How would you like to see the SEC do scheduling moving forward?

#4
#4
2 divisions;
East. West
UT. Ark
UF. Ole Miss
UGA. Miss State
ALA. Texas
Auburn. Ok
UK. MIZZO
Vandy LSU
usc. A&M

10 game SEC schedule, 6 in your own division
We can keep 2 rivalry games every year rotate the other 4 so you see all of your division and the other division every 2 years. ONE MAJOR ADD, East and West Champs will NOT play each other during the regular season the following year. More parity, suspense and market!!!!!
 
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#6
#6
Keep the divisions. Move Mizzou west, Bama and Auburn east. TX and OK join the west.*

Play a 9-game SEC schedule: 7 games in division, 2 cross-divisional stepladder (home, then away, then fall off the schedule for several years until all the other cross-division opponents have done the same).**

Three out-of-conference games are free to each school to schedule as they wish, with one requirement: at least one of the three must be a Power 5 team.

The only down side of this structure is the six-year gap without playing cross-divisional opponents. You play them two years in a row (home, then away), and then go six years without seeing them.

Oh, and getting to Atlanta is no longer based on conference record. Instead, it is division record. Conference record can be the first tie-breaker.


* For clarity:
-- East = Vols, UGa, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy, Bama, and Auburn.
-- West = LSU, Ole Miss, Miss St, Arky, A&M, Mizzou, TX, and OK.

** Also for clarity: Tennessee's cross-divisional schedule may look like this:

Year 1 - LSU (away), Ole Miss (home)
Year 2 - Ole Miss (away), Oklahoma (home)
Year 3 - OK (away), Miss St (home)
Year 4 - Miss St (away), Texas (home)
Year 5 - TX (away), Mizzou (home)
Year 6 - Mizzou (away), A&M (home)
Year 7 - A&M (away), Arky (home)
Year 8 - Arky (away), LSU (home
repeat


p.s. Why keep the divisions? Well, the old "if it ain't broke don't fix it," comes to mind. But more than that, the SEC is growing. From 12 to 14 to 16 teams, and who knows if more are coming. Going to get so big at some point that it stops feeling like a conference and starts feeling like a mini-league. When that time comes, the divisions can fill the "neighborhood" role that the conference once did. In engineering terms, we'll be needing that interior structure as the edifice enlarges.
 
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#7
#7
I don't like East and West Divisions.
We always end up with this:
The East is the SEC. The West is the SWC/Big8. I don't want that.
The new SEC should be something new and different going forward. Coherent.

I want round robin scheduling (with a couple rivalry games built in for each team, with cream puffs minimalized, (so if we have to play BAMA, we get Vandy too, or something like that - nobody has two built-in killer rivals or creampuff rivals, or even a rotating set of traditional rivals) with the two highest ranked teams playing for the Championship, or both just going to the playoff.
I feel like this really enhances the new conference. It will really be a conference. If we have divisions, I don't think it will feel like a conference at all.
It will also enhance prestige and make it harder to exclude more SEC teams from the playoffs. It should make it easier for the SEC to dominate the playoff picture going forward.
 
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#8
#8
Considering that college sports is changing right before our eyes and we really don't have a rival anyways it doesn't matter to me. And before you old guys educate me on the 3rd Saturday I already know about it. But truthfully that game isn't a rivalry anymore. I would like to start new rivalrys with Texas maybe. my humble opinion
 
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#9
#9
VFL-82-JP said:
Keep the divisions. Move Mizzou west, Bama and Auburn east. TX and OK join the west.*

Play a 9-game SEC schedule: 7 games in division, 2 cross-divisional stepladder (home, then away, then fall off the schedule for several years until all the other cross-division opponents have done the same).**

Three out-of-conference games are free to each school to schedule as they wish, with one requirement: at least one of the three must be a Power 5 team.

The only down side of this structure is the six-year gap without playing cross-divisional opponents. You play them two years in a row (home, then away), and then go six years without seeing them.

Oh, and getting to Atlanta is no longer based on conference record. Instead, it is division record. Conference record can be the first tie-breaker.


* For clarity:
-- East = Vols, UGa, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy, Bama, and Auburn.
-- West = LSU, Ole Miss, Miss St, Arky, A&M, Mizzou, TX, and OK.

** Also for clarity: Tennessee's cross-divisional schedule may look like this:

Year 1 - LSU (away), Ole Miss (home)
Year 2 - Ole Miss (away), Oklahoma (home)
Year 3 - OK (away), Miss St (home)
Year 4 - Miss St (away), Texas (home)
Year 5 - TX (away), Mizzou (home)
Year 6 - Mizzou (away), A&M (home)
Year 7 - A&M (away), Arky (home)
Year 8 - Arky (away), LSU (home
repeat


p.s. Why keep the divisions? Well, the old "if it ain't broke don't fix it," comes to mind. But more than that, the SEC is growing. From 12 to 14 to 16 teams, and who knows if more are coming. Going to get so big at some point that it stops feeling like a conference and starts feeling like a mini-league. When that time comes, the divisions can fill the "neighborhood" role that the conference once did. In engineering terms, we'll be needing that interior structure as the edifice enlarges.
Click to expand...

p.p.s. I almost proposed a 10-game SEC schedule, with 7 in division and 3 cross-division. But three cross-division games is significantly harder to schedule than two cross-division games (one example: some teams will get 2 home, 1 away; others will be stuck with 1 home, 2 away).

But I just had this thought: randomness, truly transparent randomness can make up for the inequities. Every spring, at SEC Media Days, the coaches will take turns throwing dice to determine their cross-divisional foes for a future year (probably needs to be further out than that very fall). This happens, live, on air. No shenanigans allowed. No Bama cronies having undue influence in a back room. Oh, and move Media Days out of Alabama. Have it rotate each year among the capital cities of every state in the SEC footprint. Atlanta one year, then Nashville, Columbia, Baton Rouge, etc. Wash the crimson taint off. Go Vols!
 
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#10
#10
VFL-82-JP said:
p.p.s. I almost proposed a 10-game SEC schedule, with 7 in division and 3 cross-division. But three cross-division games is significantly harder to schedule than two cross-division games (one example: some teams will get 2 home, 1 away; others will be stuck with 1 home, 2 away).

But I just had this thought: randomness, truly transparent randomness can make up for the inequities. Every spring, at SEC Media Days, the coaches will take turns throwing dice to determine their cross-divisional foes for a future year (probably needs to be further out than that very fall). This happens, live, on air. No shenanigans allowed. No Bama cronies having undue influence in a back room. Oh, and move Media Days out of Alabama. Have it rotate each year among the capital cities of every state in the SEC footprint. Atlanta one year, then Nashville, Columbia, Baton Rouge, etc. Wash the crimson taint off. Go Vols!
Click to expand...
 
#13
#13
I’d much rather have two 8 team divisions than pods. Playing Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Vandy and Auburn annually means a lot more to me than playing Arkansas and State more frequently.
 
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#14
#14
I’m in favor of adding conference games, but not just one. I hate not having an equal number of home/road games. It makes an unbalanced schedule even more unbalanced. The NFL going to 17 games didn’t make sense to me. Just go to 18 if you have to add games.
 
#15
#15
Two 8 team divisions...

East

Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt

West

Arkansas
LSU
Mississippi State
Missouri
Oklahoma
Ole Miss
Texas
Texas A&M

Each team plays a 9 game SEC schedule, 7 division opponents + 2 rotating opponents from the other division. If a player stays at least 4 years they will have played every SEC team at least once.

From a Tennessee perspective this accomplishes a few things...

1. It preserves our rivalry game with Alabama.
2. It restores our annual rivalry with Auburn.
3. GA and FL would now have to play AL annually like we do.

Plus it restores some other great former rivalry games such as Arkansas/Texas, Oklahoma/Mizzou, Texas/Texas A&M, etc.
 
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#16
#16
I dont care about preserving rivalries personally. What l do care about is not going 7 or 8 years between playing someone. I want to make sure that within 4 years, everyone has played each other at least twice, a home and an away. We have far too many great atmospheres for them to only be played every half decade or more.
 
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#17
#17
I don’t know why the division or pods need to purely geographic.

I like the NFL model where afc and nfc have east and west teams.

Look at 4 regions and then place a team from each region into pods.

Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Arkansas NORTH
Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, LSU WEST
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee EAST
Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, Mississippi SOUTH

1 team from each group placed into pods
(1) 3 games against own pod
(2) 4 games against second pod - all teams in pod play same opponents
(3) 1 game against geographic rival
(4) if 3 is in the second pod then a quasi-rando game from other 2 pods

8 games schedule. Never Ever go to an odd number league schedule
Neutral site games against conference foes are barred

Pods are shuffled every 3 seasons on a set schedule with each pod sharing no members from prior grouping
 
#18
#18
I just don't like the pod format. I'm not even sure why other than it seems to make things more complicated than it needs to be.
TNHopeful505 said:
I dont care about preserving rivalries personally. What l do care about is not going 7 or 8 years between playing someone. I want to make sure that within 4 years, everyone has played each other at least twice, a home and an away. We have far too many great atmospheres for them to only be played every half decade or more.
Click to expand...

I don't see how you do that unless you make the schedule completely SEC homogenous with few, if any OOC games. I'm not sure if I would like that. I enjoy it when we play quality teams out of our conference.
 
#19
#19
SpookyAction said:
Oh, and move Media Days out of Alabama. Have it rotate each year among the capital cities of every state in the SEC footprint. Atlanta one year, then Nashville, Columbia, Baton Rouge, etc. Wash the crimson taint off. Go Vols!

Like!
Like!
Like!
Click to expand...
Nashville Atlanta New Orleans. So many better options than freakin Birmingham
 
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#21
#21
30 / 4 = 7.5 so that would be at least 8 conference games a year - but just one division.
Also there would be just one permanent opponent.

Team A plays Teams B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I in year 1 and 3
J, K, L, M, N, O, P, and B in year 2 and 4

I like the idea of rotating pods better.
Year 1: North and South play in one division, East and West in the other
Year 2: North and East play in one division, South and West in the other
Year 3: North and West play in one division, South and East in the other.

You'd play every team in 3 years and have 3 or 4 permanent opponents - depending on whether there were 7 or 8 conference games.
 
#22
#22
I want us playing everybody in the conference. Not the same few teams every year.
If you have divisions, it is really two conferences.
Pods is a little better, but every pod grouping I have seen is unbalanced because Mizz, Vandy, and UK tend to be weak, and often USCe too. So if you slice it North or NE or whatever some pod or two are weak.
I want everybody playing everybody like the NFL. It works. It produces better teams and better games.
 
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