Commissioner Klatt: Joel Klatt's changes to college football

Welcome to my office. I'm Commissioner Klatt, and I'm here to fix college football.

First off, this isn't meant to be a doom and gloom story. Anyone who follows me knows I'm optimistic about this sport, but that doesn't mean there aren't fixes we can't make to improve the sport. There are a few things I think we can do to take college football from very good to great.

I also believe we need to protect the sport. We need to protect what we love. Every change we make in college football needs to protect players, programs and the fans. I think protecting fans sometimes gets left out when we make changes to the sport. Some of the changes recently have left the fans behind, taxing them with extra travel or just making it more difficult to follow their favorite team due to roster construction.

That said, some of these changes have you in mind, and I think it's vital that we get a centralized governing body to stabilize the future of the sport and college athletics.

Here are the first things I would address in my first week as commissioner.

College Football Playoff and bowl season

Expand the CFP from 12 to 14 teams

After watching the first iteration of the 12-team CFP, I believe it's very apparent that a 14-team model would be better.

With 14 teams, there would only be two byes. That would allow us to get away from the idea that the four best conference champions get a bye. We could also define the criteria of how you get into the CFP with a 14-team model.

As I'm fixing the CFP, I have things like elevating the regular season, raising the prestige of our champion and expanding the access of engagement for more fan bases in mind. Here's what a 14-team CFP would look like:

• Four Big Ten automatic bids
• Four SEC automatic bids
• Two ACC automatic bids
• Two Big 12 automatic bids
• One Group of 5 automatic bid
• One at-large spot/Notre Dame

Create qualifying games

I would determine those automatic berths through a weekend of qualifying games. In this model, the top two seeds would be the Big Ten and SEC champions. I know some people might not like that, but we're going to reward their championship game. The winner of their respective championship games would get the top two spots. The teams that lose those games would also make the CFP.

The other two AQ spots in each conference would be determined through those qualifying games. So, the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten or SEC would take on the No. 6 seed in their respective conference. The No. 4 seed would take on the No. 5 seed. Those games would be held on campus.

In the ACC and Big 12, I would get rid of the traditional conference championship game. Instead, each conference would have two qualifying games: the No. 1 seed hosts the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed hosts the No. 3 seed. Those winners advance to the CFP.

That would help us get rid of a group of 13 people that determine which teams make the CFP while giving us more meaningful games. That conference weekend would mimic what happens in the first weekend of March Madness.

Seeding and CFP format

Now, there would still be rankings that would be used to determine the seeding, so the committee would still have a purpose, but I'd also expand the committee to include computers as well.

First- and second-round games of the CFP will be played on campus. That's how you would reward the best teams having great regular seasons, because they weren't in this year's CFP.

I would prefer the semifinals to be played on campus as well, but that might take some work.

The one thing I know I want is to end the season Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl. That's how we elevate the unique prestige of our champion. You're not just a national champion if you win that game, you're a Rose Bowl champion. It would also keep a major tradition in our game relevant and put it in the spotlight.

Get rid of conference tie-ins to bowl games

As for the bowl season, I would end conference affiliations to bowl games. Anyone who didn't qualify for the CFP would be tiered in groups of six, and they would get to play in bowl games worthy of their ranking. For example, we could've seen Ole Miss go up against BYU in one of the most prestigious bowl games that wasn't used as a CFP semifinal this year under my proposal. 

Fixing the calendar

Set cornerstone dates

The college football calendar is totally broken. We have an overlap where teams are competing for a title while building a roster for the next season. That's wild. We must have a cornerstone date to end the season, Jan. 1. We can end the season before the spring semester begins and limit the head-to-head completion with the NFL during the CFP.

Move Army-Navy game to Week 0

You might be thinking, "How are we going to get this to finish by Jan. 1?" I don't think there should be a week off after the conference title games, and Army-Navy should get moved to Week 0. One of the greatest games in the sport is getting pinched with the way the schedule is now. Our favorite time of the year as a country is the fall when football returns; Army-Navy would be the national anthem of our sport.

Only one transfer portal window

As for the transfer portal, we must find a way to end the December window. It's the most unsustainable thing in our sport, and it's the single most problematic thing across the board. We only need one transfer window. 

You could argue that there should be one in January or May, and I favor the latter. I initially thought we should have two, but then I thought, ‘Why should you get a free look at a team in the spring?’ It should be a bigger decision to transfer than what it currently is. Putting the lone transfer window in May means it'd come after spring ball, but I'm open to changing the way we conduct practices during the spring and early summer.

Scheduling

Create an aligned scheduled format with a 9-1-2 format

Super conferences have made schedules largely imbalanced. We need more games between two Power 4 conference opponents, and everyone should play the same number of conference games. I would mandate that every conference plays the same number of league games. We also need to take away scheduling from athletic directors and make it a centralized process, as we give you a much greater inventory of games.

A 9-1-2 format makes the most sense to me. Every team in the country would play nine conference games, one non-conference game against another power-conference opponent and two games against a Group of 5 school to help with their budget. We'll figure out how to handle Notre Dame later, but the SEC and ACC would play one more conference game than they do now. 

Non-conference game draw

The centralized body would determine each power conference school's one out-of-conference game against another out-of-conference school based on where they finished in their conference in the previous season. This is where the NFL gets it right, but we would put the top three teams from each power conference in a pod and randomly draw games that way. It'd be like what FIFA does to determine the groups for the World Cup. Imagine how exciting it would be to watch those ping pong balls bounce around to determine early-season games? 

Player rights and movement

Form a collective bargaining agreement with players

If we don't have a collective bargaining agreement with the players, all these fixes won't be able to happen because a player could sue and would likely win. So, once we can get a CBA in place, we can make fixes. 

Players should — and they might have to — agree to this because they're becoming employees of the schools. We're about to share revenue with the players. That's like being a professional. As commissioner, I won't dance around the terms that I think have hurt progress in the sport. 

Create a delineation between NIL and revenue-sharing

Revenue sharing is coming, so athletes will have two different ways in which they can earn money, but it's going to be way larger than NIL — meaning that players are likely going to make significantly more money than they are now.

So, we've got to make NIL really NIL. We can't have schools guaranteeing NIL. Collectives are now out. If a player is good enough to make all the money in the world, have at it. This is about the fraudulent NIL deals that players who don't have value receive. True NIL deals will be registered with the commissioner's office or the marketing department so we can determine the legitimacy of the deal.

Make all agents registered

It's a crapshoot with the way things currently are. There are so many different levels of representation among players in college football. This would protect players. I've heard far too many shady stories of an agent getting hold of players in high school and promising them a lot of NIL money while making them sign these huge contracts with a lot of paybacks in perpetuity. There are players in the NFL right now trying to get out of those deals. It would also prevent tampering because we can just put the phones on the table and see clear lines of communication. 

Players can only transfer once

Going off the data, the normal student population transfers 1.5 times on average while pursuing their undergraduate degree. The baseline argument as commissioner to limit it to just once is that we are sharing revenue with the players; the normal student isn't receiving that benefit. There will be a penalty if a player transfers for a second time while pursuing an undergraduate degree.

We will work to make some exceptions, such as if a coach is fired or leaves, but we'll continue to work out those issues after my first week on the job. For now, we just want to prevent players from becoming free agents twice a year and this would solve that. We would also need heavy financial penalties to be put in place for players, coaches and programs if they broke these rules. That's really the best way to enforce this.

On-field rules

Tiered targeting penalties

I'm making this change while I'm driving to the office on my first day. We'll have a Targeting 1 and Targeting 2 penalties. I know we won't get away from calling helmet-to-helmet hits penalties, so we'll change the enforcement. Targeting 1 would be like the NFL — there doesn't appear to be intention, but it's still a 15-yard penalty, and the player gets to stay in the game. 

Targeting 2 would be called if a player is guilty of using the crowning of their helmet with malice or intent as a weapon. I know it's difficult to determine intent, but we can spot the difference between a bang-bang football play that happens to be targeting and a guy who's headhunting. Targeting penalty two would be an ejection and two targeting penalty ones in a game would be an ejection.

Narrow the hash marks

For most teams, the hash marks are problematic offensively. It's harder to attack the edge of the defense with the wider hash marks on the short side of the field through the run game. The average college quarterback also has a hard time attacking the wide side of the field outside the numbers, so you'd open the field up a bit more, creating more exciting plays. 

Nationalize officiating and make changes to replay

Just get rid of conference refs. When you have officials that work for a conference, there's going to be a certain perception of foul play involved. Each conference also emphasizes different things, which is why games are officiated differently from conference to conference.

In addition to that, reviews should only take place when a coach challenges the play. College football should also implement the former XFL's Super Challenge, which allows coaches to challenge anything (yes, even penalties) once per game. The strategic nature of the Super Challenge in the XFL was exceptional. It also makes the game fairer. 

No more touchbacks if a player fumbles the ball out of the end zone before reaching the goal line

I saved this one for last because I know it's the one the people want the most. This is the worst rule in football, and it should be changed immediately. I'm changing this in my first week, bringing the ball back to the point of the fumble.

This was such an enjoyable exercise. I know some of these things are a pie in the sky, but some of these things could also be implemented soon. Let's continue to sustain college football's greatness while we improve the sport.

Joel Klatt is FOX Sports' lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast "The Joel Klatt Show." Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the "Joel Klatt Show" on YouTube.

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