If super-conferences form, BCS will need major overhaul

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bud2380

Well-Known Member
This expansion talk is completely fascinating to me. Although I was dead against the Big Ten expanding beyond 12 teams, I'm realizing what I want and what will likely happen are 2 very different things. So if the Pac 10 becomes the Pac 16 and the Big 12 as we know it folds, the Big Ten adds 5 more teams, etc. The BCS will be forced to completely overhaul the current structure. I reviewed the current conference and shuffled some teams around to lineup the conferences with at least 14 teams. Basically, if you shut out the small schools from the BCS you will once again face anti-trust legislation and a real real issue for the BCS and NCAA. So if the BCS is smart, they will include the small schools in their new plans, and everyone will be happy. To me there is a very easy solution.

5 power conferences consisting of - Pac16, Big Ten (16), Mtn West (plus remnants of former Big 12), SEC, ACC/Big East (they would also have to merge). Then you are left with the MAC, WAC, Sun Belt, and C-USA plus Army & Navy. If you group those 4 conferences and Army/Navy together you basically have the 6 components of the BCS (just like it is currently setup). Each of the 5 power conferences gets an automatic bid to the BCS and the conglomeration of the MAC, WAC, Sun Belt, and C-USA plus Army & Navy COULD, repeat COULD qualify for an automatic bid if they finish above say 14th in the BCS standings (something like that). That way every school in the NCAA has an opportunity to qualify and get a piece of the money and you avoid costly lawsuits. You could have 6 automatic bids each year (5 to the super-conferences and one reserved for the conglomerate conferences). If the 6th auto-bid isn't used, it can go to the highest ranking BCS team not already qualified. Then 4 at-large candidates to fill the 10 spots. From here, the BCS could continue on the same path (#1 vs #2 for the title, and maintaing the Orange, Sugar, Fiest, Rose setup). Or turn this into some form of playoff. Either way the options are there, but that's not really my focus in this post. Here is how I divided out the teams for the 5 super-conferences.

MWC/BIG12
TCU
Brigham Young
Utah
Air Force
Wyoming
UNLV
San Diego State
New Mexico
Colorado State
Iowa St
Kansas
Kansas St
Baylor
Boise St



Big East/ACC
Boston College
Clemson
Duke
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Virginia
Wake Forest
Cincinnati
West Virginia
Pittsburgh
Connecticut
South Florida
Louisville
Syracuse


Big 10 (16)
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Missouri
Notre Dame
Maryland
Rutgers


Pac 16
Arizona
Arizona State
California
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Washington
Washington State
Texas
Texas Tech
Texas A&M
Colorado
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St


SEC
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi St
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Georgia Tech
Miami (FL)
Virginia Tech
Florida State
 
Heck yes, die BCS, die!

Easier solution. Four major conferences. Four minor conferences. 1 major conference champ. One minor conference champ.

Don't call the game the national championship. Call it the Major College Championship.
 
Why would anyone think the superconferences would "kill" the BCS? It might change it, but it's not going away. The BCS is the result of the conferences usurping power away from the NCAA. Why would consolidating more power with the conferences change things for fans?

The only fan-desirable result I see coming out of this is a "plus one" game.
 
BCS isn't going away anytime soon- and nothing wrong with that. let everyone expand and the BCS continue to be the mule while everything sorts out.

Once the conferences get all sorted out, then the BCS can go die and a more appropriate system can be put in place to match the landscape.
 
BCS goes away then bowls go away. No one wants that. So, I think this is a pretty reasonable likely scenario as projected here. That new ACC would be tough in bb..West Va.,Cuse,Pitt,UCONN and Cinncy joining Duke,UNC,BC ect? But why would Ga. Tech leave the ACC for the SEC? Maybe Louisville opts for the SEC instead of the ACC and Ga Tech stays put?
 
Looking at the attendance figures from 2009, there are a handful of non-BCS conference teams that appear to have enough support to warrant BCS status, including the usual suspects, BYU, Boise, TCU, Utah, etc. Also, each team that likely will be left out of the choice picks of the Big East and B12 demise have decent support.

Two current teams, Duke and Washington State don't have BCS support numbers.

It appears the threshold is about 30,000 fans a game. I say set that as a bottom figure and any league that can field 14 teams that average that many fans gets an automatic birth for the winner of it's conference championship game - probably end up being 5.

Then have an 8 team playoff with 3 at large spots, with a maximum of 2 per conference, chosen by a selection committee and ordered by seeding.
 
The bowls will never completely go away regardless of where the BCS or NC playoff comes in. Of course they'll be less sexy than the NC playoff- but they'll still find a way to make money off of bowls.
 
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