Forget pods and divisions
- Thread starter Ranchdawg
- Start date
The pod concept has been dead for nearly a year. Same for divisions.
Well yeah, but now that Saban has said it, the conspiracy theorists can claim he's behind the move to one conference with no divisions.
I think they should just do a full rotating round robin without permanent opponents, divisions, pods, whatever. Make sure everybody plays everybody else over some reasonable period of time with some sort of sliding schedule. That can't be too hard to figure out especially with the AI resources we have at hand these days. 
I like the final note in the article about knowing the kickoff times far in advance. I hope that is accurate.
What are we calling the 3 permanent opponents that likely fall out of this now? I don't really care what we call it, I just want to know who I can expect to see every year and how the rest rotate.
Now that ESPN has the total inventory of SEC games, they don't have to wait for CBS to exercise their 2-week notice of which game they're choosing each week. So it makes sense they'd be able to set the schedules further in advance.
#1 - Mississippi - guaranteed
#2 - Kentucky - probably about a 90% chance, everyone I've seen seems to think UK will be a permanent
#3 - Most likely A&M or Auburn. A few people seem to think Alabama. Or could be some team out of left field.
No way ESPN gives up on having the Iron Bowl, Texas-Texas A&M, the Red River Shootout, the Egg Bowl, the Third Saturday in October, or the World's Largest Cocktail party on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2 every year.I think they should just do a full rotating round robin without permanent opponents, divisions, pods, whatever. Make sure everybody plays everybody else over some reasonable period of time with some sort of sliding schedule. That can't be too hard to figure out especially with the AI resources we have at hand these days.
When I type it out, it's actually crazy to think about how many of the country's biggest rivalry games are going to be in one conference.
Outside of those I listed, there's what? Ohio State vs Michigan and maybe USC vs Notre Dame?
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I said Saban has spoken because he's been pushing 9 or 10 SEC games for some time now. He says he wants that because it is better for the fans and then schedules some of the softest teams he can find for OOC. Saban carries a lot of clout with the SEC and the NCAA.
After all, they are the bastion of college football. *****
just read from the article:
"Two of Alabama’s permanent opponents would be obvious: Auburn and Tennessee. The third is less certain, with some projecting Mississippi State because of proximity and others predicting LSU because the juice that rivalry with Alabama has brought to the SEC over the past decade."
Hopefully ESPN can put enough pressure on the SEC office to overcome the pressure that Bama and the rest of the SEC will put forth to have us as Bama's third perm opponent. If we are stuck with Bama, Keenum must die on the hill of us getting Vandy as our third. Even when Saban retires, Bama will continue, they have realized how much revenue and exposure football brings in. Their transition after Saban will be closer to TOSU transition after Myer left.
UK is a 50/50 game, Vandy is a 90/10 game. Ole Miss will get LSU, Vandy and us.
Other than UT, I don't think Vandy has another "rival" so there is no reason we can't be their third. Although we've played UK for a while, I don't feel any type of rivalry with them. If we get Vandy, Nashville is a great city and easy drive for the vast majority of our fanbase for a roadtrip.
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You're giving him way too much credit. It's not a coincidence the expansion to 9-game schedule is coming when the 12-team playoff and conference expansion comes, not back when Nick started calling for it. It makes sense for the SEC now. It didn't then.
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Does this mean Ole Miss will never win the West?
I say no permanant opponents and every single team rotates in a predictive manner with 85% of our overall schedule completed now projected out for over 16 years with open dates known and every single team with the same non-conference dates. If you can get the other power 5 to agree to similar schedules, finding teams to play in your non-conference would be a piece of cake. Also, no teams would have a built in advantage as half the entire conference would take a bye on one week and the other half the next week.
I can get into this. Not playing Ole Miss every year would make the individual games, when they do come around even more heated.
I prefer one perm opponent and rotate all the rest.
If it's what Bama wants they will be our 3d. If it's what ESPN wants, Bama's 3 are probably Auburn, Tennessee, and LSU.
Concur, but not just what Bama wants, the other 12 schools will push for it too.
Also Jimbo Fisher said on the record that he has been told that A&M is getting Texas, LSU, and us.
Now he could be wrong, but that's as good of a source as anyone has on any of this.
That’s been a while. Could have changed. But if I’m betting, A&M is #3, followed by Auburn & then Alabama. Really doesn’t matter too much since we’ll still see everyone else 1/2 of the time.
It’s what the SEC wants. Bama doesn’t dictate to anywhere near the level a lot of people think they do. But for sure, all schools preferences will come into play.
This "proximity" argument is a bunch of horse pucky. Bama fans will travel anywhere anytime, and flying to another SEC school could be an overall shorter trip than busing to Starkvegas. If we end up with Bama as a permanent, it will solely due to Saban dictating it to Sankey.
Another issue is that most of the "have-nots" are supporting an 8-game schedule with 1 permanent and 7 rotating.
I think it's highly unlikely that they'll win. It's going to be 9 games, with 3 permanents and 6 rotating. But in order to get all of us onboard, the conference will probably promise to make sure that each "have not" gets 2 other "have nots" as their permanent. The numbers add up. The 8 best teams get 2 permanents among themselves, and 1 in the other tier. The 8 "have nots" gets 2 permanents among themselves and 1 in the upper tier.
That's why I'm pretty confident we keep Kentucky. If we don't, I guess Arkansas could be possible, or just someone random like Missouri, but I think Kentucky would pick us just like we would pick them, and the SEC let it happen.
I think it's highly unlikely that they'll win. It's going to be 9 games, with 3 permanents and 6 rotating. But in order to get all of us onboard, the conference will probably promise to make sure that each "have not" gets 2 other "have nots" as their permanent. The numbers add up. The 8 best teams get 2 permanents among themselves, and 1 in the other tier. The 8 "have nots" gets 2 permanents among themselves and 1 in the upper tier.
That's why I'm pretty confident we keep Kentucky. If we don't, I guess Arkansas could be possible, or just someone random like Missouri, but I think Kentucky would pick us just like we would pick them, and the SEC let it happen.
Had a Memphis fan tell me that they no longer need to find a bigger conference like the Big12 or the Pac10 to play in. Said that the AAC conference regular season champion will now receive an automatic playoff bid. He said it will now be easier for them to get in the playoffs just by staying in the AAC vs going to another tougher conference. Have no idea if this is all true, just what he told me. The Memphis fairgrounds and Liberty Bowl are about to start a huge renovation around 200-250 million. The old Mid-South Coliseum is to be torn down and much of the "less than desirable" neighborhoods to the east and southeast will be bought, and then razed to produce more friendly parking and tailgating areas. He said we won't recognize the Liberty Bowl once it is completed.
I think the deal has pretty much been done. The have-nots will only get 1 have as a permanent. The haves will get 2.
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