Thread: My dream of total realignment.

It will never happen because of contracts, history, etc. But I really wish this could happen.

Turn all conferences into regions. Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest. NEC, SEC, NWC, and SWC.

The winner of each conference heads into the 4 team playoff. That fixes the 1 conference playing in the NC game. I also fixes would will happen now with 1 conference having 2 or 3 teams in the 4 team playoff.

Following that model, I would guess the 4 team playoff this year being:

Oregon from the NWC.
Notre Dame from the NEC.
Alabama from the SEC.
Stanford from the SWC.

The winner of ND/Stanford plays the winner of Bama/Oregon.

The rest of the conferences have set bowl games, like they have now. It depends on where you rank in your conference.

I can dream can't I?

That's basically the region system that all other NCAA football levels work off of.

I like it, to some extent. I'd rather have a 16-team playoff, but I think eight is as far as it will ever go.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

That's basically the region system that all other NCAA football levels work off of.

I like it, to some extent. I'd rather have a 16-team playoff, but I think eight is as far as it will ever go.

Do you mean like D2 or D3 (or whatever they're called now)? I don't know much about how they're set up.

Something I meant to add to my OP. Teams shouldn't have to fly across the US to play a game. They're still students. I think Boise St joins the Big East or someone. They're going to be traveling a lot. And, I assume, spending a lot of money on travel.

Originally Posted by dbfan2007

Do you mean like D2 or D3 (or whatever they're called now)? I don't know much about how they're set up.

Something I meant to add to my OP. Teams shouldn't have to fly across the US to play a game. They're still students. I think Boise St joins the Big East or someone. They're going to be traveling a lot. And, I assume, spending a lot of money on travel.

The conferences are separated into four regions. Then six teams make the playoffs from each region, with the top 2 teams (there's a rankings system) get byes, while 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5. Winners of the four regions play in the final four.

This would be a rough draft. Some teams would get dropped from the NEC. Some conferences would be more competitive during the season than others. But in the end, it's who makes that tournament. I would even consider some sort of NIT tournament where the #2s could play each other.

Northeast

Notre Dame
Louisville
Cincinnati
Rutgers
Syracuse
Pittsburgh
Connecticut
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Michigan
Northwestern
Michigan State
Minnesota
North Carolina State
Wake Forest
Maryland
Boston College
North Carolina
West Virginia University
Virginia Tech
Northern Illinois

Southeast

Georgia
Florida
South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Missouri
Tennessee
Kentucky
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Arkansas
Auburn
Alabama
LSU
#13 Florida State
#14 Clemson
Miami (FL)
Georgia Tech
South Florida

Northwest

Boise St
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Utah
Colorado
Iowa
Iowa State University
Kansas State
University of Kansas
Washington St
Utah St

Southwest

Stanford
California
Washington State
UCLA
USC
Arizona State
Arizona
Baylor University
Oklahoma State University
Texas Christian University
Texas Tech University
University of Oklahoma
University of Texas
Texas A&M
San Jose St

I know you probably just threw that together from memory, but are you dropping out non-BCS schools from D-IA? Or would all 123 teams be considered?

I hate this realignment BS.

But, i would rather have North Carolina or NC State in the SEC than Clemson. If for nothing more than recruiting purposes. It makes sense geographically though.

Stanford, Cal, and WAZZU would be in the NWC. Also Nebraska and Minnesota would be in the NWC

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

I know you probably just threw that together from memory, but are you dropping out non-BCS schools from D-IA? Or would all 123 teams be considered?

I would add good programs and drop the rest. I would even drop schools like Indiana. In my opinion, everyone is in one big pool and separated into regions, trying to forget prior affiliations, rivalries, etc. Of course, teams can get dropped and added, just like now. The toughest part would be the lack of teams available for the NWC and the overabundance of teams in places like the East. You'd let Colorado or especially Kansas stay, yet leave out some decent schools like WKU, ULM, or Illinois. I'm not sure how Illinois is going.

There's still errors to it. It would make the next lower division a little more known. I would set up bowls for that division, if they don't already have them. As far as I know, they don't. I think the FBS has too many teams. Teams move up, but teams never move down.

Maybe the current system just irks me because I like studying Geography and the system now is getting further and further from any sort of geographical reference.

Originally Posted by Nomad

Stanford, Cal, and WAZZU would be in the NWC. Also Nebraska and Minnesota would be in the NWC

I was thinking about that. I meant to look up where the schools were in California. That would help.

Yeah, even LSU and Arkansas would probably head to the SWC.

Originally Posted by Nomad

Yeah, even LSU and Arkansas would probably head to the SWC.

That would free up the SEC to take some NEC teams.

Originally Posted by dbfan2007

I would add good programs and drop the rest. I would even drop schools like Indiana. In my opinion, everyone is in one big pool and separated into regions, trying to forget prior affiliations, rivalries, etc. Of course, teams can get dropped and added, just like now. The toughest part would be the lack of teams available for the NWC and the overabundance of teams in places like the East. You'd let Colorado or especially Kansas stay, yet leave out some decent schools like WKU, ULM, or Illinois. I'm not sure how Illinois is going.

There's still errors to it. It would make the next lower division a little more known. I would set up bowls for that division, if they don't already have them. As far as I know, they don't. I think the FBS has too many teams. Teams move up, but teams never move down.

How do you define "good," and where do other teams go?

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

How do you define "good," and where do other teams go?

Well, if it happened in real life, it would be up to a panel of people to decide. And so after they are corrupted by certain boosters, etc, they would decide.

For sure schools would be like Wisconsin, Ohio St, Penn St, Alabama, etc.

I don't see any schools like Duke, Indiana, or even Kentucky, etc. ever having a chance at competing for a title. A lot of FBS schools are there because of their basketball programs. I don't see any reason in that.

If a school is going crazy and winning several D2, FCS, or whatever it would be called, championships then obviously they need to move up. If a team averages 2-3 wins a year for a decade, they may need to move down and work back up.