Auburn's Gus Malzahn joins Nick Saban in advocating for nine-game SEC schedule

#51
#51

I doubt it will ever happen because half of the teams will be giving up a home game.

I'd rather see conferences play all the teams in their division and at least 3 of their games against power 5 teams. Alabama stays on the schedule but not as a conference game. Memphis and Middle Tennessee are the only non power 5 teams on the schedule but the Vols will play them every year. Playing more power 5 teams from other conferences will be great for college football.

So UT's schedule could look like this

At Virginia Tech (P5 game)
Oklahoma State (P5 game)
At Florida (SECE)
Memphis
Georgia (SECE)
At Alabama (P5 game)
Middle Tennessee
South Carolina (SECE)
California (P5 game)
At Kentucky (SECE)
Mizzou (SECE)
At Vanderbilt (SEC)

As usual the winner of the SECE plays the SECW winner in the SECCG.
 
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#52
#52
Do this and eliminate the permanent cross division rivals.

The new West:
Missouri
OU
OState
Arkansas
TAMU
LSU
MSU
Ole Miss

The new East:
Bama
Auburn
UT
UF
UGA
USC
UK
Vandy

More sense geographically.
Easier for fan travel.
Bama/UT & AUB/UGA rivalries preserved.
Biggest downside is losing Bama/LSU series.
Pick up state of Oklahoma tv markets.
Saban won’t be at Bama forever. East will become really interesting with 5 strong traditional teams.
Vols and UF get their annual series with Auburn renewed.
West much more balanced and better rivalries.
OU/OSU leaving breaks up Big 12 (thankfully) - remaining teams go to PAC 12 (4 Texas schools) and Big Ten (KU/KSU) and ACC (ISU/WVU) - Big 10 and ACC then swap Rutgers and ISU (who joins Iowa in Big 10 and Rutgers joins more east coast teams in ACC).
You now have 4 (16 team) Super Conferences.
Notre Dame must poop or get off pot going back to full time Independent or as full time ACC Member (which means ACC drops someone - probably Rutgers - who, lets face it should be in American Conf.).



SEC Basketball also helped with adding state of Oklahoma.
 
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#53
#53
Anything that would help bama lose more. I hope bama has to play 10 conference games. We just need bama to lose more to help show recruits they are a man and they bleed like a man and they ain't a machine. Sorry I just went Rocky IV.0
 
#54
#54
There is no advantage to playing more SEC games. The playoff committee does not care who you play as long as you win. If you don't believe that look at last years playoff, Bama didn't lose in the SECCG so they were in. At the end of the season all anyone talks about is wins and losses, not opponents. So why make the road harder for us?

At the beginning of the season all the talking heads act like it matters, then they gripe again when SEC teams play a softball late in the season.

Then they voted for 2 SEC teams in the playoff. So give me a break. It's all garbage and the SEC has nothing to gain except more expensive season tickets.
 
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#55
#55
I would love to go back to playing 3 West teams every year. I feel like it’s been forever since we last played Auburn even though they destroyed us the last time we played. We used to play them all the time. They could still keep the permanent cross-divisional rivals and make the other 2 rotational. That way we get to play all the teams more regularly. After hearing Sankey speak on it, I’m not sure we will ever see it happen because he’s more concerned with the SEC getting as many bowl teams as possible, which in fairness should be his main priority as commissioner.
 
#56
#56
If this happened I am sure our first west draw would immediately be Bama, LSU, and Auburn.
 
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#59
#59
I don't care about playing tough schedules. Tough schedules don't bother me. Bring it on.

However, I don't want a system where my school gets to play the schedule they do while other schools get to play the schedules they do.

Playing 9 conference games and Florida State while I watch a team like Wisconsin play one team in its 12 game schedule that ended the season ranked (and that was Northwestern).....hell, no.

Either we all play quality schedules or I'm not signing up for Murderer's Row.

This is the toughest conference in college football. A conference where you can not even go to the conference title game, and still get a spot in the CFP. Wisconsin will never be in that position as long as the Big 10 exists in its current state. Adding another conference game will only strengthen the argument for two SEC teams in the CFP.
 
#60
#60
Looks like some UT fans are afraid of the competition.

As a fan who attends games I totally agree with Saban. Tired of UT taking advantage of the fan base by making us watch 2-3 trash home games a year. The only negative effect of this happening would be UT would have to give up their Ohio Valley Conference affiliations.

You don’t make Sunday morning headlines by beating UT Martin, Western Kentucky, and South Alabama. And you do not get recruits’ attention either.
 
#61
#61
I could also make the joke....ha ha he he.....that champions currently already play 9 conference games.

So the SEC champ, would play 10 conference games.

In Florida's case....10 conference games, Florida State, and 2 playoff games in order to win a national title......

In a typical year, that's a hell of a gauntlet.

I’ll trade you FSU for Bama every year.
 
#62
#62
Honestly though I just wish every power 5 school would just add an extra game on to the schedule.

13 game regular season.
7 wins to get a bowl.
 
#63
#63
Gus just wants to spread some attrition around and figures he will outlast most. But I'm in, let's play 9. And while were are at it, Let's eliminate the SECCG. We can now physically afford to let 8 teams into the playoff. We are heading there anyway.

Now, what do we have?

1 - First round games go to the higher seed's home field.
2 - 15 games still max for the eventual champs season.
3 - 2 teams from the same conference no big thing.
4 - Who knows, perhaps now we can occasionally even see a "fly in the ointment" team get consumed by a #1 seed.

Caution: There could be other residual effects not mentioned here
 
#65
#65
Yes and I’d like to see everybody get 2 permanent cross division rival to even it up a little.
Vols should have Bama and Ole Miss every year.
UGA should have Auburn and Arkansas or TAMU.
FLA should have LSU and MSU (because Mullen)

Yea give TN Alabama and Auburn.
Florida: Alabama and LSU
Georgia: Auburn and Texas AM.
South Carolina: LSU and Texas AM

Damn this would be fun!
 
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#66
#66
Yea give TN Alabama and Auburn.
Florida: Alabama and LSU
Georgia: Auburn and Texas AM.
South Carolina: LSU and Texas AM

Damn this would be fun!

Why 2 permanent cross-division rivals? With only 1, every player on a team can get around the entire league in their 4-years on campus.
 
#68
#68
I would say scrap divisions and go to a 4-6-3 setup. Four teams you play every year, six teams you play every other year, and three teams you play every three years. The yearly teams would be your biggest rivals, the every other year teams would be any lesser rivals. Obviously there are going to be some holes here and there and some rivalry games would be left off, but overall the conference I think would improve greatly in the long run. Best records go to SEC Championship.

For Tennessee the schedule would be:
Yearly:Alabama, Florida, Georgia,and Vanderbilt
Every other year:Kentucky, Auburn, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas
Every three years:LSU, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M

I like it, but it would be interesting to see you map that out for the entire conference.


EDIT: Wait a minute, just realized that Kentucky's not on your yearly list. Whatever we may think of them, they (along with Vandy) are our oldest rivals, dating back to the 1890s. Bama is almost as old a rival.

If there are only four yearly opponents Florida would be the odd man out because, although they and Georgia have similar-length histories with us, Georgia is at least a border rivalry. Even though the UF and UGA games are a bigger deal in terms of outcome, the KY game has been an annual affair since 1906 and UF and UGA have only been yearly games since the early 1990s.

Of course, 9 conference games gives you a 5-6-3 which settles that issue....
 
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