Big 10, Pac 12 & ACC in Discussions

I actually like this a lot more than joining and making a super conference. I would love to see the SEC expand hoping to get more teams in a 12 team CFP but they only end up expanding to 6 or 8.
If this happens, I doubt expansion goes to 12 for playoff with major conferences guaranteed one spot and no conference getting more than two teams.

hopefully

Scheduling agreement puts intense pressure on Notre Dame to join ACC.
Say each conference team agrees to schedule one team from each of other two conferences annually. Is USC going to play Miami, Michigan, and also play Notre Dame?
 
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If this happens, I doubt expansion goes to 12 for playoff with major conferences guaranteed one spot and no conference getting more than two teams.

hopefully

Scheduling agreement puts intense pressure on Notre Dame to join ACC.
Say each conference team agrees to schedule one team from each of other two conferences annually. Is USC going to play Miami, Michigan, and also play Notre Dame?


I think this makes it more likely that the CFP expands. First, if you have more ACC-Big 10-Pac 12 games in the regular season, it drains some of the drama out of the (antiquated) bowl games. Makes the CFP "sexier".

Second, in order to play the two other conferences in SOME regular season games, you might see a cutback on "original conference" games and/or a removal of conference divisions and/or the possible elimination of some rivalry games. A team might get squeezed out of its "original conference" conference championship game without ever playing head-to-head, and so there might be some real merit to having the National Championship "decided on the field" via a 12 or 16 team playoff.

Finally, even with the game of conference musical chairs going on right now, you are still looking at the same "cast of characters" for the playoff field (with the POSSIBLE exception of Baylor or TCU, do we really think that the other 6 teams left in the Big 12 were a serious threat to make the playoffs?), so I think that a 12-team field is just as arguably correct (mathematically) as it was three months ago.
 
I think this makes it more likely that the CFP expands. First, if you have more ACC-Big 10-Pac 12 games in the regular season, it drains some of the drama out of the (antiquated) bowl games. Makes the CFP "sexier".

Second, in order to play the two other conferences in SOME regular season games, you might see a cutback on "original conference" games and/or a removal of conference divisions and/or the possible elimination of some rivalry games. A team might get squeezed out of its "original conference" conference championship game without ever playing head-to-head, and so there might be some real merit to having the National Championship "decided on the field" via a 12 or 16 team playoff.

Finally, even with the game of conference musical chairs going on right now, you are still looking at the same "cast of characters" for the playoff field (with the POSSIBLE exception of Baylor or TCU, do we really think that the other 6 teams left in the Big 12 were a serious threat to make the playoffs?), so I think that a 12-team field is just as arguably correct (mathematically) as it was three months ago.
In the Athletic article from today said the majority of ADs think the 12 team playoff was rushed. The SEC banking on getting 4 or 5 teams a year in an expanded playoff. If they go to 6 or 8 it limits the power they’d have. These three conferences are at most getting two in a playoff. If they payouts are going to be $40 million per playoff team the SEC would become immensely more powerful. They’d poach any team worth a **** and cause the collapse of the other schools.

The honest question that would need to be asked is who else gets in from the ACC, Big Ten or PAC-12. This only makes sense if you have teams good enough to take spots from the SEC. which as of today you don’t. So the play has to be 6 or 8 teams.
 
In the Athletic article from today said the majority of ADs think the 12 team playoff was rushed. The SEC banking on getting 4 or 5 teams a year in an expanded playoff. If they go to 6 or 8 it limits the power they’d have. These three conferences are at most getting two in a playoff. If they payouts are going to be $40 million per playoff team the SEC would become immensely more powerful. They’d poach any team worth a **** and cause the collapse of the other schools.

The honest question that would need to be asked is who else gets in from the ACC, Big Ten or PAC-12. This only makes sense if you have teams good enough to take spots from the SEC. which as of today you don’t. So the play has to be 6 or 8 teams.
If you had a 10 team playoff, and if you had a voting block of Big Ten plus ACC plus pac-12, why couldn't you have an enforceable rule that no conference can have more than three teams?
 
In the Athletic article from today said the majority of ADs think the 12 team playoff was rushed. The SEC banking on getting 4 or 5 teams a year in an expanded playoff. If they go to 6 or 8 it limits the power they’d have. These three conferences are at most getting two in a playoff. If they payouts are going to be $40 million per playoff team the SEC would become immensely more powerful. They’d poach any team worth a **** and cause the collapse of the other schools.

The honest question that would need to be asked is who else gets in from the ACC, Big Ten or PAC-12. This only makes sense if you have teams good enough to take spots from the SEC. which as of today you don’t. So the play has to be 6 or 8 teams.


Simple solution. The Gang of Three (ACC, Big 10, Pac 12) votes for a "four-team-per-conference" cap on the Final 12. Or a three-team cap.

Problem, solved.
 
Who wants to bet that SEC schools use this to further hoard talent like they did back in the 60s? Bear Bryant won because he had more talent on his bench, than most of his opponents had period.


Annnnd, it's no longer the 60s. Alabama now allows black athletes on the team. The Portal exists. And kids aren't going to make much NIL money sitting on the bench, even if that bench belongs to Alabama.
 
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How bad will the SEC suffer if the Gang Of 3* decide to schedule all future OOC games from their and other 2 conferences? The SEC could end up being fully incestuous with intraconference play.


I foresee a home-and-home between UCF and The Gaytor. Many such.
 
If this happens, I doubt expansion goes to 12 for playoff with major conferences guaranteed one spot and no conference getting more than two teams.

hopefully

Scheduling agreement puts intense pressure on Notre Dame to join ACC.
Say each conference team agrees to schedule one team from each of other two conferences annually. Is USC going to play Miami, Michigan, and also play Notre Dame?
Agreed, unless there is some agreement where the 3 conferences negotiate a new TV contract together (highly doubtful as why would the Big 10 give up their advantage in that area), the benefit to the ACC would be the scheduling agreement could cause ND to transition to the ACC full time as they would have increased difficulty in filling out a quality 12 game schedule. This would of course lead the ACC to negotiate its own new TV contract with ND now a full member of the conference.

ND's admin could sell it to their fans and alumni as they had no choice but to join the ACC full time because of the lack of quality opponents as an independent, but with the new "alliance" they will be able to play games against rivals Michigan, Michigan State, USC, Stanford, etc. on a fairly regular basis.

The ACC then adds West Virginia to get to an even 16 teams and goes to a 4 pod system:

South Pod
Miami
FSU
Clemson
GT

Carolina Pod
North Carolina
NC State
Wake Forest
Duke

Mid Atlantic Pod
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Louisville
ND

North Pod (or Big East Pod)
Pitt
Syracuse
West Virginia
BC

Have a 9 game conference schedule. Play the 3 in your pod and 2 each in the other 3 pods so you play every other team in the conference at least once every 2 years or once every 3 years if you make one of the other pod members a permanent rival (i.e. North Carolina vs. Virginia - oldest rivalry in the South). OOC is 1 Big 10, 1 PAC 12, and 1 open (this will **** off FSU, Clemson, and GT, but so be it).

Top 2 teams play in the ACC Championship.

Finally, the playoff goes to a 8 team playoff - no bye weeks, 4 Power 4 conference winners, the best Group of 6 (if Big XII is still around) school, and 3 at-large teams. Problem solved? Nah, they'll ***** this up somehow. :)
 
How bad will the SEC suffer if the Gang Of 3* decide to schedule all future OOC games from their and other 2 conferences? The SEC could end up being fully incestuous with intraconference play.

Would severely impact that " Strength of Schedule"

Make no mistake SEC is all about power. Theyre the only conference so far thats gotten 2 teams into the playoff and their 2 teams played for the national championship.

By adding OU and Texas theyre telling them you have a way better shot at making the playoffs if your in the SEC. They want total dominance. How do you combat that? Form the alliance with the B10 and Pac12... control the rules and narratives.

My personal opinion is they should treat it like the NFL. You have to win your division to get in and then have wildcard spots, but of course $$$ plays a factor
 
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Would severely impact that " Strength of Schedule"

Make no mistake SEC is all about power. Theyre the only conference so far thats gotten 2 teams into the playoff and their 2 teams played for the national championship.

By adding OU and Texas theyre telling them you have a way better shot at making the playoffs if your in the SEC. They want total dominance. How do you combat that? Form the alliance with the B10 and Pac12... control the rules and narratives.

My personal opinion is they should treat it like the NFL. You have to win your division to get in and then have wildcard spots, but of course $$$ plays a factor
It looks like the ACC, B10 and Pac12 kinda have to do this as you said in order to help control rules and narratives.... But the SEC has to play ball or they can say ***** it and go at it alone in which case we could possibly see two separate college football leagues....
I mean I know it seems far fetched but what if lets say The Playoff Committee sides with the SEC and tries to force the other 3's hand...
Now let's say a third party jumps in and offers to fund a playoff for the remaining Big 3 conferences?? Again I know this is far fetched and highly unrealistic but in the world of big money TV contracts anything is possible if people are willing to watch....
 
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Simple solution. The Gang of Three (ACC, Big 10, Pac 12) votes for a "four-team-per-conference" cap on the Final 12. Or a three-team cap.

Problem, solved.
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So this is the final ranking from last season. So the SEC gets Alabama, TAMU and OU in. Big Ten would get Ohio State and Indiana. The ACC gets Clemson and UNC. The PAC-12 gets just Oregon. So the remaining are ND, Iowa State, Cincinnati, and Coastal Carolina.

Whereas six is Bama-SEC, Clemson-ACC, Ohio State-Big Ten, Oregon-PAC-12, ND-Highest IND/G5 team. Leaving TAMU as the at large.

Expand to 8 it’s the same with no more than two per conference and you have Cincinnati and Iowa State.

Personally I prefer the six team method. Makes non conference game still hugely important. If you want to avoid a team like Oregon’s making the playoffs add a restriction that auto qualifiers have to be ranked in the top 15. If not give the bid to the highest at large team. You are coming out ahead of the 12 team model. “The Alliance” would only add two more teams. The SEC adds half that. Like I said there’s no benefit because between three conferences you have 5 teams and the only reason the SEC has 3 is because a rule was created to prevent more. That’s even worse optics.
 
How bad will the SEC suffer if the Gang Of 3* decide to schedule all future OOC games from their and other 2 conferences? The SEC could end up being fully incestuous with intraconference play.
I think I said this at the beginning of the thread. This siphons some of the power from the SEC. Ultimately, if the conferences move from under the umbrella of the NCAA, id like to see the the three alliance conferences move to their own playoff bracket and completely isolate the SEC. Then all they are left with is a glorified conference champion. Even if you have the best teams in the country people are going to lose interest in that eventually when they are shut out from playing every other team outside of their own
 
Would severely impact that " Strength of Schedule"

Make no mistake SEC is all about power. Theyre the only conference so far thats gotten 2 teams into the playoff and their 2 teams played for the national championship.

By adding OU and Texas theyre telling them you have a way better shot at making the playoffs if your in the SEC. They want total dominance. How do you combat that? Form the alliance with the B10 and Pac12... control the rules and narratives.

My personal opinion is they should treat it like the NFL. You have to win your division to get in and then have wildcard spots, but of course $$$ plays a factor
Technically, the ACC had 2 teams in the playoff last year with ND being a full ACC member last year.
 
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