Is College football as we know it heading towards a split again? The last time division 1 football split was in 1978. That would go along to create D1A (FBS) and D1AA (FCS). There are discussions at the FBS level for the group of 5 schools to breakaway from the power 4/5 schools. The G5 schools would have their own poll and playoffs if they were to split. Currently there are 70 P5 schools and 64 G5 schools set for 2024. 

If you were to add ten more schools to the P5 from the G5 ,and then 26 FCS schools to the G5 you will have an even number of 80 schools in both divisions. Dividing the 80 schools into eight 10-team conferences, will restore some rivalries that were getting missed and discontinued from the current state of college football realignment. This will also create more of a competitive balance amongst the conferences by spreading the power schools around and having similar scheduling rules.

The Split

Renaming the football divisions to D1-A for the Power Five 80, D1-AA for the Group of Five 80, and the rest of the FCS schools left behind will be D1-AAA.

D1-A Conference Realignment

ACC – Reunites with Maryland and adds South Carolina to join the other ACC staples.

Big 8 – Adds Louisville and Cincinnati to join the original Big 8 members.The Big 8 now stands for the eight states it covers instead of the eight members from the past.

Big East – Brings back the band back together plus ND as a full member. Also adds Penn State who almost joined the Big East back in the day. UCF has an up and comer program with plenty of potential and a good market.

Big Ten – The original Big Ten before the conference started growing to 18 members.

MWC – Gets Utah and BYU back in the fold to add to the 8 current members that are best prepared to be a power program. Leaving Utah State, San Jose State, Hawaii and New Mexico to go down a level.

Pac 10 – The original members before they tried to expand to a superconference back in 2011.

SEC – The conference is still strong and the best, even with its 10 original members, before they wanted to expand for conference championship games.

SWC – The original members from the one time conference minus Rice. Adds Tulane and Memphis as two very solid programs with NY6 bowl experience, nice stadiums and good markets.

D1-AA Conference Realignment

AAC – Made up of mostly members who were left in the conference that are on the eastern side of the conference. Probably has the biggest markets of all the schools at this level.

Big Sky – Made up of MWC leftovers and the best Big Sky schools make it a strong contender for best conference.

Coastal- A regional conference that takes some of the best CAA schools and combines them with former members and schools close to the region to spark some new rivalries.

C-USA – A regional conference that stretches from Louisiana to Kentucky. Has current and former C-USA schools and creates some interesting rivalries going forward.

MAC – The most consistent conference through all of conference realignment. Loses a few schools to get to ten but the core schools are here. MACtion is still strong!

Summit – Summit leagues starts a football conference and is made up of mostly MVFC power schools and adds NIU, St Thomas, and Drake to the conference which has the Defending FCS champs. 

Sunbelt – A southern conference that will have very old and brand new, fun rivalries. The funbelt looks to be very competitive and unpredictable. Also half of the conference have bird mascots.

WAC – The WAC is back, with a southwestern feel to it this time. Covering Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, would make this one of the hottest conferences to watch a game during September.

New Schedule

The schedule for all D1-A schools will be a round robin 9 conference game schedule, and 3 non conference games, with at least one being against another D1-A school and cannot schedule games against D1-AAA schools. D1-AA will follow the similar type of scheduling setup as D1-A but can schedule games against D1-AAA schools. With there being one true conference champion due to the round robin schedule format, there would be no need for conference championship games.

Rivalry (Thanksgiving) week

D1-A

ACC: Florida State-Florida, Georgia Tech-Georgia, Clemson-South Carolina, Duke-Wake Forest, NC State-North Carolina, Virginia-Virginia Tech, Maryland-Rutgers

Big 8: Nebraska-Colorado, Kansas-Missouri, Kansas State-Iowa State, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, Louisville-Kentucky, Cincinnati-Memphis

Big East: Miami-UCF, Virginia Tech-Virginia, West Virginia-Pittsburgh, Rutgers-Maryland, Penn State-Syracuse, Boston College-Notre Dame

Big Ten: Michigan-Ohio State, Michigan State-Wisconsin, Indiana-Purdue, Northwestern-Illinois, Iowa-Minnesota

Mountain West: Utah-BYU, Air Force-Colorado State, Fresno State-San Diego State, Nevada-UNLV, Boise State-Wyoming

Pac 10: USC-UCLA, Stanford-Cal, Washington-Washington State, Arizona-Arizona State, Oregon-Oregon State

SEC: Alabama-Auburn, Ole Miss-Mississippi State, Tennessee-Vanderbilt, LSU-Arkansas, Kentucky-Louisville, Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech

SWC: Texas-Texas a&m, TCU-SMU, Baylor-Texas Tech, Houston-Tulane, Arkansas-LSU, Memphis-Cincinnati

D1-AA

AAC: Army-Navy, Temple-Buffalo, Charlotte-East Carolina, FAU-FIU, UAB-South Florida

Big Sky: Hawaii-San Jose State, Utah State-Weber State, Montana-Montana State, Idaho-Eastern Washington, Sacramento State-Portland State

CAA: Old Dominion-James Madison, Marshall-Liberty, UConn-UMass, Villanova-Delaware, New Hampshire-Albany

C-USA: Eastern Kentucky-Chattanooga, Western Kentucky-Mid Tenn State, Arkansas State-Louisiana, Louisiana Tech-Louisiana Monroe, Missouri State-Central Arkansas

MAC: Miami OH-Ball State, Toledo-Bowling Green, Kent State-Akron, Ohio-Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan-Western Michigan

Summit: Northern Illinois-Southern Illinois, North Dakota-North Dakota State, South Dakota-South Dakota State, Illinois State-Northern Iowa, Drake-St. Thomas MN

Sunbelt: South Alabama-Southern Miss, Troy-Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State-Georgia State, Furman-Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern-Appalachian State

WAC: New Mexico-New Mexico State, UTEP-UTSA, Rice-Tulsa, Tarleton State-Sam Houston State, North Texas-Texas State

Playoff Expansion

A 16 team playoff would take place over the current 12 team structure. The expanded playoff will grant every conference champion winner an automatic bid and home field for round 1 of the playoffs. The rest of the playoff field will be filled by 8 at large spots either coming through the rankings or through a selection committee. D1-AA will follow a similar playoff structure but can choose to use bowl sites or home stadiums for their quarterfinals and semifinals games. 

D1-A Hypothetical Playoff Picture

D1-AA Hypothetical Playoff Picture

Effects of Realignment

Big East-  will have Villanova, Georgetown & Uconn as non football members, Seton Hall, Providence & St. Johns as full members. Xavier Marquette, & DePaul will join the A-10 conference, Butler will join the Horizon league, and Creighton will join the Big 8 in all sports.

Big 8- will add Wichita State(American) and Creighton(Big East) as all sports members.

Hawaii- will be a football-only member in the Big Sky conference and play all other sports in the Big West conference.

MVFC and United Athletic Conference have disbanded as football-only conferences.

The Coastal leftover schools will form their own conference, probably call it the Colonial Athletic Conference. 

The Big Sky leftover schools will make their own conference and add Utah Tech and Southern Utah.

Tidbits

Bowl games won’t be needed with 16/80 teams in the playoffs, no more rewarding mediocrity.

One National Signing Day- First Wednesday in February

Transfer Portal Windows- Jan 1-15, May 1-15

No Independents – Join a conference!

Questions

What is your favorite new conference?

In favor of the extended playoff?

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