Pod today mentioned the SEC was almost big enough to have its own champion and not bothering to play other leagues (similar to NBA and NFL declaring themselves “world champions”) since the SEC champ and runner-up are usually better than the other conference champs.
I think in an ideal scenario is the SEC and BIG join together similar to the AFC-NFC merger to create the NFL. The SEC can absorb teams from other conferences that are located in or south of Kentucky-Missouri-Colorado-California and the BIG can absorb teams in or north of those states
From there, split the two conferences into 4 groups of 8/9 teams in each based on geographic location such as “SEC East” for East division SEC and absorbed south ACC teams and “SEC Mountain” for some SEC west teams, any absorbed Big XII teams, and maybe some eastern PAC-12 teams. I’d prefer to keep ~64-72 teams as the Power group.
Probably never work out this way due to rivalries or political issues but here is a sample arrangement including the additions to the BIG XII and some others to get to 72:
SEC EAST:
Clemson
Central Florida
Florida St.
Georgia Tech
Miami
Wake Forest
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
BIG EAST:
Boston College
Duke
Maryland
North Carolina
NC State
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Rutgers
SEC CENTRAL:
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Kentucky
LSU
MS State
Ole Miss
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
BIG CENTRAL:
Cincinnati
Notre Dame
Michigan
Michigan St.
Navy
Ohio State
Pittsburgh
Penn St.
West Virginia
SEC MOUNTAIN:
Baylor
Houston
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St.
Texas
Texas A&M
TCU
Texas Tech
BIG MOUNTAIN:
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Iowa St.
Minnesota
Northwestern
Nebraska
Purdue
Wisconsin
SEC WEST:
Arizona
Arizona St.
BYU
California
New Mexico St.
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Utah
BIG WEST:
Boise St.
Colorado
Air Force
Kansas
Kansas St.
Oregon
Oregon St.
Washington
Washington St.
Top 6 from each 4-group conference goes to a playoff. 2 first round byes and a wildcard round.
I think in an ideal scenario is the SEC and BIG join together similar to the AFC-NFC merger to create the NFL. The SEC can absorb teams from other conferences that are located in or south of Kentucky-Missouri-Colorado-California and the BIG can absorb teams in or north of those states
From there, split the two conferences into 4 groups of 8/9 teams in each based on geographic location such as “SEC East” for East division SEC and absorbed south ACC teams and “SEC Mountain” for some SEC west teams, any absorbed Big XII teams, and maybe some eastern PAC-12 teams. I’d prefer to keep ~64-72 teams as the Power group.
Probably never work out this way due to rivalries or political issues but here is a sample arrangement including the additions to the BIG XII and some others to get to 72:
SEC EAST:
Clemson
Central Florida
Florida St.
Georgia Tech
Miami
Wake Forest
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
BIG EAST:
Boston College
Duke
Maryland
North Carolina
NC State
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Rutgers
SEC CENTRAL:
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Kentucky
LSU
MS State
Ole Miss
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
BIG CENTRAL:
Cincinnati
Notre Dame
Michigan
Michigan St.
Navy
Ohio State
Pittsburgh
Penn St.
West Virginia
SEC MOUNTAIN:
Baylor
Houston
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma St.
Texas
Texas A&M
TCU
Texas Tech
BIG MOUNTAIN:
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Iowa St.
Minnesota
Northwestern
Nebraska
Purdue
Wisconsin
SEC WEST:
Arizona
Arizona St.
BYU
California
New Mexico St.
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Utah
BIG WEST:
Boise St.
Colorado
Air Force
Kansas
Kansas St.
Oregon
Oregon St.
Washington
Washington St.
Top 6 from each 4-group conference goes to a playoff. 2 first round byes and a wildcard round.
