If I had any say, I would make a few changes in college football. First of all, I would get rid of the BCS. That's a pretty good place to start, right? (Pause to let the applause die down.) I would institute a 16-team tournament in place of the bowls; actually I would use 15 of those bowl games as part of the tournament. I would institute one binding rule-no expansion of brackets. I know it wouldn't be long before someone suggested a 24-team tournament, and so on. That can't be allowed.
Next, I would note the fact that there are currently 120 teams in FBS (or Division I-A) and institute a freeze. No more teams. Sorry Texas State, Texas-San Antonio, and whoever else thinks they're moving up in the next couple of years. Then I would abolish conference championship games and two-division set-ups. I would make 12 conferences of 10 teams each. Everybody would play a full round-robin schedule, 9 league games, plus 3 non-conference games. This way a true champion for each conference will be crowned-no one can say that this team didn't play that team, and so on.
Each conference champion would receive an automatic bid to the tournament, for a total of 12 bids, plus 4 at-large teams would be added to make 16. This means that every conference will have a representative and a fair shot at the title-even the MAC, Sun Belt, and WAC. The emphasis would be on winning one's conference, not on a BCS ranking. I would put the Championship Game in the Rose Bowl, the Grandaddy of them all, every year, as close to New Year's Day as possible. The Final Four games would be played in the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. The quarterfinal games would be the Fiesta Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Gator Bowl and the Liberty Bowl. Eight more bowl games would make up the first round, which would start the second weekend of December. Remember, if playing throughout December is OK for the smaller divisions, who also have finals to worry about, it's good enough for the big boys also.
These would be the new conference alignments. Some would be the way they were in the 1980s, some others would be returning to conferences that they have left. Some would be in new homes altogether.
ACC-Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest
Big Central (formerly the Big 12)-Arkansas, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M
Big East-Boston College, Connecticut, Maryland, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
Big Ten-Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin
Conference USA-Army, Buffalo, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Louisville, Marshall, Memphis, Navy, Northern Illinois, Temple
Gulf Coast Conference (new league)-Baylor, Houston, Lousiana Tech, Rice, Southern Methodist, Southern Mississippi, South Florida, Texas Christian, Texas Tech, Tulane
Mid-American Conference-Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Ohio U., Toledo, Western Michigan
Mountain West-Air Force, Boise State, Brigham Young, Colorado, Colorado State, Idaho, UNLV, Utah, Utah State, Wyoming
Pacific 10-Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State
Southeastern Conference-Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Lousiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Sun Belt-Alabama-Birmingham, Arkansas State, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, Troy, Western Kentucky
Western Athletic-Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, North Texas, San Diego State, San Jose State, Texas-El Paso, Tulsa
Thanks for reading my respectfully submitted wishful thinking. We'll never see any of this, of course, but it would be nice. In the meantime, I'll wait for tomorrow's exciting Beef O' Brady Bowl.
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