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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3914192, member: 289"] This is part of one of those projects I have been working on, (and off and on again) for a while but I decided to post this because of it's current relevance, (as wishful as it it). My idea was: what would it look like if we took the top 72 football programs in the country, based on the results of this century, and organized them into eight 9 team geographical conferences and then too the top 72 basketball programs not already in the football conference and did the same thing. The championship tournament in football would be the champions of the 8 football conferences and in basketball it would the champions of those eight conferences plus the 8 basketball conferences. Each conference 'pennant' race would thus be part of the national tournament. I've done the football part and have got to get back to figuring out the basketball part. I used the Sagarin ratings to pick the top 72 football teams each year. You get 72 points for #1 in a year, 71 for #2, etc. I totaled up the points for 2000-2020 and came up with these top 72 programs, (and wondered if we'd make the cut - but we did. by the skin of our teeth). Here are the top 72 college football programs, by the Sagarin rankings, since the year 2000: Oklahoma 1369 Ohio State 1300 Louisiana State 1283 Georgia 1196 So. California 1187 5 Alabama 1186 Florida 1138 Clemson 1100 Texas 1085 Auburn 1080 10 Florida State 1046 Wisconsin 1043 Oregon 1021 Utah 1020 Virginia Tech 975 15 Notre Dame 974 Michigan 965 Texas Christian 903 U of Miami 900 Boise State 924 20 Oklahoma St. 888 Iowa 884 Penn State 879 Texas A&M 863 West Virginia 834 25 Stanford 826 South Carolina 818 Nebraska 774 Washington 773 Kansas State 764 30 Tennessee 749 Arizona State 714 Texas Tech 694 Oregon State 691 Georgia Tech 679 35 Michigan State 675 Arkansas 673 Missouri 663 Brigham Young 653 California 649 40 UCLA 662 Louisville 648 Mississippi St. 620 Pittsburgh 609 Boston College 605 45 Mississippi 578 No. Carolina St. 545 Washington St. 525 North Carolina 506 Baylor 476 50 Northwestern 454 Cincinnati 444 Minnesota 428 Arizona 420 Maryland 409 55 North Dakota St. 403 Virginia 382 Wake Forest 373 Central Florida 362 Purdue 350 60 Colorado 349 South Florida 349 Iowa State 348 Kentucky 348 Navy 312 65 Fresno State 309 Toledo 266 Rutgers 252 Air Force 251 Syracuse 248 70 App State 230 Houston 223 72 I had considerable suspense about whether SU would make the cut but that 2018 season put us over the top. The power conference teams that didn’t make it: Vanderbilt (208), Illinois (186), Kansas (181), Indiana (159) and Duke (149). Some programs that were once on that level that also didn’t make it: Connecticut (179), Temple (101), Southern Methodist (75), Army (46), Rice (33) and Tulane (21). The non-power conference teams who did make it: Boise State (924), Brigham Young (653), North Dakota State (403), Central Florida (362), South Florida (349), Navy (312), Fresno State (309), Toledo (266), Air Force (251), Appalachian State (230), Houston (223). There were three programs that didn’t start the century as power conference teams but became them and made it: Utah (1020), Texas Christian (903) and Louisville (648). And there was one school that started out not being a power conference teams, became one and then fell below that level, but made it anyway: Cincinnati (444). Of course, this whole thing is just my fantasy but if it were reality, the status of these programs could be reassessed each decade and the alignments adjusted, much as they do in the English soccer leagues. Illinois could go looking for the coach who could pull them out of whatever conference or situation they wound up in. App State would be fighting to retain their position against improved competition. Upon studying the above, (and looking at a map), I come up with these eight Division 1 football conferences: 1) Boston College, Maryland, Navy, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and West Virginia 2) Appalachian State, Arkansas, Clemson, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia 3) Alabama, Auburn, Central Florida, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, U of Miami and South Florida 4) Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue and Toledo 5) Baylor, Houston, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Christian and Texas Tech 6) Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota State, Northwestern and Wisconsin 7) Air Force, Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Brigham Young, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Utah 8) California, Fresno State, Oregon, Oregon State, Southern California, Stanford, UCLA, Washington and Washington State Based on the 2020 Sagarin ratings, the football champions for these conferences would have been 1- West Virginia (33rd) 2- Clemson (4th) 3- Alabama (1st) 4- Ohio State (3rd) 5- Texas A&M (7th) 6- Iowa State (6th) 7- Oklahoma (2nd) 8- Southern California (11th) An 8-team playoff would have had these quarter-final match-ups: West Virginia at Alabama Southern California at Oklahoma Texas A&M at Ohio State Iowa State at Clemson More on this project later. 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