Tyler B.
As acting President of College Football here’s what NCAA football will look like in 2017.
FBS Teams: 80
Conferences: Five conferences with 16 teams; each with two divisions of eight.
Since we’re all things SEC, let’s use the SEC and Bama as examples.
SEC South: Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Miss. State
SEC North: Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Virginia Tech
SEC East: Georgia, Florida, Florida State, South Carolina
SEC West: Arkansas, Missouri, Texas A&M, LSU
Schedule: Nine conference games. Bama always plays the three teams in the SEC South division to determine a division champion. Six more SEC games against any of the other 13 SEC teams outside of the SEC South on a two-year home and home rotational basis. One or two of these games can be permanent to preserve rivalries. Of the two remaining regular season games on the schedule, one must be an FCS team to give them a guaranteed payment.
*If two teams in the SEC South end up with a 2-1 record the tiebreaker goes to the team with a better overall SEC record.
SEC Tournament: There will be an SEC Final Four. The South winner plays the North winner in one semifinal, and the West plays the East in the other. The two highest-ranked teams host the semifinal games and the title game remains in Atlanta.
**ALL FIVE CONFERENCES USE THIS FORMAT**
National Champion:
- Winners of the five conferences play in the Final Four tournament.
- Two lowest-ranked conference champions play to get into the NCAA Final Four as the #4 seed.
- Seeds 1-3 get a week of rest while the game for the #4 seed is played.
- In the Final Four #1 plays #4 in their home stadium and #2 plays #3 in their stadium; tickets are distributed evenly.
- The national championship game is played in rotating venues, just like now.
Bowl Games: The number of bowl games is reduced to 15, and there is no longer a bowl/conference affiliation. Teams don’t have to have a certain amount of wins to be eligible and all teams can practice during the “bowl season.”
Are there a few mistakes and omissions? Of course, this is college football after all…
ACC South: Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia
ACC North: Boston College, Pittsburg, Syracuse, Rutgers
ACC East: UCONN, Army, Navy, Maryland
ACC West: North Carolina, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Duke
Big-10 South: Notre Dame, Louisville, Indiana, Purdue
Big-10 North: Penn. State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State
Big-10 East: Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan, Michigan State
Big-10 West: Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa, Iowa State
Big 12 South: UTEP, Central Florida, South Florida, Houston
Big North: Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska
Big 12 East: Cincy, East Carolina, Miami (OH), West Virginia
Big 12 West: Texas, Houston, TCU, Baylor
PAC-10 South: UCLA, USC, Stanford, Cal
PAC-10 North: Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State
PAC-10 East: Colorado, Utah, BYU, Air Force
PAC-10 West: Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Fresno State
Tyler B. works as a communications specialist for a Louisville, Kentucky company. A lifetime SEC fan – long before it became “acceptable” to cheer for every team in the conference – he plans on writing several books about college football that have a fantastic chance of never being written.
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