#1 UGA could miss out on SECCG

[18IsTheMan]

Would be pretty funny if this happened. Read an article that laid out a couple different scenarios, nothing outlandish or off the wall. A&M would need to beat LSU (feasible) and LSU would need to beat Bama (feasible) and both would then need to win out (feasible). The LSU win vs Bama paired with UGA's loss to Bama tips the scales to LSU. Missouri could also get in the mix to leapfrog UGA if they knock off Bama this weekend.

So, there's a realistic scenario where UGA could finish #1, miss out on the SECCG and thus be denied a top 4 seed that comes with a first round bye.

It's not likely it unfolds exactly like it would have to for this to happen, but it would be a pretty funny wrinkle.

 

[Piscis]

I have a hard time seeing the SEC pass over a #1 ranked 11-1 conference team in the SECCG. Moving away from divisions still seems like a bad idea to me.

 

[92Pony]

That would be great! The Kirby whining and uga fans crying would be epic. The downside though, is it would probably just make Georgia more focused and determined to win it all from whatever slot they got put into.

 

[92Pony]

I have a hard time seeing the SEC pass over a #1 ranked 11-1 conference team in the SECCG. Moving away from divisions still seems like a bad idea to me.

Agree on the divisions thing. I'd grown to like the quads proposals that were floated. You could maintain some traditional rivalries (which, yawn, the way CFB is anymore, who cares) and then rotating quads, it wouldn't take so long to play all the other teams via rotation.

 

[Piscis]

That would be great! The Kirby whining and uga fans crying would be epic. The downside though, is it would probably just make Georgia more focused and determined to win it all from whatever slot they got put into.

If they didn't play in the SECCG, the most games UGA would play would be 16 (12 regular season and 4 playoff games), exactly the same number the winner of the SECCG would play (12 regular season, 1 SECCG and 3 playoff games). The loser of the SECCG, if they made the playoff, would have to play 17 games. An argument could be made that UGA missing the SECCG would benefit them since they wouldn't have to face the chance of playing an extra game and, more than likely, their first round playoff opponent wouldn't be nearly as good as their opponent in the SECCG.

Kirby might not whine as much as you think he might.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I have a hard time seeing the SEC pass over a #1 ranked 11-1 conference team in the SECCG. Moving away from divisions still seems like a bad idea to me.

They wouldn't have a choice. Tiebreaker rules would mandate that UGA doesn't make it in that scenario. They couldn't void tiebreaker rules just b/c UGA was #1.

 

[92Pony]

If they didn't play in the SECCG, the most games UGA would play would be 16 (12 regular season and 4 playoff games), exactly the same number the winner of the SECCG would play (12 regular season, 1 SECCG and 3 playoff games). The loser of the SECCG, if they made the playoff, would have to play 17 games. An argument could be made that UGA missing the SECCG would benefit them since they wouldn't have to face the chance of playing an extra game and, more than likely, their first round playoff opponent wouldn't be nearly as good as their opponent in the SECCG.

Kirby might not whine as much as you think he might.

Good point.

 

[18IsTheMan]

If they didn't play in the SECCG, the most games UGA would play would be 16 (12 regular season and 4 playoff games), exactly the same number the winner of the SECCG would play (12 regular season, 1 SECCG and 3 playoff games). The loser of the SECCG, if they made the playoff, would have to play 17 games. An argument could be made that UGA missing the SECCG would benefit them since they wouldn't have to face the chance of playing an extra game and, more than likely, their first round playoff opponent wouldn't be nearly as good as their opponent in the SECCG.

Kirby might not whine as much as you think he might.

That makes some sense, but Kirby is SEC to the core, and then some. He wants the SECCG. Badly. Particularly after how last year's game went.

 

[Lurker123]

Would be pretty funny if this happened. Read an article that laid out a couple different scenarios, nothing outlandish or off the wall. A&M would need to beat LSU (feasible) and LSU would need to beat Bama (feasible) and both would then need to win out (feasible). The LSU win vs Bama paired with UGA's loss to Bama tips the scales to LSU. Missouri could also get in the mix to leapfrog UGA if they knock off Bama this weekend.

So, there's a realistic scenario where UGA could finish #1, miss out on the SECCG and thus be denied a top 4 seed that comes with a first round bye.

It's not likely it unfolds exactly like it would have to for this to happen, but it would be a pretty funny wrinkle.

I would laugh.

 

[Piscis]

That makes some sense, but Kirby is SEC to the core, and then some. He wants the SECCG. Badly. Particularly after how last year's game went.

He has been but the new expanded playoff might have changed his priorities. I'm sure his preference is to win the SEC and a NC but if he can only have one I would think he would pick the NC. He has to have seen how not being in the SECCG gave Bama an easier path to the NC after the 2017 season.

Kirby is passionate but he is also very smart and very calculating.

 

[will110]

They wouldn't have a choice. Tiebreaker rules would mandate that UGA doesn't make it in that scenario. They couldn't void tiebreaker rules just b/c UGA was #1.

Well the B1G arbitrarily changed their rules at the last minute to allow Ohio State to play for the conference championship in 2020. So it's not out of the question that the SEC could do likewise to protect one of its big names.

However, I agree with Piscis that UGA not playing in the SEC championship game at 11-1 is probably to their benefit.

 

[18IsTheMan]

Well the B1G arbitrarily changed their rules at the last minute to allow Ohio State to play for the conference championship in 2020. So it's not out of the question that the SEC could do likewise to protect one of its big names.

However, I agree with Piscis that UGA not playing in the SEC championship game at 11-1 is probably to their benefit.

Well, that was COVID-related so not really applicable here.

So are we suggesting that teams might throw a regular season game to intentionally miss out on the conference title game?

To folks cut from the kind of cloth Kirby is cut from, the SECCG is second to the national title game...but it's not a distant second.

 

[will110]

Well, that was COVID-related so not really applicable here.

So are we suggesting that teams might throw a regular season game to intentionally miss out on the conference title game?

To folks cut from the kind of cloth Kirby is cut from, the SECCG is second to the national title game...but it's not a distant second.

No, I can't see a team throwing a game. But if UGA did miss the title game at 11-1, I can see how they'd spin it as a positive.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

Would be pretty funny if this happened. Read an article that laid out a couple different scenarios, nothing outlandish or off the wall. A&M would need to beat LSU (feasible) and LSU would need to beat Bama (feasible) and both would then need to win out (feasible). The LSU win vs Bama paired with UGA's loss to Bama tips the scales to LSU. Missouri could also get in the mix to leapfrog UGA if they knock off Bama this weekend.

So, there's a realistic scenario where UGA could finish #1, miss out on the SECCG and thus be denied a top 4 seed that comes with a first round bye.

It's not likely it unfolds exactly like it would have to for this to happen, but it would be a pretty funny wrinkle.

That led Smart, unprompted, to bring up the SEC schedule discussions.

“I mean it makes me wonder about the whole nine-game conversation, because I’m sitting here going, ‘Wait a second, what if we all had nine games? We’d be talking about three- and four-loss teams,'” Smart said. “Because you just add another game, you’re going to play another good team and you’re going to bring about the possibility of teams losing. There’s so much parity in our league right now. It’s closer than it’s ever been.”

While Smart didn’t outright advocate for sticking with an eight-game SEC schedule, he intimated that the league’s playoff chances would take a major hit with a nine-game slate.

 

[KingWard]

I don't see a problem. Georgia wins out - regardless of whether or not they get into the SECCG, they're in the playoffs.

As to conference schedules, I wonder why the B1G isn't scared of nine games? Or the Big 12? I'll tell you why. It's because an extra conference game creates greater financial value going forward. Somebody in Birmingham who went to business school is going to have to put his foot down.

 

[ThinnyJ]

Don't worry... As we have seen multiple times, SEC refs will do whatever it takes to make sure the planned scenario works itself out... as per usual