New Non-Power 5 Division? What if...

[AutzenMember]

If I was an AD in a non-power5 conference, I would be pissed that our school/conference can NEVER compete for a national championship. But what if they split off to form the new FMMS (Football Mid Major Subdivision). Create an 8-team playoff like EVERYONE wants in the Power 5, so be the guinea pig so to speak, for a system that would be so much more entertaining than the bowl system, which funds the bowl administrations rather than the NCAA itself (a different discussion, but nonetheless).

Here is your playoffs for this weird season (5 conference champions, 3 at large)

1. Cincinnati (AAC Champ and CFP ranking #8)
vs
8. UAB (C-USA winner)

2. Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt Champ and CFP ranking #12)
vs
7. Ball State (MAC Champ)

3. Louisiana (At large, CFP ranking #19)
vs
6. Liberty (At large Independent, should be seeded higher except that Tulsa is ranked higher in the CFP rankings)

4. San Jose State (Mt. West champ and CFP ranking #22)
vs
5. Tulsa (At large, CFP ranking #24)

I feel this would be WAY more entertaining than worthless bowls, while creating a new revenue stream, tv contract possibilities and higher ratings, while naming a true champion. It would also help this level recruit IMO.

Other points to consider in this scenario:
- Power 5 becomes a new division with half as many teams, kind of forcing their hand (hopefully) to move toward a TRUE playoff system.
- Power 5 teams would get less games against weaker opponents, as this new formation would limit how many losses an FMMS team can afford to take. With something to play for, attendance would be up and media revenue (either broadcast or streaming options) would replace the money they make by playing a road game at a Power 5 team.
- Current FCS teams could move up if desired. Those with the infrastructure, success and fanbase that could make this move include: Southern, Alcorn St., S. Car. St., NC A&T, Florida A&M, ND State, SD State, Montana, Montana St., James Madison, Jackson St. and UC Davis (their stadium is only 10K, but was built to allow expansion to 35K+).
- It may really punish FCS teams, making them even more irrelevant, but it could allow for a relegation system like soccer overseas. Win, move up...lose, move down. Just a thought.

Would you watch this? Opinions?

[rsbgduck]

A couple buddies and I talked about something like this only different LOL. We were talking about dissolving the NCAA by getting enough blue blood schools and your regular conference tittle contenders to break off and start a new governing body and a playoff system. The money side of it is a whole other topic but I’ll say it was geared towards the athletes, with caps on university and conference spending. We definitely didn’t go into the depth you did. Not only would I watch but I think it would be really good football with great marketing possibilities. I just love college football at any level so my opinion is definitely biased. That’s where you may find a problem, your die hard cff (college football fan) will either make time for both or picks a league. The viewers you need to get are the average and occasional ones and to do that you need multiple high profile matchups every weekend to compete with P5 matchups which will have more out of conference games against P5 schools. I’m not sure how else you pull viewers. You can’t play during other sports seasons without crippling attendance and viewers, and I’m not sure how the universities would feel about a Summer season. Essentially it would be red tape to cut and logistics to sort but in the end it ALWAYS boils down to money money money. If there was enough money you bet your ass those university president’s/chancellor’s/AD’s/conference president’s would slice through the red tape like a hot knife through butter and solving the logistics of world peace would happen overnight if the TV/media/digital was big enough. If they made it work I would watch it over another Clemson versus Bama or Bama versus whoever again without a second thought. JMHO

[Duck07]

One of the things that this year caused was those P5 teams found out they don't like playing only conference games because their records end up weaker. In essence, they have begun to see the need to have those G5 teams stay on the same level for punching-bag purposes.

Yet it won't create a system of parity but perhaps something even worse like a 12-team playoff where the Top 4 all get a Bye.

[DuckMastaFunk]

An easier solution is to just have 8 teams. 5 conference winners, highest ranked non-P5 school, 2 at large teams. You could then seed them based on rankings. If the NCAA had half a brain this would have happened years ago.

[GrandpaDuck]

My thought for a couple of years has been for the PAC-!2 conference and Non-power 5 to insist that the NCAA set up an OFFICIAL NCAA Division I championship tournament (8, 12 or 16 team format) using a selection process similar to Basketball or Baseball/Softball.

This would be in direct competition with the Bowl system championship. Teams could choose which tournament they choose to participate in. The winner of the NCAA tournament would be the officially recognized NCAA champion even if the Alabama, OhSU and Clemson cabal went with the bowl series.

This would be similar to how the NCAA basketball tournament eventually surpassed the private NIT.

The thing about this plan is that just proposing it in public would likely panic the Bowl parasites into opening up their tournament so all conference champions and the best of the Non-Power 5 have a chance to participate. (Not me proposing it but the conferences proposing it.)