From the "It makes too much sense so it will never happen" dep

[untcampbell]

ESPN story:

The talks originated after last week's decision in Denver by the BCS commissioners to award an automatic access bowl berth to the highest-rated champion to the "Group of Five" conferences. That decision in essence put the Mountain West on equal footing, as far as playoff access is concerned, with the Big East starting in 2014.

The "Group of Five" includes the Mountain West, Big East, Conference USA, Mid-American and Sun Belt conferences.

Since these conferences essentially are on equal footing, these conferences should be built completely on regional lines. This is in essence the "mom and pop" vs Walmart. Compete by minimizing your costs (travel) and creating as much free publicity as possible (nearby rivalries).

Negotiate conference deals with the regional sports networks and build cross-conference non-conference games that build connections with the other regional networks, i.e. Sun Belt vs MAC, Mtn West vs CUSA, CUSA vs Sun Belt, Big East vs MAC, etc. Or perhaps better yet, perhaps the Group of Five negotiate with the major networks, collectively, to provide a true national contract ("game of the week") and conferences then go regional to maximize local exposure. Throw in the attraction of scheduling a military academy every other year or so. Play two non-conferences against other Group of Fives and one against an elite program. By minimizing the number of elite games, collectively, the Group of Fives can command higher per-game bounties when playing the elites. The elites get tired of beating up on each other, seek additional Group of Five games and the price goes up until the Group of Fives collectively agree to schedule another bounty game.

I am sure this plan is filled with flaws, read that MONEY, but why not build truly regional conferences that compete against each other.

GMG

[RETSO]

I think we should take this "Group of Five" idea and think outside the box.....i think with Maryland/Rutgers movingto the B1G the MEGA Conferences are coming sooner than we think

1. Create a Group of Five National Championship Playoff system (Five Conf champs + 3 highest ranked Wildcards) Use the playoffs with Bowls like Liberty, New Orleans, Independence etc......

2. Create our own top 20 poll .,,,still be part of D1 / FBS but have our own classification similar to a High School 5A and 4A system....

3. As stated above byUNT Campbell, continue to schedule one body bag/$$$ game a year, but keep them limited and make the future mega conf pay for wanting/having to schedule us.

4. The big boys dont want us... so why dont we tell them like the bad news bears told the yankees ... take your trophy and shove it straight up your A$$...

but as stated above...makes too much sense