Should the SEC adopt a 9 game conference schedule?

[TheRobotDevil]

Neither does the 9th conference game you are bitching about but that hasn't stopped you.

I think you're missing a major factor.When one conference team plays another.One of two conference teams take on a loss.This distributes throughout the conference.Which means lower conference SOS,lower rankings in the conference,les bowl eligible teams.A much lower chance of an upset...Thesres basically two solutions everyone go to 9 or everyone drop to 8

 

[Kaplony]

9th conference game > playing the FCS or Sun Belt. I'd rather Bama have to at least go out and play Missouri or Kentucky.....they probably aren't going to lose. But they'd at least somewhat have to break a sweat.

Per Sagarin, not necessarily.

Twenty one FCS or Sun Belt teams rank higher than Illinois.

 

[rmilia1]

He keeps dodging that point

The whole conference basically goes +1 in the W column (unless a team or two really sucks that given year) because that 4th OOC is against the FCS/Sun Belt 99% of the time. Pretending that doesn't make the whole conference look better when looking at the records is hilarious.

1 more game against each other = 1 more loss for half the conference instead of that free +1 Win.

Well going to 9 games makes your SoS better but the issue is the committee doesn't give a fuck about SoS. They never mention it. They clearly care about how many losses you have first and foremost and they talk about wins over .500+ team a LOT. Of course you can get to 6 wins by beating absolutely no one especially if you play 4 OOC games.

 

[osubuckeye89]

Per Sagarin, not necessarily.

Twenty one FCS or Sun Belt teams rank higher than Illinois.

No one is saying Illinois isn't shitty. But generally they have more talent/depth still than a FCS or Sun Belt team. Thus me saying "they at least have to break a sweat"

Illinois at 2-10 still beat Western Kentucky, who's a bowl team from the CUSA. That showing my point. I'm sure Western Kentucky is far ahead of them on your rankings though.

 

[Kaplony]

I think you're missing a major factor.When one conference team plays another.One of two conference teams take on a loss.This distributes throughout the conference.Which means lower conference SOS,lower rankings in the conference,les bowl eligible teams.A much lower chance of an upset...Thesres basically two solutions everyone go to 9 or everyone drop to 8

So again we are back to the fact that because three conferences were stupid enough to assure half of their teams carry an extra loss that the other two should follow suit.

 

[Kaplony]

No one is saying Illinois isn't shitty. But generally they have more talent/depth still than a FCS or Sun Belt team. Thus me saying "they at least have to break a sweat"

Illinois at 2-10 still beat Western Kentucky, who's a bowl team from the CUSA. That showing my point.

In WKU's second game with a new coaching staff. Impressive!

Must have been the none game conference schedule that got them over that hump.

 

[TheRobotDevil]

So again we are back to the fact that because three conferences were stupid enough to assure half of their teams carry an extra loss that the other two should follow suit.

Or two conferences are afraid of competition.And schedule Mercer,citadel etc...Which leaves us at two conferences needing to step up.Or three conferences dropping back the completion levels

 

[osubuckeye89]

In WKU's second game with a new coaching staff. Impressive!

Must have been the none game conference schedule that got them over that hump.

Illinois has more talent overall than a FCS/Sun Belt team, even as the worst team in the B1G. You ignore that point by clinging to meaningless rankings.

You still have to put some kind of effort in to playing an Illinois or Oregon State. Ohio States 3rd string would wipe the field with the Sun Belt.

 

[TheRobotDevil]

9th conference game > playing the FCS or Sun Belt. I'd rather Bama have to at least go out and play Missouri or Kentucky.....they probably aren't going to lose. But they'd at least somewhat have to break a sweat.

Theres more of a chance of a conference upset i.e. Syracuse etc...Conference opponents and FCS are not comparable.If OSU played mercer instead of Iowa....Or Sc played Citadel instead of Wazzu.....

 

[socaljim242]

So again we are back to the fact that because three conferences were stupid enough to assure half of their teams carry an extra loss that the other two should follow suit.

So if the SEC decides to go to a 7 game conference schedule which they could if they wanted to and add another cupcake?We follow them again? Or should the NCAA have all conferences play the same amount of conference games and limit or stop the FCS games? What sounds like its good for football and the fans? Play nine conference games or the ones who play nine to drop a conference game? If they mandated that ninth game to be a team from a power 5 then that would at least be better than teams just adding North texas and Coastal Carolina. If they all play the same there's no such thing as an extra loss for a conference.

 

[osubuckeye89]

Basically swap Illinois to the MAC and replace them with the MAC East winner (Akron)

Illinois probably wins at least 4 conference games. Akron likely goes winless (unless they get Rutgers)

There is your difference between a upper level MAC/CUSA/Sun Belt team and a bottom P5 team.

 

[Rolltide94]

"P5" doesnt automatically make a team good though

Next year we play Oregon State and TCU.....It sounds great saying 2 of our 3 OOC games were vs Power 5! But in reality one of those 2 is Oregon State, who would be lucky if they were a .500 team in the MWC.

Yup, and not P5 doesn't necessarily make them bad. Welcome to the dark side.

 

[osubuckeye89]

Yup, and not P5 doesn't necessarily make them bad. Welcome to the dark side.

It means they probably aren't as athletically talented, which doesn't mean everything but it does mean something in FBS football.

 

[Rolltide94]

No one is saying Illinois isn't shitty. But generally they have more talent/depth still than a FCS or Sun Belt team. Thus me saying "they at least have to break a sweat"

Illinois at 2-10 still beat Western Kentucky, who's a bowl team from the CUSA. That showing my point. I'm sure Western Kentucky is far ahead of them on your rankings though.

Those two events aren't mutually exclusive. Illinois also needed a blocked FG on the last play to beat a 2-10 Ball St team that is ranked below them.

Ohio St has more talent/depth than Iowa, but 55-24 still happened.

 

[osubuckeye89]

Those two events aren't mutually exclusive. Illinois also needed a blocked FG on the last play to beat a 2-10 Ball St team that is ranked below them.

Ohio St has more talent/depth than Iowa, but 55-24 still happened.

talent/depth is going to win out more often than not though.

Ohio a 8-4 MAC team gets pounded by Purdue for this reason.

They might be able to beat Purdue 1/10 times, but it's far from always the case.

Most MAC/Sun Belt/FCS teams would be lucky to win 1 P5 conference game if they were hypothetically placed into a P5 conference. There might be a team or 2 in a given year that could manage a couple of wins against the very bottom of said conferences, but it wouldn't be anywhere near consistent.

 

[4down20]

You get an extra cupcake while the Big 12/Big 10/Pac 12 teams have to play another conference opponent instead. Bottom line. Your deflection tactics from how the SEC is scared of abandoning that extra free win cracks me up.

"another conference opponent".

For Ohio St, that would be a Big10 West team. Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa at best. Basically Wisconsin lately. Otherwise, there is nothing difficult....and that's being nice to Wisconsin.

Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois are built in cupcakes. Not even sure which of those if any you have on permanent rivalry if any, but it doesn't really matter.

And it's the same story if Alabama added another conference game. At best we get Georgia and Florida added to our schedule - Actually more difficult on average than all your "another conference opponent", but that would only be some years, the other years we'd just get Vandy, Kentucky, Mizzou and South Carolina. Again, better than your "another conference opponent" on average, but still nothing ANYONE gives a fuck about.

The majority of the difficult teams Alabama plays in the same division, and we play them every year. You know, all those other SEC teams that have won national championships in the past 20 years...got any of those in your "another conference opponent"?

Meanwhile, you should end up playing the better of that division in your conference championship game, the same way Ohio St meet Wisconsin this year. Sure, cry about Alabama not making it, whatever - has nothing to do with 9 game conference schedules.

And that's why your 9 game conference schedule doesn't really mean shit and that's why 9 game conference schedules don't make your schedule stronger. It doesn't actually make for a more difficult schedule, the odds of the team you are playing that year being good are really not too much different than the strength changes within our own divisions in a given year. It's hit or miss.

So you with your crying about not playing tough OOC opponents are a chicken shit.

 

[osubuckeye89]

Iowa actually proves my point about the gift of an extra practice week Auburn/Bama get when they schedule Mercer and UL Monroe before they play eachother.

Iowa is as mediocre as it gets, but if you aren't prepared they can beat you. You still have to go out and break a sweat and can't just cruise through the week practicing for the supposed tougher opponents that lie ahead.

You could literally trot your 3rd and 4th string out to take on Mercer and still win probably easily.

 

[Rolltide94]

Iowa actually proves my point about the gift of an extra practice week Auburn/Bama get when they schedule Mercer and UL Monroe before they play eachother.

Iowa is as mediocre as it gets, but if you aren't prepared they can beat you. You still have to go out and break a sweat and can't just cruise through the week practicing for the supposed tougher opponents that lie ahead.

You could literally trot your 3rd and 4th string out to take on Mercer and still win probably easily.

Was Barrett still chucking the ball downfield in the 4th against Illinois? How about UNLV, Rutgers or Maryland?

 

[osubuckeye89]

If Northwestern is a cupcake at 9-3 then what does that make Texas A&M, Miss State & Ole Miss? Who all finished with worse records.

 

[socaljim242]

If Northwestern is a cupcake at 9-3 then what does that make Texas A&M, Miss State & Ole Miss? Who all finished with worse records.

Cupcakes with sprinkles.