A look at the proposed College Football Super League

Prepare yourselves for the wonderful world of promotion and relegation entering the college football sphere. Okay, maybe not to the degree we see it in the English Premier League, but the current college football landscape is at a breaking point. I mean, we just saw the Pac-12 die. The Power Five has become the Power Four, but it really is the Power Two with the Big Ten and SEC calling the shots.

In the best interest of the sport, the major players need to unite and take over this moneymaking property from the NCAA. It should be all about inclusion and wanting to see the mid-major programs have an opportunity to play up and contend for championships. A few weeks ago, the idea of an 80-team super league first came to public knowledge. It includes every Power Five school plus 10 more.

As far as who fits into the Power Five, those teams are everyone who played in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC last year, ACC newcomer SMU and national independent Notre Dame. Thankfully, the Pac-12 Step Brothers of Oregon State and Washington State will not be left for dead in this proposed Super League format. It will feature eight divisions of 10, seven of which will remain static.

Here is a visual representation of the 80 teams that would be playing in a super league for this year.

The Under League Division includes every Group of Five conference's champion and runner-up.

Breaking down the proposed 80-team college football super league

For those who need to see a written breakdown of the eight, 10-team divisions, I did that for you.

West

• Arizona Wildcats
• Arizona State Sun Devils
• California Golden Bears
• Oregon Ducks
• Oregon State Beavers
• Stanford Cardinal
• UCLA Bruins
• USC Trojans
• Washington Huskies
• Washington State Cougars

The West looks a lot like the old Pac-10, well, because it is the old Pac-10. What are we even doing?!

Southwest

• Arkansas Razorbacks
• Baylor Bears
• Houston Cougars
• Oklahoma Sooners
• Oklahoma State Cowboys
• SMU Mustangs
• TCU Horned Frogs
• Texas Longhorns
• Texas A&M Aggies
• Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Southwest resembles the old Southwest Conference with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State instead of Rice. I cannot wait to see a Trans AM be the reason this division collapses upon itself...

Plains

• BYU Cougars
• Colorado Buffaloes
• Iowa Hawkeyes
• Iowa State Cyclones
• Kansas Jayhawks
• Kansas State Wildcats
• Minnesota Golden Gophers
• Nebraska Cornhuskers
• Utah Utes
• Wisconsin Badgers

The Plains is a good mix of Big Eight, Big Ten West and the Holy War. This league will feature big boys.

Midwest

• Cincinnati Bearcats
• Illinois Fighting Illini
• Indiana Hoosiers
• Louisville Cardinals
• Michigan Wolverines
• Michigan State Spartans
• Missouri Tigers
• Northwestern Wildcats
• Ohio State Buckeyes
• Purdue Boilermakers

The Midwest is the Big Ten with a sprinkling of regional misfits like Cincinnati, Louisville and Missouri.

Northeast

• Boston College Eagles
• Maryland Terrapins
• Notre Dame Fighting Irish
• Penn State Nittany Lions
• Pittsburgh Panthers
• Rutgers Scarlet Knights
• Syracuse Orange
• Virginia Cavaliers
• Virginia Tech Hokies
• West Virginia Mountaineers

The Northeast is an amalgamation of old Big East and tidewater ACC vibes. This could sink or swim.

Southeast

• Clemson Tigers
• Duke Blue Devils
• Florida Gators
• Florida State Seminoles
• Miami Hurricanes
• North Carolina Tar Heels
• North Carolina State Wolfpack
• South Carolina Gamecocks
• UCF Knights
• Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The Southeast mocks the SEC name to include major schools from only three states in the region.

South

• Alabama Crimson Tide
• Auburn Tigers
• Georgia Bulldogs
• Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
• Kentucky Wildcats
• LSU Tigers
• Mississippi State Bulldogs
• Ole Miss Rebels
• Tennessee Volunteers
• Vanderbilt Commodores

The South is very old school SEC without Florida, Tulane and good, ole Sewanee playing a part in it.

Under League Division

• Boise State Broncos
• James Madison Dukes
• Liberty Flames
• Miami RedHawks
• New Mexico State Aggies
• Toledo Rockets
• Troy Trojans
• Tulane Green Wave
• UNLV Rebels
• UTSA Roadrunners

The Under League Division has the winners and "runner-ups" from last year's Group of Five conference championships: American (UTSA, Tulane), Conference USA (Liberty, New Mexico State), MAC (Miami (OH), Toledo), Mountain West (Boise State, UNLV) and Sun Belt (James Madison, Troy).

Overall, we are getting the foundation of a set schedule. I am sure it would include nine division games, possibly one cross-divisional rival and competitive balance. I don't know how promotion and relegation would work in the Under League Division, but I think it should be called The American in this exercise. They would probably play each other and have a permanent rival at the under-level, too.

Ultimately, I think the bones of this 80-team college football super league are quite strong. Obviously, we will run into issues along the way if this does indeed become a reality. For now, it is just a pretty good, half-baked idea. As long as Georgia can continue to play Florida, even if they are in separate divisions, I don't think the college football world will collapse in on itself. The innovation in this is great.

This is just the next step for college athletics to resemble professional sports even more than before.