(02-06-2017 12:29 AM)murrdcu Wrote:  

(02-06-2017 12:16 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(02-06-2017 12:05 AM)murrdcu Wrote:  

(02-05-2017 05:33 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(02-05-2017 05:15 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  True. Things get a lot easier.

At that, if I were one of the Big 12 officials and I could guarantee 9, I would take that option yesterday.

Maybe something like this...

SEC takes Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Tulane

B1G takes Kansas and UConn

PAC takes Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, and Iowa State

ACC takes Notre Dame and West Virginia

Or maybe something a bit more economical:
SEC: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
PAC: Texas, Texas Tech, T.C.U., Kansas State
Big 10: Kansas, Iowa State
ACC: West Virginia and Notre Dame joins in full.

Now we have the 4 x 16. Big 10 gets Kansas and the price is Iowa State. SEC gets Oklahoma and the price is O.S.U. The PAC gets Texas, Texas Tech, and T.C.U., and the price is Kansas State. The ACC gets N.D. to join in full and the price is W.V.U..

That's 64 and we're done.

That said, I think it will be necessary to take 4 Big 12 schools to land OU and UT. It's going to be fascinating to see how this situation with Baylor unfolds.

It would have to be Tech and OSU to land UT and OU. That could still be profitable. Just need to adjust the divisions and scheduling rules. If we do have only 4 conferences, having conference semifinals would form a defacto 16 team playoff.

Assuming the Big 12 lost OU, TV broadcasters would not prop up the next TV deal given what is left. The conference could just stay small and improve its strength of schedule by playing more P5 schools or form another conference and except the payout

I think the best approach for 18 is simply to have three divisions of 6. Play 5 divisional games and rotate 2 games each from the other divisions. That's 9 conference games. If you need to play an annual game against a rival you simply schedule them as an OOC game when they aren't in the rotation.

The three divisions champs and the school with the best record among the non division winners play it off. Play the first round at a regional location and the finals at a rotation of sites: Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa for instance.

The SEC network has three channels now. Dedicate one to each division and have common news and special interest programs. I think it's a winner all the way around.

Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech

Alabama, Auburn, L.S.U., Mississippi, Mississippi State, Texas A&M

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

The highest seed divisional champ gets the wild card unless it is from their division.

It's simple, regional, fan friendly, restores rivalries, and is a heckuva lineup.

That could work. LHN becomes the new Southwest Division Channel. Would be nice to drop an OSU or Tech for Kansas or something.

Yep. Perhaps we could just go with West, Central and East for the division names. I would rather have Kansas too, but I would think UT & OU would have some say there. If however the PAC did wish to take Tech and T.C.U. to get a presence in Texas then perhaps Kansas could be considered.