WHITEHALL, Texas — Americans absolutely LOVE tournament play. Whether it’s basketball’s March Madness, baseball’s Road to Omaha, the College Football Playoffs or our kid’s weekend volleyball tournament, fans just can’t get enough. That tourney excitement gets our blood pumping, whatever the sport and whatever the level.
College ball has the Selection Committees, the seedings, the matchups, and the do-or-die Scenarios. THIS is what sports fans truly love, what they wait all season for.
What If We Treated the Regular Season Like a Tournament?
So, what if we constructed entire regular seasons in tournament style? What if we seeded every conference team based on their finish in the previous year’s standings, and then set up the brackets accordingly?
Except THESE brackets we will call “Divisions.”
The Problem with Mega-Conferences and No Divisions
Why would we do this? Well, simply put, as college football conferences have expanded, tradition and fairness have been sacrificed. The current trend—eliminating divisions within the conferences—undermines the clarity and competitive balance that have long defined all sports.
When I played in the ‘70s, conferences typically had 7 to 10 teams. Teams generally played every other conference member and the best record won the title. This round-robin format was simple, fair, and left no doubt about the champion. The worst that could happen was a head-to-head tiebreaker, which was simple enough. This is how every league you can think of was initially structured.
Today, conferences have ballooned to 16, 17, and even 18 teams, with no end in sight. But instead of creating or remodeling their divisions to maintain the standard rules of competition, the Power 4 conferences and most G5 leagues have each lumped their teams together in single-table standings that are both deceptive and untrustworthy.
The Case Against Unbalanced Schedules
Mathematically unbalanced schedules and dissimilar paths to championships are not the answer and, frankly, should’ve never been entertained as a solution. The crapshoot approach to scheduling umpteen college football teams—playing some while not playing others—is fundamentally flawed.
How the Pros Handled Expansion
Professional leagues faced similar challenges and they wisely adapted. Major League Baseball introduced divisions in 1969 after expansion. The NFL adopted divisions in 1933 to ensure fair championship paths and to top off its seasons with a championship game.
Today, the NFL’s structure—two conferences, each with four divisions—ensures competitive balance. College football and its mega conferences should follow suit and revert back to divisional structures.
The Problem of Strength of Schedule Disparity
Without divisions or a round-robin schedule, crowning the true champion of a 16-team league is next to impossible. A wide disparity in strength of schedules caused by unbalanced scheduling means some teams face tougher slates while others get easier paths. This distorts standings, rankings, and postseason opportunities. We’re leaving it up to pure chance in some cases.
For example, in 2024, Florida and Mississippi State (SEC) endured brutal league schedules for no obvious reason, while SMU (ACC) and Rutgers (Big Ten) had much easier roads than their conference counterparts. Strength of Schedule is the elephant in the room that needs to be eliminated entirely.
Why Championship Legitimacy Depends on Divisions
Without divisions, conference championship games often pit teams that haven’t faced comparable opponents, undermining legitimacy. Tougher schedules can lead to more losses and lower rankings. Easier schedules often inflate records, boosting mediocre teams. It’s in the best interest of the game to level the playing field.
The single-table approach once used by every conference (and sports league) works perfectly with balanced, round-robin play. Without it, standings are compromised and playoff selection becomes even more subjective.
Flexibility vs. Fairness: A False Choice
Proponents of eliminating divisions tout flexibility and fresh matchups, but these supposed benefits come at the cost of fairness and legitimacy. The path to a championship should be decided on the field, not by advantageous scheduling.
High school athletic districts are realigned by states every two to four years for fairness—why not college football?
A Tournament-Style Fix: How to Create Merit-Based Divisions
Divisions can be seeded in tournament fashion based on recent records and updated annually or biennially—ensuring equitable competition that’s extremely fresh and flexible.
Setting Up Merit-Based, Rotating Divisions:
1. Rank all teams by prior year’s conference record.
2. Seed teams tournament-style: #1 through #N.
3. Split into divisions by pairing seeds (e.g., 1 & 18, 2 & 17, etc.).
4. Realign divisions annually or biennially for fairness and variety.
With the drop-of-a-hat technology available today, seeding and scheduling for division play can be done in a snap. It is far simpler than building a 64-team NCAA tournament bracket—something done every year in a matter of hours.
The 2025 SEC with Tournament-Style Rotated Divisions Would Look Like This:
Division A:
• Texas (1)
• Ole Miss (4)
• South Carolina (6)
• Texas A&M (8)
• Florida (10)
• Vanderbilt (12)
• Auburn (14)
• Mississippi State (16)
Division B:
• Georgia (2)
• Tennessee (3)
• Alabama (5)
• Missouri (7)
• LSU (9)
• Arkansas (11)
• Oklahoma (13)
• Kentucky (15)
The Value of a Dynamic, Earned Schedule
Essentially, what you earn is what you get. Seeding creates a dynamic 7-game divisional schedule for each SEC team. An eighth conference game could be a rivalry matchup or a wild card opponent drawn from the other division.
Division champs would make the playoffs irrespective of their overall record. Why? They won their bracket!
We all remember when high school state playoffs included only district champions and runners-up. Nobody cared about a qualifier’s non-district games OR their overall record. They were Top Two in their DISTRICT!
Other Power Conferences Would Look Like This:
Big Ten
Division A
• Oregon (1)
• Indiana (4)
• Illinois (5)
• Minnesota (8)
• USC (9)
• Washington (12)
• Wisconsin (13)
• Michigan State (16)
• Purdue (18)
Division B
• Penn State (2)
• Ohio State (3)
• Iowa (6)
• Michigan (7)
• Rutgers (10)
• Nebraska (11)
• UCLA (14)
• Northwestern (15)
• Maryland (17)
ACC
Division A
• SMU (1)
• Miami (4)
• Louisville (5)
• Duke (8)
• Boston College (9)
• NC State (12)
• Virginia (13)
• Wake Forest (16)
• Open (18)
Division B
• Clemson (2)
• Syracuse (3)
• Georgia Tech (6)
• Virginia Tech (7)
• Pittsburgh (10)
• North Carolina (11)
• California (14)
• Stanford (15)
• Florida State (17)
Big 12
Division A
• Arizona State (1)
• Colorado (4)
• Baylor (5)
• Kansas State (8)
• West Virginia (9)
• Houston (12)
• Utah (13)
• Oklahoma State (16)
Division B
• Iowa State (2)
• BYU (3)
• TCU (6)
• Texas Tech (7)
• Kansas (10)
• Cincinnati (11)
• UCF (14)
• Arizona (15)
Conclusion: Divisions Bring Balance, Clarity, and Excitement
By rotating divisions using merit-based alignment every year or two, we restore round-robin fairness and avoid the staleness and inequity of yesteryear divisions that were “set in stone.” There’s been enough of that.
This idea offers each program a realistic shot at greatness every year. Every year, we can count on the results on the field to decide the champions and seed the divisions in coming years. Do the same with basketball, baseball and softball programs.
Conferences could theoretically expand to 24 teams and still be solid. And most importantly, we permanently dispense with the crapshoot of overcrowded league standings in which scheduling for all is an impossible task.
David Walker was named Louisiana’s High School Player of the Year at just 16 years old and, at 17, became college football’s first quarterback to earn Freshman of the Year honors. He remains the NCAA’s youngest-ever starting quarterback, a distinction that has stood for decades.
Transitioning from a wide-open high school offense to Emory Bellard’s renowned wishbone triple option, Walker excelled as a dual-threat quarterback. He graduated as Texas A&M’s all-time winningest quarterback and served as a two-time team captain, helping to transform a program that had endured 15 losing seasons in the previous 16 years.
After his playing career, Walker coached and taught algebra at six Texas high schools before moving into private business. In 2011, he published his memoir, “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good,” a title inspired by the coaching philosophy of Shannon Suarez, the Sulphur High and Louisiana High School Hall of Fame coach who was a significant influence on Walker’s life and career.
Walker’s compelling storytelling in his autobiography reflects the breadth of his experiences in high school and college football, and it is an undeniable fact that he saw more action than any athlete in the history of the NCAA. Since 2013, he has contributed to The Rebel Walk, sharing his insights and expertise with readers.
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