I don't think it's realistic to believe that Rutgers would get kicked out, I think it's a lot more realistic to think that the B1G just expands to compensate for the pick. Here are some thoughts I have on the topic:
I think and eight team playoff is coming, that's unavoidable. When it happens, I think they'll give the top 4/5 seeds to winners of the P4/5 CCG's to protect the regular seasons and make CCG's matter.
My preference would be to stick to 14 or go all the way to 20. I don't think 16 works particularly well for scheduling purposes - you either have to go two divisions of eight, which means with nine conference games (and no protected crossovers) it takes eight years to complete a home and home with all the schools in the conference. Or, you could go to four divisions of four (i.e. "pods") and rotate the schedule, but with nine conference games, managing those crossover match ups could become really messy. Additionally, in either scenario, you still have the possibility of a rematch in the CCG, which I absolutely hate.
A 20 school conference w/ a divisional setup based on geography/rivalries makes for the best option in my opinion. Of course, expansion to 20 would probably require a home run on revenue generating additions in order for the numbers to make sense. Here's one scenario where I think that could work if everything broke right (divisional names are subject to change
):
Great Plains DivisionNebraska
Wisconsin
Iowa
Minnesota
Illinois
Great Lakes DivisionOhio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Indiana
Purdue
Northeast DivisionPenn State
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Rutgers
Maryland
Southwest DivisionTexas
Oklahoma
Texas A&M
Missouri
Kansas
If we just assume for a second this could be possible (a big assumption, I realize), I think this kind of setup offers a type of best case scenario if the B1G must continue to expand. It would protect most vital rivalries, with the clear exception of the split between Northwestern/Illinois - I split those two to provide maximum exposure to the Chicagoland area for visiting B1G schools, since Chicago is the hub of the B1G. In four of six years, when not on the B1G schedule, perhaps they could schedule that game "OOC" to accommodate for that rivalry.
In this type of scenario, each school would complete a home & home with every school in the other divisions in six years (as opposed to eight years w/ a 16 school conference), and it guarantees no rematches in the CCG. You rotate the divisions yearly and the school with the best record from that "rotation" goes to the CCG. No rematches in the CCG, and easy to follow - you look at your schedule and you have to have a better conference record than those teams to make the CCG.
I think the only super long shots on that list are TAMU & Notre Dame. I think an expanded playoff format that gives preferred seeding to winners of CCG's would force ND into a conference. I think Texas would like the idea of shutting the SEC out of their home state, perhaps the B1G could be a proxy for achieving that goal. TAMU seems pretty happy in the SEC, but Texas would probably want an in state rival to come with them, and the only two AAU schools in Texas are UT & TAMU. I don't see the B1G bringing along TTech/Baylor/TCU/Etc. to accommodate Texas.
