With all of the talk surrounding the arrival of the super conferences, I thought of an idea of how to revolutionize the way that conference championship games and have the B1G lead college football into the next era. Not sure if this idea has been mentioned before but here's my proposal:
16 Team Conference (whoever the next 2 may be)
4 Divisions with 4 Teams Each. Each team would play the other 3 teams in their division, this leaves 5 games. With the remaining 5 games they could have a protected matchup in each of the other 3 divisions and 2 games that rotate every year or every other year. Notice that this is an 8 game schedule while the assumption is the B1G moving to a 9 game schedule. Instead of adding a 9th game to the schedule, the 4 division winnners would play in a 4 team seeded tournament, round 1 would be the 9th conference game and then we would have the conference championship. To be fair, the non-division winners could also have a 9th game that they could determine in some manner and play the week of or the week before round 1 of the conference playoff.
Now imagine 4, 16 team superconferences each having a 4 team playoff to determine their conference championship, followed by the 4 winners playing in the National Championship tournament. We now have solved the question of implementing a 16 team playoff!
Of course this solution excludes about half of the teams from ever being eligible for the tournament, so we could still have the "panel" determine the 4 national semifinalists, but excluding that part, how cool would it be to have a 4 team playoff to determine the B1G championship?
A 9 game season than? I dont see the NCAA having a full 12 games, than 2 conference playoff games, than another playoff system. If they did do a 16, id say 8 and 8 play the other 7 and have two cross rivals , or make it even a 10 game conference and take out the cupcakes. A team dosent improve playing the likes of South Dakota St. They could also just switch team from th eother divisions if trophy games are there big issues. As long as we play scUM the 12th game of the season every year and keep Wisco, I could care less.
Pay It Forward!
I like it. Something like this...
Michigan
Michigan St
Minnesota
Rutgers
Ohio St
Penn St
Purdue
Illinois
Nebraska
Wisconsin
Indiana
Maryland
Va Tech
Pitt
Iowa
Northwestern
...is better than this:
Michigan Ohio St
MSU Wisconsin
Nebraska Penn St
Iowa Purdue
NW Indiana
Minnesota Rutgers
Illinois Maryland
Pitt Va Tech
Those who stay will be CHAMPIONS!
~Bo Schembechler
That would be an interesting setup, and definitely outside the box.
My idea (and I haven't really spent much time thinking through all the details - shortcomings, pain points, etc.) is to construct something similar to the European-style promotion/relegation system they have for soccer. You would have the Premier conferences (B1G, SEC, PAC, ACC, Big 12), and then each of the Premier conferences would have an attached "Second division" conference that would be setup with the promotion and relegation after each season.
For instance, the B1G and MAC may be attached. After this season, Iowa and Illinois are the two worst B1G teams. Northern Illinois and Kent State are the top 2 in the MAC. Next season, they would replace one another. This would be done all across college football.
Then, OOC games would only be played between like-level conference teams (Premier vs. Premier, Second vs. Second) each year. At the end of the season, each conference champ and possibly 3 at-large teams (based on record and SOS) would make up the Playoff.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
I've got a proposal, how about we invent a time machine and not invite Maryland & Rutgers in to the Big Ten, let's do that instead.
I've said it once, I'll say it again.
Rutgers is one the rise as a football program. An affiliation with the B1G brand will initially do more good for Rutgers than for the B1G. When that begins to take hold, and Rutgers continues to build up their program, in turn it will help the B1G.
Maryland is the clunker at the moment, but they've shown the ability several times over the past decade or so to come up with some really good teams/talent. They, along with Rutgers, are located perfectly in a nice recruiting area. The B1G will also help them expand their recruiting base. Now they just need to upgrade the man leading their program, and they should be, at worst, a mid-level B1G football program.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
When did you say this the first time? Football in New Jersey will never have the footprint and ability to grow as in the Midwest, South, and West.
I'm with OLDCOLUMBUSTOWN on this- Rutgers is going to be a solid football addition. I really think they'll be on par with Michigan State or Wisconsin- a team capable of an occasional 3-5 year run at the conference title, but most of the time just a notch below that.
Over the last ten years, Michigan State is 75-62. They've had some big seasons and some under .500 seasons. That's pretty much what i think we're going to be able to expect from Rutgers.
@PHXBuck
I've mentioned it in a different thread.
I'm not saying that New Jersey itself will necessarily rival the Midwest, South, or West. But, there are some very good HS programs in Jersey and on the East coast, the demographics continue to shift that direction, and as that happens, the B1G gains more cache with recruits. More eyes will be on the B1G with the expanded cable TV setup.
Delany, for all his supposed faults, is a very forward thinker. This cannot be all about the initial money grab of entering these new markets. It is also about potential. You have to think that Rutgers/Maryland have indicated they will spend some of the new money in order to develop their football programs. As I said, I believe each of these two additions have the necessary tools (big city setting, fertile recruiting area easily accessible, bigger budget) to turn that potential into reality. Rutgers especially, and Maryland once they realize Edsall is not even close to being the answer.
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"