SEC Realignment Question

[MikeTheVol]

If I'm behind times on this, sorry. But has there been a final decision on how the new teams, Texas and Oklahoma, will be inserted into the conference. A good friend of mine said that he thought that both teams would be put into the SEC West and that Bama and Auburn would move to the east. I had not heard of this scenario. I work a lot and don't always have time to listen to sports talk or mainstream news broadcasts.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jauan't Some?]

I haven’t heard/read any discussion of it either but that scenario might make the most sense both geographically and for preserving key rivalry games (UTvsBAMA, BAMAvsAUB, AUBvsUGA). Also would open the door for annual Texas vs A&M and Texas vs Arkansas rivalry games. I believe Texas and Arkansas were big rivals prior to 1991 realignment.

 

[bamawriter]

I don't think there's much chance of a 2 division split. I think the most likely is 4 divisions (which I don't really like) with the second option being scrapping divisions entirely (which I like very much).

 

[bamawriter]

A good friend of mine said that he thought that both teams would be put into the SEC West and that Bama and Auburn would move to the east.

Then someone from the East would have to move to the West or you'd have uneven divisions.

 

[BlinghamptonVol]

Then someone from the East would have to move to the West or you'd have uneven divisions.

Mizzou?

 

[A.J.]

I don’t think they’ve made an announcement on that yet, but that would make sense. If they realign, it would be nice if they could move Missouri to the West.

 

[bamawriter]

Mizzou?

Might as well let Oklahoma include the SEC Championship in their season ticket package.

 

[landscapingvol]

Tennessee will be in the SEC North with Missouri, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. I am only half kidding but that would be pretty awesome. Our permanent rivals will be Vanderbilt and Alabama. The SEC East will consist of Georgia, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Florida. The SEC South will consist of Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Miss. State. The SEC West will consist of LSU, Texas A & M, Texas, and Arkansas. This will never happen but it would be more competitive.

 

[SayNoToJorts]

Then someone from the East would have to move to the West or you'd have uneven divisions.

No one will miss Mizzou. Works geographically as well.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

There's no proof of this, but I get the impression the SEC front office floated the idea of 4-team pods to see how it would fly with fans across the conference.

And it sank like a lead balloon.

So they seem to have gone back to the drawing board to think up other options. Which might explain why it's been so quiet lately.

I'm hugely excited about the two-division possibility, with Bama and Auburn moving East, Mizzou moving back West, and the newcomers joining the latter. There's a WHOLE lot of good in that, from an SEC-incorporated 30-year Big 12 reunion (Arky, Mizzou, A&M, Texas, Oklahoma) to the whole Tennessee-Bama-Auburn-Georgia quadrilateral of old.

But we'll see.

Go Vols!

 

[airvols]

The rumor is they are considering quads like the NFL, with us in with Alabama. This will doom us for years and keep us where the rest of the conference wants us to be,irrelevant. I know ya, da ya, da ya,da. I don’t run from anybody, well you getting yo a$$ whipped for 16 years in a row. Maybe your IQ is lower than your ranking. It’s a tradition, just means you been doing it to long, embrace change, there’s life out there. Folks we have high school kids that’s never seen us beat them, move on.

 

[sjt18]

That would create a terrible disparity between the divisions.

I don't support tradition for the sake of tradition. There is no necessity for the divisions to be geographical. In fact, it would probably be better if they weren't. I'm also not in love with playing ANY permanent cross division opponent. That ALWAYS creates a disadvantage for someone and a HUGE advantage for others.

 

[Redleg68]

Tennessee will be in the SEC North with Missouri, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. I am only half kidding but that would be pretty awesome. Our permanent rivals will be Vanderbilt and Alabama. The SEC East will consist of Georgia, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Florida. The SEC South will consist of Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Miss. State. The SEC West will consist of LSU, Texas A & M, Texas, and Arkansas. This will never happen but it would be more competitive.

However they can make the most TV money is how the arrangement will be.

 

[sjt18]

The rumor is they are considering quads like the NFL webs in with Alabama. This will doom us for years and keep us where the rest of the conference wants us irrelevant. I know ya, da ya, da ya,da. I don’t run from anybody, well you getting yo a$$ whipped for 16 years in a row. Maybe your IQ is lower than your ranking. It’s a tradition, just means you been doing it to long, embrace change, there’s life out there. Folks we have high school kids that’s never seen us beat them, move on.

For the most part I agree. I do not think it is necessary in this era of football to perpetuate the permanent crossover opponents or frankly to play Bama every year.

I don't necessarily agree it "dooms" UT or anyone else. Saban is not immortal and someone will eventually create the magic bullet to start beating him. I will be surprised if he beats UGA this year. Smart is trying the "pure talent" angle... he's not going to outcoach Saban.

However, what if UT had had an OL made up of Calbert, Mays, Mays, Carvin, and Wright on Saturday? Would they have been able to spread Bama out and run the ball? If they had... might they have been able to throw it more effectively and drive? Could they have kept the D off the field a little more or forced Bama to play from behind?

Rucker of all people wrote a very hopeful article about how UT isn't that far away from competing with the top of the SEC now.... just need healthy talent.

 

[Big Orange Rob]

Four pods, or divisions, seems to be the most likely scenario based on what I am hearing. Considering our luck, we will get one of the more difficult placements regardless of how it shakes out.

 

[sjt18]

I'm not sure how the order sits as of now but the teams could be ranked according to wins since 1980 then seeded like you would a 16 team tournament. The teams could then be realigned every 5 years.

 

[Voltopia]

If I'm in the SEC offices, the problem I see with a grand East / East realignment is that you're putting all your "new" programs in the same division. If you put Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Missouri in the west, you're effectively allowing the Big 12 to ninja its way into taking control of the SEC West. That is a big deal to me. Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Kentucky, etc. - you made the best conference in college sports, and then you hand half of it over to what effectively was the Big 12? (And Arkansas, while an SEC member of significant standing now, was also from the southwest once upon a time).

Are you really going to give up half of something you've created to outsiders? To say nothing of Texas and its propensity for trying to get special treatment? How long is it before the SEC West starts demanding more changes from the SEC proper? How long until they want the SECCG game moved to Dallas every other year? Or the SECT? Texas is Texas. Their 30 billion dollar endowment and Texas-sized ego drives them to do weird Texas things. They always think they should be in charge. And if you do a new west/east split, you're giving them more influence over 50% of the SEC. It feels like a recipe for trouble.

 

[Hunerwadel]

That would create a terrible disparity between the divisions.

I don't support tradition for the sake of tradition. There is no necessity for the divisions to be geographical. In fact, it would probably be better if they weren't. I'm also not in love with playing ANY permanent cross division opponent. That ALWAYS creates a disadvantage for someone and a HUGE advantage for others.

The best reason for divisions to be somewhat geographical is ease of travel for fans.

 

[VolBricks]

I don't think there's much chance of a 2 division split. I think the most likely is 4 divisions (which I don't really like) with the second option being scrapping divisions entirely (which I like very much).

From what I have been hearing the most probable way to do this is the 4 divisions with 4 teams each. Think about this, if we added TX & OK to the west and then moved Bama & AU to the east AND kept any cross divisional stuff going you would have too many SEC games (9 or 10 , 7 in your division and 2 or 3 to the other division) in a season and that does not leave any room for SEC teams to play any good OOC games. By doing the 4 divisions you can play the teams in your division each year and then rotate teams from the other 3 divisions each year, keep 8 SEC games and OOC to fill the schedule.

As an aside: if you played with just 2 divisions east/west and then played 2 teams from the other division that is 9 SEC games. Then 3 OOC games for a total of 12, then the SEC Championship equals 13. If the 12 team playoff comes about (which it will) then an SEC team could play 13 games then play possibly 3 more to win the Natty. That is 16 games and is way too many for college kids in my opinion.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

I wouldn’t have a problem with 4 “pods” or divisions. Obviously it’s going to be very difficult for the SEC office to create those divisions, but I like the idea of making more teams available to play on a regular basis. It shouldn’t be 10 years + for Ole Miss to visit Neyland or for UGA to travel to Tuscaloosa. I also think the # of conference games being scheduled needs to be increased.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

From what I have been hearing the most probable way to do this is the 4 divisions with 4 teams each. Think about this, if we added TX & OK to the west and then moved Bama & AU to the east AND kept any cross divisional stuff going you would have too many SEC games (9 or 10 , 7 in your division and 2 or 3 to the other division) in a season and that does not leave any room for SEC teams to play any good OOC games. By doing the 4 divisions you can play the teams in your division each year and then rotate teams from the other 3 divisions each year, keep 8 SEC games and OOC to fill the schedule.

As an aside: if you played with just 2 divisions east/west and then played 2 teams from the other division that is 9 SEC games. Then 3 OOC games for a total of 12, then the SEC Championship equals 13. If the 12 team playoff comes about (which it will) then an SEC team could play 13 games then play possibly 3 more to win the Natty. That is 16 games and is way too many for college kids in my opinion.

Your aside has nothing to do with how the SEC is aligned or re-aligned.

If we go to a 12-team playoff, some teams will play 16 games in the season. Period. 12 + 1 + 3 = 16 no matter what the SEC structure looks like.

 

[b_gann]

There's no proof of this, but I get the impression the SEC front office floated the idea of 4-team pods to see how it would fly with fans across the conference.

And it sank like a lead balloon.

So they seem to have gone back to the drawing board to think up other options. Which might explain why it's been so quiet lately.

I'm hugely excited about the two-division possibility, with Bama and Auburn moving East, Mizzou moving back West, and the newcomers joining the latter. There's a WHOLE lot of good in that, from an SEC-incorporated 30-year Big 12 reunion (Arky, Mizzou, A&M, Texas, Oklahoma) to the whole Tennessee-Bama-Auburn-Georgia quadrilateral of old.

But we'll see.

Go Vols!

I think you're spot on. However, the more I thought about it, I'm not opposed to pods. It spreads out the big dogs and keeps you playing a wider variety of teams.

 

[PickleRickBarnes]

4 pods works the best and will make scheduling easier, not sure why anyone would be opposed, also Bama will not Bama be forever. As soon as Saban is gone they will take a step back even if they hire the next best coach in the game.

SEC 1
Tennessee
Bama
Auburn
Vandy

SEC 2
UGA
FL
USCe
KY

SEC 3
LSU
Texas AM
Ole Miss
Miss State

SEC 4
Texas
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Missouri

These pods are fairly even, we have the (current) juggernaut program but also the weakest program. Each pod has multiple teams that can compete each year with their resources. Bama/UT/Aub, FL/UGA, LSU/AM, OK/TX

You would play a 9 game schedule

3 pod games and rotating 2 teams from other 3 pods.

This guarantees you play everyone in conference every 2 years and you play at everyone's stadium every 4 years. So just an example Tennessee's schedule could look like this for 4 years.

Bama
@Auburn
Vandy
@UGA
KY
LSU
@Miss State
@Texas
Missouri
------
@bama
Auburn
@Vandy
Florida
@USCe
@Texas AM
Ole Miss
Oklahoma
@Arkansas
------
Bama
@Auburn
Vandy
UGA
@KY
@lsu
Miss State
Texas
@Missouri
------
@bama
Auburn
@Vandy
@Florida
USCe
Texas AM
@Ole Miss
@Oklahoma
Arkansas


Now obviously the order would be different and you have 3 OOC to throw in there as well, but this seems like by far the best way to do it. I just picked 2 random teams from each pod so this would need to be broke down more evenly for every team. The years SEC teams only have 4 home games they just need to schedule all 3 OOC at home.

The only real rivalry I think you lose in this is Auburn/UGA but you also get Auburn/TN back.

You keep the following

TN/BAMA
BAMA/AUB
FL/UGA
MISS/MISS ST
TEXAS/OKLA

 

[Jax_Vol]

As i understand, they are going to divide the 18-22 age student / athlete's into a similar system as used in baseball:

Cheaters (using players w/greater than $500k signing bonuses):
Georgia
Alabama
Auburn
Texas A&M
Florida
Texas
Oklahoma
LSU

All-Saints (using amateur athletes):
Tennessee
Kentucky
Missouri
Miss State
South Carolina
Arkansas
Ole Piss
Candybilt

 

[LTVol]

UOTE="bamawriter, post: 20421034, member: 37124"]Then someone from the East would have to move to the West or you'd have uneven divisions.[/QUOTE]
Most versions of this scenario have Mizzou going to West.