A bit of a slower day for me, so here is a hypothetical. People have floated the (perhaps overly optimistic) idea that maybe once we have two super conferences and there is less of a game of musical chairs to be one of the "haves," it might be in everyone's best interest to set up divisions similar to the MLB or NFL that allow us to play some of our old regional rivals more often.
On that note ... what would be your "most realistic" scenario like this for the Big Ten and Illinois, specifically, that would still be at least somewhat acceptable to you personally as a fan? I had the following assumptions for mine:
1. We still have a 12-16 CFP Playoff, but it is pretty much independent of the NCAA at this point. About half of the teams come from the Big Ten, about half come from the SEC and maybe there are a handful of spot reserved for the other conferences. Effectively, the Big Ten is the NL, and the SEC is the AL.
2. The Big Ten expands to 25 teams and has five divisions of five teams. They do this by adding the following, at least in my little scenario ... I am assuming we are not QUITE as picky as we are now due to there only being two major leagues, and the OSUs of the world need teams to beat!
- Colorado ... more or less lucky to get in but a growing market in the West, untapped fan base potential (as shown last year) and lots of Big Ten grads out there
- Florida State ... gets us into Florida via a team with a large fan base and pretty good academics
- Miami (FL) ... a bit of a circumstantial package deal with FSU
- North Carolina ... gets us into North Carolina (underrated for recruiting, IMO) via a pretty good athletic program and very good school
- Notre Dame ... finally!
- TCU ... this is my REALLY big wild card, as I don't think we would normally take them ... but as far as getting into Texas and allowing Big Ten schools to play regular games in the DFW Area in front of top recruits, there weren't that many better available options
- Virginia ... for reasons that are a hybrid of CU and UNC
3. I am not sure what the system would be, but the Big Ten's divisions are not ENTIRELY equal. Think something like FIFA, where Europe gets more teams in the World Cup than Africa even with a smaller population. So, if one division is a lot tougher than another, it might get more teams in or something like that ... in other words, I didn't kill myself trying to make the divisions equal as far as strength of the programs.
HEARTLAND DIVISION
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Wisconsin
GREAT LAKES DIVISION
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
EAST DIVISION
Indiana
Maryland
Notre Dame
Penn State
Rutgers
SOUTH DIVISION
Florida State
Miami (FL)
North Carolina
TCU
Virginia
WEST DIVISION
Colorado
Oregon
Washington
UCLA
USC
I imagine there would be some cross-division protected rivalries, as well, such as Indiana/Purdue. Not perfect by any means, but if 4 of our 9 conference games were guaranteed to be vs. Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin, I would certainly take it as a win and be a happy man!
