These new conferences are NUTS, but college football marches on

Okay, folks: The Army Black Knights have joined the American Athletic Conference as a football-only member. The Navy Midshipmen are already in the American as a football-only member. The annual Army-Navy game in December won't count as a conference game. Both military academies belong to the Patriot League for the Olympic sports.

So my Memphis Tigers now will see both Army and Navy on future football schedules. They play Navy in Annapolis on September 21 of this year.

This is only the "tip of the iceberg", folks. The Pac-12 is out of here except for the Oregon State Beavers and Washington State Cougars. These two schools are no longer designated as "Power Five". In fact, the "Power Five" has shrunk to the "Power Four".

Many have talked about Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) changing the game forever. Not to mention the dreaded transfer portal.

Let me ease your mind, sports fans: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Student athletes may now earn money. Student athletes may choose to take a chance on the transfer portal.

But it will still be lots of fun. In my mind, a sixteen school Southeastern Conference; a seventeen school Atlantic Coast Conference (Notre Dame is in the ACC for the Olympic sports); an eighteen school Big Ten; and a sixteen school Big XII mean one thing: We are in a weekly chase for football prominence. Yes: We have a new playoff format featuring twelve schools.

The top five conference champions will be IN automatically. The top four conference champions will receive first-round byes to the quarterfinals. Here is the best part: The quarterfinals will be played on or about New Year's Day, a traditional holiday for hella college football. The New Year's Six bowls (Orange, Sugar, Peach, Cotton, Fiesta, and Rose) will transition to quarterfinal and semifinal games.

This is ALL GOOD. But, for some, it may not be so good. My Memphis Tigers could get in if they prevail in the American Athletic Conference. However, for many teams, this could be a struggle.

How about Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee, and many others in the SEC? The pressure will mount in many regular season games.

On to the ACC: Do you think California (hardly on the Atlantic coast), Stanford (not on the Atlantic coast, either), and SMU have a chance here?

Big Ten: Eighteen teams and no divisional play. Unless you're Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, or Washington, better hope for a good bowl bid. Other than that, forget about it.

Big XII: This conference could be slightly more competitive, but Utah, Arizona, Kansas State, and Kansas are likely to dominate. What if you're UCF or Cincinnati?

Bottom line: The race for the playoff gets more crucial from the beginning of the season. We may as well say that the playoff begins here in the early weeks of the season.

Money talks for college football realignment. But the teams on the field had better talk on the field. Competition has become hotter than the weather in the final week of August in Tennessee. There is no margin for error.