Major developments in conference realignment that could radically affect the (non) playoff system...

The Pac-10 is set to invite up to six (six!) teams from the Big 12. The Big 10 (eleven) has its eyes on two more teams, which would leave the last four out in the cold (at least for the moment) and the Big 12 no more. We'd be down to five major conferences.

One (admittedly far fetched) possibility is that we end up with just four major conferences: Pac-10/Big 12, SEC, Big 10, and some kind of ACC/Big East merger. This could create four conference championship games that could be the quarterfinals of a playoff system.

Of course, that still leaves out a lot of schools. I live in Mountain West territory, and I can tell you BYU and TCU would be none too happy about this.