My idea would be to reduce the number of FBS teams from 130 down to 96. That would give you 8 regional conferences with 12 teams each, and there wouldn't be a separation of P5 and G5 conferences. Then have a playoff with all 8 conference champions.

FBS Division:

PACIFIC
Hawaii
Fresno State
San Diego State
UCLA
USC
Cal
Stanford
Oregon State
Oregon
Washington
Washington State
Boise State

MOUNTAIN
Nevada
UNLV
BYU
Utah
Arizona State
Arizona
New Mexico
Colorado
Colorado State
Air Force
Wyoming
Nebraska

SOUTHWEST
Texas Tech
North Texas
SMU
TCU
Baylor
Rice
Houston
Texas A&M
Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Tulsa

SOUTHEAST
Arkansas
Arkansas State
Tulane
Louisiana Tech
LSU
Mississippi State
Mississippi
Auburn
Alabama
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Memphis

ATLANTIC
Central Florida
Florida
Florida State
Miami
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Clemson
South Carolina
NC State
North Carolina
Duke
Wake Forest

CENTRAL
Kansas State
Kansas
Missouri
Iowa State
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Purdue
Indiana

MIDWEST
Michigan
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Toledo
Ohio
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Marshall
West Virginia
Louisville
Kentucky

BIG EAST
Virginia Tech
Virginia
Penn State
Pitt
Temple
Rutgers
Maryland
Army
Navy
Syracuse
U Conn
Boston College
.............................

Then have the exact same format for the FCS Division:

WAC
San Diego
San Jose State
Sacramento State
UC Davis
Cal Poly
Azusa Pacific
Weber State
Utah State
Southern Utah
Northern Colorado
Northern Arizona
New Mexico State

BIG SKY
Eastern Washington
Portland State
Idaho
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
North Dakota
North Dakota State
South Dakota
South Dakota State
Northern Iowa
Drake

MISSOURI VALLEY
Southeast Missouri State
Missouri State
Illinois State
Northern Illinois
Southern Illinois
Western Illinois
Eastern Illinois
East Tennessee State
Tennessee State
Tennessee Tech
Middle Tennessee
Chattanooga

MID AMERICAN
Indiana State
Valparaiso
Butler
Ball State
Eastern Michigan
Akron
Miami OH
Bowling Green
Kent
Youngstown State
Eastern Kentucky
Western Kentucky

SUN BELT
UTEP
UTSA
Texas State
Louisiana Lafayette
Louisiana Monroe
Southern Mississippi
South Alabama
UAB
Troy
South Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International

CONFERENCE USA
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
South Carolina State
East Carolina
Coastal Carolina
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Richmond
William & Mary
James Madison
Old Dominion
Liberty

IVY
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Penn
Brown
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Holy Cross

AAC
Villanova
Georgetown
Buffalo
Albany
Stony Brook
Central Connecticut
Delaware State
Delaware
Rhode Island
U Mass
New Hampshire
Maine

Might make sense from a 20,000 ft view, but the schools will never agree to this.

Also, the idea of the Ivy League expanding is particularly laughable. Don't they decline to participate in the FCS playoffs as it is? Why would they be interested in associating with less prestigious schools and miss out on opportunities to play each other annually all to strengthen itself for a playoff that it doesn't even care about?

Maybe some really old-timers can expand, but my distant memories of the Big 8 era was that the 8 or so member conferences were great. In FB they played each other, each year, with great rivalries. In BB, they'd play home-and-home each year; many fans could drive to all or many of the away games both in FB and BB. And they played teams from other conferences regularly, giving good variety for the fans.

(05-29-2018 09:15 AM)Gamecock Wrote:  Also, the idea of the Ivy League expanding is particularly laughable. Don't they decline to participate in the FCS playoffs as it is? Why would they be interested in associating with less prestigious schools and miss out on opportunities to play each other annually all to strengthen itself for a playoff that it doesn't even care about?

Those are all Patriot League schools. That conference was founded as an Ivy-lite conference. Northeastern, small, old-school, private, high academic standard liberal arts schools that played non-scholarship FCS football. The Ivy League LOVED having them around for non-conference games. I'd switch out Holy Cross for Colgate to keep it all nonsectarian.

There are many other problems with these line-ups. The OP has high level FCS schools mixed in with non-scholarship FCS schools just to keep geography. Also, the academies would never be able to keep up with that BE line-up in Olympic sports.

(05-29-2018 06:51 AM)andy98 Wrote:  My idea would be to reduce the number of FBS teams from 130 down to 96. That would give you 8 regional conferences with 12 teams each, and there wouldn't be a separation of P5 and G5 conferences. Then have a playoff with all 8 conference champions.

FBS Division:

PACIFIC
Hawaii
Fresno State
San Diego State
UCLA
USC
Cal
Stanford
Oregon State
Oregon
Washington
Washington State
Boise State

MOUNTAIN
Nevada
UNLV
BYU
Utah
Arizona State
Arizona
New Mexico
Colorado
Colorado State
Air Force
Wyoming
Nebraska

SOUTHWEST
Texas Tech
North Texas
SMU
TCU
Baylor
Rice
Houston
Texas A&M
Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Tulsa

SOUTHEAST
Arkansas
Arkansas State
Tulane
Louisiana Tech
LSU
Mississippi State
Mississippi
Auburn
Alabama
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Memphis

ATLANTIC
Central Florida
Florida
Florida State
Miami
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Clemson
South Carolina
NC State
North Carolina
Duke
Wake Forest

CENTRAL
Kansas State
Kansas
Missouri
Iowa State
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Purdue
Indiana

MIDWEST
Michigan
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Toledo
Ohio
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Marshall
West Virginia
Louisville
Kentucky

BIG EAST
Virginia Tech
Virginia
Penn State
Pitt
Temple
Rutgers
Maryland
Army
Navy
Syracuse
U Conn
Boston College
.............................

Then have the exact same format for the FCS Division:

WAC
San Diego
San Jose State
Sacramento State
UC Davis
Cal Poly
Azusa Pacific
Weber State
Utah State
Southern Utah
Northern Colorado
Northern Arizona
New Mexico State

BIG SKY
Eastern Washington
Portland State
Idaho
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
North Dakota
North Dakota State
South Dakota
South Dakota State
Northern Iowa
Drake

MISSOURI VALLEY
Southeast Missouri State
Missouri State
Illinois State
Northern Illinois
Southern Illinois
Western Illinois
Eastern Illinois
East Tennessee State
Tennessee State
Tennessee Tech
Middle Tennessee
Chattanooga

MID AMERICAN
Indiana State
Valparaiso
Butler
Ball State
Eastern Michigan
Akron
Miami OH
Bowling Green
Kent
Youngstown State
Eastern Kentucky
Western Kentucky

SUN BELT
UTEP
UTSA
Texas State
Louisiana Lafayette
Louisiana Monroe
Southern Mississippi
South Alabama
UAB
Troy
South Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International

CONFERENCE USA
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
South Carolina State
East Carolina
Coastal Carolina
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Richmond
William & Mary
James Madison
Old Dominion
Liberty

IVY
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Penn
Brown
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Holy Cross

AAC
Villanova
Georgetown
Buffalo
Albany
Stony Brook
Central Connecticut
Delaware State
Delaware
Rhode Island
U Mass
New Hampshire
Maine

No way in hell would Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State et al. would agree to that division. In the case of Ohio State, they won't even collaborate with the other Ohio schools with respects to research, let alone trade helmet paint with them.

So your idea is to only have schools that have football? B/c you are missing some heavy hitters when it comes for non football schools.

(05-29-2018 06:51 AM)andy98 Wrote:  My idea would be to reduce the number of FBS teams from 130 down to 96. That would give you 8 regional conferences with 12 teams each, and there wouldn't be a separation of P5 and G5 conferences. Then have a playoff with all 8 conference champions.

FBS Division:

PACIFIC
Hawaii
Fresno State
San Diego State
UCLA
USC
Cal
Stanford
Oregon State
Oregon
Washington
Washington State
Boise State

MOUNTAIN
Nevada
UNLV
BYU
Utah
Arizona State
Arizona
New Mexico
Colorado
Colorado State
Air Force
Wyoming
Nebraska

SOUTHWEST
Texas Tech
North Texas
SMU
TCU
Baylor
Rice
Houston
Texas A&M
Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Tulsa

SOUTHEAST
Arkansas
Arkansas State
Tulane
Louisiana Tech
LSU
Mississippi State
Mississippi
Auburn
Alabama
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Memphis

ATLANTIC
Central Florida
Florida
Florida State
Miami
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Clemson
South Carolina
NC State
North Carolina
Duke
Wake Forest

CENTRAL]
Kansas State
Kansas
Missouri
Iowa State
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Purdue
Indiana


MIDWEST
Michigan
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Toledo
Ohio
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Marshall
West Virginia
Louisville
Kentucky

BIG EAST
Virginia Tech
Virginia
Penn State
Pitt
Temple
Rutgers
Maryland
Army
Navy
Syracuse
U Conn
Boston College
.............................

Then have the exact same format for the FCS Division:

WAC
San Diego
San Jose State
Sacramento State
UC Davis
Cal Poly
Azusa Pacific
Weber State
Utah State
Southern Utah
Northern Colorado
Northern Arizona
New Mexico State

BIG SKY
Eastern Washington
Portland State
Idaho
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
North Dakota
North Dakota State
South Dakota
South Dakota State
Northern Iowa
Drake

MISSOURI VALLEY
Southeast Missouri State
Missouri State
Illinois State
Northern Illinois
Southern Illinois
Western Illinois
Eastern Illinois
East Tennessee State
Tennessee State
Tennessee Tech
Middle Tennessee
Chattanooga

MID AMERICAN
Indiana State
Valparaiso
Butler
Ball State
Eastern Michigan
Akron
Miami OH
Bowling Green
Kent
Youngstown State
Eastern Kentucky
Western Kentucky

SUN BELT
UTEP
UTSA
Texas State
Louisiana Lafayette
Louisiana Monroe
Southern Mississippi
South Alabama
UAB
Troy
South Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International

CONFERENCE USA
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
South Carolina State
East Carolina
Coastal Carolina
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Richmond
William & Mary
James Madison
Old Dominion
Liberty

IVY
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Penn
Brown
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Holy Cross

AAC
Villanova
Georgetown
Buffalo
Albany
Stony Brook
Central Connecticut
Delaware State
Delaware
Rhode Island
U Mass
New Hampshire
Maine

Notre Dame would have zero desire to be in the conference or division you consigned them to.

If fact, that would likely be ND's worst nightmare to be stuck there, away from the Northeast and Southeast Atlantic regions and "relegated" to the western Upper Midwest.

Additionally, it would have little interest in playing many of those schools at all, let alone every season.

Look up the number of times ND has played Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Minnesota.

Hint: Some are none, many are not often and not in recent decades. There is a reason for that.

I reject your idea.

I think my favorite part is how Central Michigan gets to essentially join the Big10 while other G5 schools with higher budgets, higher attendance, better records, and larger stadiums get sent to the FCS. lol.

The Ivy isn't going to expand, but if it did invite a college in Worcester, MA I would bet Clark over Holy Cross.

(05-29-2018 10:27 AM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  I think my favorite part is how Central Michigan gets to essentially join the Big10 while other G5 schools with higher budgets, higher attendance, better records, and larger stadiums get sent to the FCS. lol.

It's a completely unbiased opinion.

(05-29-2018 10:56 AM)Minutemen429 Wrote:  The Ivy isn't going to expand, but if it did invite a college ...

Except maybe for location, Duke seems like it would be a good fit.

Man, when NIU lost to CMU the last 4 years, I didn’t realize it would have the ramifications of demoting NIU to FCS and promoting CMU to Michigan and Ohio State.

(05-29-2018 03:56 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Man, when NIU lost to CMU the last 4 years, I didn’t realize it would have the ramifications of demoting NIU to FCS and promoting CMU to Michigan and Ohio State.

Yea, who woulda thunk it?

(05-29-2018 09:18 AM)PlayBall! Wrote:  Maybe some really old-timers can expand, but my distant memories of the Big 8 era was that the 8 or so member conferences were great. In FB they played each other, each year, with great rivalries. In BB, they'd play home-and-home each year; many fans could drive to all or many of the away games both in FB and BB. And they played teams from other conferences regularly, giving good variety for the fans.

Yes, the Big 8 was awesome. Tight knit. Every game was a rivalry game.

(05-29-2018 06:51 AM)andy98 Wrote:  My idea would be to reduce the number of FBS teams from 130 down to 96. That would give you 8 regional conferences with 12 teams each, and there wouldn't be a separation of P5 and G5 conferences. Then have a playoff with all 8 conference champions.

FBS Division:

PACIFIC
Hawaii
Fresno State
San Diego State
UCLA
USC
Cal
Stanford
Oregon State
Oregon
Washington
Washington State
Boise State

MOUNTAIN
Nevada
UNLV
BYU
Utah
Arizona State
Arizona
New Mexico
Colorado
Colorado State
Air Force
Wyoming
Nebraska

SOUTHWEST
Texas Tech
North Texas
SMU
TCU
Baylor
Rice
Houston
Texas A&M
Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Tulsa

SOUTHEAST
Arkansas
Arkansas State
Tulane
Louisiana Tech
LSU
Mississippi State
Mississippi
Auburn
Alabama
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Memphis

ATLANTIC
Central Florida
Florida
Florida State
Miami
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Clemson
South Carolina
NC State
North Carolina
Duke
Wake Forest

CENTRAL
Kansas State
Kansas
Missouri
Iowa State
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Purdue
Indiana

MIDWEST
Michigan
Michigan State
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Toledo
Ohio
Ohio State
Cincinnati
Marshall
West Virginia
Louisville
Kentucky

BIG EAST
Virginia Tech
Virginia
Penn State
Pitt
Temple
Rutgers
Maryland
Army
Navy
Syracuse
U Conn
Boston College
.............................

Then have the exact same format for the FCS Division:

WAC
San Diego
San Jose State
Sacramento State
UC Davis
Cal Poly
Azusa Pacific
Weber State
Utah State
Southern Utah
Northern Colorado
Northern Arizona
New Mexico State

BIG SKY
Eastern Washington
Portland State
Idaho
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
North Dakota
North Dakota State
South Dakota
South Dakota State
Northern Iowa
Drake

MISSOURI VALLEY
Southeast Missouri State
Missouri State
Illinois State
Northern Illinois
Southern Illinois
Western Illinois
Eastern Illinois
East Tennessee State
Tennessee State
Tennessee Tech
Middle Tennessee
Chattanooga

MID AMERICAN
Indiana State
Valparaiso
Butler
Ball State
Eastern Michigan
Akron
Miami OH
Bowling Green
Kent
Youngstown State
Eastern Kentucky
Western Kentucky

SUN BELT
UTEP
UTSA
Texas State
Louisiana Lafayette
Louisiana Monroe
Southern Mississippi
South Alabama
UAB
Troy
South Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International

CONFERENCE USA
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
South Carolina State
East Carolina
Coastal Carolina
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Richmond
William & Mary
James Madison
Old Dominion
Liberty

IVY
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Penn
Brown
Lehigh
Lafayette
Bucknell
Holy Cross

AAC
Villanova
Georgetown
Buffalo
Albany
Stony Brook
Central Connecticut
Delaware State
Delaware
Rhode Island
U Mass
New Hampshire
Maine

I like what you put together for the Southwest.

Just not gonna work. No P5 Texas or OK Team is agreeing to recreate a junior SWC

By trying to please everyone, you please no one.