The College Football Super League has been at the center of plenty of conversation ever since “College Sports Tomorrow” tried to make its own proposal. In that proposal, there are 80 teams at the top with eight divisions of 10. Only members of the one division could be relegated, leaving 70 programs immune. According to them, all 18 programs are worthy of the top tier of college football.
At best, the proposal is weak and asinine. At worst, it destroys what the Super League is meant to be.
Last Word on Sports proposed its own Super League and it’s quite a bit better. To start, programs are ranked by win percentage against FBS foes. Then, no program is immune to relegation. If Georgia finishes 2-12 at the bottom of their division, they get sent down.
In their proposal, the FBS and so forth split up into 40 school tiers.
![11 Big Ten Teams Make College Football Super League in New Proposal 1 super league](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/USATSI_23015553_168400545_lowres-1024x909.jpg)
Ohio State Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson (32) runs the ball for the scarlet team during the first half of the LifeSports spring football game at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.
Big Ten Programs Make the Top Tier of College Football Super League Proposal
West | North | South | East |
Arizona State | Bowling Green | Air Force | Clemson |
BYU | Miami (OH) | Alabama | Florida |
Colorado | Michigan | Arkansas | Florida State |
Fresno State | Michigan State | Auburn | Georgia |
Washington | Minnesota | Houston | Georgia Tech |
Oregon | Notre Dame | LSU | Miami (FL) |
Stanford | Ohio State | Nebraska | North Carolina |
UCLA | Penn State | Oklahoma | Tennessee |
USC | Toledo | Texas | Virginia Tech |
Utah | Wisconsin | Texas A&M | West Virginia |
Unsurprisingly, the conference’s top programs made the cut. All of Washington, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska made the cut.
Illinois, Iowa, and Purdue fall into Tier 2 while Northwestern, Indiana, and Rutgers round out Tier 3.
Worthy Inclusions
![11 Big Ten Teams Make College Football Super League in New Proposal 2 super league](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/USATSI_22181749_168400545_lowres-1024x671.jpg)
The 11 programs that made it to the top 40 represent the elites in terms of the FBS winning percentage:
1. Ohio State (0.7337)
2. Michigan (0.7194)
8. USC (0.6828)
9. Penn State (0.6784)
11. Nebraska (0.6568)
22. Washington (0.5807)
23. UCLA (0.5791)
28. Michigan State (0.5543)
31. Oregon (0.5453)
35. Wisconsin (0.5384)
43. Minnesota (0.5246)
Minnesota, while residing outside the top 40 in win percentage, was pushed up because a few higher-ranked programs have not played at the FBS level for long, thus have an artificially high percentage (ie. James Madison is 10th with a 0.6667…in 27 games).
If the criteria had been each program needed to win at least one title, Oregon and Wisconsin would have been left out. As it is, 11 of the top 40 programs reside in the Big Ten. This group of teams represents 54 national titles. It’s well-deserved.
New Conference of Champions?
![11 Big Ten Teams Make College Football Super League in New Proposal 3 super league](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/USATSI_17426377_168400545_lowres.jpg)
With the death of the Pac-12, there has to be a Conference of Champions™, right? With the reigning champion and five top-eleven programs, it makes sense.
In all reality, the Big Ten is home to more bluebloods than any other conference. If you include Georgia for the SEC, they would have an argument, sure.
All in all, a College Football Super League is absolutely a great idea. Is there truly a better way to make sure the cream always rises to the top than to make sure each and every program’s feet are held to fire? No longer can the Rutgers or Northwesterns of the world rest on their laurels that they are included in the Big Ten.
Given, at this point, conferences would die in favor of an NFL-like divisional system. However, would you trade conferences, which are becoming increasingly a formality with how national it’s all getting, for a system that guarantees the best of the best battle it out each and every weekend?
And, if the gripe is that a few Group of 5 teams got through, it’ll be sorted in time. If those Power 4 programs are worth their salt, they’ll win and keep winning, thus sending those MAC or Mountain West programs down.
College football has become unrecognizable from the game that most fans fell in love with as kids. We are already headed for a Power 2 system with the Big Ten and SEC with the ACC about to implode. Might as well steer into it.