Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Ok, so start with the easy things...

• B1G has 14 members. Kicking any out is unprecedented. Given the money, any leaving voluntarily isn't going to happen.
• SEC is the exact same. 
• PAC is similar, but without the money aspect. Even so, I don't see Colorado jumping back to the B12. Utah I think likes the PAC. Unless the B12 could offer some crazy money, I see no reason why the AZ schools would head to the B12. So I don't see them losing anyone.

So you're right. If we have additional consolidation, it's going to be at the cost of either the B12 or the ACC. 

The problem is that the B12 doesn't have any good targets to add. The ACC, on the other hand, could probably pull WVU out of the B12 and add ND in a heartbeat, if they could get ND to agree. 

So how could the powers that be have gotten this to happen? Leave a 12-0 ND out of the CFP because OU/OSU/UGA/UM were stronger teams despite them being undefeated. If ND believed they'd be penalized by the committee for not being in a conference, they'd be in the ACC. But obviously that didn't happen.

So I see it as pretty simple. If the ACC could somehow convince ND, they steal WVU away from the B12, dropping the B12 to 9. Or if they think blood is in the water and want to expand and not wait on ND, steal WVU and add someone else.

Once that happens, the B12 is done. If the ACC gets ND, then the SEC and B1G will aim at Texas and Oklahoma, with Kansas/OkSU/KSU as possible second-tier choices. If the ACC doesn't get ND, I see the B1G actually getting ND at that point, probably pairing them with Kansas, while the SEC takes Texas and Oklahoma.

Interesting.  So how would the 2018 tiebreaker work?

I'm pretty sure it would just be the H2H2H:

• 1-0 Ohio State
• 1-1 Michigan
• 0-1 Northwestern

If it means moving OSU/Michigan up, I'd probably very reluctantly vote to keep divisions (but really hate how rarely we play so many traditional rivals).  

If it came to pass, I think what they might push would be moving the game back one week to its traditional ending of the 3rd Saturday in November.  It would be the compromise position from moving it up much and not at all and they could play it up as returning to traditional date even if not season ending.  Or they might just accept an occasional immediate rematch.  It would be less often than people imagine and we have seen it in other conferences recently (Conference USA this year, PAC-12 not too long ago).

If it means moving OSU/Michigan up, I'd probably very reluctantly vote to keep divisions (but really hate how rarely we play so many traditional rivals).  

If it came to pass, I think what they might push would be moving the game back one week to its traditional ending of the 3rd Saturday in November.  It would be the compromise position from moving it up much and not at all and they could play it up as returning to traditional date even if not season ending.  Or they might just accept an occasional immediate rematch.  It would be less often than people imagine and we have seen it in other conferences recently (Conference USA this year, PAC-12 not too long ago).

The closer in time the rematch happens the more I am opposed to it.  I just think it is flat out silly for two teams to play on consecutive Saturdays.  
Even moving THE GAME up just one week (to it's traditional date) would help a LOT because it would almost completely eliminate the possibility that I would consider to be the worst-case-scenario:
IMHO, the worst case scenario is this:

• Ohio State and Michigan are in opposite divisions, and
• Ohio State clinches their division before THE GAME, and
• Michigan clinches their division before THE GAME, and
• Both teams would be obviously in the Playoff with a B1G Championship but not a serious contender without it (ie, if we had an auto-bid and both teams were 9-2 heading into THE GAME.  

In this worst-case-scenario the winner of the SECOND game would get a CFP auto-bid while the winner of the first game would get nothing.  

Best way for the Big10 to shore up the East / West division with the demise of the Big12 would be to add Oklahoma and Notre Dame to the West and shift Purdue back to the East. Then we have a 8 game round robin in each division. For the ninth game, this years finishing standing order from the East and West would play each other then there is no need for a championship game.  For games 10 and 11 you would need to play another P4 team and the 12th game could be from a non P4 team.  Now you can have a eight team CFP without adding an additional game.  This should produce the best team from each of the P4 conferences and have the committee choose the other four participants.   

Note:  All the P4 conferences would need to agree to go to a 16 team conference and follow the layout I described above for the Big10 to make everyone equal.

Ok, so start with the easy things...

• B1G has 14 members. Kicking any out is unprecedented. Given the money, any leaving voluntarily isn't going to happen.
• SEC is the exact same.
• PAC is similar, but without the money aspect. Even so, I don't see Colorado jumping back to the B12. Utah I think likes the PAC. Unless the B12 could offer some crazy money, I see no reason why the AZ schools would head to the B12. So I don't see them losing anyone.

So you're right. If we have additional consolidation, it's going to be at the cost of either the B12 or the ACC.

The problem is that the B12 doesn't have any good targets to add. The ACC, on the other hand, could probably pull WVU out of the B12 and add ND in a heartbeat, if they could get ND to agree.

So how could the powers that be have gotten this to happen? Leave a 12-0 ND out of the CFP because OU/OSU/UGA/UM were stronger teams despite them being undefeated. If ND believed they'd be penalized by the committee for not being in a conference, they'd be in the ACC. But obviously that didn't happen.

So I see it as pretty simple. If the ACC could somehow convince ND, they steal WVU away from the B12, dropping the B12 to 9. Or if they think blood is in the water and want to expand and not wait on ND, steal WVU and add someone else.

Once that happens, the B12 is done. If the ACC gets ND, then the SEC and B1G will aim at Texas and Oklahoma, with Kansas/OkSU/KSU as possible second-tier choices. If the ACC doesn't get ND, I see the B1G actually getting ND at that point, probably pairing them with Kansas, while the SEC takes Texas and Oklahoma.

Yeah, I was wondering why the committee wasn't sort of playing hardball with ND.  The room is full of older people who still think the Irish are something special, I guess.  Idk.
If the SEC added OU and Texas....whoa boy.  They might just secede from the NCAA, because that would be a juggernaut...and I even doubt they'd be appeased by having one of the 4 playoff spots.  Limiting programs like OU, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Auburn, and LSU to one potential playoff slot wouldn't be smart for that super conference.  

Maybe I'm crazy but the lack of uniformity truly does not bother me.  Let's get rid of recruiting and split up players like the pro leagues do, and ensure all athletic donations are split among all schools equally.  I don't know, if you want to go all in on just being NFL-lite, then go all in.  I'm not convinced of why we need that.  If the top 5 teams all play someone else in a bowl game at the end, I'm kind of cool with that.  But if you want to be NFL-lite, then I think you just might as well go all the way.  Dismantle the conferences entirely, and rebuild the whole thing from the ground up.  You know, for amateurism or whatever.