The SEC is Eating Itself Alive

#26
#26
casual-observer said:
I personally think it’s good for the sport. Gone are the days of Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State pounding through the season undefeated. Week in and week out, games with double-digit odds and nothing more than a hope and a prayer of an upset. They used to say “any given Saturday” but did they really mean it?

I know it’s gonna make the CFP harder and yes, some dorky team is gonna get in over a more deserving SEC team. But it sure has made all the other Saturdays way more entertaining. Think about it…when was the last time you left the Vanderbilt game on?

Alabama…Georgia…neither of the shoo ins. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me for a rudderless Florida beat the brakes off Georgia upcoming. Georgia Tech sure has a chance to make it interesting. Bamas not a shoo in for their remaining schedule.

I was very much against NIL but I was wrong. The parity that has been brought to the NCAA is fantastic. There are no more dynasty’s. Saban saw it and bolted.As TN fans, we need to be ready to stand by the coach we have, even if Tennessee goes 8-4. Kirby and Deboer have a lot more losses coming their way.

Side note…in exchange, CJH does need to evolve and clean up a few things like clock management, penalties, play creativity.
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Best damn comment I've read in a while Hoss. Wish I could like it 100 times
 
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#27
#27
zjcvols said:
This is my take. We are now in the NFL model. We are getting a 16 team playoff next year. The days of undefeated national champions are over. Once college football fans adjust, it will be better for the sport.

It's no longer "can you get to a NY6 bowl" it is going to be "can you get to the playoffs" in terms of achieving goals. Much like what the NCAAT has become.
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This and it's the way it should have been for a long time. I'm just sad it took so long to get here.
 
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#28
#28
VolZen said:
Expand the playoff to 32 teams and kill the remainder of the meaningless bowls.
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At some point, we have to consider the health of the players. You are now talking potentially 18 game seasons. 20 years ago, we had major college football teams playing only 12. I already hate that we are 16-17.
 
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#30
#30
VolZen said:
Expand the playoff to 32 teams and kill the remainder of the meaningless bowls.
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I dont' think 32 but if they want to create "play in" games for that smaller conference spot I'd be for it. I'd be more interested in say 4 mid majors playing for a playoff spot than see them all playing in the Weedwhacker Bowl.
 
#31
#31
VolZen said:
Expand the playoff to 32 teams and kill the remainder of the meaningless bowls.
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Expand the playoffs and use the bowl games in December as playoff round games. Not sure why the bowls aren't pushing this, because instantly totally irrelevant and meaningless bowls become extremely important games/venues. Some of these bowl games have 100 people in attendance. Most of these stadiums would fill up if they are part of the playoff structure....

Imagine a bowl game like the Music City Bowl and Citrus Bowl hosting a huge regional semi final game between a UGA/Bama/Tennessee/LSU vs another SEC opponent or a Miami/Clemson/GaTech or whoever advanced within a region....

The Liberty bowls of the world could be used for early round games that would bring a ton of attention and importance to their venues/cities
 
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#32
#32
Only way to get what the fan(s) want (me), will be to get to two conferences, NFL model. May or may not include limited cupcake games. However, hard to do with so many teams. We wouldn't ever play everyone. Maybe 2+ divisions in each Conference? Would possibly eliminate or drama for preseason polls & rankings?
 
#33
#33
madbamahater said:
This is why it is justifiable to put even a 9-3 SEC team in over most 10-2 teams based solely on strength of schedule. A 9-3 SEC team any given year like Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss, etc would LIKLEY boat race any 10-2 ACC, Big 12, and probably Big 10 (still call it this) team.
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you may think it's justifiable but that sh!t ain't happening. all this is going to do is make the SEC teams look worse than they really are.
 
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#34
#34
zjcvols said:
This is my take. We are now in the NFL model. We are getting a 16 team playoff next year. The days of undefeated national champions are over. Once college football fans adjust, it will be better for the sport.

It's no longer "can you get to a NY6 bowl" it is going to be "can you get to the playoffs" in terms of achieving goals. Much like what the NCAAT has become.
Click to expand...
We just need to trim down the number of teams - probably cut the number in half…maybe 64 teams total divided into conferences/divisions. And no games allowed outside the 64…your tuneup games might be Louisville, Oregon and Texas Tech before you hit your 9 game league schedule
 
#35
#35
Sarms58 said:
We just need to trim down the number of teams - probably cut the number in half…maybe 64 teams total divided into conferences/divisions. And no games allowed outside the 64…your tuneup games might be Louisville, Oregon and Texas Tech before you hit your 9 game league schedule
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I wouldn't quite do that. I still do not want to to see the SEC/Big 10/ACC or Big 12 Survivor separate. The reason being is these Non P4 teams need buy in games to survive and I don't want to kill them either. I would do something of 9 conference games, 1 P4 game, two Non P4 games, and a preseason FCS game. That would be how I would do the schedule.
 
#36
#36
I think eventually they will need to rework the selection process to guarantee certain conferences have representation. Or they need to reduce the number and only allow teams that WIN their conference to participate.

Of course, OSU, who won it last year did not win the B1G but while I do think they were the best team - they had advantages of playing at home and other matchups that eliminated the teams that may have been able to beat them on a neutral site.
 
#39
#39
zjcvols said:
I wouldn't quite do that. I still do not want to to see the SEC/Big 10/ACC or Big 12 Survivor separate. The reason being is these Non P4 teams need buy in games to survive and I don't want to kill them either. I would do something of 9 conference games, 1 P4 game, two Non P4 games, and a preseason FCS game. That would be how I would do the schedule.
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We have to trim back the number of teams and eliminate playing lower level opponents so that there is some level of schedule parity…there will always be teams with easier/harder schedules but we are watching a situation develop this year in which we could have 4 ACC teams finish the regular season at 11-1 and probably get an extra team in because they played weak schedules…

Note: I’ll be pulling for Duke to beat Virginia, SMU to beat Miami and Clemson to beat Louisville so this scenario doesn’t happen.
 
#40
#40
Yelp I agree, it’s gonna continue to get worse. With NIL, especially in his level the Plainfield I mean geez look at Vanderbilt in the top 10 the SEC has become very competitive top to bottom minus a couple of teams. I don’t really see this changing anytime soon. Meanwhile, Ohio State etc still play nobody.
 
#41
#41
This just means more meaningful games to watch every season, which I think is a great thing. It might keep some SEC teams out of the playoffs that would get in with a weaker conference and I do not care. I watch college football to see competitive games, not to watch my team beat a bunch of tomato cans to get into the playoffs. The playoffs are great, but I do not understand wanting less competitive games in the regular season to make it easier to get there. What is the point of watching regular season games if that is what you want?
 
#42
#42
jackaro said:
This just means more meaningful games to watch every season, which I think is a great thing. It might keep some SEC teams out of the playoffs that would get in with a weaker conference and I do not care. I watch college football to see competitive games, not to watch my team beat a bunch of tomato cans to get into the playoffs. The playoffs are great, but I do not understand wanting less competitive games in the regular season to make it easier to get there. What is the point of watching regular season games if that is what you want?
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the point is winning championships. when ohio state wins the natty nobody will ever care that their schedule was weak. that is not what history will remember when they hang their banners.

I for one don't want to sit in my arm chair grumbling "well the SEC was a stronger conference with harder opponents.

Tennessee already gives it's fans a more memorable schedule with 8 conference games than Ohio State gives it's fans with 9.

our schedule was freaking hard enough the way that it has been. we have absolutely zero to prove by making it even more impossible.
 
#43
#43
And of course ESPN has always dated and promoted Big Ten teams, Notre Dame, USC every single year ! Tennessee never ever had any promotion whatsoever but now that Peyton is a VFL it’s helping tremendously imo.
 
#45
#45
UTFranklinVol said:
the point is winning championships. when ohio state wins the natty nobody will ever care that their schedule was weak. that is not what history will remember when they hang their banners.

I for one don't want to sit in my arm chair grumbling "well the SEC was a stronger conference with harder opponents.

Tennessee already gives it's fans a more memorable schedule with 8 conference games than Ohio State gives it's fans with 9.

our schedule was freaking hard enough the way that it has been. we have absolutely zero to prove by making it even more impossible.
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Yep, they are pretty much gonna walk into the playoffs with home field advantage, and top 4 seed every year.
 
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#49
#49
casual-observer said:
I personally think it’s good for the sport. Gone are the days of Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State pounding through the season undefeated. Week in and week out, games with double-digit odds and nothing more than a hope and a prayer of an upset. They used to say “any given Saturday” but did they really mean it?

I know it’s gonna make the CFP harder and yes, some dorky team is gonna get in over a more deserving SEC team. But it sure has made all the other Saturdays way more entertaining. Think about it…when was the last time you left the Vanderbilt game on?

Alabama…Georgia…neither of the shoo ins. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me for a rudderless Florida beat the brakes off Georgia upcoming. Georgia Tech sure has a chance to make it interesting. Bamas not a shoo in for their remaining schedule.

I was very much against NIL but I was wrong. The parity that has been brought to the NCAA is fantastic. There are no more dynasty’s. Saban saw it and bolted.As TN fans, we need to be ready to stand by the coach we have, even if Tennessee goes 8-4. Kirby and Deboer have a lot more losses coming their way.

Side note…in exchange, CJH does need to evolve and clean up a few things like clock management, penalties, play creativity.
Click to expand...
Your viewpoint is skewed, You are only seeing SEC games (which are great). Most games around the country are MUCH more boring. The SEC didn't need its schedules upgraded. The rest of the country did.
 
#50
#50
Volbrando said:
moving to a 9 conference schedule next year 2 things need to happen:
1- fan bases need to get use to more losses
2- the playoff committee better see an SEC 3 loss team as good or better than 2 loss Big 10 team
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You have a point, but neither will happen. We just gave the playoff committee the excuse they need to leave all 3 loss SEC teams out,
 
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