My proposed new structure for CFB (long)

Basically go back to the way things were in the early 1990s with just a few tweaks…

1. Break away from the lower divisions
There is no point in playing FCS schools or even directional, small FBS schools. Seventy teams emerge with one single commissioner of CFB. Twelve games played in the regular season… all against the top tier 70 programs that make the cut.

2. Smaller conferences
Seven conferences each with 10 teams:

SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss St., Tennessee, Vanderbilt (aka the SEC as it existed from 1966-1991)

Big 10: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin (aka the Big 10 as it existed from 1953-1990)

The PAC 10: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State (aka the PAC 10 as it existed from 1978-2011)

The Big 8: Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, BYU, Utah (aka the Big 8 as it existed from 1960-1995 with the addition of BYU and Utah to get them up to ten teams total)

ACC: Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Florida State (aka the ACC as it existed from 1964-1991 with the addition of Florida State and South Carolina to get them up to ten teams total. *FSU joined the ACC in 1991. South Carolina was a member from 1953-1971)

Big East: Boston College, Miami, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Penn State, Notre Dame (aka the Big East as it was when it was formed in 1991, minus Temple… and with Cincy, Penn State, and Notre Dame added to get them up to 10 teams)

Southwest: Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Louisville, Memphis (aka the Southwest as it existed from 1972-1991, minus Rice.. and with the addition of Memphis and Louisville to get them up to 10 teams total).

Basically takes us back to how things looked around 1990 or 1991 only with a few tweaks to make the conferences even in number. UCF is the only current Power 4 team not included… Memphis was subbed in their place because Memphis makes way more sense in the Southwest. This also restores Washington State and Oregon State back into major college football.

3. The scheduling format…

Everyone plays everyone else in their conference… 9 conference games total.

Additionally, everyone plays three OOC games with the ability to lock in up to two permanent OOC rivals to ensure historic rivalries are protected.

This would ensure that certain in-state rivalries are always played: Georgia-Georgia Tech… Virginia-Virginia Tech… Florida-Florida State… Miami-Florida State… Kentucky-Louisville… Iowa-Iowa State, etc.

This would also ensure other classic rivalries are protected: Texas-Oklahoma… Notre Dame-USC… etc

This would also help restore lost OOC rivalries: Missouri-Illinois… Auburn-Georgia Tech… Michigan-Notre Dame.. etc.

By getting the conferences back to their historical, smaller, geographically minded forms that make way more sense, you’d also see old rivalries restored annually within conference play such as Oklahoma-Nebraska… Alabama-LSU… Auburn-Miss State… LSU-Miss State… Oklahoma-Oklahoma State… Missouri-Kansas… Auburn-Florida… Auburn-LSU, etc.

Instead of lining up the rest of the non-conference opponents years out by the schools, have the organizing body create OOC games that try to balance SOS one year out so that all schedules are more equal in strength. If the SEC is particularly strong and the ACC is particularly weak, pair a lot of those teams up in OOC play to even things out.

4. The Post-Season

Scrap conference title games and name the winners of each league based on regular season play. Have a metric like the BCS formula seed the teams 1-16 with conference champs guaranteed a spot. No committee.

Play a 16-team playoff with all rounds played on campus of the higher seeded team. Rotate the championship Game between Atlanta and Miami in the East… Dallas and New Orleans in the Central US… Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the West… and maybe Phoenix and somewhere in the Midwest like Indy or Detroit. Just rotate through that rotation every 8 years.

As for everyone else, let all 54 teams who didn’t make the playoff play in bowl games that would fill the gaps between playoff rounds. Let tradition rule so let the best BIG 10 team and the best PAC 10 team that didn’t make the playoff play in the Rose Bowl on NYD. Match all the other bowls up as even as possible, and let the players get a huge portion of the money so they are incentivized to play.

5. The financial potential

With one commissioner organizing everything, the TV revenue would be split evenly between all 70 teams. Basically sell the rights to three games every Saturday (11:00 AM CT slot… 3:00 PM CT slot… and 7:00 PM CT slot) to any network that wants in… ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, etc. All other games would be available on an NFL Sunday ticket type of platform that people could pay for to make sure they can watch every game.

Go head-to-head with the NFL and have a primetime game every Thursday night. Also have 1-2 Friday night games also.

By selling the TV rights for all 70 teams it would be a massive deal.