SEC reverting back to no divisions?

[OG Goat Holder]

That’s purely your speculation. What have you actually seen from Alabama to make you think they want to drop 1 of their 3 big rivals?

Again, not a real rivalry. Just more of a good game. Same vein as Florida vs. Tennessee.

The most-played rivalries in SEC football history entering 2019 season (saturdaydownsouth.com)

It's not happening. LSU will likely get Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Alabama will get us, Auburn and Tennessee. Tennessee will get Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Alabama.

 

[eckie1]

If you don't have the two divisions, how do you create the Championship game? Doubt they want to get rid of it.

The PAC-12 does it like this, and they recently added a championship game. Top 2 teams…

 

[patdog]

Again, not a real rivalry. Just more of a good game. Same vein as Florida vs. Tennessee.

The most-played rivalries in SEC football history entering 2019 season (saturdaydownsouth.com)

It's not happening. LSU will likely get Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Alabama will get us, Auburn and Tennessee. Tennessee will get Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Alabama.

LSU will get A&M, Mississippi & Alabama. Tennessee won’t get off that easy. No Kentucky for them.

 

[BigDawg0074]

Uhh, I dunno, maybe an easy W over a conference foe? Plus travel is only 90 miles away. We are the nearest SEC university to them.

If a guaranteed win is all they want and they can use their influence as they see fit then there are more favorable matchups available than Mississippi State.

 

[TrueMaroonGrind]

That’s purely your speculation. What have you actually seen from Alabama to make you think they want to drop 1 of their 3 big rivals?

That’s not speculation. Those are two facts about the series between us and Bama. No one knows who Bama wants because they haven’t publicly said. However the points by green bean would be considered when making the matchups.

 

[HumpDawgy]

Sankey mentioned how much he liked the covid all-sec schedule, so it would seem he will push hard for 9 conference games going forward. He also mentioned wanting to see more rotation in scheduling where schools play each other more often, so less locked opponents. Might be just rival locks.

 

[TrueMaroonGrind]

Sankey mentioned how much he liked the covid all-sec schedule, so it would seem he will push hard for 9 conference games going forward. He also mentioned wanting to see more rotation in scheduling where schools play each other more often, so less locked opponents. Might be just rival locks.

I would prefer that over anything else, but I doubt that would happen because of some of the secondary rivalries in the SEC.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

Sankey mentioned how much he liked the covid all-sec schedule, so it would seem he will push hard for 9 conference games going forward. He also mentioned wanting to see more rotation in scheduling where schools play each other more often, so less locked opponents. Might be just rival locks.

I would vote for this. At most two rivals/perm opponents.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I honestly don't know what the problem is with 2 divisions:

West: Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, LSU, Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss, Mississippi State
East: Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina

That gives you regional rivalries, preserves existing rivalries and provides competitive balance. Rotate 2 from the other division for 9 total games. SEC championship still means something. So what if you don't play every SEC team every 4 years? You can still do it in 7 years, and see all venues every 8 years.

I understand the argument to be more variable too, so I don't really care. My only point is that keeping the 2 division idea isn't a bad one.

 

[Dawgg]

The PAC-12 does it like this, and they recently added a championship game. Top 2 teams…

I actually like what the Pac-12 is doing right now.

Going into the last two weeks of the season, the SEC CG is already decided, but the Pac-12 has 5-6 teams that could make it. Gives about half of their games in the final 2 weeks conference and playoff implications.

 

[patdog]

I honestly don't know what the problem is with 2 divisions:

West: Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, LSU, Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss, Mississippi State
East: Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina

That gives you regional rivalries, preserves existing rivalries and provides competitive balance. Rotate 2 from the other division for 9 total games. SEC championship still means something. So what if you don't play every SEC team every 4 years? You can still do it in 7 years, and see all venues every 8 years.

I understand the argument to be more variable too, so I don't really care. My only point is that keeping the 2 division idea isn't a bad one.

Several problems.
1. Inequities between the divisions. For most of the last 30 years, one division has been much stronger than the other. We've had the 3rd or 4th best team in the conference make the SECCG a few times (one being 1998 when a 5-loss MSU unranked MSU team played instead of 10-2 #5 Florida).
2. Nobody has 6 true rivals. Most schools have only 2 or 3. We only have 1. Why do we need 7 permanent opponents?
3. Playing other teams in your conference only twice in 9 years blows. Much better to play them at least every other year on average. This way every 4-year player will get to see every other team in the conference both home and away.

 

[RiverCityDawg]

Our permanent opponents if it's the 3/6 model will be ole miss, Kentucky and A&M. This was pretty much already decided, the hold up was whether it was going to be a 9-game 3/6 or 8-game 1/7.

People that didn't read or forgot about this article from Dellenger back in May need to (re)read it. He wasn't speculating, he was told where everything stands and leaked it. This Gator guy wasn't reporting anything new.

https://www.si.com/.amp/college/2022/05/24/sec-football-schedule-future

 

[TrueMaroonGrind]

Several problems.
1. Inequities between the divisions. For most of the last 30 years, one division has been much stronger than the other. We've had the 3rd or 4th best team in the conference make the SECCG a few times (one being 1998 when a 5-loss MSU unranked MSU team played instead of 10-2 #5 Florida).
2. Nobody has 6 true rivals. Most schools have only 2 or 3. We only have 1. Why do we need 7 permanent opponents?
3. Playing other teams in your conference only twice in 9 years blows. Much better to play them at least every other year on average. This way every 4-year player will get to see every other team in the conference both home and away.

I agree on most all of your points. Divisions are unnecessary. No real benefits other than limiting travel distance and awarding a team in the weak division with an easy trip to the championship game.

 

[patdog]

Our permanent opponents if it's the 3/6 model will be ole miss, Kentucky and A&M. This was pretty much already decided, the hold up was whether it was going to be a 9-game 3/6 or 8-game 1/7.

People that didn't read or forgot about this article from Dellenger back in May need to (re)read it. He wasn't speculating, he was told where everything stands and leaked it. This Gator guy wasn't reporting anything new.

https://www.si.com/.amp/college/2022/05/24/sec-football-schedule-future

Ross definitely knows what he's talking about. That article explains it all. The permanent opponents is his guess though, but I bet it's pretty accurate. Once change I could see is Okie swapping Florida for A&M as a permanent opponent, with LSU dropping A&M and picking up Florida. Otherwise,

 

[RiverCityDawg]

Ross definitely knows what he's talking about. That article explains it all. The permanent opponents is his guess though, but I bet it's pretty accurate. Once change I could see is Okie swapping Florida for A&M as a permanent opponent, with LSU dropping A&M and picking up Florida. Otherwise,

I think it was his "guess" based on what he was told. Jimbo said in one of his press conferences that we were one of their three based on what had been proposed.

 

[patdog]

I think it was his "guess" based on what he was told. Jimbo said in one of his press conferences that we were one of their three based on what had been proposed.

You very well could be right. I expect the final version won't look much, if any, different than that one does.

 

[Perd Hapley]

Rosey is always talking about jockeying for bowl placement and I'm like, dude, literally NOBODY gives a shizz outside the playoff and the random usurper who rises up to a bowl that they haven't been to in awhile. Everybody else opts out or treats it like a scrimmage. And to me, using NIL to entice someone to not opt out is a waste of money. Bowls are dumb. I'd rather have a secondary NIT-esque playoff bracket.

The degree to which teams care about the bowls varies year to year and team to team, but overall you are correct. I think in today’s college football where both analytics and blatant cash grabs are king, it makes sense for the NCAA to just do away with the 6 win requirement for bowls and still have them like now. Its not 1997 anymore, and the whole country knows that 5-7 or 6-6 in the SEC is in no way equivalent to 5-7 or 6-6 in the AAC, Pac 12, Big 12, or even the B1G / ACC. Therefore, having a blanket requirement is stupid. Get rid of it so that teams in all conferences are free to schedule as many marquee matchups as they want (or not) without fear of any sort of penalty.

And although I’d love to see it, I don’t think a secondary playoff would work well for college football. It would likely be a major money loser for the schools having to play multiple postseason games, and you’d still have all the same problems with opt outs and lack of emotional investment from players and coaches alike.

 

[$altyDawg]

And you see where that has gotten them.

Why wouldn't you want the top 2 playing it off? Up until here recently it seemed like the top team out of the east might have been 3rd or 4th in the West.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Again, not a real rivalry. Just more of a good game. Same vein as Florida vs. Tennessee.

The most-played rivalries in SEC football history entering 2019 season (saturdaydownsouth.com)

It's not happening. LSU will likely get Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Alabama will get us, Auburn and Tennessee. Tennessee will get Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Alabama.

Look at that! Kinda explains our historical record when we are in the top of the most games played against Bama, LSU, Auburn, and Ole Miss for a total of 284 losses and 124 wins for a. 436 winning record against just to those 4 teams that used to be our murderers row on the schedule.

Oh I forgot! We are going to demand we will be better no matter what history is.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

The degree to which teams care about the bowls varies year to year and team to team, but overall you are correct. I think in today’s college football where both analytics and blatant cash grabs are king, it makes sense for the NCAA to just do away with the 6 win requirement for bowls and still have them like now. Its not 1997 anymore, and the whole country knows that 5-7 or 6-6 in the SEC is in no way equivalent to 5-7 or 6-6 in the AAC, Pac 12, Big 12, or even the B1G / ACC. Therefore, having a blanket requirement is stupid. Get rid of it so that teams in all conferences are free to schedule as many marquee matchups as they want (or not) without fear of any sort of penalty.

And although I’d love to see it, I don’t think a secondary playoff would work well for college football. It would likely be a major money loser for the schools having to play multiple postseason games, and you’d still have all the same problems with opt outs and lack of emotional investment from players and coaches alike.

I tend to agree. Bowls themselves are not the enemy, as they do fill up TV time and nothing wrong with playing an extra game. The problem is the means to gain entry to them. And not only that, they have a bunch of old school dudes running them and they don't want to change. They'll eventually have to due to the ratings.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Look at that! Kinda explains our historical record when we are in the top of the most games played against Bama, LSU, Auburn, and Ole Miss for a total of 284 losses and 124 wins for a. 436 winning record against just to those 4 teams that used to be our murderers row on the schedule.

Oh I forgot! We are going to demand we will be better no matter what history is.

What's the saying, if you don't learn from it, you're doomed to repeat it.

Our moronic fanbase really doesn't understand how good we have it. At the very worst, we have had a stable coaching staff to at least keep us afloat during this tumultuous past few years of uncertainty.