Thursday, December 31, 2020

OPINION: How to Fix College Football in 2021

Justin Jones, Managing Editor
I have covered college football for almost a decade and been a fan for over thirty years. 2020 was a college football season like no other. If there’s one thing that 2020 has taught us, it’s that college football is a business. Cries of “think of the student-athlete” have fallen on deaf ears as conference commissioners and television executives continued to look for as many ways as possible to fill the airwaves. Before you read further, this is not a commentary on the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a viewpoint on the state of college football in 2020 and how we can improve it in 2021 and beyond.

The “Power 5” has always been a myth in college football. What it should be called is the “Wealthiest 5” conferences. Looking at information provided by the Knight Commission (seriously, check this site out) and making educated guesses on private schools who are not required to disclose this information, it is clear that the “power” that these conferences hold really comes from wealth. In fact, the ACC, B1G, SEC, Big XII, and Pac 12 hold 64 of the top 65 schools in total athletic spending. Only FBS independent UConn had more athletic spending than at least one P5 conference member, but its number is expected to dip with the loss of television money from the American Athletic Conference.

The haves and have-nots are not just limited to the FBS ranks. It is clear among the FCS ranks as well. There is no solution for the money disparity to even the spending, but there is a way to make for better football. Instead of two subdivisions of Division I football, let’s double that to four subdivisions.

How does this work? First, we’re separating football from other sports and creating football-specific conferences. There are currently 258 schools that are currently playing or in the process of transitioning to Division I football. The breakdown will be 65, 64, 64, and 65 teams in each subdivision. We can call these subdivisions whatever we want to, but for the purpose of this exercise, we’ll refer to them as Division 1A (wealthiest quartile) through Division 1D (least wealthy quartile). Notre Dame will be allowed to remain as an independent in Division 1A and the non-scholarship Ivy League and Pioneer League will be placed in Division 1D.

Each subdivision is broken up into four regions of sixteen teams each. This can allow for regional super conferences with two eight-team divisions or smaller eight-team conferences. I’ll advocate for eight conferences in this article for reasons that will become obvious later. Division 1D is unique due to the two non-scholarship leagues. Instead of four sixteen-team regions, there are four twelve-team regions with eight six-team divisions or smaller conferences.

This scenario allows for promotion and relegation (which is something I support), but I’ll leave that for another day


Division 1A

There are 64 teams with one independent. 

With eight conferences, an eight-team playoff would be easy to implement with all conference champions making the field. Second place teams would be able to qualify if the playoff were expanded to twelve or sixteen teams. Notre Dame can qualify for the playoff as an independent only if they are ranked ahead of a conference champion in a playoff of at least twelve teams. There would be a ten-game regular season with teams allowed to schedule no more than one game against a team below their subdivision. One non-conference game must be against a team from another region. Teams not qualifying for a playoff position can qualify for a bowl game against a team from another region.

 

West Region

Conference 1

California

Oregon

Oregon State

Stanford

UCLA

USC

Washington

Washington State

 

Conference 2

Arizona

Arizona State

Baylor

Colorado

TCU

Texas

Texas Tech

Utah



North Region

Conference 1

Illinois

Iowa

Iowa State

Kansas

Kansas State

Minnesota

Nebraska

Wisconsin


Conference 2

Indiana

Kentucky

Louisville

Michigan

Michigan State

Northwestern

Ohio State

Purdue


 

South Region

Conference 1

Arkansas

LSU

Mississippi State

Missouri

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Ole Miss

Texas A&M

 

Conference 2

Alabama

Auburn

Florida

Florida State

Georgia

Georgia Tech

Miami (FL)

Vanderbilt


East Region

Conference 1

Clemson

Duke

NC State

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

Virginia Tech

Wake Forest

 

Conference 2

Boston College

Maryland

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

Syracuse

Virginia

West Virginia


 

Division 1B

With eight conferences, an eight-team playoff would be easy to implement with all conference champions making the field. Second place teams would be able to qualify if the playoff were expanded to twelve or sixteen teams. There would be a ten-game regular season with teams allowed to schedule no more than one game against a team below their subdivision. There are no regional requirements for non-conference games in this subdivision as teams are allowed to play teams from the higher subdivision. Teams not qualifying for a playoff position can schedule a nonconference game at a neutral site against a team from another region who finished in the same place in their conference.

 

West Region


Conference 1

Cal Poly

Fresno State

Hawaii

Nevada

San Diego State

San Jose State

UC Davis

UNLV


Conference 2

Air Force

Boise State

BYU

Colorado State

New Mexico

Utah State

UTEP

Wyoming


 

North Region


Conference 1

Cincinnati

Memphis

Miami (OH)

Middle Tennessee

Ohio

Tulsa

Western Kentucky

Akron


Conference 2

Army

Buffalo

Central Michigan

Eastern Michigan

Kent State

Marshall

Toledo

Western Michigan


 

South Region

Conference 1

Houston

Louisiana

North Texas

Rice

SMU

Arkansas State

Texas State

UTSA

 

Conference 2

FIU

Florida Atlantic

South Alabama

South Florida

Troy

Tulane

UAB

UCF


East Region

Conference 1

Delaware

Liberty

Navy

New Hampshire

Stony Brook

Temple

UConn

UMass

 

Conference 2

Appalachian State

Charlotte

Coastal Carolina

East Carolina

Georgia Southern

Georgia State

James Madison

Old Dominion


 

Division 1C

With eight conferences, an eight-team playoff would be easy to implement with all conference champions making the field. Second place teams would be able to qualify if the playoff were expanded to twelve or sixteen teams. There would be a ten-game regular season with teams allowed to schedule no more than one game against a team below their subdivision. There are no regional requirements for non-conference games in this subdivision as teams are allowed to play teams from the higher subdivision. Teams not qualifying for a playoff position can schedule a nonconference game against a team from the other conference in the region.

 

 

West Region

Conference 1

Eastern Washington

Idaho

Idaho State

Montana

Montana State

Portland State

Southern Utah

Weber State


Conference 2

Lamar

New Mexico State

Northern Arizona

Northern Colorado

Prairie View A&M

Sacramento State

Sam Houston State

Stephen F. Austin


 

North Region

Conference 1

Illinois State

North Dakota

North Dakota State

Northern Illinois

Northern Iowa

South Dakota

South Dakota State

Western Illinois


Conference 2

Ball State

Bowling Green

Eastern Illinois

Indiana State

Missouri State

Southeast Missouri State

Southern Illinois

Youngstown State


 

South Region

Conference 1

Alabama State

Central Arkansas

Louisiana Tech

Louisiana-Monroe

Northwestern State

Southeastern Louisiana

Southern

Southern Miss

 

Conference 2

Austin Peay

Chattanooga

East Tennessee State

Eastern Kentucky

Jacksonville State

Kennesaw State

Murray State

Tennessee Tech


East Region

Conference 1

Albany

Central Connecticut

Delaware State

Maine

Morgan State

Rhode Island

Towson

Villanova

 

Conference 2

Norfolk State

North Carolina A&T

North Carolina Central

Richmond

The Citadel

VMI

Western Carolina

William & Mary



Division 1D

There are 65 teams, including eighteen non-scholarship schools

With ten conferences, an eight-team playoff would not be enough to provide a spot for each conference champion so a playoff of twelve or sixteen teams would be necessary. There would be a ten-game regular season with teams allowed to schedule no more than one game against a team above their subdivision. One non-conference game must be against a team from the other conference in the region, not including the non-scholarship teams. There are no regional requirements for non-conference games in this subdivision as teams are allowed to play teams from the higher subdivision.

 

Southwest Region

Conference 1

Abilene Christian

Dixie State

Houston Baptist

Incarnate Word

Tarleton State

Texas Southern


Conference 2

Alcorn State

Grambling

Jackson State

McNeese State

Mississippi Valley State

Nicholls


South Region

Conference 1

Alabama A&M

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Bethune-Cookman

Florida A&M

North Alabama

Samford


Conference 2

Charleston Southern

Mercer

South Carolina State

Tennessee State

UT Martin


East Region

Conference 1

Campbell

Elon

Furman

Gardner-Webb

Hampton

Wofford

 

Conference 2

Duquesne

Georgetown

Howard

Monmouth

Morehead State

Wagner


Northeast Region

Conference 1

Bryant

Fordham

Holy Cross

LIU

Merrimack

Sacred Heart

 

Conference 2

Bucknell

Colgate

Lafayette

Lehigh

Robert Morris

Saint Francis


Non-scholarship Region

Ivy League

Brown

Columbia

Cornell

Dartmouth

Harvard

Penn

Princeton

Yale


Pioneer League

Butler

Davidson

Dayton

Drake

Marist

Presbyterian

San Diego

St. Thomas

Stetson

Valparaiso


 

College football is something special and is something that needs to be saved through measures like this. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Let us know on Twitter (@NCGridiron) or Facebook.