More SEC expansion talk ???

[volfanbill]

It's crappy all the way around IMO. Takes away any sort of semblance to a balanced schedule.

[bamawriter]

UTRavens,

Here's how I'd do scheduling. This is based on my divisions above.

-3 games inside division
-4 games against another division
-1 game against a permanent rival
-The South's (AL, AU, OM, MSU) permanent rivals are all in the North (TN, UGA, VU, UK respectively). The West's (A&M, UM, Ark, LSU) are all in the East (USCe, VPI, NC St, UF respectively).
-During the years when the North plays the South, and the East plays the West, each team plays one game against a secondary rival (OM-LSU, MSU-UM, AL-A&M, AU-Ark, TN-VPI, UGA-UF, VU-USCe, UK-NC St)

So let's take Tennessee for example. Here's three years worth of games:

1: UGA, UK, Vandy, Bama, UF, USCe, NC St, VPI
2: UGA, UK, Vandy, Bama, LSU, A&M, Mizzou, Ark
3: UGA, UK, Vandy, Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss, MSU, VPI

Every team plays the other 15 teams at least once every three years.

If my scheme doesn't pit UF against UGA or Tennessee enough, then divisions can be shuffled.

[zjcvols]

Originally Posted by TNHopeful505

I'd like to see it: (I realize Tenn. is in the easiest division, but I divided it geographically of course)

Division 1:
1. Arkansas
2. Missouri
3. Texas A & M
4. Mississippi State

Division 2:
1. Tennessee
2. Ole Miss
3. Vanderbilt
4. Kentucky

Division 3:
1. LSU
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. Auburn

Division 4:
1. Florida
2. South Carolina
3. Virginia Tech
4. NC State

Switch Georgia and Ole Miss.

[zjcvols]

My SEC plan:

Division 1: Georgia, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky

Division 2: Florida, Virginia Tech, NC State, South Carolina

Division 3: Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri

Division 4: Miss State, LSU, TAMU, Arkansas

Each division has a home-and-home. Then play a team in each division once, along with a permanent rivalry outside the division. That gives you ten conference games, along with two non-conference. Then a four team SEC playoff for the title.

So UT's schedule:

Kentucky, home and home
Georgia, home and home
Vanderbilt, home and home
Division 2 opponent
Division 3 opponent
Division 4 opponent
Alabama once

[Escape Goat]

Originally Posted by bamawriter

I thought about that. You can really concern yourself with geography, or you can seek to maintain rivalries. If it's the latter, either switch UK and UF or UGA and VPI.

Who the hell is VPI?

[Escape Goat]

Might as well have the Vols also play the Patriots, and Colts every year too. No thanks

Originally Posted by UTRavens

Here's how I'd do it. In parentheses are three permanent rivals who those teams would play every year. It's explained more below.

SEC North

Tennessee (Florida/Alabama/LSU)
Virginia Tech (Georgia/Auburn/Arkansas)
Kentucky (South Carolina/Mississippi State/Texas A&M)
Vanderbilt (NC State/Mississippi/Missouri)

SEC East

Florida (Tennessee/Alabama/LSU)
Georgia (Virginia Tech/Auburn/Texas A&M)
South Carolina (Kentucky/Mississippi/Arkansas)
NC State (Vanderbilt/Mississippi State/Missouri)

SEC Central

Alabama (Tennessee/Florida/LSU)
Auburn (Virginia Tech/Georgia/Arkansas)
Mississippi (Vanderbilt/South Carolina/Texas A&M)
Mississippi State (Kentucky/NC State/Missouri)

SEC West

LSU (Tennessee/Florida/Alabama)
Arkansas (Virginia Tech/Georgia/Auburn)
Texas A&M (Kentucky/Georgia/Mississippi)
Missouri (Vanderbilt/NC State/Mississippi State)

9 conference games:

3 division games
3 permanent rivals
3 other teams from one division

This allows all 16 SEC teams to play each other in a 3 year span. It also preserves pretty much every rivalry that already exists and establishes a balanced schedule for every team in the division.

Ideally, I'd love to see a 4 team conference playoff. But a pod system would work here as well.

Here's an example of how a typical UT schedule would look.

Florida
@ Mississippi State
@ LSU
Alabama
Mississippi
@ Auburn
Virginia Tech
@ Vanderbilt
Kentucky

[bamawriter]

Originally Posted by Escape Goat

Who the hell is VPI?

VIRGINIA polyTECHnic institute.

[GatorsGators]

Originally Posted by bamawriter

I thought about that. You can really concern yourself with geography, or you can seek to maintain rivalries. If it's the latter, either switch UK and UF or UGA and VPI.

Florida and Georgia being in the same division makes sense from both a geographical standpoint and from a rivalry standpoint.

[GAVol]

Why would the SEC want Va Tech? And why would any of the NC schools leave without the others?

[bamawriter]

Originally Posted by GAVol

Why would the SEC want Va Tech? And why would any of the NC schools leave without the others?

1. It's a state we're not in. They have a solid fanbase. They could help us in the DC market.
2. They might not. But NC St might want out from under the thumb of UNC/Duke.

[rockytop9808]

Originally Posted by bamawriter

1. It's a state we're not in. They have a solid fanbase. They could help us in the DC market.
2. They might not. But NC St might want out from under the thumb of UNC/Duke.

Bingo.

Everyone's always like "Tech wouldn't bring in DC", and I'm like, "all of their alums live in DC, Richmond, or Charlotte". It would be a solid get for the conference.

[UTRavens]

Originally Posted by DeepSpringsVol

Tennessee has to play cross rivals Florida, Alabama & LSU every year? Thats rough swap LSU for Missouri or similar.

Here's the thing, though: it's really not a tougher schedule than what we already have. We already have to play Bama, Florida and Georgia every year, usually with other challenges as well. Here we're playing the same trio, but with LSU in place of Georgia, plus Virginia Tech and one or two other challenges.

And the teams that are getting the more favorable schedules are the weaker ones. It's not like any fellow SEC powers are going to be let off the hook - they're all playing each other. In our division, VT would play a schedule that's just about as rough (long term) while Kentucky and Vanderbilt, despite easier schedules, are still a lot weaker.

Also keep in mind that out of Bama, UF and LSU, our division rivals would still have to play one of those teams every year.

The one imbalance here is in the West, where Missouri (a pretty decent program) gets lumped with all of the easy teams. That's a division where you could surely switch things around for more balance.

I have no problem at all with changing the rivals or divisions in order to make the schedule more even. I just think the concept - multiple permanent rivals - allows for a lot of great games and rivalries while still playing everybody.

[DeepSpringsVol]

LSU and Georgia are vastly different. One has won 2 and played for 3rd NC since 03 and won conference title that 3rd time. The other won 2 conference titles and played for another one. My arguement is for regular opponents Tennessee needs to play Alabama for long standing tradition everyone agrees on that. As for Florida I Am fine with them even that rivalry is young only getting hot since 90s, not much hatred before then. But to add the 3rd most successful school in recent memory in LSU would absolutely almost cripple our chances of anything special. I say swap LSU for a competitive school like Missouri and build a new rival with a border state

[volstopfan14]

Originally Posted by bamawriter

UTRavens,

Here's how I'd do scheduling. This is based on my divisions above.

-3 games inside division
-4 games against another division
-1 game against a permanent rival
-The South's (AL, AU, OM, MSU) permanent rivals are all in the North (TN, UGA, VU, UK respectively). The West's (A&M, UM, Ark, LSU) are all in the East (USCe, VPI, NC St, UF respectively).
-During the years when the North plays the South, and the East plays the West, each team plays one game against a secondary rival (OM-LSU, MSU-UM, AL-A&M, AU-Ark, TN-VPI, UGA-UF, VU-USCe, UK-NC St)

So let's take Tennessee for example. Here's three years worth of games:

1: UGA, UK, Vandy, Bama, UF, USCe, NC St, VPI
2: UGA, UK, Vandy, Bama, LSU, A&M, Mizzou, Ark
3: UGA, UK, Vandy, Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss, MSU, VPI

Every team plays the other 15 teams at least once every three years.

If my scheme doesn't pit UF against UGA or Tennessee enough, then divisions can be shuffled.

I think this is the best scheduling format. Personally, I'd change the divisions a bit but the scheduling is great.

[ukvols]

The division of UT/UGA/VU/KY would not be possible, if each team has only one permanent opponent outside their division. UGA must play UF and Auburn every year, so if you pull them out of UF's division, you won't be able to continue both rivalries.

The UT/VT/VU/KY division makes more sense, IMO. I can't see them adding VT to the league and not creating a UT-VT rivalry, given the proximity of the schools and fan bases.

To keep the 8-game schedule, they could play the 3 divisional games, another division, and then a single permanent opponent. The issue would be where the 8th game would come from when your permanent opponent's division rotates on. It's too late at night for me to do the math/layout, but the permanent opponents may need to be arranged so that there's always the same number of teams needing the 'makeup' game.

They could also base some of the games on where you finished the previous year, like with the NFL. Just carve out some dates for those games, to avoid interfering with teams' non-league games.