The dawn of NIL has forced a realignment of college conferences, putting pressure on the structure of conference championships. When you look at the Power Four football conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and SEC), each have expanded somewhere between 16 and 18 members. 

The past two seasons have demonstrated that the current conference championship format is not equipped to corral the super-sized power conferences. Deciding the top teams in the country is left to too many qualitative metrics (strength of schedule, head to head, and common opponents).

Something needs to change.

Texas A&M’s path to CFP

Looking at the SEC, Texas A&M had a historic 11-1 regular season, good for one of the best records in the nation. However it featured in-conference wins against seven out of the nine worst teams in the SEC; and every team they beat had a conference win percentage of .500 or worse.

The Aggies season would end in disappointing fashion as they lost twice in a row, against in-state rival the Texas Longhorns 27-17 and in the first round of the College Football Playoff against the Miami Hurricanes 10-3.

A&M arguably only faced three impressive teams all season (Miami, Notre Dame, Texas), and its only win of the three came in the form of a controversial one-point victory over ND in Week 2.

TAMU is one of multiple glaring examples of how massive conferences allow teams to waltz unscathed through their conferences thanks to scheduling issues.

Is a return to Divisions the solution?

It would seem creating divisions within the conferences should be closely considered. This would stoke more fierce rivalries among inter-division opponents, ensuring more even matchups and a clearer cut conference championship.

Looking to the past, all of the Power Four conferences had divisions but were eliminated across  the last decade — a division format made less sense with smaller membership.

In 2024, the Big 12 (with 16 members) had a four-way tie at the top of the conference between Arizona State, Iowa State, BYU, and Colorado, who all finished with a 7-2 record. By the end Arizona State and Iowa State faced off due to tiebreakers, but many thought that BYU was more deserving than Iowa State.

This season in the ACC (with 17 members), Virginia guaranteed their spot after a 7-1 conference record, but there was a 5-way tie for second place between Duke, Miami, Georgia Tech, SMU, and Pitt. As Miami fans well know, the unranked 7-5 Duke Blue Devils were awarded the second spot over a 10-2 Miami team ranked No. 12 in the country at the time.

Applying the Divisions to the ACC

When looking at the ACC, the conference has 17 members, which forces teams to play more or less games than one another. All of this would be solved if another team joined the conference.

But let’s concentrate on how the current structure of the ACC would address this issue. There would be three main things taken into consideration: rivalries, location, and talent. It might look something like this:

ACC North: Syracuse, BC, Pitt, Louisville, VT, Virginia, Clemson and Georgia Tech

ACC South: Miami, FSU, SMU, Cal, Stanford, Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest

For the divisions, it would be fair to re-evaluate every five years whether the two divisions are evenly split. Currently the competition would be tight; each division would be well balanced. 

The proposed system would also allow scheduling and travel to be much simpler; every division team plays one another, the north would have 7 conference games while the south would have 8. At the end of the season, the two representatives from each division would face-off for the championship.

As some guidelines here are the five hypothetical tiebreaker rules: 

1 – Conference Record

Conference records always take importance over every guideline but would have more weight as every team faces each other.

2 – Head to Head

Due to everyone facing off this should solve for tiebreakers except for three (or more) way ties.

3 – Overall Record

In the case of Miami – Duke the tiebreaker was Win Percentage of Conference opponents. In the context of a 7-5 record, the overall record should have more weight.

4 – National Ranking (AP poll / CFP)

Ideally the conference championship should be settled by this point but if it goes this far National Ranking should be considered in ensuring that the best teams compete for the conference championship.

Will realignment fix everything?

Fans want more entertaining matches and teams want ease of scheduling and travel.

The answer is simple — either return to smaller conferences or implement divisions to make conferences matter.

In the end, no matter the solution, it won’t be perfect. Sports fanatics will always say that there will be a better format, but the least we can do is learn from past mistakes.

North Texas capped a program-best 12–2 season with a New Mexico Bowl win, but quickly faced major roster turnover as quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins, and wide receiver Wyatt Young all entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Mestemaker broke out as a redshirt freshman in 2025, leading the FBS with 4,379 passing yards and 34 touchdowns following Saturday’s 49–47 victory over San Diego State.

He began his North Texas career as a walk-on and earned conference offensive honors and national attention before deciding to test the portal.

Hawkins, the Mean Green’s freshman back, finished 2025 as one of the nation’s most productive rushers, totaling 1,434 rushing yards and leading the FBS with 25 rushing touchdowns, highlighted by a 198-yard, three-touchdown bowl performance to cap the year.

Young, meanwhile, paced UNT’s receiving corps with 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns (ranking among the top three nationally) and earned first-team All-American and All-Conference honors.

Losing the nation’s top passer, the FBS’s most productive freshman runner, and a top-three WR in one offseason represents an immediate top-to-bottom offensive reset for North Texas. 

For the transfer market, all three are premium, high-demand assets — Mestemaker as a starting QB target for Power-Five teams, Hawkins as a feature back with breakout tape, and Young as a proven perimeter threat.

Mestemaker has already been linked to Oklahoma State (connection via coach Eric Morris), Indiana, Texas Tech, and Oregon, while Hawkins and Young are expected to draw attention from both Group-of-Five and Power-Five programs.

Hawkins, a three-star recruit from North Rock Creek High School (Shawnee, Oklahoma) in the 2025 class, also held offers from Emporia State and Central Oklahoma before committing to North Texas in September 2024.

Young, a three-star prospect from Katy Tompkins High School (Katy, Texas) in the 2024 class, signed with the Mean Green over offers from Rice, Arizona, Memphis, Air Force, and others.

Three top underclass producers hitting the transfer portal at once underscores how quickly the transfer era can reshape a program, leaving Group of Five teams that develop stars grappling with retention issues and the financial pressures of NIL.

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In its first year under head coach Scott Abell, Rice finished the 2025 season 5–7 overall (2–6 in the American Conference) but still earned an Armed Forces Bowl invite, where it will face Texas State (6–6) on January 2 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Across 12 games in 2025, Jenkins completed 119 of 172 passes (69.2%) for 1,025 yards with nine touchdowns against two interceptions, while also carrying the ball 151 times for 531 yards and five scores.

That momentum may be short-lived, however, as Rivals’ Hayes Fawcett reported on Saturday that Jenkins plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, adding another domino to an already loaded quarterback transfer market.

A Houston, Texas product who signed with Rice in February 2023, Jenkins worked his way into the program as a multi-role quarterback/athlete, appearing in limited action early in his career before being named the 2025 starter.

In his first full year as the starting quarterback, Jenkins earned American Conference All-Academic recognition.

Prior to signing with Rice, he starred at Alief Taylor (Houston), where he threw for 4,735 yards and 46 touchdowns against just six interceptions in 22 varsity games and earned All-District 23-6A honors as a junior.

Jenkins was 247Sports’ No. 93 quarterback in the 2023 class, committing to Rice over offers from Alcorn State, East Texas A&M, Jackson State, and Lamar. 

With a 69.1% career completion rate and proven mobility, Jenkins profiles as a strong fit for spread-option or run-oriented Group-of-Five offenses that prioritize efficiency and quarterback movement.

He could appeal to programs seeking an experienced starter while also offering value as depth at the Power-Five level, with his Texas roots strengthening his regional appeal.

Some notable programs that have reportedly shown interest in adding a quarterback through the transfer portal include Florida State, Clemson, North Texas, TCU, Virginia Tech, and Cincinnati.

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Cincinnati closed the 2025 season at 7–5 (5–4 Big 12) and will face Navy in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on January 2, marking the Bearcats’ first bowl appearance since joining the Big 12 and since head coach Scott Satterfield took over in 2023.

Cincinnati rattled off seven straight wins midseason but dropped its final four games to close the regular slate before receiving the bowl invitation.

Quarterback Brendan Sorsby started 12 games for Cincinnati in 2025 and finished with 2,800 passing yards, 27 passing TDs, and five interceptions (61.6% completion, 155.15 passer rating), adding 100 carries for 580 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns. 

A Denton/Lake Dallas (Texas) product, Sorsby was a three-star recruit who signed with Indiana (redshirted 2022, started in 2023) before transferring to Cincinnati in 2024.

However, Sorsby notified Cincinnati and publicly confirmed on December 15 that he will test the transfer portal while awaiting an NFL draft grade.

Since then, multiple programs have reportedly shown interest, with some NIL offers rumored to approach $5 million, a figure that would rank among the highest in college football.

On3’s NIL tracker currently values Sorsby at approximately $2.4 million, placing him among the higher-valued quarterbacks in the college game.

On Friday, Fox Sports’ Laken Litman included Oregon among the programs expected to pursue a quarterback through the transfer portal and identified Sorsby as a “top quarterback from the portal,” along with Texas Tech, Indiana, and Oklahoma.

Oregon’s starter, Dante Moore, is widely regarded as a likely high NFL Draft selection and has not publicly committed to returning, stating that he has yet to make a final decision.

With a young and largely unproven group of quarterbacks behind him on the depth chart, speculation has been that Dan Lanning and his staff could pursue a transfer portal quarterback should Moore declare.

If Moore declares for the draft, Oregon would likely seek an experienced, pro-ready signal-caller capable of operating a tempo-based offense while sustaining recruiting and NIL momentum.

Sorsby’s size (6’3″, 235 pounds), proven starter experience, marketplace value, and dual-threat rushing ability, a trait Oregon has used successfully, would make him an immediate candidate.

Read More at College Football HQ

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Former Georgia football defensive end Damon Wilson is asking an Athens-Clarke County Superior Court judge to deny Georgia athletics’ attempt to go to arbitration on what it contends is Wilson breaking an NIL contract when he entered the transfer portal.

Georgia sued Wilson, seeking $390,000 in liquidated damages after he agreed to an NIL deal with Classic City Collective and transferred weeks later. He played this season at Missouri where he was second-team All-SEC.

Michigan has been in hot water the past few years. In 2023, the football program was exposed for participating in an illegal sign-stealing scheme. This year, the school fired head coach Sherrone Moore after he was charged with felony third-degree home invasion and two misdemeanors.

Now, the school is thoroughly investigating its entire football program for any other signs of misconduct. Nonetheless, the program is seemingly heading in a new direction after hiring Kyle Whittingham to be its next head coach.

Whittingham is a well-respected figure in the college football community and was Utah‘s head coach from 2005-25. During his introductory press conference on Sunday, Whittingham revealed whether he hesitated to join the Wolverines due to the controversy surrounding Michigan.

“I didn’t have any hesitation. There’s some issues, missteps that are being taken care of, but the key is the players are solid,” Whittingham said. “The players here are rock-solid. None of those issues, none of those things that we’re dealing with involve the players. And to their credit, they just kept grinding and kept after it.

“I’m so impressed with that because there was a lot of distractions and a lot of adversity, I guess you can say. But, I got no doubt that everything’s going to be handled properly. We’ll see. I’m not knowledgeable enough and privy enough to exactly what’s going on in the details, but I’ve got full confidence that we’ll come out of this just fine.”

Michigan doesn’t have a talent problem. The team posted a 9-3 record in the regular season, including a 7-2 mark in conference play. The Wolverines are expected to return several key players as well, most notably quarterback Bryce Underwood.

Underwood is a freshman this season, but started in all 12 of Michigan’s regular-season games. While Underwood didn’t regularly dominate opponents, he showed promising flashes and will be pivotal to Michigan’s future success.

Kyle Whittingham isn’t allowing any administrative measures to affect his relationships with Michigan’s players. After all, he knows those relationships will be the key to a successful first year in Ann Arbor.

“My culture is going to be with the players. What I’m concerned with is the players,” Whittingham said. “I certainly know the general gist of what transpired, in this series of, I guess we’ll call them unfortunate events, but not really fazing me.

“The players are a great group of kids. They’re hungry. They got a lot of want-to in them and that’s where my focus is. I focus on coaching the team, and everything else be handled in due time and in due process.”