Fixing the BCS: Conference Realignment

Seems quite funny that all the drama surrounding the BCS in relation the Big 12 south this year really is not connected to the BCS.

The BCS is simply a tool used as the 5th option in a result of a three-way tie in the South Division of the Big 12 conference. People want to say that the BCS is "BS" but it is simply a rating system. How quickly we forget about the mythical national championship system that was used prior to the inception of the BCS. In the old system, a 1-2 matchup was only possible if specific bowls tie-ins made it possible to play the game. This led to multiple years that there were co-national champions or two undefeated teams would play sacrificial lambs while the game that everybody wanted to see would go unplayed. Furthermore, there only has been one instance of co-national champs since the BCS has been used. For everyone who thinks that the BCS is "BS" remember that at the very least it guarantees a 1-2 match-up every year something that was not necessarily possible in the old system.

What, I don’t think it is fair is that every major conference does not have a championship game at the end of the year. The winning team of the Big 12, ACC, or SEC has to win a championship game every year. The Pac-10, Big East, and Big 10 (11 teams) do not. Essentially making the road to a national championship easier than that of the conferences that do indeed play a championship game to determine their winner. It is really unfair when you realize that the weaker conferences in the BCS, by basic popular opinion, have an easier road to the championship game. This is why Ohio State has seemingly played in the last "twenty" BCS championship games losing SEC teams all "twenty years". Morever, this is a huge factor as to why USC has had the run they have been on in the last few years. They are at home while the bigger conferences are having one more war, which in college football is the safest way to mak ke the championship game, and USC has benefited from that in recent years.

My argument is that the governing bodies of college football should mandate that all BCS conferences have a football championship game at the end of the year. The kicker here is that to have a football championship a conference must have 12 football playing institutions. Given the need for a small conference re-alignment to make this possible I will spell it out for you.

Conference

Pacific 10

Current Members

USC, UCLA, Stanford, California, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, and Oregon St.

Four schools come to mind as far as likely candidates for entrance into the Pac-10. These schools are, Utah, BYU, Fresno State, and Boise State. I just think it feels more natural for BYU and Utah to be the candidates to join the Conference. First of all, it keeps with the trend in the Pac-10 have two schools per state minus California of course. Furthermore, BYU and Utah are rivals so you automatically bring some tradition to the table when you add these schools instead of forcing totally odd relationships like Boise State and Fresno would illicit. I also would split the Pac-10 into two divisions Northwest and Southwest Divisions would make up the conference.

Northwest Division

Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, BYU and California

Southwest Division

USC, UCLA, Utah, Stanford, Arizona and Arizona State.

This I think is an applicable solution for the Pac-10 with the Championship game being played every year in Phoenix, L.A. or the Bay Area.

BIG 10 Conference

Current Members

Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Illinois, and Purdue.

The Big Ten is a little easier as it really has 11 teams. If you ever take time to look at the official Big Ten Logo it has a hidden 11 in it. You ever notice that? Notre Dame is always the popular choice to add to the big ten to make it a twelve-team conference. The great thing about this is that Notre Dame is affiliated with the Big East for every other sport but football so it would only have to switch football to make the change possible while not interrupting any other sports in the conference as it stands now. The only hitch in this, is the lucrative television contract with NBC that Notre Dame has. This formal pitch is being made in the name of fluidity in college football so why not give ND television rights until the end of their current contract with NBC and work with them on the next contract whether it be with NBC or not. Meaning, that ND would receive a bigger cut of TV revenues after joining the Big-10 in order for continuity to prevail in the whole college football landscape. ND would, in the year 2017 receive double payout from the BIG-10 for TV revenues if they left NBC at the end of their current contract. For fair measure, let's give ND theses allocations for a full ten years after joining the conference afterward they would be considered a normal member and fall in line like a regular member. The great benefit of having ND in the Big Ten is all the great match-ups it would offer for the BIG-10. ND currently plays Michigan, Michigan, Purdue, and Indiana on an annual basis. Other great match-ups would include ND-Wisconsin, ND-Iowa, ND-Ohio State, and I would love to see a love rekindled which is ND-Penn State. This used to be one of the best rivalries in the country, but really lost its luster when Penn State left the ranks of the Independent and joined the Big-10 in the mid 1990’s.

The BIG 10 would now have 12 teams with the addition of ND but would keep its namesake. Furthermore, the conference would be split into Eastern and Western Divisions that would look like this:

Eastern Division

Penn State, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Northwestern

Western Division

Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota

I think that this alignment would be great as long as you could keep the season ending rivalries intact. Moreover, Notre Dame could play Penn State for the Nittany/Irish Trophy (http://www.theultimatefootballchallenge.com/blog/26) instead of the stupid and forced game with Michigan State for the Land Grand Trophy. The Big 10 championship could be played in Chicago every year, which I think would be a great tradition for the new conference similar to the SEC being played in Atlanta every year.

Big East

Current Members

West Virginia, Louisville, South Florida, UConn, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Cinncinnatti.

The Big East may well be the toughest to re-align because it only has 8 active football members and 16 in basketball. The current members of the conference are Cincinnati, UConn, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, and Syracuse. The need for four teams here is a tough one to fill. First of all, let's switch Boston College in the ACC for South Florida so the we leave a lighter carbon footprint with all the traveling involved as these two schools are outliers as far as distance is concerned and it also provides more sensible regional match-ups for both schools. Therefore the new Big East would look like this: Boston College, Louisville, UConn, Cincy, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pitsburgh, and West Virginia. There are not a plethora of eligible teams left to put this scenario together so here we go, the new members of the Big East would be Temple, Buffalo, Army and Navy. There would again be two divisions, the New England and Ohio Valley. Here is how they would Look:

New England:

Buffalo, Temple, BC, Syracuse, UConn, Pittsburgh

Ohio Valley:

Cincy, Rutgers, West Virginia, Army, Navy, Louisville

There would be several teams that would have to step up their game in order to be respected as a member of a legit BCS conference but Buffalo, Temple, and Army could after a few years with the backing of a new and strong conference make the progress necessary to compete with other conferences.

P.S. I know this is a long and drawn out theory that will never come to fruition but in the sick world here at 6………………… in the words of Kevin Garnett “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE”

CIAO,


Quick Claude