New & Improved Division IV

The current Division I “High Visibility” (love that new catch phrase, it doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings), Conference Commissioners and the BCS Board of Directors are about to create a “New” Division in college football. Some have referred to it as Division IV. Call it what you want, but whether there’s some sort of conference realignment or not, there will certainly be a greater divide among the “Super Elite,” as I’m calling them and even some of their “High Visibility” brothers who can’t or aren’t willing to commit the resources that Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, et al, do right now. Once the flood gates are opened by this new divide, who knows how grand the canyon is going to be! So, as part two of The Greatest College Football Proposal Ever… I offer a “New and Improved” Division IV! The second phase of my plan is nearly as simple as the first, except there’s going to be a lot of hurt feelings and bruised egos (I’m looking at you UNC, Washington, West Virginia, Georgia Tech, Missouri, even NC State and anyone else who thinks they belong among the Super Friends). It takes not only money, but a culture commitment (a willingness to do anything to succeed!). Some have one, but not the other and some have neither, but they will scream at the top of their lungs they’re committed, yet they know deep down they never have been and never will be!

So, we have tossed all of the remaining “D-1” teams, who aren’t among the Super Friends, into a pool with several FCS (I still call them 1-AA), teams that have proven the desire and commitment to move up a rung in the CFB landscape (some have even expressed their intentions of making that move in the near future). We have also tossed a handful of powerful Division II teams that we feel with a little shove would commit to playing big boy football and would be competitive in short order. Then we divided them into four Regions as we did with Division V. 32 teams per Region, 128 total… you could further divide them into geographic quadrants for regular season scheduling, but these would be the regions we draw from for post-season qualification. Everyone not in one of these two Divisions (All of the remaining 1-AAs and any other school D-II or D-III that feels they can compete for a top level National Championship), will form the “New” Division I. So, to sum up… 32 teams will comprise Super Elite Division V, 128 teams will make up the “New & Improved” Division IV, and everyone else (probably 96-100 schools), who want to play for a top level National Championship will make up the “New” Division I. There will be three Nationally Televised National Championship tournaments going on at the same time. There are plenty of outlets who are looking for programming right now (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox, Fox Sports1, NBCSN, CBSSN, SEC Net, etc.), and would jump at the chance to carry live broadcasts of a National Championship tournament. My proposal for the Division IV tournament is below, but here are the schools that I would place in D-IV and in what region… (Bold = FCS (I-AA) School… Bold/Italicized = Division II School)

EAST REGION

Appalachian State, Army, Boston College, Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Connecticut, Delaware, Duke, East Carolina, James Madison, Lenoir-Rhyne, Liberty, Marshall, Maryland, Massachusetts, Navy, North Carolina, NC State, Old Dominion, Richmond, Rutgers, Stony Brook, Syracuse, Temple, Towson, Villanova, Virginia, Wake Forest, West Virginia, William & Mary

NORTHWEST REGION

Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Brigham Young, California, Central Michigan, Colorado, Colorado State, Eastern Michigan, Eastern Washington, Fresno State, Grand Valley State, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Minnesota State, Montana, Montana State, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, North Dakota State, Oregon State, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah, Utah State, Washington, Washington State, Western Michigan, Wyoming

SOUTHWEST REGION

Air Force, Akron, Ball State, Baylor, Bowling Green, Eastern Illinois, Houston, Illinois State, Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kent State, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, North Texas, Northwestern, Northwest Missouri State, Purdue, Rice, Sam Houston State, Southern Methodist, Stephen F. Austin, Texas Christian, Texas-El Paso, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Texas Tech, Toledo, Western Illinois, Youngstown State

SOUTH REGION

Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alabama-Birmingham, Arkansas State, Carson-Newman, Central Florida, Eastern Kentucky, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Furman, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, McNeese State, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Missouri, North Alabama, South Alabama, South Florida, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, Troy, Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky, Wofford

Division IV National Championship Format

Each team will play an 11 game regular season, beginning in September, not August! Every team will have one week off during the season. We will hold a 32 team National Championship tournament to begin the week following Thanksgiving and running concurrently with Division V’s tournament from then on. There will be a “Region ranking” (a formula much like D-II uses right now), throughout the season and at the end of the regular season the top four teams from each Region will gain automatic entry into the playoffs. The remainder of the field (16 teams), will be chosen by a committee of college football “experts.” It could be the same committee that chooses and seeds the Division V playoff or it could be different. But, in the end, we will crown THREE National Champions, each among like minded and more resourcefully equal membership than what the BCS BOD’s are going to come up with! Again… You’re Welcome!!!