All of the talk of a new "Division 4" has obviously left the Group of 5 schools in a tough spot. Assuming the power schools would only split for football and remain Division I for all others (since I don't think they would pay non-revenue sport athletes), the Group of 5 would be best off to work something out with the FCS schools. I know this sounds crazy, but here's my basic outline of how this work for both sides.
-"revamped FBS"- SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 schools could pick 8 more schools to move up that would be competitive at that level (most likely Notre Dame, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, San Diego State and maybe the service academies or UConn, UCF and USF). These schools could have the 4 team playoff and incorporate it so that this division has 16 bowl games (ex: 3 for playoff plus 13 non-playoff games). 32 of the 72 division members would have a postseason, which likely account for all 7+ win teams. This division could move to 13 reg. season games with 9 conference, 1 "revamped FCS" and 3 interdivision games. This division could have 6 conferences with 12 members each. Adding a conference championship game would mean 16 games each season at most, which would be a good endurance test to better determine a national champion.
-"revamped FCS"- The current Group of 5 schools could merge with the FCS (as there is some competitive overlap among them), and create a 32 team playoff that would expand off of the current 24 team setup. First round games could be at the home of a higher seeded team, with later rounds being played at various lower-tier bowl games sites (such as Mobile, Boise, etc.). This division could have conferences with up to 12 members, but no championship game to due to the playoffs. Each team could play only 11 games (including FBS for non-con but no D2/3/NAIA games), with a maximum of 16 if the national championship game is reached. There would be 18 conferences at this level, including FB-only Pioneer League as well as playoff abstainers Ivy League and SWAC, meaning 16 auto bids and 16 at-large bids. Below this is a list of how the current Group of 5 conference plus top FCS conferences such as the MVFC might look, assuming the service academies stay but Cincy, Houston, BYU, UConn, UCF and USF leave.
Teams in italics are schools that would be added due to departures.
The American Temple East Carolina Memphis Tulsa SMU Navy Tulane Southern Miss Army FIU (to gain FL market)
Mountain West San Jose State Fresno State Hawaii Nevada Boise State Utah State UNLV New Mexico Air Force Colorado State Wyoming UTEP (only for even numbers)
Conference USA Marshall Old Dominion Charlotte Florida Atlantic UAB Middle Tennessee Western Kentucky Louisiana Tech UTSA Rice North Texas Arkansas State (best school in a state in their footprint w/o a current member)
Sun Belt Appalachian State Georgia State Georgia Southern Troy South Alabama UL-Monroe UL-Lafayette Texas State New Mexico State UMass (gets Sun Belt to 10 and is more feasible with Idaho leaving)
MAC loses UMass to Sun Belt to remain at 12 and stays stable as usual.
WAC (returns to football at "FCS" level) Idaho Eastern Washington Sam Houston State Montana Montana State North Dakota State North Dakota South Dakota State South Dakota
Big Sky Portland State Idaho State Sacramento State UC Davis Cal Poly Northern Arizona Southern Utah Weber State Northern Colorado
Southland Central Arkansas Stephen F. Austin SE Louisiana McNeese State Abilene Christian Incarnate Word Houston Baptist Nicholls State Northwestern State New Orleans
MVFC Northern Iowa Missouri State Illinois State Southern Illinois Western Illinois Youngstown State Indiana State Eastern Illinois Tennessee State (no realistically competitive & available options in current footprint besides EIU)
Ohio Valley SE Missouri State Murray State Eastern Kentucky TN-Martin Austin Peay Tennessee Tech Jacksonville State Chattanooga Samford East Tennessee State
The OVC adds would lead to Big South football merging with SoCon, and forcing a save for the A-Sun somehow.
Southern Conference VMI Mercer Western Carolina The Citadel Furman Wofford Liberty Coastal Carolina Charleston Southern Presbyterian Kennesaw State
All other FCS conferences would remain intact with these moves taking place.
I know all of that is very unlikely, but wouldn't that work out better than some other options?
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