Report: NCAA D1 Council set to vote on eliminating divisional requirements

College football has undergone a bevy of changes recently, and another big one could be on the horizon. According to Bryan Fischer of Athlon Sports, the NCAA Division I Council is set to vote on eliminating divisional requirements.

“Source says the D1 Council will indeed vote next week on eliminating the division requirements for football conference title games, paving the way for ACC, B1G, Pac-12, MWC, etc. to eliminate divisions in 2023,” tweeted Fischer.

As Fischer mentions, eliminating division requirements for conference title games would pave the way for conferences with automatic qualifiers to change their ways. For example, Michigan and Ohio State could face-off in the Big Ten Championship if the chips fall how they did during the 2021-22 season.

As is with every change to the sport, some will love the idea, while some will be disappointed. Nevertheless, the ever-changing world of college football keeps spinning, and there’s no signs of stopping anytime soon.

More on scheduling changes across college football, ACC

Continuing, the ACC has made headlines over recent days, as they’ve been at the forefront of possible scheduling and divisional changes throughout college football. To illustrate, Miami athletic director Dan Radokovich previously spoke about the possibility of an ACC scheduling change in 2023, providing many details about the new system.

According to David Teel’s prior report, the new conference leader revealed the ACC was moving closer to a 3-5-5 system, which eliminates football divisions.

With 14 current ACC members, the new scheduling change would provide each team with three annual opponents – allowing established rivalries to continue – while the other 10 opponents are split into two groups which rotate onto the schedule every other season.

According to the report, which used information given by Radakovich, the next step in the process is to consult with ESPN on the details and how they would impact the current television deal.

The new scheduling format would mark the first move away from the divisional format by a Power Five conference which holds more members than can play in every season. The Big 12 notably plays without divisions but the 10 teams face all nine opponents each year with just three non-conference games.