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My apologies if yours is a general statement McCall, but I'm going to treat it as a direct response with no malice intended. You're absolutely right McCall. In light of factors beyond geography, I did take a look at which rivalries might be adversely affected by regionalizing the conferences and decided to go with regionalization anyway. I didn't find too many rivalries that needed to be split up. Also, I'm a firm believer that (hypothetically) if the rivalry was strong enough between the two schools, they would schedule each other out-of-conference year after year. I also understand the small school vs. large school argument. My theory (which of course hasn't been lab-tested) is that competition levels will even out between conferences if the powerhouse schools are spread around. Then it's less of "SEC is so much tougher than other conferences" and comes down more to the individual play of schools. FYI, TCU is the 7th smallest school (enrollment) in Division 1A, yet they've managed to hang with the big programs. Central Florida is the 3rd largest.

This makes a nice 10-conference layout. Got a playoff to go with it? Say, all ten conference champions, with #7 meeting #10 and #8 meeting #9 in the first round? Thank you! I suppose this alignment could support a playoff easily... Two teams with the best records get byes in the first round? That would make things relatively straightforward if we're trying to crown a national champion. Personally though, I'm anti-playoff. I would be in favor of five post-season bowls for conference champions and one "at-large" bowl. I'm also a big proponent of conference tie-ins to bowls. The way I'd like to see it play out: Rose Bowl: Pacific Champ vs. Great Lakes Champ Fiesta Bowl: Mountain Champ vs. Northeast Champ Orange Bowl: Great Plains Champ vs. Atlantic Champ Sugar Bowl: Dixieland Champ vs. Sun Belt Champ Cotton Bowl: Lone Star Champ vs. River Valley Champ Aloha Bowl: At Large vs. At Large

I'll be taking your next of kin information now. *ducks and covers head* Opinion noted. That's a legit gripe. I thought for a long time about that move and justified it by saying the River Valley conference needed a stronger school to justify it as a legitimate conference. If I moved Ohio State to the Great Lakes Conference, someone from the former MAC would end up filling the River Valley slot and it would just look too weak.

I always thought conferences (FBS) would make more sense if they were regionalized. Also, since many conferences are moving to a two-division format, I thought relatively equal-sized conferences seemed like an agreeably symmetrical way of organizing teams. I began with the current 120 teams and added the three schools* due to join FBS in the near future (Texas State, South Alabama, UTSA). I did my best to preserve some rivalries, though I did move Ohio State and Michigan to seperate conferences (*gasp!*). They can schedule a non-conference every year for the last game. I welcome your thoughts and/or criticisms. Atlantic North East Carolina, Maryland, NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest South Clemson, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina Dixieland East Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, UAB, Vanderbilt West Arkansas, Arkansas State, LA Tech, LSU, Memphis, Tulane Great Lakes East Akron, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Michigan, Michigan State, Toledo, Western Michigan West Illinois, Minnesota, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Wisconsin Lone Star North Baylor, North Texas, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, UTEP South Houston, Rice, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State*, UTSA* Mountain North Boise, BYU, Idaho, Utah, Utah State, Wyoming South Arizona, Arizona State, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, UNLV Northeast North Army, Boston College, Buffalo, Connecticut, Rutgers, Syracuse South Marshall, Navy, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple, West Virginia Pacific North Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State South Fresno State, Hawai'i, San Diego State, San Jose State, UCLA, USC Great Plains North Air Force, Colorado, Colorado State, Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska South Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa River Valley East Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Kent State, Miami (OH), Ohio, Ohio State West Ball State, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Purdue, Western Kentucky Sun Belt North Georgia, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, South Carolina, Tennessee, Troy South Central Florida, Florida, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, South Alabama*, South Florida, Southern Mississippi