There is talk out there about the SEC and Big Ten breaking away from the NCAA and creating a Super Conference. While it’s not something I think is good for college football, it is something I could see happening. With money and television contracts now driving college football I can’t see ESPN and FOX ever coming together and splitting up their inventory and revenue. Without anyone saying it, the two networks are driving college football and are a big reason everyone can’t come together on 24 teams qualifying for the playoffs.
Call me crazy, but that’s why I foresee there being two super conferences. One will be ESPN and the other, FOX, CBS, NBC. For now, we will call these two conferences SESC (Southeastern Sports Conference) and FCNC (FOX, Columbia, National Conference).
Each new conference will consist of 32 teams for a total of 64. The two conferences of 32 would have 12 qualifiers for the playoffs in each conference. Twelve will make the SEC happy, a total of 24 makes everyone else happy.
There will be the SESC conference playoffs and the FCNC conference playoffs. Each television network would televise their playoffs on their various outlets (ESPN, FOX, CBS, NBC, Peacock, TBS). Each conference would crown a champion. The champion of each conference would then play for the National Championship, a college version of the NFL’s Super Bowl. To keep everyone happy, the National Championship game will be rotated between the four television networks from year to year.
Elijah Herbel of the ‘Average Joe Sports Show’ recently put together a Super Conference of 48 teams. I like it, but I can’t see that many schools willing to be left out of the party. And again, it only works with ESPN and FOX coming together, which I don’t see happening. That’s why I’m going with 64 teams and separate playoffs.
So, who are my 32 teams for each conference? First off, we will go back to a more regional set up, reestablishing old rivalries. But first, you must remember that neither network is going to give up the teams they currently televise. Therefore, the SEC teams will be in the ESPN conference and the Big Ten will be in the FOX, CBS and NBC conference. The ACC and Big XII will be absorbed by the two conferences based on regionality. But this also means that Notre Dame is automatically in the FOX, CBS, NBC conference. And don’t expect to see ESPN giving up Texas and Oklahoma due to regionality.
On my list of teams that may qualify for a Super Conference, there were 74 teams of the 138 FBS teams that were up for consideration. I’ve selected what I thought were the best 32 teams for each conference, meaning schools like Cincinnati, UCF, Boston College, and Stanford were left out. It also means that 10 of the teams under consideration were left out and will drop down or remain in the Group of 6.
With 32 teams in each conference, they will be broken down into four divisions in each conference or 8 teams in each division. To make it easy we’ll call the divisions North, South, East, and West for now. You’ll see right away there are some great matchups and old rivalries that will come back. I’ll start with the FCNC Conference first.
FCNC North
- Michigan
- Notre Dame
- Illinois
- Michigan State
- Wisconsin
- Minnesota
- Northwestern
- Purdue
(Key rivalry games, Michigan-Notre Dame, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Michigan-Michigan State)
FCNC South
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- Texas Tech
- Kansas State
- Colorado
- Oklahoma State
- Iowa State
- Kansas
(Key rivalry games, Nebraska-Iowa, Nebraska-Colorado, Kansas-Kansas State, Iowa-Iowa State)
FCNC West
- Oregon
- Washington
- USC
- UCLA
- Utah
- Arizona State
- Arizona
- BYU
(Key rivalry games, Arizona-Arizona State, Utah-BYU, USC-UCLA, Oregon-Washington)
FCNC East
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- Indiana
- West Virginia
- Pittsburgh
- Syracuse
- Maryland
- Rutgers
(Key rivalry games, Pittsburgh-Penn State, Pittsburgh-West Virginia, Ohio State-Indiana)
The SESC conference would appear as follows.
SESC North
- Tennessee
- Virginia Tech
- Virginia
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- North Carolina State
- Vanderbilt
- Wake Forest
(Key rivalry games, Virgina Tech-Virgina, Tennessee-Vanderbilt, North Carolina- North Carolina State)
SESC South
- Alabama
- LSU
- Ole Miss
- Auburn
- Louisville
- Kentucky
- Mississippi State
- Arkansas
(Key rivalry games, LSU-Alabama, Alabama-Auburn, Kentucky-Louisville, Ole-Miss-Mississippi State)
SESC West
- Texas
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- SMU
- TCU
- California
- Houston
- Baylor
(Key rivalry games, Texas-Texas A&M, Texas-Oklahoma, SMU-TCU)
SESC East
- Georgia
- Miami
- Florida
- Clemson
- Florida State
- South Carolina
- Georgia Tech
- Duke
(Key rivalry games, Florida-Florida State, Florida-Miami, Clemson-South Carolina, Clemson-Miami, Florida-Georgia, Georgia-Georgia Tech)
As you can see this set-up allows the divisions to get back to regionality and cut back on some of the current travel issues. You’ll notice that the SESC West looks very familiar to the old Southwest Conference, while the FCNC West looks like the old Pac10. The FCNC South looks like the old Big Eight Conference and at first glance may be the weakest conference listed. However, most of the conferences are well balanced with anywhere from 2 to 4 teams that are in the preseason top 25. Perhaps the SESC East, with Georgia, Miami, Florida, and Clemson may be the toughest conference.
I see something like this happening because of how close college football is becoming to the NFL as far as pay and where things are headed. Eventually we’ll see a player’s union, salary caps, and collective bargaining. Two Super Conferences allow for more inventory, involves more fans and more money, basically creating two college style NFLs.
The Group of Six schools may have their own playoffs as well, something like the FCS. With schools like JMU, Tulane, and Bosie State performing well, relegation may be considered, where some teams are promoted to the Super Conferences and others fall to the Group of Six.
Will it happen? Probably not but never say never, and if we’re going to talk Super Conferences, this one is as good as any to ponder over. Share your thoughts by making a comment or email me at lyleharmon.otc@gmail.com
GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FAST, VILOENT!!
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