alternatehistory.com
2018
So I got bored with going year by year and decided to jump ahead to 2018 and the next wave of realignment and postseason change.
2018
The ACC, Big East, Big 8, and PAC all grew increasingly concerned over the Big 10 and SEC making much more TV money, getting (what they considered anyways) preferential treatment in the rankings and bowl selections, and generally being considered superior because they had 16 schools and most of the highest profile schools. So realignment speculation started up again as they tried to address this. Meanwhile since no decision had been made to amend the unseeded plus one plan, it was renewed for 4 years.
This 2 issues would align when the ACC and the Big East merged into the Seaboard Conference for football, and the PAC added Texas, Texas Tech, OSU, and Iowa St from the Big 8 (this helped solved the issues of the under-performing PAC network and the Longhorn Network that ESPN wanted to ditch), both getting to 16 schools for the 2018 season. This decreased the number of major conferences from 6 to 4, and there was discussion of having a four team playoff limited to conference champions, but the SEC was intent on having it be the four best teams (a position the Big 10 had started to come around on since this might have benefited them in recent years but the PAC and now the Seaboard were opposed), and the non-major conferences threaten lawsuit if they were excluded.
The eventual comprise, objections from traditionalists blotted out by ESPN cash, was an 8 team playoff. The four major conference champions would qualify automatically and host a quarter-final on their home field. The highest ranked non-major conference champion would also automatically qualify (and would even host a quarterfinal if they were in the top 4 at the expense of the lowest ranked major conference champion). The remaining 3 spots would go to the highest ranked teams, with no limit on the number a conference could have. Semi-final and Championship games would be put out for sites to bid on (the highest seeded team reaming after the quarterfinals would have the right to select between the 2 semi-final locations). Bowls would no doubt take a serious prestige hit.
Playoff seeding explanation -
Seed 1 through 4 are reserved for the champions of the AQ conferences. The highest ranked non-AQ conference champ gets a spot and so do the three other highest ranked teams by the Playoff rankings, a renamed BCS formula (still an average of the ranks of the Harris and Coaches polls with ties broken by computer polls), these 4 teams are seeded 5-8 in order of their ranking. An exception is if the non-AQ champ is ranked in the top 4, in which case they are seeded in the top 4 according to ranking and the lowest ranked AQ champ drops to the 5th seed.
2018 Conferences -
AQ Conferences (Champion automatically in Playoffs)
Seaboard Conference – A football only conference (schools are in the ACC and Big East respectively for other sports) with divisions identical to the old ACC / Big East conferences. Teams play the other 7 schools in their division and 2 from the other. Notre Dame is contracted to play 5 games a year against Seaboard schools. The title game is between the 2 division winners, unless Notre Dame has a better or equal winning percentage in their contracted games and is ranked higher than a division winner, in which case Notre Dame take the place of the lowest ranked division winner.
Atlantic - Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. St, Wake Forest
East - Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, UConn, West Virginia
Other - Notre Dame
PAC 16 – Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
West - California, Oregon, Oregon St, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington St
East - Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, Iowa St, Oklahoma St, Texas, Texas Tech, Utah
SEC - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. 1 of the 2 crossover is a permanent match-up, the other rotates among the remaining 7. Perhaps Alabama/Tennessee, Arkansas/Virginia Tech, Auburn/Georgia, Kansas/Kentucky, LSU/Florida, Mississippi/South Carolina , Miss St/ Vanderbilt , Texas A+M/Florida St for the protected crossovers.
East - Georgia, Florida, Florida St, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech
West - Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Kansas, LSU, Mississippi, Miss. St, Texas A+M
Big 10 - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
East - Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Penn St, Purdue, Virginia
West – Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
Non-AQ Conferences – (Highest ranked champion automatically in playoffs)
Mt. West - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners. Presumably no protected crossovers.
West - Boise St, BYU, Fresno St, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego St, San Jose St, UNLV
East - Air Force, Baylor, Colorado St, Kansas St, New Mexico, Memphis, TCU, Wyoming
Conference USA - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
East – East Carolina, FAU, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Temple, UAB, UCF
West – Houston, Louisiana Tech, N. Texas, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, UTEP
MAC - Teams play the 6 in their division and 3 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
East – Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent St, Miami (OH), Ohio, UMass
West – Ball St, C. Michigan, E. Michigan, N. Illinois, Toledo, W. Kentucky, W. Michigan
Sunbelt - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
East - Appalachian St, Charlotte, FIU, Georgia Southern, Georgia St, Old Dominion, S. Alabama,Troy
West - Arkansas St, Idaho, Lou-Lafayette, Lou-Monroe, New Mexico St, Texas St, Utah St, UTSA
Independents – Army, Liberty, Navy
Notes: After everyone mocked the Big 10 matrix system (especially the POD names) they decided to go with the a simple and neat solution, though at the expense of some rivalries and only playing the other division teams once every four years. This started the trend of 2-8 team divisions instead of possible 4-4 team divisions. The SEC got talked into having a 9 game conference schedule so the other major conferences wouldn't shame them (they're still going to be playing Sunbelt schools in November however).
This TL saw Texas cling to it's network to the bitter end (driving half the conference away), but they finally had to give it up when it wasn't making money for ESPN but also the Big 8's status as a major conference was starting to be in danger. (The network isn't making ESPN money OTL either but the Big 12 is in much better shape than TTL's Big 8).
The PAC took Iowa St over Kansas St because Iowa St is an AAU member and that made it easier for the PAC university presidents to accept the expansion.
Talks from the four remaining Big 8 members to form a conference with the best Mt. West and Conference USA schools in order to make a fifth major conference, or likely failing that to at least dominant the non-AQ spot so that they almost were, failed due to disagreement between the Mt. West and Conference USA schools over who would get in. The Big 8 leftovers joined the Mt. West along with BYU and 3 WAC schools in order to get to 16. They are expected to be the best non-AQ conference but Conference USA will be competitive for that playoff spot.
Conference USA loaded up on Sun Belt schools to get to 16, and the Sun Belt welcomed a wave of new 1-A schools to replace them, along with the remains of the WAC.
I just intend to make one more post next week about how the 2018 season goes.
2018
The ACC, Big East, Big 8, and PAC all grew increasingly concerned over the Big 10 and SEC making much more TV money, getting (what they considered anyways) preferential treatment in the rankings and bowl selections, and generally being considered superior because they had 16 schools and most of the highest profile schools. So realignment speculation started up again as they tried to address this. Meanwhile since no decision had been made to amend the unseeded plus one plan, it was renewed for 4 years.
This 2 issues would align when the ACC and the Big East merged into the Seaboard Conference for football, and the PAC added Texas, Texas Tech, OSU, and Iowa St from the Big 8 (this helped solved the issues of the under-performing PAC network and the Longhorn Network that ESPN wanted to ditch), both getting to 16 schools for the 2018 season. This decreased the number of major conferences from 6 to 4, and there was discussion of having a four team playoff limited to conference champions, but the SEC was intent on having it be the four best teams (a position the Big 10 had started to come around on since this might have benefited them in recent years but the PAC and now the Seaboard were opposed), and the non-major conferences threaten lawsuit if they were excluded.
The eventual comprise, objections from traditionalists blotted out by ESPN cash, was an 8 team playoff. The four major conference champions would qualify automatically and host a quarter-final on their home field. The highest ranked non-major conference champion would also automatically qualify (and would even host a quarterfinal if they were in the top 4 at the expense of the lowest ranked major conference champion). The remaining 3 spots would go to the highest ranked teams, with no limit on the number a conference could have. Semi-final and Championship games would be put out for sites to bid on (the highest seeded team reaming after the quarterfinals would have the right to select between the 2 semi-final locations). Bowls would no doubt take a serious prestige hit.
Playoff seeding explanation -
Seed 1 through 4 are reserved for the champions of the AQ conferences. The highest ranked non-AQ conference champ gets a spot and so do the three other highest ranked teams by the Playoff rankings, a renamed BCS formula (still an average of the ranks of the Harris and Coaches polls with ties broken by computer polls), these 4 teams are seeded 5-8 in order of their ranking. An exception is if the non-AQ champ is ranked in the top 4, in which case they are seeded in the top 4 according to ranking and the lowest ranked AQ champ drops to the 5th seed.
2018 Conferences -
AQ Conferences (Champion automatically in Playoffs)
Seaboard Conference – A football only conference (schools are in the ACC and Big East respectively for other sports) with divisions identical to the old ACC / Big East conferences. Teams play the other 7 schools in their division and 2 from the other. Notre Dame is contracted to play 5 games a year against Seaboard schools. The title game is between the 2 division winners, unless Notre Dame has a better or equal winning percentage in their contracted games and is ranked higher than a division winner, in which case Notre Dame take the place of the lowest ranked division winner.
Atlantic - Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. St, Wake Forest
East - Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, UConn, West Virginia
Other - Notre Dame
PAC 16 – Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
West - California, Oregon, Oregon St, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington St
East - Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, Iowa St, Oklahoma St, Texas, Texas Tech, Utah
SEC - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. 1 of the 2 crossover is a permanent match-up, the other rotates among the remaining 7. Perhaps Alabama/Tennessee, Arkansas/Virginia Tech, Auburn/Georgia, Kansas/Kentucky, LSU/Florida, Mississippi/South Carolina , Miss St/ Vanderbilt , Texas A+M/Florida St for the protected crossovers.
East - Georgia, Florida, Florida St, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech
West - Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Kansas, LSU, Mississippi, Miss. St, Texas A+M
Big 10 - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
East - Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Penn St, Purdue, Virginia
West – Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
Non-AQ Conferences – (Highest ranked champion automatically in playoffs)
Mt. West - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners. Presumably no protected crossovers.
West - Boise St, BYU, Fresno St, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego St, San Jose St, UNLV
East - Air Force, Baylor, Colorado St, Kansas St, New Mexico, Memphis, TCU, Wyoming
Conference USA - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
East – East Carolina, FAU, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Temple, UAB, UCF
West – Houston, Louisiana Tech, N. Texas, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, UTEP
MAC - Teams play the 6 in their division and 3 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
East – Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent St, Miami (OH), Ohio, UMass
West – Ball St, C. Michigan, E. Michigan, N. Illinois, Toledo, W. Kentucky, W. Michigan
Sunbelt - Teams play the 7 in their division and 2 from the other division every year. Title game is between the two division winners.
East - Appalachian St, Charlotte, FIU, Georgia Southern, Georgia St, Old Dominion, S. Alabama,Troy
West - Arkansas St, Idaho, Lou-Lafayette, Lou-Monroe, New Mexico St, Texas St, Utah St, UTSA
Independents – Army, Liberty, Navy
Notes: After everyone mocked the Big 10 matrix system (especially the POD names) they decided to go with the a simple and neat solution, though at the expense of some rivalries and only playing the other division teams once every four years. This started the trend of 2-8 team divisions instead of possible 4-4 team divisions. The SEC got talked into having a 9 game conference schedule so the other major conferences wouldn't shame them (they're still going to be playing Sunbelt schools in November however).
This TL saw Texas cling to it's network to the bitter end (driving half the conference away), but they finally had to give it up when it wasn't making money for ESPN but also the Big 8's status as a major conference was starting to be in danger. (The network isn't making ESPN money OTL either but the Big 12 is in much better shape than TTL's Big 8).
The PAC took Iowa St over Kansas St because Iowa St is an AAU member and that made it easier for the PAC university presidents to accept the expansion.
Talks from the four remaining Big 8 members to form a conference with the best Mt. West and Conference USA schools in order to make a fifth major conference, or likely failing that to at least dominant the non-AQ spot so that they almost were, failed due to disagreement between the Mt. West and Conference USA schools over who would get in. The Big 8 leftovers joined the Mt. West along with BYU and 3 WAC schools in order to get to 16. They are expected to be the best non-AQ conference but Conference USA will be competitive for that playoff spot.
Conference USA loaded up on Sun Belt schools to get to 16, and the Sun Belt welcomed a wave of new 1-A schools to replace them, along with the remains of the WAC.
I just intend to make one more post next week about how the 2018 season goes.
- Jasen777
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