Travis Kriens/KORN News Radio Sports Director
College football is constantly changing. Every offseason brings another debate about how the sport should operate. Should the College Football Playoff expand? How should the transfer portal work? How much NIL money is too much? Should players who have already played professionally be allowed to return to college? There is no shortage of ideas about how to fix, improve or completely overhaul college football.
So, I have an idea of my own.
And I think it could solve two problems at the same time: the growing number of meaningless early-season blowouts and the declining importance of bowl season.
Here is my idea: No more non-conference games between the Power 4 and the other FBS conferences or the FCS during the regular season.
The SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 would play only one another in non-conference games. The other six FBS conferences (the Pac-12, Mountain West, Sun Belt, Mid-American Conference, American Athletic Conference and Conference USA) would no longer play Power 4 teams during the regular season.
Before you tell me I’m crazy, hear me out.
No more 50-point blowouts
Week 1 of this season gave us plenty of examples of why I think something needs to change. Oklahoma beat UTEP 51-0. Ohio State beat Ball State 56-3. Georgia beat Tennessee State 63-3. Texas beat Texas State 59-7. Texas A&M beat Missouri State 50-0. BYU beat Utah Tech 63-7. Penn State beat Marshall 45-0. Tennessee beat Furman 56-9.
What exactly did we learn from most of those games? The Power 4 team was better. We already knew that.
The smaller program received a paycheck, got some exposure and went home with a loss. I understand why these games exist. The smaller programs need the money, and the bigger programs like having a virtually guaranteed win on the schedule. But from a competitive standpoint, I don’t think they do much for college football.
If those schools want to play one another in a preseason scrimmage, fine. Let them. But do we really need to pretend those are meaningful college football games?
Under my plan, they would be gone. Instead, the Power 4 would play each other.
Make the regular season mean more
The ACC currently has 17 teams. The Big 12 has 16. The Big Ten has 18. The SEC has 16. Add Notre Dame and you’re at 68 schools. Those 68 schools would make up the top level of college football.
Each team would play nine conference games and three non-conference games. But those three non-conference games wouldn’t be against FCS schools or Group of 6 teams. They would be against the other Power 4 conferences.
An SEC team, for example, would play nine SEC games, plus one game against a Big Ten team, one against an ACC team and one against a Big 12 team.
You could even divide each conference into thirds and create a rotation. That way, over a three-year period, every team would be required to play opponents from each third of the other conferences. You wouldn’t necessarily have to play Alabama every year, but you’d know you were going to face teams from throughout the Power 4.
Suddenly, the non-conference portion of the schedule becomes meaningful.
There are no more guaranteed wins. There are no more 50-point blowouts against FCS schools. There are no more games where everyone knows the outcome before kickoff.
And if a school such as Boise State believes it belongs at that level, there is a simple solution: Move up.
If Boise State, Memphis, Tulane or another Group of 6 program believes it can compete with the Power 4 on a regular basis, then this system gives it an incentive to make that move.
So what happens to the other six conferences?
This is where I think the idea gets really interesting. If the Group of 6 schools aren’t playing the Power 4 during the regular season, what are they playing for?
A lot.
Take this weekend. Boise State nearly upset Oregon. Western Michigan should have defeated Michigan. Under my plan, those games wouldn’t happen in September. But they could happen in December. And suddenly, they would mean something.
Right now, bowl season has become an afterthought. The College Football Playoff dominates the conversation. Players transfer before the season is even over. Some players opt out. Coaches leave for other jobs. Fans don’t seem nearly as invested in many of the bowl games as they once were.
So let’s fix that. Let’s make bowl season matter again.
Turn bowl games into something people want to watch
Take the 10 best Group of 6 teams and match them against the 10 best Power 4 teams that did not make the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Using last year’s teams as an example, here is what those matchups could have looked like.
The top 10 Power 4 teams that didn’t make the playoff were Notre Dame, BYU, Texas, Vanderbilt, Utah, USC, Arizona, Michigan, Virginia and Houston.
The top 10 Group of 6 teams were North Texas, Navy, New Mexico, Boise State, UNLV, South Florida, UConn, Western Michigan, Old Dominion and Kennesaw State.
Put those teams together and suddenly you have some pretty interesting bowl games:
Notre Dame vs. North Texas
BYU vs. Navy
Texas vs. New Mexico
Vanderbilt vs. Boise State
Utah vs. UNLV
USC vs. South Florida
Arizona vs. UConn
Michigan vs. Western Michigan
Virginia vs. Old Dominion
Houston vs. Kennesaw State
Michigan playing Western Michigan would be particularly interesting. Boise State getting a shot at Vanderbilt would be intriguing. Texas against New Mexico would give the Lobos a chance to prove they belong on the same field as one of the biggest programs in the country.
And here’s the best part: The Group of 6 would have something to prove.
Beat Notre Dame? That matters. Beat Texas? That matters. Beat Michigan? That matters.
Suddenly, those bowl games aren’t just exhibitions. They become a measuring stick for the entire sport.
Put some real money on the line
And let’s make it even more interesting. Put serious money behind these games.
We’ve already seen college sports find ways to create major financial incentives for postseason and early-season events. Nebraska won the inaugural “Spikes Under the Lights” women’s college volleyball tournament at AT&T Stadium, which featured a $1 million prize.
The Players Era college basketball tournament has also put substantial NIL money behind its event. So why not do the same thing with bowl games?
If a bowl sponsor wants its game to matter, put $5 million on the line. Or $10 million. Whatever the market will support.
The winning school’s players could benefit through whatever NIL structure is legally permissible.
Now tell me those players are going to opt out. Tell me those coaches aren’t going to care. Tell me fans aren’t going to watch. I think they would.
What about the College Football Playoff?
There would still be a path for the Group of 6.
Keep at least one playoff spot available for the best team from those conferences. That means those schools aren’t completely shut out of the national championship race.
But instead of spending the first three weeks of the season getting beaten by 40 points, they would spend the season playing meaningful games against teams they can actually compete with. And the best of them would earn a shot at the national championship. Everyone wins.
The Power 4 gets a more competitive schedule. The Group of 6 gets more meaningful games. Fans get better football. And bowl season gets a purpose again.
Would it actually work?
Of course, there are questions that would have to be answered.
How would scheduling work? How would conferences handle revenue? What happens to teams that move between the two groups? How would the playoff selection committee treat the different schedules? How would the existing bowl structure be changed?
Those are details that could be worked out. The bigger question is whether college football wants to continue down the path it is currently on.
Because right now, we have 12-team playoff debates, transfer portal debates, NIL debates and conference realignment debates, while we’re also watching some of the best teams in the country beat overmatched opponents by 40 or 50 points.
I don’t think that’s good for the sport. College football doesn’t need more games. It needs better games.
My plan would make the regular season more competitive and make bowl season relevant again. It would eliminate games that are essentially glorified scrimmages and replace them with meaningful matchups between teams that have something to prove.
And if the price of getting there is eliminating Oklahoma-UTEP, Ohio State-Ball State and Georgia-Tennessee State from the regular-season schedule? I’m willing to live with that.
Give me Oklahoma against a Big Ten, ACC or Big 12 opponent instead. Then give me Boise State against a team that was too concerned to play them in September. Suddenly, December might become one of the best months on the college football calendar again. And isn’t that what we want?
Better games. More competitive games. And a reason to care about college football from Week 1 all the way through the final bowl game.