IF THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL...HOW COME NO ONE TOLD THE NCAA?

Here we go again...the NCAA is screwing things up again!

Now for those who read my earlier note about fixing the NCAA Tournament in basketball, thank you very much. Initially, I wanted to talk about how to fix college football, but that will be saved for another day.

The fact that the automatic qualifying conferences want to expand to 16 teams is crazy, maniacal, preposterous, bananas, and just plain ridiculous. I can understand 12 teams and two divisions of six much like the ACC, Big 12, SEC, Conference USA, and the MAC (they have 13) is great, but 16 is a bit much don't you think?

There are many reasons why it won't work and it should not happen.

First, historically, it did not work before. The WAC tried this from 1996-1998, and half of those 16 left to form the Mountain West Conference. Academics and travel costs were concerns then and the economy was better then than it is now. So what makes many long trips within the conference such a great idea, especially if the ACC adds more Northeast and New England teams along with the ones in
the Southeast?

Secondly, most of the nastiest rivalries would cool off or cease to exist. For example, the LSU/Florida rivalry? GONE! Why? Because, what's the point of having a conference if you do not play every team on a regular basis? Think about it...the normal conference slate is eight games right now. Moving it to 16 teams and two divisions of eight, means only one game will be against a team from the other division. By the time every team would play a home-and-home against each, it would be 16 years removed (8 if you're talking about a single match-up), and you have to have to give every player and your fan base to cheer and brag more often, like say in a presidential term?

Next, it becomes too widespread from a geographical standpoint. Picture the ACC, which operates in the southern colonial states, spreading further into New England or the Mid-Atlantic with Connecticut? How about the west-coast oriented Pac-10 extending to Kansas and Texas with Kansas, Kansas State, or TCU? Or even the Big Ten going to Rutgers and Syracuse which clearly are not in the Midwest? As stated earlier, travel will be much more.

Reason four is that no matter what, Boise State may continue to be the red-headed stepchild in all of this. None of the projections have them going to the Pac-10 due to their academic history, which is a shame. One of the more dominant programs since 1999 with two BCS wins and two perfect seasons, is having trouble finding an opponent in 2011, and now they cannot further legitimize themselves in a major conference? Come to think of it, this is even more of a monopolistic way to shun smaller squads at an opportunity.

Fifth, last, and not least, for the smaller conferences that means having to bring in watered down competition to compensate for the teams lost. Teams from the other mid-majors will get to 12, but it might be a stretch. However the Sun Belt could be worse off than the "training" conference it already is. Unless they can get a slew of FCS (Division I-AA) teams to get to 12 teams to split into two divisions, the Sun Belt will be stuck with fewer than 12, further hurting its chances to do better. Also, Notre Dame will stay as an Independent, not jeopardizing its flexibility to create its OWN schedule, not sharing money with anyone else, and having their own television contract with NBC. Therefore, this makes this notion and idea irrelevant.

Now, I am sure that there are more reasons, but this is the top five. Trust me, I have the hammer and the nail ready, and like I said, the NCAA Football postseason note is coming soon!