Texas to the Big Ten?

No not likely, but you can read about the possibility here, here, and here.

If the Big Ten wanted a real new look, how about this.

Big Ten North
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Iowa
Penn State

Big Ten South
Texas
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Nebraska
Colorado
Kansas State

A Modest Proposal

I think every college football fan has something they would change about the sport we love. It seems every year after a BCS breakdown we hear about all kinds of radical proposals. So to kick off the blog for the 2007 season (I hope to beginning posting a couple times a week!!) I present to you my radical realignment. Let me beginning by stated some problems that I hope my proposal solves.

1. It is difficult to compare teams to each other when schools don't play comparable schedules. I believe that last seasons Wisconsin team is an example of this. The Badgers went 1-1 against top notch competition last season (lost to Michigan, beat Arkansas in bowl game). If Ohio State would have been on the schedule we might have had a clearer picture of how good the Badgers were. The point being to fairly judge a teams ranking, we need the universities to play higher quality competition.

2. There is no incentive to scheduling more difficult games, as it applies to winning the national championship. Sure there are monetary issues and exposure to be gained by playing compelling non-conference games, but it is very dangerous to schedule these types of games. Coaches are willing to play a soft non-conference because they know tough conference games are right around the corner. I realize that a lot of schools have been playing one marquee game before conference, but I dream of a day win all the non-conference games are interesting. For example, the Texas 1990 non-conference schedule consisted of a trip to Penn State, Colorado in Austin, and the Red River Shootout against Oklahoma.

So How Do We Solve These Problems?

The main solution that I present is to radically realign the conferences and to reduce the number on division 1 football teams. My plan calls for 11 conferences consisting of 8 teams each, thus reducing the field from 119 to 88. I have split the new conferences evenly so that each one includes 2 or 3 top-tier teams, a few middle of the road programs, and a couple of teams that will find themselves at the bottom most years. Some traditional rivals will be split up, but should continue playing each other in non-conference match ups. Each school would play every team in their conference (7 games) and then play a 4 or 5 game non-conference schedule depending on a 11 or 12 game regular season. The reason I believe this solves problem one from above is that teams are only allowed to play one of the 88 universities in the newly created Division 1. Hopefully we will see increased competition and thus able to better evaluate teams.

The level of competition should greatly improve by reducing the number of D-1 team and by eliminating the playing of D-1AA teams. But if we wanted to go a step further to encourage top teams to play, I suggest giving greater weight to conference games than non-conference. For example, high school non-district games count in a school's overall record, but the district games decide who makes the playoffs. If there was a way to reduce the impact of a non-conference loss I believe teams would be more willing to play tougher competition, thus preparing them for conference.

Finally, I also think that by including some smaller schools in with the big boys, it could improve the small teams program. It may take a few years, but with the small schools receiving additional TV and bowl money, and not to mention increased attendance, they will be able to invest more back into their programs.

My New and Improved Division I

Conference 1
1. Texas
2. Texas A&M
3. Texas Tech
4. Arkansas
5. TCU
6. Baylor
7. SMU
8. Rice

Conference 2
1. Oklahoma
2. Nebraska
3. Colorado
4. Kansas State
5. Oklahoma State
6. Kansas
7. Colorado State
8. Air Force

Conference 3
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Auburn
4. Ole Miss
5. Mississippi State
6. Houston
7. Memphis
8. Tulane

Conference 4
1. Tennessee
2. Louisville
3. Missouri
4. Kentucky
5. UNC
6. Wake Forest
7. Vandy
8. Duke

Conference 5
1. Georgia
2. Florida
3. Virginia Tech
4. Georgia Tech
5. South Carolina
6. Maryland
7. Southern Miss
8. UCF

Conference 6
1. Florida State
2. Miama
3. Clemson
4. N.C. State
5. Virginia
6. South Florida
7. East Carolina
8. Navy

Conference 7
1. Penn State
2. West Virginia
3. Rugters
4. Boston College
5. Pitt
6. Syracuse
7. Army
8. Marshall

Conference 8
1. Ohio State
2. Notre Dame
3. Wisconsin
4. Purdue
5. Indiana
6. Miami OH
7. Cincinnati
8. Toledo

Conference 9
1. Michigan
2. Michigan State
3. Iowa
4. Iowa State
5. Minnesota
6. Illinois
7. Northerwestern
8. Northern Illinois

Conference 10
1. USC
2. UCLA
3. Cal
4. Arizona State
5. Arizona
6. Stanford
7. Hawaii
8. New Mexico

Conference 11
1. Washington
2. Oregon
3. Oregon State
4. Washingtion State
5. Utah
6. Boise State
7. BYU
8. Frenso State

Well my friends there you have it. Am I on to anything here or did you just waste 5 mins. of your life. I have some playoff ideas, but this post is too long so I'll package those. Let me know what you think!!

Give the Fans What They Want

I thought I would list some series that I would like to be played on a somewhat regular basis. Most of the teams are former rivals or intriguing games that have been played in the past.

-Texas/Arkansas (Hopefully a post on this game later)
-A&M/LSU
-Oklahoma/Alabama
-Clemson/Georgia
-Georgia Tech/Alabama
-Penn St/Pitt
-Notre Dame/Florida St - Miami
-USC/Auburn

Any Others?

No More Arkansas State

College football is right around the corner and one of the topics I've been thinking and reading about is scheduling. It is a very complex issue, but I feel like college football does a very average job as a whole scheduling. One reason teams do poorly in scheduling is there is no incentive to schedule strongly. Good match ups are great for TV and can help the profile of many teams, but the current system does not really reward teams for playing a nice schedule. Another factor is scheduling is the loyalty of most college football fans. Most universities are selling the majority of there games out, so if the fans will show up for Troy why schedule USC. The main reason for the post is what I would like Texas' schedule to look like in future years.

I would really like the Horns to play at least two BCS schools per year. They should play mid-level teams from the major conferences most years, and every 4th and 5th year I would like to schedule a "huge" game, like the Ohio State game of the past two seasons. To fill the other two non-conference games I would like to play mostly Texas non-BCS teams and throw in a few other traditionally good non-BCS schools. I would also like to make those game two-for-one, meaning they would play twice in Austin and the Horns will play them on the road once. I think my schedule would be great for the fans, because there are some great road trips and its not so bad playing Rice and SMU when you have two other intriguing match ups. He is my ideal schedule for the Horns for the next ten years. I didn't spend a whole lot of time on this so there are many teams that could be substituted but I think you get the general point of what I would like the schedule to look like.

2007: Arizona, TCU, @UCF, @Ole Miss
2008: @Arizona, Arkansas, Rice, @UTEP
2009: UCF, @Arkansas, @Rice, Ole Miss
2010: UTEP, @Michigan, Rice, Stanford
2011: UCF, Michigan, @Stanford, SMU
2012: UTEP, Georgia Tech, @TCU, @Illinois
2013: Rice, @SMU, @Georgia Tech, UCLA
2014: SMU, @UCLA, @Rice, Illinois
2015: Rice, @Alabama, UTEP, Syracuse
2016: Southern Miss, Alabama, @Rice, @Syracuse

Note: TCU, UCF, Arkansas, UTEP, Rice, and UCLA are on Texas' Future Schedule

Savannah says Hook'em Horns

History Lesson

Savannah says "OU Sucks"

Weekend Roundup

Another great weekend at the Bryan household. It's really hard to imagine what life was like before Savannah, and I don't think that is such a bad thing. It is so fun watching her change everyday. She is starting to stay awake longer periods and she just has so many different faces that she makes. I can't wait for a few more months, when she actually reacts to what we do and say, but for now it is a blast watching her stare off into space.

My Dad came over on Saturday and put up a fan in the game room, so that will be improvement for college football Saturdays.

Are the Rangers gearing up for a second half run?? Ha!! I really hope they can get rid of Tex, Sosa, Lofton, and anyone else. I'm ready for a major overhaul of the team.

I don't think Portland could have gone wrong with Oden or Durant. The reason I like KD more (besides the fact that he played for Texas) in that he can score from any part of the floor, can handle the ball, and I believe he has more potential. Oden will get his points and will be a good defender, but you have to have someone get him the ball. I also think his jump shot needs some work and I still can't get the Xavier tournament game out of my mind when he had like 14 points. But they are two very different players and I think in 10 years both will have made their mark on the league.