Radical Conference Realignment

[RamblinRed]

This article from Pat Forde will never happen, but it is a fun thought exercise to go through.
He takes the current FBS and FCS structure and creates a new college football structure with 10 conferences, each with 12 teams. Every team plays a full conference schedule plus 1 non-conference team. The 1o conference champions plus 2 others advance to a 12 team playoff. The primary factor in conference creation is geography, not any current or past conference alignments. He also forces ND into a conference.
In this re-imagining GT ends up in a conference called the Deep South with 12 teams from GA and FL.
This idea also spreads out the blue bloods into more conferences.

https://www.si.com/college/2020/06/29/ncaa-college-football-conference-realignment

 

[HurricaneJacket]

Interesting concept. If we move to a completely remade system I'd prefer to see 12 10 team conferences with more cross conference games + 1 FCS money game to keep that level solvent.

 

[FredJacket]

I like it.

Personally... (& it is totally selfish based on my domicile locale) I'd rather Tech be grouped with some teams "north" of Georgia.

 

[smokey_wasp]

I don't like a purely geographical breakdown; needs to be geography plus culture, academics, etc. Anyways, it's not like the pandemic is going to last forever.

 

[stech81]

Would never happen, end of story too many small schools.

 

[gtwcf]

I can dig it, but it would ruin conference networks. I doubt ESPN would willingly destroy 2 properties (SEC and ACC networks) and the Big 10 wants their money maker with FOX. Reduced footprint would mean the conference networks wouldn't be as valuable for carriage rights.

 

[JacketOff]

Interesting concept. If we move to a completely remade system I'd prefer to see 12 10 team conferences with more cross conference games + 1 FCS money game to keep that level solvent.

12 10 team conferences, play all 9 other teams in regular season, 1 “conference challenge” game based on the previous year’s standings like basketball, and the other 2 games are free to schedule whoever with only 1 of them allowed to be FCS.

No conference championship games, 12 conference winners plus 4 at large bids make a 16 team playoff.

Potential conference for GT:
Florida
Florida State
Miami
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Clemson
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Auburn

 

[slugboy]

Notre Dame is in with Tennessee and WVU, but Purdue is in a different conference?
I understand combining Georgia and Florida, but if it’s regionally aligned, it ought to be more regional. I guess Forde ran out of time and realized he needed to assign some universities, and it was a weird layout.


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[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Would never happen, end of story too many small schools.

Many of those "small schools" are now bigger than Tech, at least in number of students

 

[nod]

I would like:
8 conferences with 16 teams
Each conf is relegated to 8 div 1 and 8 div 2 teams.
You only play 7 conf games against Div you are in, plus there will be 3 conference battle weeks like ACC big ten challenge.

8 team playoff for winners of each conf, no polls, both divisions have playoffs.
Div 2 conf winners in playoff auto relegated up to div 1 next year.
Conf can have championship game of top 2 teams for playoff berth.

Bottom 3 div 1 teams in conf relegated to div 2, top 3 div 2 teams move up to div 1.

Plus: no polls factor in playoffs then seed, conf battle game reward points to conf, conf with most points get best seed
More games have meaning, blue bloods playing for title every year, others play hard to prevent relegation, small schools have more purpose.

Non conf games less meaning but fun for fans.


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[Gtbowhunter90]

12 10 team conferences, play all 9 other teams in regular season, 1 “conference challenge” game based on the previous year’s standings like basketball, and the other 2 games are free to schedule whoever with only 1 of them allowed to be FCS.

No conference championship games, 12 conference winners plus 4 at large bids make a 16 team playoff.

Potential conference for GT:
Florida
Florida State
Miami
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Clemson
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Auburn

My God. Imagine... shewww

 

[wrmathis]

12 10 team conferences, play all 9 other teams in regular season, 1 “conference challenge” game based on the previous year’s standings like basketball, and the other 2 games are free to schedule whoever with only 1 of them allowed to be FCS.

No conference championship games, 12 conference winners plus 4 at large bids make a 16 team playoff.

Potential conference for GT:
Florida
Florida State
Miami
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Clemson
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Auburn

Dont think you would get auburn without alabama

 

[JacketOff]

My God. Imagine... shewww

It would be wild. College sports are in need of some MAJOR realignment, and they’re heading in the wrong direction towards mega conferences. 14+ team conferences obviously will make more money, but they ruin regional rivalries, which is what college sports should be about. Tech hasn’t played Florida State since 2015, the same time it’s been since Georgia played Bama in the regular season. Auburn and Tennessee played in 2018, and won’t meet again until 2025, and Tech has only played 3 games against both of them since 87.

Then you can get more national and talk about defunct rivalries like Penn State vs. Pitt, Texas vs. A&M, Kansas vs. Missouri, Colorado vs. Nebraska, Florida vs. Miami, and so many others that never get seen anymore because of stupid conference scheduling. Wouldn’t it be awesome if, instead of having games like Auburn vs. Missouri and GT vs. Pitt, we had Auburn vs. GT and Pitt vs. West Virginia like it’s supposed to be?

 

[JacketOff]

Dont think you would get auburn without alabama

Just an example. I needed another team and it was either Auburn or one of the NC schools. Probably a more accurate conference would be
Miami
Tech
Duke
North Carolina
NC State
Wake Forest
UVA
VT
Vandy
Maryland

As those schools are more closely related in both academic and athletic prowess. Clemson and FSU both fit better in some sort of broken SEC division, and Vandy joins the “new” ACC

 

[nod]

I would like:
8 conferences with 16 teams
Each conf is relegated to 8 div 1 and 8 div 2 teams.
You only play 7 conf games against Div you are in, plus there will be 3 conference battle weeks like ACC big ten challenge.

8 team playoff for winners of each conf, no polls, both divisions have playoffs.
Div 2 conf winners in playoff auto relegated up to div 1 next year.
Conf can have championship game of top 2 teams for playoff berth.

Bottom 3 div 1 teams in conf relegated to div 2, top 3 div 2 teams move up to div 1.

Plus: no polls factor in playoffs then seed, conf battle game reward points to conf, conf with most points get best seed
More games have meaning, blue bloods playing for title every year, others play hard to prevent relegation, small schools have more purpose.

Non conf games less meaning but fun for fans.


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Example Southern Conf:
Div 1
Miami
Florida
Florida St
Clemson
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Alabama
Auburn

Div 2:
South Carolina
UCF
South Florida
Georgia Southern
Ga State
App State
UAB
????


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[GTFLETCH]

If I was Commish for a Day!

ACC North
BC
UVA
VT
Louisville
Pitt
Cuse
Wake Forest

ACC South
Miami
FSU
GT
Clemson
Duke
UNC
NC State

Annual Crossovers
BC vs Miami
UVA vs UNC
VT vs GT
Louisville vs Clemson
Pitt vs Duke
Cuse vs FSU
Wake Forest vs NC State

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Example Southern Conf:
Div 1
Miami
Florida
Florida St
Clemson
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Alabama
Auburn

Div 2:
South Carolina
UCF
South Florida
Georgia Southern
Ga State
App State
UAB
????


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I don't think S Carolina would ever go for that

 

[Gtbowhunter90]

I don't think S Carolina would ever go for that

yeah........ thats a slap in the face lol

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

yeah........ thats a slap in the face lol

For sure.

 

[nod]

I don't think S Carolina would ever go for that

Switch USCe with UCF , it’s only one year as bottom 3 and top 3 move up and down based on their finish.


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