3 college football that would benefit most from eliminating divisions

Major college football has begun to move away from divisional play in its conferences. Here are three teams that would benefit from the move.

In 1992, the Southeastern Conference split the conference into two divisions to have a conference title game. The Big 12 and Western Athletic Conference would go to divisional play in 1996. The rest of college football would have divisions soon after that.

Thirty years later, conferences are expanding, and divisional play in college football looks like it is ending.

The Pac-12 began what looks to be the eventual extinction of divisional play in college football when it announced a change to its championship game. Participants in the Pac-12 Championship Game will be teams with the highest winning percentage, not divisional winners.

The SEC will be done with divisions when Texas and Oklahoma join in 2025. The ACC went away from divisions in 2020 and added Notre Dame. The Big 12 has used a waiver to conduct its championship game in this way after Texas A&M and Missouri left for the SEC.

Teams that play in strong divisions benefit most. It is almost guaranteed the two best teams — at least the two best by record — will play in a conference championship game. Many teams will benefit from “divisionless” conferences.

Here is a closer look at three teams that will benefit from eliminating divisions.