16 Conference Format

[LosAngelesSooner]

So...hypotheticals...

IF we end up in a 16 team conference, I keep hearing people float around the idea of "play the other 7 teams in your division, plus 2 in the other division and then 4 OOC opponents."

I don' get it. That means you'd only play 2 of the teams in the other division every year and only get to each team twice every 8 years. That's dumb, IMHO.

Here's what I propose:

Play the 7 teams in your division, plus 4 teams in the other division plus 2 OOC opponents. That way you play half of the other division every four years and get more quality road trips. Who needs to play Middle Tennessee State or Utah State when you've got a schedule like that? Plus we have a hard enough time getting people to play us OOC anyway, especially quality opponents. We put in two cupcakes (that's where the MTSU's and Utah States go) to tune up and then you go through your conference. Boom. Better games and better venues, plus the money stays in the conference.

Could that work? Opinions? Thoughts?

[delhalew]

You would have less freedom to reach out across the nation for a fun home/home with a quality program, but I've heard many many infinitely more stupid ideas lately...so my brain hurts, and I'm open to almost anything at this point.

[sooner59]

Back in the 90's when the WAC had 16 teams, they went with the "pod" approach and had 4 pods with 4 teams each. I'm wondering if they would use that approach. I'm not sure how they scheduled, though. I guess you could rotate pods yearly on who plays who.

My question is how you could play 7 teams on your side and also play 4 from the other side AND 2 non-conference games. That would be 13 games not including a conference championship game. Does their newly founded conference championship game go away in that situation?

[silverwheels]

From Wikipedia (I know it's not the best source, but I don't think it would be wrong in this case):

16-team WAC from 1996 to 98
Quadrant 1: Hawaii, Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State
Quadrant 2: UNLV, Air Force, Colorado State, Wyoming
Quadrant 3: BYU, Utah, New Mexico, UTEP
Quadrant 4: Tulsa, TCU, SMU, Rice

"Quadrant one was always part of the Pacific Division, and quadrant four was always part of the Mountain Division. Quadrant two was part of the Pacific Division for 1996 and 1997 before switching to the Mountain Division in 1998, while the reverse was true for quadrant three. The scheduled fourth year of the alignment was abandoned after eight schools left to form the Mountain West Conference."


Why it didn't work: Increasingly, this arrangement was not satisfactory to most of the older, pre-1990 members. Five members in particular (Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming) felt that WAC expansion had compromised the athletic and academic excellence of the membership. Additional concerns centered around finances, as the new league stretched from Hawaiʻi to Oklahoma and travel costs became a concern. In 1999, those five schools, along with old line WAC schools New Mexico and San Diego State, as well as newcomer UNLV, split off and formed the new Mountain West Conference, depriving the WAC of most of its competitive strength and almost all of its history (in addition to its 4 remaining charter members). Only UTEP and Hawaiʻi would remain from the WAC's "golden age".

[delhalew]

Back in the 90's when the WAC had 16 teams, they went with the "pod" approach and had 4 pods with 4 teams each. I'm wondering if they would use that approach. I'm not sure how they scheduled, though. I guess you could rotate pods yearly on who plays who.

My question is how you could play 7 teams on your side and also play 4 from the other side AND 2 non-conference games. That would be 13 games not including a conference championship game. Does their newly founded conference championship game go away in that situation?

Pods would work.

If super conferences take hold, and ditch the NCAA, we can stop pretending to give a damn about the "students athlete". If we want to be just like the NFL...whythefvcknot.

[bigfatjerk]

How about a pod schedule?

California division
USC
Stanford
Cal
UCLA

Upper West
Washington
Washington State
Oregon
Oregon State

Midwest
Arizona
Arizona State
Colorado
Utah

East
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas Tech/Missouri

OU would play the 3 teams in the pod every year, then 2 teams from the other pods. Changing those teams every 2 years like we did in the Big 12. For example next year we would play USC and @UCLA the year after we play @USC, UCLA, the next year it switches to @Stanford, Cal etc.

Top 2 teams go to the PAC 16 title game, I've heard the idea of using the pods to have a semifinal game then title game for the conference. But I'm not a fan of that. I would just like to use the pod for scheduling purposes so we can have an actual conference.

[yermom]

i'd see the breakdown like this:

West
California
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Washington State

East
Arizona
Arizona State
Utah
Colorado
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Tech/Mizzou

the travel would seem to work out better with 2 games outside of the East division, one home and one away

it made more sense the last time we were talking about it though, Colorado and Utah are still kinda far away, and Mizzou wasn't involved either.

it would likely shake out to a trip to Arizona every year, and alternating trips to Colorado and Utah, and one trip to one of the West Coast schools every year, while hosting another

so 7 division games, 2 interdivision games and 3 OOC games like we have now

[LASooner]

I'd rather they play a north Cali team and a South Cali team so instead of USC and UCLA one year, you'd Have Cal and UCLA for 2 years then Stanford and USC the next 2 years, that way you'd get good california recruiting exposure every year. (and full disclosure, I'd get to see a local game every 2 years. )

[LosAngelesSooner]

I'm just stoked at the chance to get the local games.

[bigfatjerk]

I'd rather they play a north Cali team and a South Cali team so instead of USC and UCLA one year, you'd Have Cal and UCLA for 2 years then Stanford and USC the next 2 years, that way you'd get good california recruiting exposure every year. (and full disclosure, I'd get to see a local game every 2 years. )

You might be right but I was just using all that as examples to make it a little easier to explain. If we want an actual conference a pod system is the way to go. Having 2 8 team divisions will just end up in 2 different conferences in the end.

You get one trip to the upper west every year, one trip to California every year and one trip to the mid-west every year. You also keep 3 OOC games

[sooner_born_1960]

I thought they played 12-game schedules.

[Sooner95]

They do. The limit is 12 not counting Conf title games and bowl. Took awhile for the Presidents to ok the 12 games schedule..I don't think they increase it again.

I like the East/West setup posted above. It pretty straight forward.


West
California
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Oregon
Oregon State
Washington
Washington State

East
Arizona
Arizona State
Utah
Colorado
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Tech/Mizzou

[OrlandoSooner]

7 + 2 + 4 = 12??
7 + 4 + 2 = 12??

[MeMyself&Me]

Why isn't 3 interdivisional games an option?

[NormanPride]

If you give more non conf games to teams then there will be more games against patsies. In a 16 team conference nobody will want to play the tougher teams non conference.

[delhalew]

If you give more non conf games to teams then there will be more games against patsies. In a 16 team conference nobody will want to play the tougher teams non conference.
If this spells the end of polls dictating your position in the post season, then it could go either way. Would Ooc games be purely exhibition, or would your total record be vital?

[Sooner5030]

no to 7 + anything
yes to pods of 3(your pod) +3(1 each other pod) + 6 OOC games = ROCKsWinning!

[yermom]

we were having trouble finding 4 OOC teams a couple years ago, that would seem to be the upper limit

with the SEC scheduling, they complete a cycle every 6 years, with mine it would be every 8, i think. that doesn't seem that much of a stretch

[bigfatjerk]

With mine it would be compete every 4 years.