In FBS, they're in a nationwide debate about whether conference championship games, which originated at the Division II level in the 1980s, are still relevant in a world with a 12- and perhaps soon a 24-team playoff.
Meanwhile, a Division II conference is borrowing an idea that originated in FBS to boost its chances in its own mega-sized playoff.
On Wednesday, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) announced the creation of the Friday Night Blitz Game -- an additional game pitting the league's third- and fourth-place finishers, to be played the night before the CIAA championship game. Both games will take place in Durham, N.C. In addition to unlocking a new revenue opportunity for the conference, it also has the potential to become a tentpole event for CIAA fans and appreciators of good D2 football in the Carolinas.
The idea stems from the Big Ten in 2020. Playing a heavily covid-impacted season, the league played its traditional championship game between East champion Ohio State and West champ Northwestern, but also announced a one-time-only matchup of equivalent teams across the league's two divisions, dubbed Champions Week. This being the Big Ten in 2020, only two of the games were actually played, and the idea was then abandoned. The ACC surely wished it had figured out a way to get Miami an extra opportunity as the Canes twisted in the wind last November.
As for the CIAA, the league is looking to capitalize on its new-found momentum. League champ Johnson C. Smith and runner-up Virginia Union both hosted playoff games last season, a first in CIAA history. Now, the league has engineered an opportunity for its third- (or fourth-) place finisher to grab an additional one of the 16 at-large spots in the Division II playoffs.