Realign? Let’s go big time

The college football world is about to be turned upside down again and, of course, shaken to dislodge any loose change that hasn’t already been grabbed.

So why not go all the way?

In case you missed it, Oklahoma and Texas have applied for membership in the Southeastern Conference (whose official motto of “It Just Means More,” as we’ve said, is shorthand for “We Will Not Be Outbid”). The commissioner of the Big 12, the conference from which Bevo and Boomer Sooner are trying to escape, sent ESPN a ceaseand-desist letter claiming that emissaries of the network are trying to convince other schools in that conference to defect elsewhere, presumably to turn the Power Five into a Power Four under control of the Worldwide Leader in Wretched Excess.

(Or Power 3-1/2, depending on how you view the Pac-12.)

The last major wave of conference reconstruction — and remember, it included Bevo and Boomer considering the efficacy of joining the Pac-12 for a brief period in 2010 — was seismic but didn’t really change the prevailing ethos in the sport, aside from watering down the regional emphasis that once gave college football its charm. (Missouri and Texas A&M in the SEC? Boston College and Syracuse in the ACC? West Virginia in the Big 12? Seriously?)

Now, with new NIL guidelines giving players a chance to be compensated

(if not a total voice in their welfare yet) and the NCAA leadership struggling to retain relevance, there’s no better opportunity to forget the pretense and totally revamp the sport. And our solution would make it more competitive at all levels.

The key ingredient: Promotion and relegation, the elements that soccer leagues elsewhere in the world use to maintain interest and motivation. We’d create a pyramid at the top of the sport, under the umbrella of College Football Inc.™ — it’s been big business all along, so why not make it official — to reward not only those at the top but the upward strivers among the sport’s middle-class.

The structure would be a Super League pyramid, four divisions of 10 teams each. The initial groupings in our scheme are based strictly on the won-loss percentages from the last four seasons, 2017-2020. You play every team in your division each year plus two non-division games for an 11-game schedule: One against a traditional/geographical rival (USC-UCLA, Ohio StateMichigan, Alabama-Auburn, etc.) and the other against another team in the pyramid, no exceptions. (Happy, Trojan fans? You’ll still get that Notre Dame matchup.)

And there will be no more carping about a program’s legacy or strength of schedule or a conference’s power rating. The little guys

get a crack at the big guys, and it’s up to them whether they remain there. No excuses.

Those who don’t make that Top 40 would remain in their current conferences (which would remain intact for all other sports; this is just a football concept for now). There would indeed be a 12-team playoff and yes, those non-pyramid conferences would have the No. 12 playoff seed over which to fight, as well as determining which two teams get promoted to the Fourth Division. The nonchampionship bowls would still have plenty of schools to choose from.

Assuming, solely for the sake of argument, that it began this year, this is how it would look (records and winning percentages over the last four seasons in parentheses):

FIRST DIVISION, TOP FOUR FINISHERS TO PLAYOFF >> Alabama (51-4, .927), Clemson (51-5, .910), Ohio State (45-5, .900), Oklahoma (458, .849), Notre Dame (43-8, .843), Central Florida (41-8, .837), Georgia (44-9, .830), Appalachian State (42-10, .808), Boise State (38-10, .791), LSU (39-12, .764).

(And yes, I know what you’re thinking. Hold your outrage, please, until I’ve finished the groupings).

SECOND DIVISION, TOP THREE TEAMS TO PLAYOFF >> Memphis (38-4, .730), Penn State (35-13, .729), Wisconsin (35-13, .729), Cincinnati (35-14, .714), AlabamaBirmingham (34-16, .708), Washington (31-13, .704), Iowa (33-14, .702), Army (35-16, .686), Oregon (3215, .680), Texas A&M (3316,

.673).

THIRD DIVISION, TOP TWO TEAMS TO PLAYOFF >> Florida (33-16, .673, tiebreaker to determine divisions was a 41-38 loss to Texas A&M in 2020), Oklahoma State (33-17, .660), Liberty (24-12, .667 since starting FBS play in 2018), San Diego State (31-16, .659), Marshall (32-17, .653), Florida Atlantic (3217, .653), Utah (30-16, .652), Buffalo (30-16, .652), Auburn (33-18, .647), Louisiana (33-18, .647).

FOURTH DIVISION, TOP TWO TEAMS TO PLAYOFF >>

Michigan (29-16, .644), USC (2916, .644), Ohio (27-15, .643), Texas (32-18, .640), Troy (3118, .632), Fresno State (2917, .630), Iowa State (32-19, .627), Washington State (2716, .627), NC State (30-18, .625), Toledo (28-17, .622). OK, cue the outrage. What could I possibly have been thinking, mixing in All-American Conference and MAC and Sun Belt and Mountain West teams with the hallowed big names of College Football Inc.™? Simple. Under this system you earn your position by winning, period. The Appalachian States and Central Floridas seldom get the chance to justify their gaudy records head-tohead against the powers. Now they do. If they win often enough, they stay. And if they don’t, and they’re in the relegation zone at the end of the season, those games become awfully meaningful. It’s a meritocracy. Isn’t that the way it should be?

jalexander@scng.com @Jim_Alexander on Twitter