Say they ditch the 8 team minimum in I-A and reduce it to something like 4-5 (with a max of 6-7).

This would allow for teams to be more independent in scheduling, and wouldn't punish good teams in weaker conferences as much for weak schedules. Since around 70% of games are conference matchups, this is makes schedule strengths too dependent upon conference strength.

Another thing this would allow is more flexibility for postseason options. Since there would be less 800-lb gorilla conferences like the SEC and Big 10, and less relative chimpanzees like Sun Belt, etc. this would make it easier to put champs on similar levels for playoff qualification. Not only that, but the length of conference season would be shorter, allowing for a longer playoff if needed.

Lastly, school rivalries would be easier to schedule. For example, look at the three-way 'hate' triangle of New Mexico, New Mexico State, and UTEP. For years, these three schools have been in different conferences, limiting the frequency of football matchups. A smaller conference alignment plan would suit these types of schools better. This would not only be good for non-conference rivalry scheduling, but it would make for easier alignments in areas sparsely populated with I-A teams.

Here's an ("dream"-ish) example 5-7 team alignment:

Northwestern 7
{
Boise State
Idaho
Nevada
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Washington State
}

Rocky Mountain 7
{
Air Force
BYU
Colorado
Colorado State
Utah
Utah State
Wyoming
}

Pac-7
{
Cal
Fresno State
Hawaii
SJSU(?)
Stanford
UCLA
USC
}

Border 7
{
Arizona
Arizona State
New Mexico
New Mexico State
San Diego State
UNLV
UTEP
}

Southwest-6
{
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
}

Tex-6
{
Baylor
Houston
North Texas
Rice
SMU
TCU
}

Mississippi Valley 7
{
Arkansas State
Louisiana
Louisiana-Monroe
Louisiana Tech
Memphis
Tulane
Southern Miss
}

Dixie 5
{
Alabama
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
}

Gulf-6
{
Troy
UAB
Central Florida
South Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida Int'l
}

South-Atlantic 5
{
Florida
Florida State
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Miami
}

Carolina-7
{
Clemson
Duke
East Carolina
North Caroilina
North Caroilina State
South Carolina
Wake Forest
}

Boone-Crockett 6
{
Louisville
Kentucky
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Tennesee
Vanderbilt
}

Plains 7
{
Iowa
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri
Nebraska
Tulsa
}

Bunyan 6
{
Illinois
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Wisconsin
}

Northern 6
{
Cincinnati
Indiana
Miami University
Ohio State
Notre Dame
Purdue
}

Great Lakes 5
{
Ball State
Central Michigan
Northern Illinois
Ohio
Western Michigan
}

Erie 6
{
Akron
Bowling Green
Buffalo
Eastern Michigan
Kent State
Toledo
}

Northeastern 7
{
Maryland
Penn State
Pitt
Syracuse
West Virginia
Virginia
Virginia Tech
}

North-Atlantic 6
{
Army
Boston College
Connecticut
Navy
Rutgers
Temple
}

Could it be possible? What if this format can disintegrate some of the conferences today (for all sports)?

_________________
Florida State Seminole fan for life (mostly on football, basketball and baseball)!

I really think they need a different conference structure for football. There are just so few games played that smaller conferences would work better. In basketball and baseball, you can play almost every other day, and in track you can have all schools compete in the same meet at once. Larger conferences are easier to work with in these sports, but in football, conference schedules take up almost all of the regular season. It leaves little room for independent scheduling, and interconference play. What results is teams in different areas of the country that rarely, if ever, play each other. It makes it hard to measure relative conference strength this way.

Though it probably won't ever happen, it'd be nice if special "football conferences" were instituted. These could even be run as subsidiaries to larger all-sports conferences. For example, the SEC have SEC-East and SEC-West be two different conferences for football. There could be a mix of subsidiaries and independent football-only conferences under this plan.

bluma,
Your idea got me to thinking. Go with your 6 team conference idea, but let each team have 2 con fences. The first would be their traditional conference. The ACC, SEC, and Big 12 would use their divisions and still have a championship game. The second conference would change every 2 to 4 years. This division would contain teams with similar records over the previous 4 years. This way your up and coming teams would have a chance to play with the big boys, and the doormats would have a chance to rebuild by playing against weaker opponents.

With a 12 game schedule, schools could still have 2 games for traditional O-O-C opponents.

FBfan

Where on God's green earth do you possibly get the idea that the allowance of smaller conferences will topple the big ones? Please share the drugs.

If anything, you're encouraging the current major conferences to drop their "dead weight" on the unsuspecting, rather than allowing Fresno State the chance to hang with USC.

Now... totally destroy the world oil supply, then we'll talk.

LOL!

The Bunyan 6! I pray that this conference is created. I can't wait to see Paul and Babe on billboards!

Well, with more flexible OoC scheduling, smaller schools could have stronger schedules, scheduling tough non-cons. Besides, if a 12 team conference dropped its "dead weight" to become a 6 team conference, more dead weight will eventually form at the bottom of these smaller conferences. Power teams can't stay that way long while losing their conference every year, so they'll probably move to another conference; thus distributing the power.

tman, I just arbitrarily came up with that name because alot of the rivalry trophies in that area are themed to the legendary figure. I'll admit, it would be odd for a real conference to go by.

There is a balancing act with a major school schedule.

Bring in 1 or 2 "small schools" for "tune-up" games, or easy wins, however you choose to look at it.

Bring in one big school to chance a good BCS resume on.

Conference familiarity rules the rest of the day. Bring in enough away fans to bring $$$ to school and town, while hopefully the conference is good enough to offset those 1-2 small school games.

For most big schools, the small schools don't even fill the big stadia. Therefore, you don't want to load up on those.

The small conference idea destabilizes something that ADs aren't going to give up.

Furthermore, looking at your setup, you had the big no-nos... schools like Fresno bedded with USC and UCLA, Boise State with Washington, and numerous other non-starters (Colorado would sooner go hari-kari). That's an agenda that doesn't even fly as far as you can throw me without the use of mechanical devices... and I'm not exactly small.

Actually, I think only Minnesota v Wisconsin uses any Bunyan folklore for a traveling trophy.

But I wasn't trying to put down your idea or anything like that. I just thought it was a hilarious name for a conference.

ACC:
UNC, Duke, Virginia, Wake, NC State, Maryland, Clemson

Southeastern:
UGA, Auburn, UF, South Carolina, UT, UK, Alabama

Southern Athletic:
Georgia Tech, Florida State, Vandy, Ole Miss, Miss. State, LSU, Arkansas

Southwest:
Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Baylor, Rice, SMU, TCU

Pac 7:
UCLA, Cal, Stanford, UW, WSU, Oregon, Oregon St.

Western 7:
USC, Hawaii, Fresno St, SJSU, Arizona, Arizona State, SDSU

Mountain West:
UNLV, Utah, BYU, Wyoming, Colorado State, Boise State, Colorado

WAC:
UTEP, Idaho, New Mexico State, North Texas, New Mexico, Air Force, Nevada

Big 7:
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Iowa State, Missouri

Conference USA:
Houston, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, SMU, Southern Miss, UAB

Sun Belt:
UL-Monroe, Arkansas State, FIU, FAU, Troy, MTSU, UL-Lafayette

Great Midwest:
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern

Northern:
Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Penn State, Ohio State, Pittsburgh

Metro:
UCF, Toledo, Memphis, Marshall, Temple, Louisville, Cincinnati

MAC:
Ohio, WMU, Ball St, NIU, Bowling Green, EMU, Kent State

Eastern Athletic:
CMU, Buffalo, Navy, Rutgers, Army, Miami (OH), Arkron

Big East:
ECU, USF, WVU, UConn, BC, VT, Miami (FL)

Wow! The SEC would have 5 perennial top 10 programs. Ouch! Could I swap UT for some team in the Metro or Sun Belt. That way we could win a championship EVERY year and be rated a top 5 team with a 20-30 game win streak! You might swap out 2 from the SEC and help both the Metro and Sun Belt.

FBfan

Oh yeah?

http://rmacsports.org/history.asp

The Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference was formed March 6, 1909 by the following four charter members: University of Colorado, Colorado A&M (now Colorado State University), Colorado College and Colorado School of Mines. In 1910, the league changed its name to the Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference (RMFAC). The University of Denver and University of Utah joined the conference but Colorado College had a fallout with Colorado School of Mines and dropped from the conference. In 1914, Colorado College rejoined and with the addition of Utah State University, the membership was at seven. Montana State University joined in 1917 and Brigham Young University joined in 1918 as the conference grew to nine members. Membership reached 12 when the University of Wyoming joined in 1921, and Western State College and the University of Northern Colorado joined in 1924.

The conference I gave was essentially all the currently I-A members of the RMAC pre-1950, with exception to Air Force, which wasn't even founded yet.

Besides these were just examples, the focus should have been the concept, not the alignments I threw together for illustration.

That was the last century.

This century, schools want to make the most money they possibly can. You have a "save travel costs" model. Utah State means no more than 40,000 at Folsom Field, losing CU at least $300,000.

The conference is normally going to bring the big ticket games, the most hated rivalries... then you schedule homecoming against Baylor (I came that close to saying Iowa State; old habits die hard). It's a lot harder to schedule with this concept, and it's a lot harder for TV networks to gain audience with this concept.

I realize this is a smaller conference concept but I think it would be best (in dream land of course) to have conferences at 8 teams - 9 max. You would want a mix of state and private schools so that big state schools can help sell out smaller private schools (see VT and Clemson and the travelling fans to Wake and Duke for example). You would also want to keep the schools close to each other.

Lots of things prevent this but thought I'd repost this from Dream Conferences Thread. Obviously you have some real wacky conference membership (like UC, Memphis, UL in with UM, MSU, OSU in addition to FresnoSt, etc with UCLA, USC, and Stanford).

You could reform the WAC, SunBelt, CUSA, and MWC into 2 conferences. Some schools should just drop to 1-AA. The situation with the MAC is interesting because some schools are having attendance problems - so I left them off the list.

Atlantic Coast Conference:
1. Clemson
2. South Carolina
3. Georgia
4. Georgia Tech
5. North Carolina
6. North Carolina State
7. Virginia
8. Virginia Tech

East Coast Conference:
1. Boston College
2. Connecticut
3. Syracuse
4. Rutgers
5. Penn State
6. Pittsburgh
7. Maryland
8. West Virginia

Gulf Coast Conference:
1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Ole Miss
4. Missy State
5. Florida
6. Florida State
7. Miami
8. LSU

Big Midwest Conference:
1. Cincinnati
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan State
4. Michigan
5. Memphis
6. Tennessee
7. Kentucky
8. Louisville

Heartland Conference:
1. Illinois
2. Indiana
3. Purdue
4. Notre Dame
5. Iowa
6. Iowa State
7. Minnesota
8. Wisconsin

Big Plains Conference
1. Colorado
2. Colorado State
3. Kansas
4. Kansas State
5. Missouri
6. Nebraska
7. Oklahoma
8. Oklahoma State

Southwest Conference:
1. Arkansas
2. Texas
3. Texas Tech
4. Texas A&M
5. TCU
6. Arizona
7. Arizona State
8. New Mexico

Northwest Conference:
1. BYU
2. Boise St
3. Utah
4. Utah State
5. Oregon
6. Oregon State
7. Washington
8. Washington State

Pacific Coast Conference:
1. California
2. Stanford
3. Fresno St
4. Hawaii
5. San Diego State
6. UCLA
7. USC
8. UNLV

Other spots needed for (some conferences can goto 9):
1. Army
2. Air Force
3. Duke
4. Navy
5. Northwesten
7. Vanderbilt
8. Wake Forest
9. Baylor
10. Temple

Long term solution-16 team conferences
Again, this is mainly for 5-7 teams, but this is what I would like (in the big 6 conferences) by 2050:

Big East Conference

East Division:
Boston College
Connecticut
Hofstra (From 1-AA Colonial)
Massachusetts (From 1-AA Colonial/Atlantic 10)
Providence (New Program)
Rutgers
St. John’s (New Program)
Seton Hall (New Program)

West Division:
Marshall (From C-USA)
Penn State (From Big Ten)
Pittsburgh
St. Joseph’s (New Program/From A-10)
Syracuse
Temple (From MAC/A-10)
Villanova (From 1-AA Colonial)
West Virginia

New Football Programs: Providence, St. John’s, St. Joe’s, Seton Hall
Consider that all but PC have had FB in the past, but dropped it. It will take like 2 decades for these programs to become stable, but in the end, it will pay off.

Up From 1-AA: Hofstra, U Mass, Villanova
All have been great programs at one point in time, but Villanova currently is the only one really winning. The others with some patience, can become strong 1-A teams.

Over from other BB conferences: Hofstra, U Mass, St. Joe’s, Temple
Hofstra used to be a good team in the American East, but it is taking their time. The other 3 have proved to be good teams in the A-10 in the past, and may prove to be useful.

Over from all-sports conferences: Boston College, Marshall, Penn State, Temple (MAC in FB only)
BC and Penn State are already national FB programs, Marshall FB is gaining recognition, and the Big East will regret kicking Temple out.

Losses: Cincinnati, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, S Florida
These teams need to be in more regional conferences.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Central Atlantic Division:
Delaware (From 1-AA Colonial)
Georgetown (From 1-AA Patriot/Big East)
Maryland
Old Dominion (From 1-AA Colonial)
Richmond (From 1-AA Colonial)
Virginia
Virginia Commonwealth (New Program/From Colonial)
Virginia Tech

Carolinas Division:
Clemson
Duke
East Carolina (From C-USA)
North Carolina
North Carolina-Charlotte (New Program/From A-10)
North Carolina State
South Carolina (From SEC)
Wake Forest

New Football Programs: Charlotte, VCU
VCU doesn’t really have a good chance, but they could do it if they tried. Charlotte could do what is not normally done on Saturdays: Play quality FB in the Panthers’ stadium (forgot name), if they put their minds to it.

Up From 1-AA: Delaware, Georgetown, ODU, Richmond
Georgetown used to play major college FB until the 50’s, but needs time, but still can become strong in several years. ODU is just reviving it’s team (will play in a few years), but Delaware is already contender in the A-10/Colonial.

Over from other BB conferences: Charlotte, Delaware, Georgetown, ODU, Richmond, VCU
These teams are major contenders in men’s and/or women’s hoops. In time, they will become ACC powers.

Over from all-sports conferences: East Carolina, South Carolina
ECU is going to need to improve, but SC is already familiar with the ACC.

Losses: Boston College, FSU, GA Tech, Miami
In the long run, they will go to conferences with other programs in their own states/regions.

Big Ten Conference

East Division:
Cincinnati (From Big East)
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Notre Dame (From Independent/Big East)
Ohio State
Purdue
Xavier (New Program/From A-10)

West Division:
Illinois
Iowa
Iowa State (From Big 12)
Minnesota
Missouri (From Big 12)
Northwestern
Saint Louis (New Program/From A-10)
Wisconsin

New Football Programs: Saint Louis, Xavier
These Midwest Catholic schools have not had FB for decades, but within a couple of years they could be good teams.

Over from other BB conferences: Saint Louis, Xavier
They are already good teams.

Over from all-sports conferences: Cincinnati, Iowa State, Missouri, Notre Dame (FB Independent)
Cincinnati can win in FB and is a good BB team, ISU & Missouri are getting good in both, Notre Dame just plain belongs

Losses: Penn State
Should be in Big East

Big 12 Conference

North Division:
Arkansas (From SEC)
Colorado
Colorado State (From Mountain West)
Kansas
Kansas State
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State

South Division:
Baylor
Louisiana State (From SEC)
Southern Methodist (From C-USA)
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Christian (From Mountain West)
Texas Tech
Tulane (From C-USA)

New additions: Arkansas, Colorado State, LSU, SMU, TCU, Tulane
The SEC schools can win in FB and one of 2 BB programs, Colorado St. and TCU are FB contenders, SMU and Tulane need improvement but can be winners in 10 years in both sports. Tulane will also need to recover from Katrina to become Big 12 material.

Losses: Iowa State, Missouri
The Big Ten wants to control the non-Great Plains Midwest

Pac-10 Conference

North Division:
Brigham Young (From Mountain West)
California
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
Utah (From Mountain West)
Washington
Washington State

South Division:
Arizona
Arizona State
California-Los Angeles
Fresno State (From WAC)
Hawaii (From WAC)
Nevada-Las Vegas (From Mountain West)
San Diego State (From Mountain West)
Southern California

New Additions: BYU, Fresno State, Hawaii, UNLV, SDSU, Utah
BYU, FSU, UH, and Utah are established FB programs, and all can play basketball adequately as well

Southeastern Conference

East Division:
Central Florida (From C-USA)
Florida
Florida State (From ACC)
Georgia
Georgia Tech (From ACC)
Miami (From ACC)
South Florida (From Big East)
Tennessee

West Division:
Alabama
Auburn
Kentucky
Louisville (From Big East)
Memphis (From C-USA)
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Vanderbilt

New Additions: UCF, FSU, GT, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, USF
UCF will need to improve in FB, but all can win in BB, and all but UCF could be/are good FB teams.

Losses: Arkansas, LSU, South Carolina
To more regional conferences