A Total College Football Reorganization - California Golden Blogs

Ten 12-team conferences, grouped by region. CGB assigns the 'Horns to the "Tex-Mex Conference," where we're joined in the East Division by A&M, TCU, SMU, Rice and Houston. West Division coneference members are New Mexico, New Mexico St, UTEP, Texas Tech, North Texas, and Baylor.

Though there would be some interesting benefits to this particular proposal, the Longhorns would in this scenario be an enormous fish in a drastically smaller pond. I can't say I'd prefer it to the status quo. Nonetheless, I love the effort to think through a nationwide reorganization and CGB has undertaken the project coast to coast. Have a look.

9 months ago Peter Bean 23 comments 0 recs |

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Re: This proposal

Um. This is why Texas left the SWC. The same problems that plagued that conference are the same problems that plague this one, except this one is probably worse because some of those schools have horrible athletic programs, particularly the New Mexico schools, SMU, and North Texas. Blech. It would sure be easy to win conference championships, but it doesn’t prepare any of the teams well for the postseason. And the regular season wouldn’t be much drama, with Texas rolling over just about everyone is just about everything.

by GhostofBigRoy on Feb 9, 2009 6:08 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Agree

What I like, though, is the effort to look at the reorganization in whole, as opposed to what you usually see, which is “Form conference A, with teams 1-12,” leaving out what to do with everyone else.

It’s the right conversation starter, at the very least.

--PB--

by Peter Bean on Feb 9, 2009 6:41 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Also...

…every conference is diluted. It’s not just “yours.” That pretty much has to happen when you put every FBS program into the conferences, rather than having five BCS leagues and then everyone else.

We'll carry the banner high!
Bring On The Cats

by TB on Feb 9, 2009 6:43 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Didn't they try something . .

like this for about 80 years from 1914 to 1996? While I personally have a lot of nostalgia for the old SWC, I don’t think the major member schools (A&M and Texas in particular) or the rest of the college athletic world would at all.

by DoubleB on Feb 9, 2009 6:16 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I’ve posted several reorganization ideas on here, but none has involved anything quite so unbalanced.

I think UT would be better off as an independent than in such a conference. Go indie, then play TAMU, OU, Ark, and a few others every year.

by burntorangehorn on Feb 9, 2009 6:38 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Good idea horrific execution

They baiscally give Tech an automatic berth in the conference championship game and the winner of the game between UT and A&M would decide the other division title. I don’t think anybody would really like this.

If we were to restructure the Big 12 I personally would like to have UH and TCU switch spots with Baylor and maybe Iowa State. Move Oklahoma State to the North and have UH and TCU in the South.

Don't hate 'cause you can't duplicate.

by PrimeTime2012 on Feb 9, 2009 7:02 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Wait, keep Iowa State in the Tex-Mex league? No way. There are plenty of better schools between Austin and Ames that could be in such a league, including Arkansas.

by burntorangehorn on Feb 9, 2009 7:20 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I meant to get rid of Iowa State and Baylor

Iowa State and Baylor would be replaced by UH and TCU respectively. The other 10 teams in the Big 12 would be the same.

Don't hate 'cause you can't duplicate.

by PrimeTime2012 on Feb 9, 2009 7:31 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

How about we kick atm out and keep baylor?

At least they have good looking girls and female cheerleaders and suck less at football than the aggies…

by SneezyBeltran on Feb 9, 2009 7:33 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I was thinking the same

didn’t Baylor beat A&M this year :)

by BrooklynHorn on Feb 9, 2009 8:39 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Generic conference name

These Conferences are crap. Send some of these schools to div II and strenghten the conferences a little more. I would be fine with adding Arkansas back in the conference like the old SWC and add LSU,drop Oklahoma from the conference but keep the whole Red River Rivalry. A&M stays in the conference as does Tech drop Iowa State and Baylor pick up Ole Miss and keep Oklahoma State there is your Super 8 Conference.

by kcmorse on Feb 9, 2009 7:42 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

My math didnt add up I guess I should stop drinkin so early

by kcmorse on Feb 9, 2009 7:45 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Bring in UH

by kcmorse on Feb 9, 2009 7:46 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I had Texas, TAMU, Baylor, Tech, LSU, Arkansas, Houston, TCU, OU, Okie State, Tulsa, and one out of Tulane, Rice, UNT, or SMU.

by burntorangehorn on Feb 9, 2009 8:27 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Get rid of the two-division conferences

There is a lot to quibble with here, but I like the idea as a whole. Sure, it pairs powerhouses with weaker schools. But that’s what we do anyway; we just call it the non-conference schedule. The tight-knit geography of this plan makes for a greener league overall, when you think about it. What I dislike are the divisions within conferences, a scheme that bit us in the ass this year. Instead of 10 confereces of 12, how about 12 conferences of 10? Everybody plays everybody, and there’s room for 3 non-games to boot.

by NYCHorn on Feb 10, 2009 8:36 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

The problem is that

you have to have 12 teams to have a conference championship game. That’s why the Big 10 and the Pac 10 don’t have one.

by GhostofBigRoy on Feb 10, 2009 8:42 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'd rather do without a conference championship game. That's the point of a 10-team conference.

by NYCHorn on Feb 10, 2009 4:48 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

good idea, needs work

I prefer the idea of having 12 conferences with 10 teams each. Everyone plays everyone, you can determine a true conference champion. I think for the most part the current conferences should be kept intact, just do some slight modification. Who would the Big XII lose? Maybe Baylor, but I’d be happy if KSU and IU were gone.

by cheevyjames on Feb 10, 2009 9:12 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

IU?

by burntorangehorn on Feb 10, 2009 9:41 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

ISU - forgot the S. d'oh.

by cheevyjames on Feb 11, 2009 11:42 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

The new Big 10

I’d be happy to lose Baylor and ISU and make the Big 12 another, and better, Big 10.

by NYCHorn on Feb 10, 2009 4:49 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I haven’t seen anyone address this, but would you actually want to see these games? I know I would be firing up the grill for that annual CMU/Bowling Green barnburner — not to mention our games with BOTH the colleges in NM! I appreciate the work but I think any restructuring effort should be more oriented toward:

1) producing more entertaining games by encouraging/not penalizing teams for scheduling more challenging OOC schedules (like no more Div 2, sorry "FCS")
2) developing a playoff/NC selection system that is more transparent and persuasive

It seems like all this plan would really do is make everyone’s conference schedule weaker.

by scdavis50 on Feb 10, 2009 10:00 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for all the input!

Part of what was difficult for me in creating this plan was that, given my familiarity with West Coast football, I had difficulty anticipating how various fanbases would react to the new conference alignments, and the tearing apart of certain rivalries in particular. I assure you, compromises were made everywhere, and I tried my best not to screw any one school over too completely. Personally, I was intrigued by the possibility of an “all-Texas” league, but perhaps reviving the old SWC wouldn’t be as popular as I’d hoped.

Another idea I’d played around with was taking Texas Tech, UTEP, and the New Mexico schools, pairing them with the Arizona schools in a recreation of the old Border Conference, and then maybe going North to Utah and Colorado and creating some sort of “Four Corners” conference. Then, the remaining 8 Texas schools pair with, say, Oklahoma and Okie State for a 10 team league, tossing in Tulsa and Arkansas for a 12-teamer, if you prefer.

So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!

by ragnarok on Feb 10, 2009 1:58 PM CST reply actions 0 recs