i think the teams in the ccha and their locations lend themselves best to
a four division-three team each format. in the end, the divisions
themselves wouldn't play too important of a role in the playoffs, but it
would save money on transportation and help develop rivalries.
my suggestion is:
northern division: northern mich, lssu, ferris
central division: western mich, mich state, uofm
southwestern division: nd, uno, uaf
southeastern division: osu, miami, bgsu
 
you would play each team in your division 4 times and each team in a
different division twice (26 games total). this would allow the league to
return to the two games a weekend at one school style that was used a lot
in the past. i think each team might have a couple extra league games in
addition to the ones i suggested above. in that case, they could rotate
which teams outside of their division they played three times instead of
twice.
 
this setup would encourage in state ohio rivalries which will be more
likely with the improved success of the osu program. it would also
allow mich to play mich state four times, which the league will probably
like from a financial stand point (case in point, the gli).
 
for the playoffs, each division's top team, plus the next for teams in any
division would make it. the order of the playoff matchups would be decided
purely on point total.
 
maybe my idea is not the best one, but i think it would be nice to be able
to play every team in the league for two games consecutively. from a fan's
perspective you'd also get to see every team at least every other year.
 
oh, and off the subject, you'd think the msu fans would learn to be quiet
when they're biggest rival won two national championships this year and
they didn't win one. we weren't boasting, they brought it up. typical...
 
 
  stephen hendrickson      "i can't explain myself, i'm afraid, sir," said
  [[log in to unmask]]     alice, "because i'm not myself, you see."
 
                           "i don't see," said the caterpillar.
 
                                                        -lewis carroll
 
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