Should the SEC scrap divisions? (Article)

#51
#51
I like it but...It doesn't fit in with the master plan of say 2022-2025 when the SEC expands to 16 teams.

That's when the SEC goes to 4 divisions and 16 teams and 3 division playoff games for SEC Championship and even more TV revenue.

Of course you could still take the 4 best teams for the SEC Championship playoff and have three permeant teams and six rotational teams each year...9 total.

Best thing about the proposed realignment would be Alabama having the toughest 3 permanent division teams with Auburn, LSU and Tennessee each year.
 
#53
#53
HuntlandVolinColo said:
I like it but...It doesn't fit in with the master plan of say 2022-2025 when the SEC expands to 16 teams.

That's when the SEC goes to 4 divisions and 16 teams and 3 division playoff games for SEC Championship and even more TV revenue.

Of course you could still take the 4 best teams for the SEC Championship playoff and have three permeant teams and six rotational teams each year...9 total.

Best thing about the proposed realignment would be Alabama having the toughest 3 permanent division teams with Auburn, LSU and Tennessee each year.
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For reason alone I am glad Dave Hart is no longer in charge of protecting UT's interest. The realignment you speak of will be much closer--more like 2019--and it will all depend of where Oklahoma and Texas want to be (likely Big Ten). Regardless it is vital that Tennessee land in a 4 team division with either Florida/Georgia or a division with a team from NC and VA (VT and NC St). Assume for a second SEC adds OU and WVU with division breakdown as follows:

Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Missouri
LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State, Alabama
Auburn, UF, UGA, SC
UK, Vandy, UT, WVU

That scenario, while a very winnable division would be a nightmare from a recruiting standpoint.
 
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#54
#54
ptcarter said:
Let's mix it up a bit, shall we?

I propose a SEC-North and SEC-South

SEC-N:
Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Ole Miss, South Carolina

SEC-S:
Auburn, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Texas A&M.

See you in Atlanta!!!!!!

;')
Click to expand...

You should switch Mississippi State and Arkansas.
 
#55
#55
KINGSVOL said:
No chnace of this happening, but since you mentioned it, UT would stand to make millions more with 3 more SEC games (2 at home)and dont forget the TV money

Season1: UT vs:
GA, FL, Vandy, GT, BALL STATE, BYE, FSU, uSc, AL, LSU, Auburn. ONLY 2 of those games WOULDNT BE ON THE NETWORKS! MONEY VOLS!

Wanna really get crazy; 4 team playoff for the SEC Championship- best record east or west (SEC GAMES) hosts 2nd best team in other division (1vs4, 2-3vs1) then SECCG in atlanta. 12 games plus 2 possible playoff games, 14 game season. SWEET!
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Now you are just talking crazy for the sake of talking crazy. However, it's much like the current playoff system. I heard suggestions made not too far off from it in the early 2000s, and guess what they were called? You guessed it-Crazy.

But for crazy to happen, you need to have administrators who can sell it. But hey, that Hancock guy was selling no more crystal ball, and now we have a unique priceless one of a kind piece of art. And the guy is a complete goober. Sadly, Sankey is not quite to that level yet. So, we need for him to be properly indoctrinated and conditioned, or to target a dweeb to replace him.

But realistically, you need a financial strategy for the lower conference teams to be able to fund their programs without playing these David and Goliath games few people watch live, but many will Tevo the replay after an upset. The ADs and school administrators have formed up some sort of buddy system, because at one point many of your guys at the Tennessees and the Michigans were at the Troys and the Mercers. Maybe not unlike Spanky and Alfalfa and their friends giving each other the high sign. Until that elusive plan comes about, crazy will continue to take a back seat to this version of the He Man Woman Haters Club.

But as fans, we can keep throwing out ideas, crazy or not. Sooner or later, somebody might listen and start to align the dominoes. Change is inevitable. The only question is how much will we like it?At least it gives us something to talk/argue/gripe about.
 
#56
#56
WVU05UT09 said:
For reason alone I am glad Dave Hart is no longer in charge of protecting UT's interest. The realignment you speak of will be much closer--more like 2019--and it will all depend of where Oklahoma and Texas want to be (likely Big Ten). Regardless it is vital that Tennessee land in a 4 team division with either Florida/Georgia or a division with a team from NC and VA (VT and NC St). Assume for a second SEC adds OU and WVU with division breakdown as follows:

Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Missouri
LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State, Alabama
Auburn, UF, UGA, SC
UK, Vandy, UT, WVU

That scenario, while a very winnable division would be a nightmare from a recruiting standpoint.
Click to expand...

I think you have it figured out. I wouldn't be surprised to see NCST or Virginia instead of WVU though from a better TV market saturation standpoint.

I do believe OK wants to go to SEC. OKST could go to B1G and still have an annual rivalry game. But does OK also keep its rivalry game with Texas? That could make for a tough schedule year in and year out.

I think Texas and Texas Tech will opt in for the PAC12.

That leave Baylor, TCU, Iowa St, Kansas and Kansas St to seek out ACC, B1G, and PAC12 affiliation.

The Power 5 will become the Power 4, four-16 teams conferences, 64 teams (the same amount of teams in Power 5 now).
 
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#57
#57
I still say the best way is to tweak div. play by only record in division NOT TOTAL RECORD determines division champ... That's the only change I would make, other than realigning divisions more geographically. i.e., MO. to west, Auburn east. Boy will this idea on moves bring on comment.
 
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#59
#59
WVU05UT09 said:
For reason alone I am glad Dave Hart is no longer in charge of protecting UT's interest. The realignment you speak of will be much closer--more like 2019--and it will all depend of where Oklahoma and Texas want to be (likely Big Ten). Regardless it is vital that Tennessee land in a 4 team division with either Florida/Georgia or a division with a team from NC and VA (VT and NC St). Assume for a second SEC adds OU and WVU with division breakdown as follows:

Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Missouri
LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State, Alabama
Auburn, UF, UGA, SC
UK, Vandy, UT, WVU

That scenario, while a very winnable division would be a nightmare from a recruiting standpoint.
Click to expand...



Everything that I have read and heard states that OU and Oklahoma State are a package deal. I think their state legislature has stated this. I don't think the SEC wants OSU, but might take them to get OU who the SEC REALLY does want.
 
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#61
#61
jonnon111 said:
This all day. Let Bama keep their rivalry with auburn as the automatic matchup and make our annual west matchup with mizzou.

However, Saban can't coach forever. So there's that. :good!:

because this will never happen.:thud:
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While I'm not for the simple switch idea (I think the 3rd Saturday in October is a big traditional rivalry that should still be played), it should be pointed out that in this scenario that you don't have to just account for who's Tennessee's and Missouri's permanent cross-divisional opponent, but also Arkansas's and Georgia's permanent opponents now as well.

(Though essentially that's likely coming down to whether Missouri or Arkansas would former the stronger pair with TN.)
 
#62
#62
LordBolton said:
We never should have added Missouri. West Virginia was a much better fit and made sense for the East. Better basketball too.
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Except these moves were all about getting the conference more money - since all the other major conferences were doing the same thing, save the Big 12 (who fell into a point of "stay above 10 schools so that the TV Networks couldn't legally decrease the amount of money they got from their contracts) - and West Virginia was not a school that was able to do that for us.

(...or the ACC, which was why both they and the SEC turned them down as well)
 
#65
#65
Iam4utalways said:
If you take bama out somebody still would have won the SEC, represented the conference in the CFP. Who's to say they wouldn't have been as dominant?
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Maybe in 2014 (presuming that Miss St wouldn't have had to still play Alabama and beat whoever the replacement was...though how they got lit up by Ole Miss and later Georgia Tech wouldn't exactly be encouraging for how they'd fare in the playoffs either).

In 2015, though, that would have made either 2-loss Florida or 2-loss "with-one-of-those-losses-being-to-the-Memphis-Tigers" Ole Miss as the new SEC Champion, and neither of those two would have made the playoff field.

Take out Alabama last year and you've got a 3-loss Florida or 9-3 Auburn as your SEC Champion...and in all likelihood, again, neither of those teams would have made the CFP either.
 
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#70
#70
ptcarter said:
Let's mix it up a bit, shall we?

I propose a SEC-North and SEC-South

SEC-N:
Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Ole Miss, South Carolina

SEC-S:
Auburn, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Texas A&M.

See you in Atlanta!!!!!!

;')
Click to expand...

Fine with me as long as Alabama and Florida were on our permanent cross division schedule. All for a shot a Florida twice.
 
#72
#72
No. Stupid idea to do away with divisions. Best thing about divisions is it's added new rivalries. Plus it gives two division championships for teams to play for. SEC basketball sucks and one reason is rotating schedules. I miss the Florida and GA games in Knox every yr. now everyone plays for NCAA bid and nothing else.
 
#74
#74
wmcovol said:
No. Stupid idea to do away with divisions. Best thing about divisions is it's added new rivalries. Plus it gives two division championships for teams to play for. SEC basketball sucks and one reason is rotating schedules. I miss the Florida and GA games in Knox every yr. now everyone plays for NCAA bid and nothing else.
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I miss seeing teams like Georgia and Florida come to Bryant-Denny more than once every dozen years.
 
#75
#75
I would say set SEC up so that teams play every 1, 2, or 3 years. Each school has four teams they play every year, six teams they play every other year, and three teams they play every three years. The one year teams would be the biggest rivals. 2 years would be any rivals that do not play yearly, followed by all the teams that were in their division during the days of division play. The rest of the teams would be a mix of good match-ups as well as what was left. Every year the teams schedule would be 4 games against yearly teams, 3 games against teams you play every other year, and 1 game against a team you play every three year, If you go to 9 conference games you simply add another team that is played every year and make the rest played every other year.

For instance Tennessee would look something like this in an 8 game schedule.
Yearly:Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Vanderbilt
2 Year:Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas
3 year:Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Ole Miss

For a 9 game schedule:
Yearly:Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
Every 2 years:Auburn, LSU, South Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Ole Miss
 
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