A Fairer Schedule

#26
#26
bamawriter said:
The "cloak of fairness" produced a result that's pretty close to fair.
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I think Bama's schedule is fair. They play the top, 3rd, and 4th best teams in the East. IMO, the SEC gave LSU and UGA lighter schedules to increase the odds of getting 2 teams in a playoff.
 
#27
#27
Nope. You did see what Kiffin did at FAU? Ole Miss = Auburn. Book it.
OrangeVolMan said:
Are you serious. Did you forget the blue font. LSU is not nearly as good as ranked. They lost most of their offense including coaches. You don’t think AM is head and shoulders better than Ole Miss. Ole Miss will be lucky to win 3 games.
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#29
#29
bamawriter said:
The "cloak of fairness" produced a result that's pretty close to fair.
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No, it didn't. Again, you're just accepting that the SEC's decision to "even things out" this year is fair to begin with.

No one has provided a sound reason why it was necessary to skew the aggregate fairness of a rotating cross divisional opponent in the long run. Covid itself isn't a reason. The SEC could have attempted to add 2 teams of relative balance to everyone's schedule, but they didn't for reasons entirely unclear. Well, the actual reason is obvious, and it is to attempt to get 2 teams in the play off.
 
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#30
#30
2019 SEC Standings
1. LSU 8-0
2. Georgia 7-1
T3. Alabama 6-2
T3. Florida 6-2
T5. Auburn 5-3
T5. Tennessee 5-3
7. Texas A&M 4-4
T8. Mississippi State 3-5
T8. Missouri 3-5
T8. South Carolina 3-5
T8. Kentucky 3-5
12. Ole Miss 2-6
13. Vanderbilt 1-7
14. Arkansas 0-8

The problem i see is a lot of Vol fans forget we were good in league play last year and finished T5. The Vols didn't put up much of a fight in their 3 conference losses, except for maybe against Bama but they did handle their business and beat everyone ranked below them.

The 4 teams the Vols will play from the West were a cnombined 15-19 in league play in 2019. Arkansas obviously skews that data point greatly but the Vols will only play 1 team from the West that had a better record in league play in 2019 in Bama which was also the Vols best game against a top opponent in 2019 that they lost.

In my opinion the schedule is favorable for the Vols and will show us just where we stand in the pecking order when the dust settles.

The Vols will play in 2020 only 4 opponents that finished league play at .500 or better. They will play 1 team that was exactly. 500 and 5 teams the were below .500. Those 5 below .500 teams had a 2019 record of 10-30 in league play.

If the Vols just win against every opponent that had the same or worse 2019 record they will go 7-3. This shows it only takes 1 upset to get to 8-2 which may be enough to make the SEC Championship game especially if that upset is against UGA or UF.

Honestly, I think the Vols have a 2020 schedule that will help them legitimize their standing in the SEC and set them up for both current and future success.
 
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#31
#31
BigSteve09 said:
We traded in @OU for A&M and Auburn. We went from 4 opportunities to make a statement (3 of them as big dogs) to 5 opportunities (only 2 as big dogs). This means more competitive football and more chances to score meaningful wins.

Yes, the league looked out for the best teams. I'm not surprised so I'm not mad. One day we will be great and they'll help us again.

In the meantime I'll take some good games
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Agree with everything besides your statement that “one day we’ll be great again”.... I see no evidence of that at all after all these years. I think we’re a second or third tier type program that can occasionally push for a 10 win season, but most years will play 2nd/3rd fiddle to Florida and Georgia in the East, averaging probably 8 wins a year, 9 with a potential bowl win.

But back to your primary point about the scheduling, I think you’re spot on.
 
#32
#32
99gator said:
Les Miles thought the thumb was always on the scale with Alabama playing Tennessee every year.

the elephant in the room is that there is not a big 3 in the East. There once was and may be again, but there currently isn’t.

for about 6 or 7 years (2010-2016), there wasnt really even a big 1 in the East. Georgia is there now, Florida‘s getting close to that level and Tennessee still has a while to go.
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There’s a clear “Big 2” in the East with Georgia and Florida now that Mullen is at Florida. Tennessee isn’t even in the picture, should be nowhere in the discussion, they’re just not relevant.
 
#34
#34
77' Vol said:
Playing the Best Teams makes you better. Upset one or two and you're then in "The Best" category! Vols can do it this year.
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I complained about Bama and UGA to my son. He replied with pretty much this same sentiment. And he convinced me. Yes , we’ve been down, but this year we have the talent to hang with some of the big ‘uns. We have a solid coaching staff as well, best offensive line in a decade. My son says “bring it on”. Let’s play and beat some of these guys. We won’t win them all, but any victory over Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia and perhaps A&M at this point would be considered an upset. Win 2 or more of those and it’ll go a long way in recruitment. I still wonder what might have been if JG had handed the ball off and we had scored against Bama. My Bama friends admitted to being squirmy up to that point. Everyone expected the 2018 season performance where everyone blew us out. It clearly wasn’t a blowout at that stage in the game. Maybe we don’t give away a couple of games this time.
 
#35
#35
imw8n4u said:
If they would base the division champ just on record against division opponents then none of this would matter. It would be disappointing to beat everyone in the east then watch someone you beat go to the championship game just because of cross division losses.
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Why even have Divisions if you aren't basing the playoff teams on division wins..??
 
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#38
#38
All in all, I fell better about our chances this season. We have a shot at beating Auburn and TAMU. We had next to no chance at beating OU on their field.
 
#40
#40
If there’s any consolation, FLA got it as bad or worse than us, combined with UGA getting the sweetheart schedule when the Gators thought this could be their year has to be making their heads spin
 
#41
#41
Georgia still has to take advantage of their favorable schedule. And, as we all know, the Dawgs tend to lose one game each season that they shouldn't, regardless of who's coaching them or how good they are.
 
#42
#42
BigOrangeMojo said:
After reviewing the schedule yesterday, it was obvious that the SEC used the "Balanced SOS" approach to pick winners (LSU, UGA) and losers (UT, Arky, Mizzou). Granted, it is impossible to pick a 100% fair schedule for everyone but the schools that were the squeaky wheel (UGA) in these discussions got the grease.

Here is the biggest flaw with the schedule:

1. It bases the SOS on your two originally scheduled cross-divisional games. That is unfair. Let's take UT and UGA. In 2016 - 2018, Georgia's rotational cross-divisional foes were Ole Miss, MSU, and LSU while ours were AM, Auburn, and LSU. In 2020, UGA was going to have to pay the piper for those easier years and go to Bama while we were going to get Arky. Under any scenario, UGA was going to have the tougher schedule since they've benefited from an easier schedule in prior years so the SEC's logic is to give UGA an easier schedule.

While the SEC spent weeks figuring this out, I spent five mins coming up with a fairer approach. It essentially disregards the existing SOS and allows the Top 4 teams in each division (UGA, UF, UT, UK - Bama, LSU, Auburn, AM) one game against the Top 4 in the other division and 1 game against the bottom 3 in the other division. Here is how the 2 additional games would have looked in my scenario:

UGA - AM, MSU
UF - Auburn, Arky
UT - LSU, Ole Miss
UK - Bama, Arky
USC - Bama, MSU
Mizzou - AM, Ole Miss
Vandy - LSU, Auburn

Bama - UK, USC
LSU - UT, Vandy
Auburn - UF, Vandy
AM - UGA, Mizzou
Ole Miss - UT, Mizzou
MSU - UGA, USC
Arky - UF, UK

Thoughts?
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Somebody rolled over at some of these schools, The SEC made some kind of deal that meant $$$$$ to the schools, CPF would not have agreed to UGA, Florida or Alabama receiving lighter schedules, I don't believe it for a second.
 
#43
#43
FlyFishnVol said:
Somebody rolled over at some of these schools, The SEC made some kind of deal that meant $$$$$ to the schools, CPF would not have agreed to UGA, Florida or Alabama receiving lighter schedules, I don't believe it for a second.
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I dont think Bama and UF got a huge break. UGA and LSU (especially UGA) had been the most vocal about schedules and they were the ones who got the breaks. After Anthony Jordan and the Bama game last year, the SEC knew we'd sit back and take it....
 
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#44
#44
BigOrangeMojo said:
I dont think Bama and UF got a huge break. UGA and LSU (especially UGA) had been the most vocal about schedules and they were the ones who got the breaks. After Anthony Jordan and the Bama game last year, the SEC knew we'd sit back and take it....
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I still don't believe CPF agreed to the schedules, I would love to know what the vote was, probably something like 8-6 in favor of the changes.
 
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