Image Courtesy: Eleven Warriors
Back in May of 2022, “The NCAA Division I Council announced Wednesday that it will relax restrictions on college football’s conference championship games, allowing conferences to determine the teams that would participate in their respective title game” per this ESPN article.
Many conferences have missed out on getting teams in the College Football Playoff because some divisions are so much better than others and so now conference championship and Playoff games can be better.
So, let’s go through each Power 5 conference and discuss:
ACC
With divisions:
Atlantic
Boston College
Clemson
Florida State
Louisville
NC State
Syracuse
Wake Forest
Coastal
Duke
Georgia Tech
Miami
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Here are each ACC team’s three yearly opponents (each team rotates every other opponent) (beginning in 2023; one division look):
Boston College – Miami, Pittsburgh, Syracuse
Clemson – Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State
Duke – North Carolina, NC State,Wake Forest
Florida State – Clemson, Miami, Syracuse
Georgia Tech – Clemson, Louisville, Wake Forest
Louisville – Georgia Tech, Miami, Virginia
Miami – Boston College, Florida State, Louisville
North Carolina – Duke, NC State, Virginia
North Carolina State – Clemson, Duke, North Carolina
Pittsburgh – Boston College, Syracuse, Virginia Tech
Syracuse – Boston College, Florida State, Pittsburgh
Virginia – Louisville, North Carolina, Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech – Pittsburgh, Virginia, Wake Forest
Wake Forest – Duke, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech
With this new format, conference powers Clemson and Florida State not only play each other annually but could match up in the conference championship with the new format. The winner of that game would likely go to the College Football Playoff. Media Rights Deal: Disney, ABC, ESPN
Big 12
Since the Big 12 lost Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas A&M to other conferences, the league has been a one division, ten team league. They add BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston to make the league fourteen ahead of Texas and Oklahoma’s departure to the SEC in a few years. Update: Since, Texas and Oklahoma have agreed to leave the conference in the summer of 2024 for the SEC.
2o23 look:
Baylor
BYU
Central Florida
Cincinnati
Houston
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas Christian
Texas Tech
West Virginia
Future look (2024; annual opponents to be determined)
Baylor
BYU
Central Florida
Cincinnati
Houston
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma State
Texas Christian
Texas Tech
West Virginia
This new Big 12; a true 12 team Big 12; is going to hope continue its basketball prowess. New Media Rights Deal: ESPN, FOX
Big Ten
The Big Ten will likely move to a one-division format when UCLA and USC join the conference in 2024 by leaving the Pac-12. Here is the former division look:
East
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers
West
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin
Future look (2024; annual opponents to be determined):
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers
UCLA
USC
Wisconsin
If I had to guess, the Big Ten will go with the 3-6-6 format like the SEC. Each school would get two teams in the top half of the conference on average and one permanent opponent in the bottom half conference on average. Here is a projection for those permanent opponents by CBS Sports. New Media Rights Deal: CBS, FOX, NBC
Pac-12
The Pac-12 was the first conference to move to a single division format following the NCAA’s new ruling in May. Here is what the 12-team Pac-12 looks like ahead of UCLA’s and USC’s departure to the Big Ten in 2024:
Arizona
Arizona State
California
Colorado
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Washington State
Future Look:
Arizona
Arizona State
California
Colorado
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
Utah
Washington
Washington State
In a single conference format without the two LA schools, it has been incredibly difficult for the conference to secure a media rights deal. So far FOX, ESPN, or CBS have not agreed with the conference on a deal and not even mobile media companies like Apple are not interested. New Media Rights Deal: TBD
SEC
According to multiple sources, once Oklahoma and Texas join the league, the SEC will likely move to a one division format and a 3-6-6 format where each school plays three permanent rivals annually in football, play six other opponents one season and play the six other opponents the next season. In that format, the conference would move from an eight game conference schedule to a nine game conference schedule and in a four year period, every SEC team would play every opponent home and away. I have guessed what three teams every SEC team will play annually in a post last summer. Here’s what the SEC looks like with divisions:
East
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Missouri
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
West
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi (Ole Miss)
Mississippi State
Texas A&M
With one division (With Oklahoma and Texas in 2024)
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi (Ole Miss)
Mississippi State
Missouri
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
The SEC will look to continue dominating all sports, namely football and baseball, under their new media rights deal with ESPN. New Media Rights Deal: Disney, ABC, ESPN
Next Read – Take a look at my original thoughts when the ACC and Pac-12 announced they got rid of divisions.
