Athletic article from today (5/17/22) on SEC scheduling

#1
unfrozencvmanvol

unfrozencvmanvol

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#1
Interesting article today in The Athletic by Aaron Suttles and Seth Emerson. It said the SEC AD's are set to vote on the post-Texas/OU scheduling format at the spring meetings in 2 weeks. It said the format with the most momentum was no divisions, no pods, 3 permanent opponents. Priority of permanent opponents will be given to history/geography. No system they have looked at is perfect but this one checks the most boxes. You'd play your 3 permanent opponents every year, and switch the other 12 off 6 and 6 every other year, that way kids who played 4 years would visit every stadium (except for the neutral site rivalries but that's the schools involved's choice). Here's the article's explanation of how the permanent opponents could work:

Screenshot_20220517-184348-051.png

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As an old UT fan, color me pleased if this is how it plays out.
 
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#2
#2
unfrozencvmanvol said:
Interesting article today in The Athletic by Aaron Suttles and Seth Emerson. It said the SEC AD's are set to vote on the post-Texas/OU scheduling format at the spring meetings in 2 weeks. It said the format with the most momentum was no divisions, no pods, 3 permanent opponents. Priority of permanent opponents will be given to history/geography. No system they have looked at is perfect but this one checks the most boxes. You'd play your 3 permanent opponents every year, and switch the other 12 off 6 and 6 every other year, that way kids who played 4 years would visit every stadium (except for the neutral site rivalries but that's the schools involved's choice). Here's the article's explanation of how the permanent opponents could work:

View attachment 456058

View attachment 456061
As an old UT fan, color me pleased if this is how it plays out.
Click to expand...

I doubt AU, UF and TAMU will like that arrangement. That would probably give them six tough SEC games per year.
 
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#3
#3
Once Texas and Oklahoma get to the SEC there will be 8 teams from 4 states and the 8 teams from 8 other state which mean The SEC would be made up of 12 states. Now with that being said Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas are the four states with 2 teams take those 8 teams and split them into 4 different pods. Then start adding the other 8 teams from single states into the mix. Then once everybody is figured in you would have 4 pods that would rotate every year and in return you would be playing everybody once every 2 years.
 
#4
#4
I dont like the swapping the rest of the league back and forth. It'll make it so some teams have alternating hard and easier years and that would be weird and lame.
 
#5
#5
I still can't figure out why nobody likes a 10 game rotating SEC schedule with no permanent rivals. Every team plays every other team two years out of three, which should be enough to keep any rivalry alive.

NIL, pay for play and revenue sharing is about to split up P5 and G5 anyway because talent will be siphoned to upper level teams even more than it already is. Might as well bite the bullet and start eliminating the cupcake games now. Let the professionals play against other professionals.
 
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#8
#8
Volunteer16 said:
I dont like the swapping the rest of the league back and forth. It'll make it so some teams have alternating hard and easier years and that would be weird and lame.
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They'll balance it pretty good I imagine. Here's two slates for us, I don't think either is likely to be much easier than the other most years:

Year 1, 3
Bama
UK
Vandy
Auburn
Texas
S. Carolina
Georgia
Ole Miss
Oklahoma

Year 2, 4
Bama
UK
Vandy
Florida
Texas A&M
Miss State
LSU
Missouri
Arkansas
 
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#9
#9
DawgInterloper said:
Would you still be pleased if Tennessee's permanent annual draw was Georgia, Florida and Alabama?
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Why are you crying? Are you an Auburn fan? Here's what Auburn's slates could look like, sure their permanents are tougher top to bottom but as a result a higher percentage of their rotating teams are going to be also rans in any given year so it evens out.

Year 1, 3
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
Texas
LSU
Ole Miss
Missouri
Arkansas
Vandy

Year 2, 4
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Miss State
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
 
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#10
#10
Southeastern VFL said:
Once Texas and Oklahoma get to the SEC there will be 8 teams from 4 states and the 8 teams from 8 other state which mean The SEC would be made up of 12 states. Now with that being said Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas are the four states with 2 teams take those 8 teams and split them into 4 different pods. Then start adding the other 8 teams from single states into the mix. Then once everybody is figured in you would have 4 pods that would rotate every year and in return you would be playing everybody once every 2 years.
Click to expand...
It doesn't sound like they are going to do pods. The article said nothing could be ruled out but no divisions, and the permanent non-pod opponents seemed to have more momentum.
 
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#11
#11
unfrozencvmanvol said:
Why are you crying? Are you an Auburn fan? Here's what Auburn's slates could look like, sure there permanents are tougher top to bottom but as a result a higher percentage of their rotating teams are going to be also rans in any given year so it evens out.

Year 1, 3
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
Texas
LSU
Ole Miss
Missouri
Arkansas
Vandy

Year 2, 4
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Miss State
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Click to expand...
Those are schedules where nobody may make it out without 2+ defeats and after 30 years the nightmare with the SEC may finally come true. Anyone gets off to a bad start they could be looking at a Vandy record no room for error no doubt.
 
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#13
#13
unfrozencvmanvol said:
Why are you crying? Are you an Auburn fan? Here's what Auburn's slates could look like, sure their permanents are tougher top to bottom but as a result a higher percentage of their rotating teams are going to be also rans in any given year so it evens out.

Year 1, 3
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
Texas
LSU
Ole Miss
Missouri
Arkansas
Vandy

Year 2, 4
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Miss State
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Click to expand...

I'm not an Auburn fan, just pointing out that these permanent rival, or pod, arrangements will end up giving some teams a tougher schedule on average. In the interest of fairness, a rotating schedule without permanent rivals is most fair. But, if some teams are willing to accept a tougher draw in perpetuity, then it may work out fine.

But, you didn't answer the question, so I assume you prefer keeping Kentucky, Vandy, Bama vs UGA, UF and Bama. We'll have to hope other teams prefer more of a challenge for this to work out amicably. But since Auburn already begged their way out of playing UGA and Alabama late in the season, and made both teams change their longstanding schedules, I don't think they'll agree to that particular arrangement above.
 
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#15
#15
If Auburn went crying to the SEC about playing Georgia and Alabama back to back late in the season, what makes you think they will go for this?
 
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#17
#17
Hate to see this happening so fast. Was REALLY looking forward to the BYU game out here next year. WE need revenge for the way we lost in Knoxville.
 
#18
#18
Not in favor of a 9-game conference schedule. There’s no way to make it completely fair, but some teams having an extra home game could be an additional advantage. Imagine, with whatever scheduling format they come up with, a team has the easiest conference schedule in a particular year in which they also get five home games and four road games. I wouldn’t want to see a team ride that combination to a conference title. If you have to play more conference games, just go to 10.
 
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#19
#19
Let's all just wait for Saint Nick to whine to his elves up in Birmingham. Guessing Alabubba will be playing Vandy three times a year. Could you imagine what NIL could do in a city like Nashville, a legit real city versus a sh_t hole like Birmingham, Alabama? Lucky for us Nashville couldn't care less about the commode-doors. Knoxville and the Vols can still RULE the SEC
 
#20
#20
DawgInterloper said:
I'm not an Auburn fan, just pointing out that these permanent rival, or pod, arrangements will end up giving some teams a tougher schedule on average. In the interest of fairness, a rotating schedule without permanent rivals is most fair. But, if some teams are willing to accept a tougher draw in perpetuity, then it may work out fine.

But, you didn't answer the question, so I assume you prefer keeping Kentucky, Vandy, Bama vs UGA, UF and Bama. We'll have to hope other teams prefer more of a challenge for this to work out amicably. But since Auburn already begged their way out of playing UGA and Alabama late in the season, and made both teams change their longstanding schedules, I don't think they'll agree to that particular arrangement above.
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter, as I demonstrated by laying out the schedules above side by side. Auburn's other 6 games are going to have fewer tough teams annually to balance it out. Bama, UK and Vandy are UT's 3 most played rivalries. Auburn's 4 most played rivalries are UGA, MSU, Bama and UF (still despite barely playing for 20+ years). Regardless, this may not end up being the exact permanent rival breakdown but it's the format that's most likely coming per Aaron and Seth. Few people are going to agree with you about no permanent rivals. The SEC and CFB as a whole is defined by some of these rivalries. It may happen regardless but folks are going to keep tinkering with the product until no one cares about the sport anymore. Thankfully, at least on this point the SEC still gets it.
 
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#21
#21
SoddyAllVol said:
Yes I would
Click to expand...

Well if Tennessee's athletic department really wants to sign up for a tougher SEC schedule, they probably could make it happen. I'd include Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, UT, TAMU (due to recent recruiting), Tx, and OU in the probable group of SEC championship contenders. A team that has 3 of those 9 as permanent rivals will play more regular season games against those 9 contenders than if they only had one or two as permanent rivals. Obviously league hierarchy changes over time but right now it seems like Ole Miss, Miss St., Arky, UK, U of SC, Mizzou, or Vandy will be infrequent contenders at best.

I think Georgia's draw as listed in the OP (UF, AU, USCe) is fair, but I personally wouldn't be happy with UF, Bama and Tennessee. It just makes it harder to get through with one or two losses.
 
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#22
#22
unfrozencvmanvol said:
Interesting article today in The Athletic by Aaron Suttles and Seth Emerson. It said the SEC AD's are set to vote on the post-Texas/OU scheduling format at the spring meetings in 2 weeks. It said the format with the most momentum was no divisions, no pods, 3 permanent opponents. Priority of permanent opponents will be given to history/geography. No system they have looked at is perfect but this one checks the most boxes. You'd play your 3 permanent opponents every year, and switch the other 12 off 6 and 6 every other year, that way kids who played 4 years would visit every stadium (except for the neutral site rivalries but that's the schools involved's choice). Here's the article's explanation of how the permanent opponents could work:

View attachment 456058

View attachment 456061
As an old UT fan, color me pleased if this is how it plays out.
Click to expand...
This makes more sense to me, both historically and geographically, and I think it works out. B747A9EE-5C35-49B1-B121-88EEBEDD6E11.jpeg
 
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#24
#24
greenbacknative said:
Hate to see this happening so fast. Was REALLY looking forward to the BYU game out here next year. WE need revenge for the way we lost in Knoxville.
Click to expand...
I don't think this has anything to do with the BYU game getting cancelled. We just didn't want to go to Provo apparently. I agree with you though, I wanted revenge!
 
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#25
#25
I could live with this. The only bummer is I was looking for the annual Tennessee/Auburn rivalry game to come back. I would gladly trade KY for them. Also Alabama/LSU (or Ole Miss) makes way more sense to me than Alabama/Miss St. I do like the idea of not playing the same divisional opponents every single year. This helps to keep each season schedule more fresh and interesting.
 
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