AG's Annual Power 5 Conference Testicle Check (2019)

[LawDawg]

You mean like how that 9 game conference schedule affects such rivalries as USC vs ND, Stanford vs ND, Iowa vs Iowa St, etc ... like that? Ya that excuse doesn't hold water. If you don't believe me just take a look at the OP.

Face it, you are naming outliers, as are we. 4 SEC teams have regular rivalry games. You've name 3 or 4 that do. The rule for most teams is to not have them.

At the end of the day, the SEC schedules the way it does because they think it is the best for their schools. Your conference can grown a brain and do the same thing, or not. It has worked for us.

UGa has gotten really aggressive with its future OOC scheduling because (1) they think that will be to their advantage when the CFP expands to 6 or 8 teams, and (2) the fans are tired of bullshit games. 10 P5 games, 2 G5 cupcakes (say, some low to mid-level PAC teams so we can travel) will be the ideal situation then. I don't really think the SEC or their fans gives a crap what any other conference does.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

You realize this doesn't make any sense, right? The post to which you responded stated that one reason we play 8 conference games is because several of our teams have rival games to end the year - UGa v. Tech, UF v. FSU, USCjr v. Clemson, and UK v. Louisville. And, because we are smart and schedule to our advantage, not our disadvantage.

In that you responded to a UGa poster and mentioned two Georgia schools, if you are taking a shot at our schedule you are barking up the wrong tree. We play 9 P5 teams every year with our Ga Tech game, we've aggressively scheduled OOC in the past, and our OOC for the next 13 years is one of the most aggressive, if not the most aggressive. In one year we will be playing our 8 SEC games, and then Ga Tech, Texas and Clemson. In another year we have Ga Tech, FSU and Texas.

First - yes, my comment was sarcasm.

Second - staying at 8 conference games has no bearing on scheduling your OOC rival.

Third - I am not speaking in terms of UGA specifically, just to the overall notion of 8 game conference schedules and scheduling weak. I already stated in another thread (I think to Kalpony or whoever) that yes, there have absolutely been some respectable scheduling coming from teams that have 8 conference games. UGA is no exception, but UGA is not the only team in the SEC just as Clemson is not the only team in the ACC. That is why (from my perspective) this is a conference discussion and not a specific team discussion.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Personally, I think if Clemson/SC, UF/FSU and UGA/GT continued to happen every year and they moved to 9 conference games and scheduled 2 G5 teams... I wouldn't have a problem with that at all.

But the fact that teams with 4 OOC typically only have 1 P5 and 3 G5s or 2 G5s and 1FCS... that reeks. Personally, I don't like that at all and am perfectly fine with people calling it out.

That goes for my team too. We only have 3 OOC games in the B1G and I will be the first to say that we have a weak schedule this year.... but we still have a P5 scheduled out of those 3.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Again @LawDawg, I understand the SEC scheduling, I mentioned the step-by-step process in another thread too. It has worked and therefore IS relatively smart to do. Props for it. As a CFB fan, personally, I don't like it and find it rather slimey.

But again, I'll hand it to the SEC, it most definitely has worked to their advantage.

 

[LawDawg]

Again @LawDawg, I understand the SEC scheduling, I mentioned the step-by-step process in another thread too. It has worked and therefore IS relatively smart to do. Props for it. As a CFB fan, personally, I don't like it and find it rather slimey.

But again, I'll hand it to the SEC, it most definitely has worked to their advantage.

We seem to agree on a number of things. That said, our scheduling really wouldn't affect the top teams I don't believe. The top 2 teams aren't likely to drop another game play another SEC team. Maybe top 3 or 4, depending on the year. From time to time, sure there would be an additional upset at the top levels. But not often, IMO.

If anyone has a complaint, it would be in the number of SEC teams that get to go to bowl games. By definition, 7 teams would have another loss each year if we went to 9 IC games. It might mean 1, perhaps 2 SEC teams wouldn't go to a bowl.

 

[Deep Creek]

Every P5 school could schedule 11 or 12 P5 games every year....if they wanted to do so.

As far out as schedules are made, it might take a few years to come to pass...but it is still doable.

Fact is, very damn few WANT to play 11-12 P5 opponents. Don't want to give up home games in order to do so. And their fans tolerate them not doing it...so why should they?

 

[Rolltide94]

Too late ... you and your kind have been exposed. We've all seen the facts on teams that play 8 game conference schedules.

No, they don't...today's number is 6,490...thanks for playing.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

We were told by SEC fans for years now that they needed an 8 game conference schedule in order to play decent OOC games.

 

[LawDawg]

We were told by SEC fans for years now that they needed an 8 game conference schedule in order to play decent OOC games.

Nah, an SEC fan is more likely to say:

• We are the SEC, and an 8 game schedule in the SEC is like a 9 game schedule in the PAC. Not saying I agree with that, but you certainly see people arguing that.
• Some of our teams play traditional P5 rivals which results in a 9 game P5 schedule.
• Our scheduling seems to be working just fine for us ... most NCs in the past 2 decades, 5 different teams with NCs in BCS/CFP era (but not my team, dammit), best attendance any way you look at it, only conference to get 2 teams in BCS/CFP, and never been excluded from the CFP like the PAC and others.
• It just means more.
• We don't really give a shit what you think about it, we are just going to keep on doing what we've been doing and you can keep whining about it.

 

[7Samurai13]

This is true as well.

However, that means that Iowa has no less than 10 P5 opponents every year. Plus, since we are talking about preserving rivalries, Iowa/ISU can stay and I don't think many have an issue with 2 G5 or 1 G5 and one FCS. But the fact that other teams have 4 opponents that are G5 or D2 is ricidulous. I am not saying that it happens a lot, but it is an excuse to say that it is just too hard to schedule.

4 = 1/3 of the schedule just so everyone realizes that.


1/3 = 33%

By some teams you mean one singular team has 4 G5/FCS opponent. It seems everyone keeps getting hung up on me saying that 8 conference games is ideal and keep skipping past the “but must schedule 2 P5 opponents” and I want it to be real P5 opponents. Not Army, BYU, Cincinnati or whatever other stupid teams the B1G selected as counting towards P5 that are not Notre Dame.

Again would you rather have teams like Clemson playing South Carolina as their sole “quality” OOC game so that the can play Duke, Pitt, and UNC more often or is it better that they play Notre Dame, aTm, and Georgia as well as South Carolina. I find OOC games between P5 more entertaining than conference games.

 

[ktg8trgrl]

Nah, an SEC fan is more likely to say:

• We are the SEC, and an 8 game schedule in the SEC is like a 9 game schedule in the PAC. Not saying I agree with that, but you certainly see people arguing that.
• Some of our teams play traditional P5 rivals which results in a 9 game P5 schedule.
• It just means more.
• We don't really give a shit what you think about it, we are just going to keep on doing what we've been doing and you can keep whining about it.

Ugh.. with the bolded. . And a Dirty Dawg..

 

[7Samurai13]

We were told by SEC fans for years now that they needed an 8 game conference schedule in order to play decent OOC games.

Well Washington has a nine game conference schedule and can’t play a decent OOC schedule.

 

[Rolltide94]

By some teams you mean one singular team has 4 G5/FCS opponent. It seems everyone keeps getting hung up on me saying that 8 conference games is ideal and keep skipping past the “but must schedule 2 P5 opponents” and I want it to be real P5 opponents. Not Army, BYU, Cincinnati or whatever other stupid teams the B1G selected as counting towards P5 that are not Notre Dame.

Again would you rather have teams like Clemson playing South Carolina as their sole “quality” OOC game so that the can play Duke, Pitt, and UNC more often or is it better that they play Notre Dame, aTm, and Georgia as well as South Carolina. I find OOC games between P5 more entertaining than conference games.

So much this. The last thing I want is more conference games, but who wouldn't want more games between P5 conferences...unless of course your conference was having a difficult time beating other conference opponents....then I could see where somebody might pretend like other conferences don't have any balls because they don't play their own conference enough and act like my conference playing itself more often was a meaningful and brave thing.

I could even see where if it got particularly bad and your team had a particularly long streak of futility where you might even go a season without playing a team from another P5 conference. Could you imagine if you went some ridiculous number of days without beating another good team from another conference. Say just for random examples sake, that your team went 6491 days without beating a ranked team outside your own conference...I know that is an absurdly high number, but just imagine that were even possible for a team that considers itself "good", imagine the insane amount of mental gymnastics and histrionics that might spew out of you if your team ever fell to that level of ineptitude. I know, I know it's not very good anecdote, I mean that's some Kansas or Oregon State level futility right there, but just imagine the stupid things you might be driven to say.

 

[Deep Creek]

It seems everyone keeps getting hung up on me saying that 8 conference games is ideal and keep skipping past the “but must schedule 2 P5 opponents” and I want it to be real P5 opponents.

The last thing I want is more conference games, but who wouldn't want more games between P5 conferences.

Here's an idea. Let's reduce conference games to 7 or 6 as a maximum. (Piss on how often you'd get around to playing some of your conference brethren. Who really gives a shit how often Baylor and Kansas meet up.) This would free up 1 or 2 more playing dates for every P5 team to schedule up to four or five P5 OOC opponents every year. Walla...college football fans would get what they want. Well, at least some of 'em.

 

[michaeljordan_fan]

Gotta say AG, I admire your optimistic outlook. You don't look at the Pac 12 and focus on how irrelevant they are and that the only two times they've been in spitting distance of the national championship the last 15 years, they've been humiliated by sleepwalking teams from the east. No, you instead find a niche and focus entirely on beating your chest about that. It doesn't bother you that no one cares and that it's irrelevant to team success, you just keep beating your chest. I like that glass is half-full mindset. Kudos man.

The Auburn game was tied with 0:01 left.

No one was humiliated.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Personally, I think if Clemson/SC, UF/FSU and UGA/GT continued to happen every year and they moved to 9 conference games and scheduled 2 G5 teams... I wouldn't have a problem with that at all.

But the fact that teams with 4 OOC typically only have 1 P5 and 3 G5s or 2 G5s and 1FCS... that reeks. Personally, I don't like that at all and am perfectly fine with people calling it out.

That goes for my team too. We only have 3 OOC games in the B1G and I will be the first to say that we have a weak schedule this year.... but we still have a P5 scheduled out of those 3.

I thought my above post may have clarified some things, but yes, I am fine with a 8 game conference schedule if at least 2 OOC games are P5 opponents.

But I would rather see a 9 game conference schedule. You never know when that one conference team could knock you out of the CCG. Conference games are more important.

So again, ideally, a 9 game conference schedule with at least 1 P5 in the OOC games would be fine. I think that is the standard. You guarantee at least 10 P5 opponents and maybe more should you win those games. Which allows you to keep those OOC rivalries as well and still schedule a couple tune up games.

@7Samurai13 - well I only checked the 2018 season when I posted that OOC stuff. And yes, there was only one team if I remember correctly (Arkansas, I think), but I am sure it has likely happened in the past as well. Nonetheless, I think having 75% of your OOC games being G5 or FCS is a little ridiculous.

 

[7Samurai13]

I thought my above post may have clarified some things, but yes, I am fine with a 8 game conference schedule if at least 2 OOC games are P5 opponents.

But I would rather see a 9 game conference schedule. You never know when that one conference team could knock you out of the CCG. Conference games are more important.

So again, ideally, a 9 game conference schedule with at least 1 P5 in the OOC games would be fine. I think that is the standard. You guarantee at least 10 P5 opponents and maybe more should you win those games. Which allows you to keep those OOC rivalries as well and still schedule a couple tune up games.

@7Samurai13 - well I only checked the 2018 season when I posted that OOC stuff. And yes, there was only one team if I remember correctly (Arkansas, I think), but I am sure it has likely happened in the past as well. Nonetheless, I think having 75% of your OOC games being G5 or FCS is a little ridiculous.

Absolutely it is ridiculous to be playing that many G5 and FCS opponents and the 8 games +1 P5 is the worst method to determine the best 4 teams in the country. What Clemson, Georgia, FSU have usually been doing is definitely the ideal method for that but too many abuse it and only play one P5 opponent.

9 conference games +1 P5 is better to determining who the best team in a conference is but not necessarily the country.

 

[LawDawg]

I thought my above post may have clarified some things, but yes, I am fine with a 8 game conference schedule if at least 2 OOC games are P5 opponents.

But I would rather see a 9 game conference schedule. You never know when that one conference team could knock you out of the CCG. Conference games are more important.

So again, ideally, a 9 game conference schedule with at least 1 P5 in the OOC games would be fine. I think that is the standard. You guarantee at least 10 P5 opponents and maybe more should you win those games. Which allows you to keep those OOC rivalries as well and still schedule a couple tune up games.

@7Samurai13 - well I only checked the 2018 season when I posted that OOC stuff. And yes, there was only one team if I remember correctly (Arkansas, I think), but I am sure it has likely happened in the past as well. Nonetheless, I think having 75% of your OOC games being G5 or FCS is a little ridiculous.

Here is the problem for us. Let's say we go to 9 IC games. We aren't going to drop GaTech. So we have 10 P5 games per year set in that scenario. That leaves two slots and we have proven we like doing at least one big P5 game, home and home or neutral site, per year. As a fan I go to all those OOC away games ... they are fantastic. If we did that, now we are at 11 P5 games. Who would do that? In the list that OP put up, I think there are 4 teams this year, and that isn't a year in and year out thing except for maybe Stanford. Again, our problem shared by USCjr, UF and UK ... can't speak for the other teams who don't have that permanent P5 rival.

 

[7Samurai13]

Here is the problem for us. Let's say we go to 9 IC games. We aren't going to drop GaTech. So we have 10 P5 games per year set in that scenario. That leaves two slots and we have proven we like doing at least one big P5 game, home and home or neutral site, per year. As a fan I go to all those OOC away games ... they are fantastic. If we did that, now we are at 11 P5 games. Who would do that? In the list that OP put up, I think there are 4 teams this year, and that isn't a year in and year out thing except for maybe Stanford. Again, our problem shared by USCjr, UF and UK ... can't speak for the other teams who don't have that permanent P5 rival.

Very few teams actually schedule 11 P5 games and they are definitely the exceptions in Stanford and the real USC usually does pretty well with it. But they aren’t doing themselves any favors by scheduling like that.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Here is the problem for us. Let's say we go to 9 IC games. We aren't going to drop GaTech. So we have 10 P5 games per year set in that scenario. That leaves two slots and we have proven we like doing at least one big P5 game, home and home or neutral site, per year. As a fan I go to all those OOC away games ... they are fantastic. If we did that, now we are at 11 P5 games. Who would do that? In the list that OP put up, I think there are 4 teams this year, and that isn't a year in and year out thing except for maybe Stanford. Again, our problem shared by USCjr, UF and UK ... can't speak for the other teams who don't have that permanent P5 rival.

So don't make it an every year thing. Do it every other or every 3, I mean... what's the problem? Schedule 11, you will absolutely have a respected schedule, again, speaking generally.

Again, maybe I am in the minority here, but I don't care nearly as much about OOC games. Good match ups are interesting and fun, but not nearly as impactful on the season. I give UGA credit, your 2028/29 OOC schedule looks daunting, especially if Texas continues to improve and GT gets better. But again... you scheduling Texas for a HnH once every 35 years isn't something I care deeply about. UGA having more access to playing Bama or LSU IS more important in my opinion.

I hope you beat Texas though in 28/29.