"Needs to be a centralized process": Joel Klatt shares his proposal for a different schedule in college football

FOX college football analyst Joel Klatt stepped into the hypothetical shoes of a national college football commissioner, aiming to fix the controversy around the sport's scheduling practices once and for all.

Especially with the selection methods of the College Football Playoff, Klatt believes that a uniform scheduling approach would do the sport good.

"I also believe that we need to take away scheduling from athletic directors," Klatt said Monday on his podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show." "Like, we don't let NFL owners build their own schedule, so why in the world do we let athletic directors build their own schedule? I think that needs to be a centralized process, and if we do that, we can increase the valuable inventory five-, six-, seven-, ten-fold.

"I'm looking at you, fans, and I'm like, 'I'm about to give you more of what you want.' How do we do this? We've got to have an aligned schedule format."

Joel Klatt suggested a 9-1-2 model, meaning every team in the country plays nine conference games, one Power 4 non-conference game, and two non-conference Group of Five games.

"We need more games of Power 4 against Power 4," Klatt said. "Preferably, everybody is going to play a similar number or the same number of conference games, and as commissioner, that's what I would mandate. Every conference is gonna play the same number of conference games."

Why Joel Klatt feels scheduling needs tweaked

Strength of schedule is a phrase that's repeatedly brought up during the course of College Football Playoff rankings. Two conferences in particular — the SEC and the Big 10 — tout their gauntlets as more difficult than those of other primary leagues.

Then, there's the topic of what use scheduling much weaker FCS opponents does for top-level teams such as Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia. Of course, there is the occasional upset — most notably Appalachian State's win at Michigan in 2007 — but most of the time, those matchups wind up being completely unbalanced.

A program that Klatt didn't mention in his comments was Notre Dame, who will be playing in the College Football Playoff national title game against Ohio State next Monday. The Fighting Irish are an independent bunch that play the bulk of their schedule against ACC opponents.

"No secret, the expansion of the CFP from four to 12 teams has helped enormously, because as an independent, as with other schools, we get better opportunities," Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said to ESPN on Friday. "And we like the freedom, quite frankly, it gives us. ... We really get to move around the map and keep that very national presence."

It isn't clear what the Fighting Irish's role would be in the layout Joel Klatt provided. Unarguably, Notre Dame is one of the nation's most prominent programs. It'll be out to prove that against Ryan Day and the Buckeyes next Monday.