentially the modern American trimmed down. Still, the top level of Memphis, North Texas, South Florida, Tulane, UCF and UTSA will be great. I assume at least one playoff-worthy team would come from that group each year.
Sure, there are plenty of other tried and true rivalries for these programs, but they still have some hate to give here. The War on I-4 (South Florida-UCF) is back on the docket. The Battle for the Bones (Memphis-UAB) also remains one of the nation’s most interesting in-conference trophies to battle over.
All hail the Big East!
I know it’s getting tired at this point to resurrect the Big East, but come on, look at this beauty!
The Backyard Brawl is a conference game. Cincinnati-Louisville can reignite their dormant rivalry. UConn, which has improved a ton as of late, gets a conference home. Syracuse and Boston College continue to vie for Northeastern supremacy.
Miami instantly jumps into the main leader here, but there are interesting schools below them. Pittsburgh has flashed top-level talent in recent years. Fran Brown’s Syracuse has played spoiler when they have a healthy quarterback. Virginia Tech looks to be on the upswing with James Franklin leading the way.
Another parity driven league here, albeit one with a clear top dog in Miami. But the Canes can most certainly be dethroned here.
There isn’t much to change in this long-storied league. Let’s go back to the basics (sorry, UChicago).
Most importantly, we’re done with the Leaders and Legends and East and West and other shenanigans. Let’s focus on down to earth, smashmouth, Midwestern ball with corn-fed boys bulking up each line and field position battles taking the place of scoreboard duels.
Well, maybe not as Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan are very much looking to light up the scoreboards every time they step on the field. But this is still one of the nation’s top leagues.
To me, moving to a nine-game slate in this league is pure torture. That means a trip to Kinnick every other year. Purdue can pull more Ross-Ade voodoo on top-level teams.
But it’s also going to make it tougher for upstart programs. Part of Curt Cignetti’s immediate success at Indiana came from the Hoosiers getting an admittedly weak conference schedule. It got the program going and winning, then Cignetti turned the corner and built them into an elite program.
The bottom tier here - Purdue, Northwestern, Wisconsin in recent years - is still very bad. But upstart teams have to face the big boys every year like Ohio State and Michigan and Indiana. That’s going to be tough.
It’s time to revive some Big Eight hate.
There’s eight teams here that have tons of hatred for each other and then two seemingly random additions in Arkansas State and Northern Illinois. Yeah, they’re definitely random and picked because they don’t really have traditional conference homes. So they land here.
But my goodness look at the rivalries. Bedlam revived. The Border War (Kansas-Missouri) back on the docket. Colorado-Nebraska is now a yearly fixture. Nebraska-Missouri makes its return. There’s so much pent up hatred here.
And that’s ignoring long-standing rivalries like the Sunflower Showdown (Kansas-Kansas State) that remain here.
So, yes, Arkansas State and Northern Illinois are being thrown to the wolves (penance for leaving the MAC? You decide), but isn’t ritualistic sacrifice to exponentially increase the levels of pettiness and hatred in the Great Plains what college football is all about?
In terms of postseason, there isn’t much playoff hype here. Missouri and Oklahoma have been competitive as of late. Kansas State and Iowa State routinely compete for the Big 12 Championship. Colorado and Nebraska have been building. Right now, I think Oklahoma runs the show for a bit, but what’s stopping any of the other schools from turning this into a slog that goes down to the wire?
Here’s where we start getting fanatical. Some of these teams have never played in the CUSA, but the footprint is consolidated to mostly the Northeast.
Look at this list and tell me that these teams don’t belong in a league together. Go on, do it. That’s right, you can’t.
No, there aren’t a ton of rivalries here, but bad blood can be built. We do get some like the Battle of the Blue Ridge (Liberty-James Madison), the Royal Rivalry (James Madison-Old Dominion) and Coastal Carolina-Liberty, but there can be more.
Who say Appalachian State can’t hate Charlotte or Marshall? Who says that Temple and Delaware can’t learn to despise each other? Surely not I.
Though, this conference is going to be dominated by James Madison from the jump. Lock the Dukes into the playoff each year.
Three states. 10 teams. Under 100 fans in the stand. This is MACtion.
You don’t need to mess with perfection.
Do I expect a MAC team to make a run into the playoffs? Absolutely not. But I do expect Toledo to blow whatever talent advantage they have and finish at or near .500 overall. I do expect the Michigan MAC battle to be some of the ugliest, most disgustingly amazing football you’ve ever seen. I do expect the thousands of posts about Eastern Michigan’s gray field making people think their TVs are in black and white. I do expect Miami and Ohio to battle for southern Buckeye State supremacy. I do expect Ball State to be hated by pretty much everyone in the conference because they force everyone to travel to Funcie, Indiana. And I do expect this to come down to the wire each and every season.
Oh, and Midweek MACtion is protected as a national treasure. Get that weekday CUSA garbage out of here.
This is a more historical interpretation of the Mountain West, meaning the Holy War is relegated here instead of the Big Eight or PAC-10.
And, obviously, the Holy War is going to headline this league. Early on, I expect the Utah-based rivalry to be the proxy conference championship.
But what about Boise? The Broncos have been good and building up. San Diego State and UNLV have high upsides and massive markets of Las Vegas and San Diego that they can sell. Colorado State has been considered a high-potential program with significant investment into its facilities and now coaching staffs.
Rivarly wise, it isn’t all the Holy War. The Border War (Colorado State-Wyoming), Bridger’s Battle (Utah State-Wyoming) and Battle for the Oil Can (Fresno State-San Diego State) remain.
Just like with the Big Ten, there was no reason to mess with this conference. Too bad Larry Scott and George Kliavkoff missed that memo.
You have a compact footprint, quality programs and rivalries galore here. Every one of these schools have their most hated rival in the league. Sure, some pivotal non-conference rivalries like Notre Dame-USC are gone, but none of these teams have built enough of a relationship with their new leagues to have new rivals.
The fan bases all seem to still hate each other. And you bet they’re going to hate each other even more after being forced back into the same league so many of these teams built to destroy.
It’s the SEC. You know what that means. After all, it just means more.
Some of the fat has been trimmed off so it’s a true Southeastern conference. More importantly, look at how that conference schedule is going to look. No more weak slates, it’s time to put up or shut up in the SEC.
But seriously, can you think of a rivalry we lost by going to this format? I can’t. Couple that with everyone having to play each other and we’ll see that true SEC meatgrinder so many southern fans talk about.
Again, some teams may not have played in this conference previously. But the Florida, Georgia, Alabama footprint makes sense (sorry, Western Kentucky for the travel times)
I grouped Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee together since the two rivals never seem to part ways. But the rest of these teams make up a fun footprint. Are they the best? No, this would probably end up being one of the weaker leagues. But I think seeing Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State and Western Kentucky duke it out for the title would be a lot of fun.
Oh yeah, toxicity is so back!
Rivalries are aplenty in the remade SWC with a battle for Texan domination the key selling point.
Sure, Red River would have to be a non-conference game, but old-fashioned rivalries are reunited in hate. The Lone Star Showdown (Texas-Texas A&M), Battle of the Brazos (Baylor-Texas A&M), Battle for the Bayou Bucket (Houston-Rice), and the Battle for the Iron Skillet (SMU-TCU) are all here.
I’d imagine Texas and Texas A&M would be the championship matchup, but you can’t say that someone like Houston, SMU, TCU or Texas Tech wouldn’t be able to compete for that?
All hail regional hate groups masquerading as conferences.
Now that the actual WAC is dead in the water, it’s time for it to reborn. And, in true WAC fashion, this is a weird grouping.
We’ll start off with the three Louisiana schools, which we’ve detailed about their hatred, especially Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Monroe. But the rest of these schools have had footholds in the WAC before and it should be a balanced league. Rivalries like UTEP-New Mexico State will make it fun and who doesn’t love a trip to Hawaii?
In all reality, this won’t be a great league. But it has plenty of chaos opportunities.
Our final grouping is our eight leftovers, the Independents.
The two FBS newcomers, North Dakota State and Sacramento State, land here because they have no historical ties to any conferences or leagues we’re establishing here. North Dakota State is a longtime Summit League member for all sports aside from football, which resides in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They have no rivalries to protect. Ditto for Sacramento State, which has been nomadic with their longest conference stint being almost 30 years in the Far Western Conference from 1954 to 1982.
The three service academies make sense. They’ll probably play a lot of regional teams and, obviously, get each other for the Commander-in-Chief Cup series. Notre Dame has always been independent, of course they’ll stay here like that.
Penn State is a little stranger for our new to college football fans, but the Nittany Lions were longtime independents before joining the Big Ten. With the 10-team limit, sending Penn State back to independence made the most sense.
And, our final program, UMass? Yeah, they’ve spent pretty much their entire FBS life as Independents aside from a brief flirtation with the MAC as a football-only affiliate when they made the jump and again this past season. With their only history coming as independents, they’ll head back that way.
With that, we’ve gotten our base realignment set. Tomorrow, we’ll delve into the postseason format and how to make it fair and balanced. And, as always, dive into the comments to tell me how wrong I got this and how I screwed over your favorite team.
Check out the rest of the Fixing College Football Series!
Part 1 - Realigment
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I think you've handcuffed yourself with the 10 team maxim. I get it, but your new Big 8 additions are yuck. Though I say this as a Colorado fan who knows we'd lose to at least one of them every other year. I'm not willing to put in the work you obviously did, but 10 or 8 as a maxim across the board might be better.
Love this! It’s so strange to see the Big East and Pac-10 graphics and think how there was nothing wrong with those conferences in the first place. I’d also welcome that CUSA with Charlotte and JMU every season! For a long time, I was a B1G homer (and I did think it was the most logical fit for Penn State) but I wouldn’t be mad at going independent again. The conferences as they are don’t make any sense anyway. But I’m sure there is a b1g money incentive to being part of the conference (tv, revenue sharing, etc.)