The NCAA is relaxing its restrictions for Division I FBS conference championship games and allowing conference to send title game participants regardless of division.
In a Wednesday meeting, the NCAA’s Division I Council took away the rule that requires FBS conferences to have two divisions in order to have a conference championship game after the regular season.
The NCAA made this announcement during the meeting.
Conference championship games started becoming prevalent in major college football in 1992, when Alabama beat Florida in the first SEC championship game. The Big 12 had its first title game after the 1996 regular season when the conference began, and the ACC followed in 2005. The Big Ten and Pac 12 were the last to split into divisions and add championship games, doing so after their 2011 seasons.
Penn State has played in an won one Big Ten championship game, beating Wisconsin after the 2016 regular season. The Big Ten, SEC and ACC are currently discussing how to go about eliminating divisions, and the PAC 12 has already changed it’s title game format. The Big 12 got a waiver to hold its championship game as a 10-team league due to the league playing a round-robin schedule.
