Rich Rodriguez's call for conference realignment is just common sense

Rich Rodriguez isn't afraid to speak his mind regarding any subject in college football – whether he's discussing eligibility matters, taking a hard stance on locker room TikTok dances, or just giving a bold prediction on his team's outlook for future seasons, he'll let you know exactly how he feels about something.

Now, as TV contract restructuring looms large on the horizon in a few years and a new wave of conference realignment has already gotten underway among Group of 6 conferences, Rodriguez is sharing his mind on where the sport should go next when it comes to grouping teams.

“We should all come together in one league and have regions as they do in the NFL. We have Pitt and Penn State, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Virginia, Cincinnati — all those schools right around us in our area," Rodriguez said.

"Our fans would eat that up. That would be great, wouldn’t it? I don’t know if that’s ever going to happen because there are TV agreements for the next six or seven years, but I’d love to play Pitt every year.”

Why Rich Rodriguez's plan for regional conferences just makes sense

In some ways, this would be regression to what the sport used to be. But it also just creates more excitement and more fan intrigue. The most storied rivalries in the sport are most often regional-based rivalries, and while WVU and Pitt in the Backyard Brawl is a prime example, there are no shortage across Division 1 football.

So when you can stack multiple of those rivalries onto the schedule in each season, it's just good business and good for the atmosphere of the sport. And while the loss of regional rivalries hasn't hit every team as hard as it has West Virginia, it's becoming a more common occurance across the country and has affected the Mountaineers severely.

And while television deals are what orginally shifted the focus away from these regional conferences and created leagues with a more national scope, that push has now resulted in the formation of super conferences.

And with it looking more like we're headed to an inevitable future where the top of the sport is dominated by 3-4 leagues with 20-24 teams apiece, it just makes sense to organize these leagues into 5-8 team pods or divisions to make scheduling simpler. Continuing to try to juggle and maintain scheduling as these leagues keep expanding will be difficult without such a system.

So if college football wants to reintroduce some excitement and nostalgia into the sport while finding ways to organize new super leagues, someone should give Rich Rodriguez a call. He has some ideas that are perfect for the ever-changing landscape of the sport.

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