When Were the Conferences Best Aligned?
If you could roll back time to any point, where would you stop so that the conferences were best balanced? Lots of possibilities, among them:
- Like, last Thursday
- 2022 (before USC/UCLA to the B1G)
- 2020 (before Big 12 wobble 2/Texas and OU to SEC)
- 2014 (before Rutgers and Maryland to the B1G)
- 2011 ( before Big 12 wobble 1/PAC-10 and SEC expansion)
- mid-2000s (before Big East collapse/ACC expansion)
- 1995 before SWC collapse
- 1990 (before the collapse of independents/PSU to B1G)
- I dunno, pre-forward pass?
This is an off the list answer, but I would argue the conferences were best balanced they day they decided the expand the playoff well past 4 teams.
I'm personally not a fan of conference title games, but conferences didn't play full round robins back in the 1980s and all the eastern schools being independent made the national title race more chaotic. The formation of the big east at least got most of the independents in a conference. So personally, I think the setup in the early 90s was close to ideal, with the SEC just slightly too big.
But I kinda think we should look forward, not back. There was no ideal time. But a super conference nobody wants is forming and a popular west coast league is collapsing. Maybe the framework of the CFP can figure out how to give the biggest schools their money, how to make conference slated small to ensure rivals play, and use the expanded playoff to give everyone a chance while still having the big schools that bring in revenue not be saddled or held back by their smaller brethren
August 7th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
I'm personally not a fan of conference title games, but conferences didn't play full round robins back in the 1980s
We actually did play a nine-game round robin for a few years in the '80s, but even in the other years, we would play eight of the other nine opponents, so the schedule rarely was an issue.
yea before my time - but from what i've read it was for a really short time, right? but yea if you hit most teams, even in the early aughts when you played 8/10, it was a very different scale of problem than what we've had since 2014.
I'm personally not a fan of conference title games,
Blech, me neither. The SEC started ruining everything with that garbage. Climax of the conference season in an NFL dome. Yuck.
Here's what I'd propose, retroactively grandfathering in a few new P5 teams:
"Big 10"
Old B10 (pre-PSU)
"Pac 10"
Old P10 (pre-Utah/Col)
"SEC"
Old SEC (the 10 teams pre-1992)
"Big Eight"
Old Big 8 plus Utah/BYU
"ACC"
Old 9-team ACC plus South Carolina
"Big East"
PSU, ND, Miami, Syr, Pitt, VT, WV, BC, Cin, Lou
"Southwest"
Tex, TxA&M, TxT, TCU, Bay, Hou, SMU, Ark, two of UTSA/Rice/UCF/Boise/Tulane/Memphis
(sorry, don't have a great fit to finish this one)
Apologies, Rutgers, but the AAC is happy to have you
B10 vs P10 champ in Rose Bowl
SEC vs ACC champ in Sugar Bowl
Big East vs Big Eight in Orange Bowl
Southwest vs highest ranked at-large / G5 in Cotton Bowl
Want a four team playoff after the bowls? Knock yourself out
That sounds great, but the unfortunate thing is with nobody in charge, nobody will force conferences to do that. Texas doesn't want to go back to the old Southwest, and would likely lose money by playing those teams.
To get someone in charge - let the big schools play each other more. Take the 64 "power 4" schools from 2024, and split them into an upper and a middle tier (32 schools each). And the remaining 69 FBS schools are in the "low tier". Split those tiers into 8-team divisions (some 9 in the low tier)- full round robins determine the champs. upper tier champs get the top 4 playoff spots, and a spot in the CFP QF. middle tier champs play 1 extra game before the round of 12 (3rd round). lower tier champs play 2 extra playoff games before round of 12. 4 at-large schools round out the round of 12.
And to get the mid-tier schools on board - allow promotion to the upper tier based on CFP achievement, or on beating a low ranked upper tier team. and make it harder for the lower tier to get to the middle tier (say, you have to make the SF or something). First year, have the SEC and Big Ten be the upper tear, with 4x9 team divisions. And then bring them down to 8 by year 2, and by year 4 you'd likely see a lot of exchange between the Big12, ACC and the top 2.
Ensure the biggest names play each other more to get the TV folks on board. With smaller leagues/divisions, there's plenty of out-of-division games to keep the rivals playing even if they fall. There's still plenty of room for "buy" games. Heck, ND can even still be independent of this if they want - but EVERY team that wants in the lower tier needs to be given a division. And for costs, especially the low tier would need to be more geographic.
1983 when teams could only be on TV 2-3 times/season by rule (+ bowl games)
I.e., before the OU Supreme Court case. Also, the Big Ten had 10 members. The world made sense then.
Now get off my lawn.
August 7th, 2023 at 12:31 PM ^
'83 is a little early for me, but I do remember the early '90s when after the Michigan game ended around 3:30, ABC would *sometimes* show another game but other times it would be a rerun of Murder She Wrote or some other crap. And The Commish instead of a prime time game. Weird nostalgia but I definitely don't *miss* it
I may be in the minority but I'm looking forward to the current 18 team conference and playing new teams. The style of the BIG west and poor play of Rutgers/Indiana etc isn't something worth protecting. Those teams get a lot more out of playing Michigan/OSU/Penn State than we do of playing them. Iowa and Wisconsin fans are most upset because they know their free ride is over.
I'm with you, though not as much because of the lousy B1G West.
Now, I say all this with the caveat that I did not grow up watching college football, so I don't have many sacred cows. That said...
The tradition of the B1G has been a rock-slinging, grind it out league. That's fine, but I don't mind bringing some of the Pac-12's most dynamic offenses to the conference. It will make for a fun product for fans, and I'm really interested to see how various teams in the B1G adapt to USC/Oregon style play. Or will USC and Oregon adopt a more grind-it-out style?
I also love the impact this will have for recruiting. Our geographic disadvantage has been notable for awhile, but expanding to the Tri-State area and the Mid-Atlantic has opened opportunities for Michigan. If anything close to that happens in California, the implications are huge. There is something to be said for having kids from coast-to-coast watching Michigan on TV.
I'm really interested to see how various teams in the B1G adapt to USC/Oregon style play.
I've been thinking the same thing. I think this will help teams like Michigan in the post-season. How many times this year did UM have to play against an offense like TCU? If Michigan played Oregon, USC, etc., in the regular season, they'd be much more aware that they need to score a lot of points to win and maybe wouldn't have spent so much time at the beginning of the game trying to establish the run.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:01 AM ^
Well, that's not why they lost, but the overall point is valid. The SEC learned lessons from TAMU and Mizzou and we are going to get some hard lessons from those fun and gun west coast teams too.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:26 AM ^
Blue@LSU you make an excellent point.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
I pondered this over the weekend and also flipped the direction to think 'how will OU adjust to large lines and run heavy offenses after being beaten into submission and having their offensive series limited, and scoring options, limited'. I'm not sure which will win over time, but the evolution will be fun to watch.
I agree. Once the Big Ten added Maryland and Rutgers is was clearly such a money grab that it really killed any sense of the Big Ten as anything other than a money making machine. If it was going to blow up into an NFL division type structure anyway at least give us good interesting matchups. With the addition of the expanded play-offs losing one game is not the nail in the coffin it once was, better games with more wiggle room if you drop a game or two.
Not saying I like this model better than the old conference structure, just saying if this is how it is going to be make it as good as possible.
Go Blue!
Easily the early 2000s when the Big East still existed. Everything was pretty regional.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:02 AM ^
I think the regional aspect is what's throwing most traditional fans for a loop and the possibility for losing rivalries/traditions. There's basically two types of rivalries in my opinion:
1. Historical/Regional rivalries such as OSU/UM, Alabama/Auburn, Texas/OU where teams have a historical and geographical disdain for each other. You can also include in-state and trophy game rivalries to this list.
2. Pinpoint game rivalries that evolve into historical rivalries such as UM/Colorado, ND/Miami, where teams don't necessarily play each other every year but when they do, there's extra bad blood from stemming from a particular game.
Fact is rivalries evolve and are really only as fun or meaningful given the outcomes or singular moments that happen when teams play each other. Will UCLA vs Rutgers ever turn into a must see rivalry game? Probably not but should some crazy ass opportunity to present themselves within the game itself, maybe you'll have to tune in? That's my glass half-full argument for realignment.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:46 AM ^
Yeah I think the structure and makeup of the conferences doesn't so much matter as the loss of regional rivalries does.
We've seen storied rivalries whither away due to teams not being in the same conference, or getting a bug up their butt about playing this or that team.
Penn State and Pitt should play every year. Miami-FSU-Florida should always play a round robin, Texas should be facing Oklahoma AND Texas A&M every year, Nebraska-Colorado as well as Nebraska-Oklahoma/Texas are missed, Oregon - Oregon State should never go away, nor the Apple Cup, etc.
1997.
Or, as we know it in my house, the year I sat next to Anthony Thomas in English class.
IMO Mid 2000's before the big east collapse. The 6 bcs conferences before the massive change. I liked the balance of cf and variety. It was also right before the Big10 formed btn and espn went off the rails slobbing on the sec for game day. CF was so much fun then.
CF didn't get a lot more fun again for me until 2021 with BigNoon and Harbaugh obviously rolling osu. Big Noon Kickoff gave a legit pregame away from gameday so I actually started watching pregame and having fun with cf as a whole again. Prior to that it was watch Michigan and then flip through games but couldn't watch the post games.
Now i'm waiting for the fox post game shows to start.. Yes, I hate espn that much and btn doesn't cover cf nationally.
This is going to be unpopular, but the BCS era.
Yes, there was the HUGE con that only having 2 teams go to the title game left some very worthy teams on the sideline, but it kept the regionality and focus on winning your conference first, since that was (almost always) a pre-requisite to being considered a top 2 team.
AND, since we expanded the playoff, we've actually seen LESS diverse groups of teams vying for championships, so I think the playoff has had the opposite of it's intended affect. It was meant to give more deserving schools a chance to be represented, but in reality, it's just given the SEC a better chance to get 2 teams in.
BCS appearances:
Playoff appearances:
August 7th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^
This is going to be unpopular, but the BCS era.
BCS in 2006 - Michigan vs. Ohio State rematch? We can't have 2 teams from the same conference who played during the season meet in the BCS Championship game. It's only everyone else who called their regular season matchup "The Game of the Century."
BCS in 2011 - LSU vs. Alabama is the matchup everyone wants to see. After all, their regular season 9-6 OT game was such a barn burner.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:09 AM ^
OK State is still my champion from 2011
This is like asking when were Saturday morning cartoons the best. The answer is "when you fell in love with the sport."
That said, the 90s, obviously.
The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Hour.
A close runner-up to The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
I always fell for Bullwinkle pulling a rabbit out of his hat. Also, Natashia was pretty hot.
Yeah, I fucking loved Rocky and Bullwinkle too. Brilliant show--kids today don't know.
And extra points for Rocky's friends at 0:25, because they look like a crowd in a football stadium.
I always preferred the after school cartoon lineup to the Saturday morning one. GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats.
Me and my college roommates loved to get baked and watch Thundercats most weekday afternoons. I enjoyed that activity way more than my managerial accounting class for sure.
"Ancient spirits of evil... transform this decayed form... to Mumm-ra, the ever-LIVING!"
August 7th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
Give me Thundercats and the original Voltron (the Lions).
It all started going downhill when staee was allowed into the Big Ten.
Don't worry Rob, once the top teams in the Big Ten and SEC realize that they now have a bunch of also-rans profiting off of them, and create their own college football super league, State will be left behind to join the Pac 4.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:25 AM ^
This has to happen eventually, right? Eventually the top 4-5 schools in each super-conference are going to realize that they're only being dragged down by the bottom majority of the conference, and will get greedy and try to break away.
Perhaps the basketball tournament (or non-football sports in general) is the golden goose that holds it all together and prevents the CFB super-league. I imagine a B1G without Michigan/OSU, and an SEC without Texas/OU/Alabama/Georgia/Florida wouldn't be too willing to give a ACC-Notre Dame type accommodation.
August 7th, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
I don't think it has to happen but it is likely. And I'm also not sure it's worse than a 20 team conference. And I think the split is more likely in the Big Ten than the SEC - Arkansas is very popular. Mizzou, Kentucky and Vandy don't get eyeballs, but UK is a great basketball school. I think the SEC is stronger - financially and competitively - at the bottom.
But rather than the Big Ten splitting into a "super" national league and a smaller midwestern/northeastern league, I really hope the demise of the Pac12 gets somebody in charge to just organize the sport. Let the rich get richer. Let the struggling mid tier teams get to the playoff. Let rivalries happen. It really is all possible if there was someone in charge.
Whether the rest of college football was aligned properly or not the Big Ten hasn't worked right since Penn State entered.
I suppose the sport could have benefitted from some sort of governing body concerned with structuring leagues to promote competitive balance, control costs and maximize access and revenues from television contracts to the benefit of the whole... but then, who'd have time to oversee when and where the hamburgers are eaten.
It's tough to keep a governing body when they're ruled unconstitutional by... the government.
The way it was when I was a kid
When the Maroons were in the Big Ten.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:00 AM ^
This is some definite OG stuff.
Post-Big 12 formation, pre--ACC expansion. I'd been following college football since the late-70s. This set-up created more meaningful games during the season, rather a previous and largely forgotten problem of dominant teams crushing hapless conference opponents by simply running every play, which created piles of unwatchable games every weekend. That set-up kept regionalism intact, and allowed a nice variety of programs with a real shot at winning it all.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:09 AM ^
That era included Nebraska and Oklahoma getting into national title games despite getting absolutely eviscerated beforehand. Conference championship games becoming a thing is exactly what lead to the current situation being possible.
Among your options, 1990.
But I like Slim Whitman's answer above, of 1983. (Though maybe that's because I somehow ended up with a Slim Whitman LP.)
August 7th, 2023 at 10:01 AM ^
But I like Slim Whitman's answer above, of 1983.
This has to be the correct answer. Things became a bit too dystopian for my tastes in 1984.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:04 AM ^
Room 101 for everyone who didn't get the reference.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:04 AM ^
Redundant posts are double plus ungood. Sorry.
August 7th, 2023 at 10:27 AM ^
"double plus unhood": eloquently put
August 7th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
Before teams started scheduling the little sisters of the poor in out of conference games.
I don't like conference expansion but hey, at least we'll see some nice matchups with Oregon and USC we'd likely never see otherwise.