Should the SEC adopt a 9 game conference schedule?

[4down20]

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.

Alabama hasn't lost to an unranked team since 2010.

Much less blown out.

Ohio St fan crying about how difficult Iowa is. Have you no shame?

 

[osubuckeye89]

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

No need to. But if you don't prepare at all during the week and come out flat, Barrett has to be in chucking the ball around far more than for comfort.

Illinois has pretty garbage talent compared to the top of the B1G.....but they are still quite a bit more talented than the Mercer and UL Monroe's of the world.

 

[4down20]

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.

None of those are teams you brag on. That's kind of the point. Just because you add conference games doesn't mean you are adding real strength.

 

[osubuckeye89]

Alabama hasn't lost to an unranked team since 2010.

Much less blown out.

Ohio St fan crying about how difficult Iowa is. Have you no shame?

Can you read? I said Iowa is mediocre as it gets. Nothing about them being "difficult". They are definitely much more difficult than Mercer or UL Monroe though.

 

[4down20]

Can you read? I said Iowa is mediocre as it gets. Nothing about them being "difficult". They are definitely much more difficult than Mercer or UL Monroe though.

Maybe you should take the mediocre teams off your schedule too then in addition to the good OOC games.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

SEC teams hate playing their own conference members. 14 teams and 8 conference games is a fvkn joke.

 

[7Samurai13]

SEC teams hate playing their own conference members. 14 teams and 8 conference games is a fvkn joke.

How they do it is a joke, there are better ways to do a 14 team conference with 8 conference games. The bigger issue is the Majority of the ACC and SEC playing only one P5 opponent in their four non conference games.

 

[tnapucco]

All OOC opponents listed for each team in the conference. Broken down into:
P5, G5, non-G5 (FCS)

Overall record includes conference games.
OOC make-up is the number of teams in each grouping. Each OOC make-up result is divided by the number of teams in the conference, this provides a value of how many of each OOC grouping each conference member plays on average. Example: The members of the SEC each play 1.28 P5 opponents this year, as seen below.

SEC:
ND, GT - App St, Samford | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
NC State, Clemson - Louisiana Tech, Wofford | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Louisville - Southern Miss, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Purdue - Missouri State, Idaho, Connecticut | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Michigan, FSU - Northern Colorado, UAB | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Kansas St - MTSU, Alabama A&M, WKU | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
GT - Indiana St, UMASS, Southern Miss | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Clemson - Georgia Southern, Mercer, ULM | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
FSU - Fresno St, Colorado St, Mercer | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
BYU, Syracuse - Chattanooga, Troy | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
BYU - Charleston Southern, Louisiana Tech, UMASS | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
UCLA - Nicholls State, Louisiana, New Mexico | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Cal - South Alabama, Tennessee Martin, Louisiana | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
TCU - Florida A&M, New Mexico St, Coastal Carolina | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Overall record: 101 - 66 = 60.5%
OOC make-up: 18 P5/INDY teams =1.28, 24 G5 teams = 1.71, 14 non-G5 = 1

ACC:
Auburn - Kent St, Citadel | 1 P5, 1G5, 1 non-G5
South Carolina, ND - Marshall, Furman | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
*Notre Dame - Utah St, App St, Presbyterian | 1 P5, 2G5, 1 non-G5
*Notre Dame - Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Connecticut | 1 P5, 3G5
Purdue, Kentucky - Kent St, Murray St | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Alabama, Florida - **ULM, Delaware St | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
LSU - Central Michigan, MTSU, Central Connecticut | 1 P5, 2G5, 1 non-G5
*Notre Dame, Georgia Tech - Toledo, Bethune-Cookman | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
West Virginia - East Carolina, Old Dominion, Delaware | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Tennessee, Georgia - Jack St | 2 P5, 1 non-G5
Okla St, Penn St - Rice, Youngstown St | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Indiana - Boise St, Connecticut, William & Mary | 1 P5, 1G5, 2 non-G5
Northwestern, Baylor - Army, North Carolina Central | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Cal, *Notre Dame - Old Dominion, Western Carolina | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Overall record: 94 - 71 = 57%
OOC make-up: *22 P5 teams = 1.57, 18 G5 teams = 1.28, 14 non-G5 teams = 1
* Many play ND which isn't an official member of the conference, but will count towards OOC in this measurement

PAC:
ND - Rice, SDSU | 1 P5, 2 G5
Rutgers - Montana, Fresno St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
0 - Montana St, Boise St, Nevada | 0 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Nebraska - Southern Utah, Wyoming | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
UNC, Ole Miss - Weber St | 2 P5, 1 non-G5
Minnesota - Colorado St, Portland St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Texas, ND - Western Michigan | 2 P5, 1 G5
Texas Tech - New Mexico St, SDSU | 1 P5, 2 G5
0 - Houston, UTEP, Northern Arizona | 0 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Texas A&M - Hawaii, Memphis | 1 P5, 2 G5
BYU - North Dakota, SJSU | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
0 - Colorado St, Texas St, Northern Colorado | 0 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Overall record: 82 - 62 = 56.9%
OOC make-up: 11 P5/INDY teams = .91, 17 G5 teams = 1.41, 8 non-G5 = .66


B1G:
Oklahoma - Army, UNLV | 1 P5, 2 G5
Pitt - Akron, Georgia St | 1 P5, 2 G5
ND - Western Michigan, Bowling Green | 1 P5, 2 G5
Florida - Cincinnati, Air Force | 1 P5, 2 G5
Washington - Eastern Michigan, Morgan St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Texas - Towson St, UCF | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Virginia - Georgia State, Charleston Southern | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
BYU - FAU, Utah St | 1 P5, 2 G5
Duke - Nevada, Bowling Green | 1 P5, 2 G5
Louisville, Missouri - Ohio | 2 P5, 1 G5
Iowa St - North Texas, Wyoming | 1 P5, 2 G5
Oregon - Arkansas St, Northern Illinois | 1 P5, 2 G5
Oregon St - Buffalo, MTSU | 1 P5, 2 G5
0 - USF, Ball St, Western Kentucky | 0 P5, 3 G5
Overall record: 95 - 73 =56.5%
OOC make-up: 14 P5 teams = 1.00, 25 G5 teams = 1.78, 3 non-G5 teams = .21


Big XII:
tOSU - Tulane, UTEP | 1 P5, 2 G5
Arkansas - SMU, Jackson St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Pitt - Tulsa, South Alabama | 1 P5, 2 G5
USC, Maryland - SJSU | 2 P5, 1 G5
VT - Eastern Carolina, Delaware St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Vanderbilt - Central Arkansas, Charlotte | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Iowa - Akron, Northern Illinois | 1 P5, 2 G5
Arizona St - Houston, Eastern Washington | 1 P5, 2 G5
Duke - Liberty, UTSA | 1 P5, 2 non-G5
0 - S.E. Missouri, Central Michigan, Ohio | 0 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Overall record: 65 - 55 = 54.2%
OOC make-up: 10 P5 teams = 1.00, 14 G5 teams = 1.40, 6 non-G5 teams = .60

OOC P5 RANK: (highest occurrence ranked higher)
ACC
SEC
B1G
Big XII
PAC

OOC G5 RANK: (lowest occurrence ranked higher)
ACC
Big XII
PAC
SEC
B1G

OOC non-G5 RANK: (lowest occurrence ranked higher)
B1G
Big XII
PAC
ACC/SEC

 

[stanford the manford]

Maybe just me, but I always prefer conference games over OOC. What's the point of having conference teams if you rarely play them?

I rue the day the PAC went from 10 to 12. No disrespect to Colorado or Utah, but with 10 games every team played every other team, no exceptions. No need for a stupid CCG as HtH determined a tie. Basketball was even better as every team had a home and an away against every other team - great for fans

This not playing every team in the conference is crap... as is the CCG. Why the hell do you need to beat a team TWICE in one year to determine if you are the CC??? Total crap which IMO has diluted the PAC.

OTOH if you had a conference of 20 team, 10/division, and there was no cross division play during the season I could see a CCG .... baring that, no

Judging from the fan support from the SEC... a late season Alabama-Mercer match-up is what they want to insure a win. Personally I'd rather see a competitive game. It's their conference and they can do what they want, but it wouldn't be my preference.

 

[tnapucco]

All I know is if I spent thousands of dollars to obtain season tickets for my favorite team, and 3 of the 7 games were against:
Fresno State
Colorado State
Mercer

...I'd be pissed.

 

[4down20]

Judging from the fan support from the SEC... a late season Alabama-Mercer match-up is what they want to insure a win. Personally I'd rather see a competitive game. It's their conference and they can do what they want, but it wouldn't be my preference.

No, we take that game because we play Auburn the week after and want to get healed up before we play our rival.

If we just wanted a win, we'd schedule it up front like the rest of college football.

 

[7Samurai13]

All OOC opponents listed for each team in the conference. Broken down into:
P5, G5, non-G5 (FCS)

Overall record includes conference games.
OOC make-up is the number of teams in each grouping. Each OOC make-up result is divided by the number of teams in the conference, this provides a value of how many of each OOC grouping each conference member plays on average. Example: The members of the SEC each play 1.28 P5 opponents this year, as seen below.

SEC:
ND, GT - App St, Samford | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
NC State, Clemson - Louisiana Tech, Wofford | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Louisville - Southern Miss, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Purdue - Missouri State, Idaho, Connecticut | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Michigan, FSU - Northern Colorado, UAB | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Kansas St - MTSU, Alabama A&M, WKU | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
GT - Indiana St, UMASS, Southern Miss | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Clemson - Georgia Southern, Mercer, ULM | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
FSU - Fresno St, Colorado St, Mercer | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
BYU, Syracuse - Chattanooga, Troy | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
BYU - Charleston Southern, Louisiana Tech, UMASS | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
UCLA - Nicholls State, Louisiana, New Mexico | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Cal - South Alabama, Tennessee Martin, Louisiana | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
TCU - Florida A&M, New Mexico St, Coastal Carolina | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Overall record: 101 - 66 = 60.5%
OOC make-up: 18 P5/INDY teams =1.28, 24 G5 teams = 1.71, 14 non-G5 = 1

ACC:
Auburn - Kent St, Citadel | 1 P5, 1G5, 1 non-G5
South Carolina, ND - Marshall, Furman | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
*Notre Dame - Utah St, App St, Presbyterian | 1 P5, 2G5, 1 non-G5
*Notre Dame - Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Connecticut | 1 P5, 3G5
Purdue, Kentucky - Kent St, Murray St | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Alabama, Florida - **ULM, Delaware St | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
LSU - Central Michigan, MTSU, Central Connecticut | 1 P5, 2G5, 1 non-G5
*Notre Dame, Georgia Tech - Toledo, Bethune-Cookman | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
West Virginia - East Carolina, Old Dominion, Delaware | 1 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Tennessee, Georgia - Jack St | 2 P5, 1 non-G5
Okla St, Penn St - Rice, Youngstown St | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Indiana - Boise St, Connecticut, William & Mary | 1 P5, 1G5, 2 non-G5
Northwestern, Baylor - Army, North Carolina Central | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Cal, *Notre Dame - Old Dominion, Western Carolina | 2 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Overall record: 94 - 71 = 57%
OOC make-up: *22 P5 teams = 1.57, 18 G5 teams = 1.28, 14 non-G5 teams = 1
* Many play ND which isn't an official member of the conference, but will count towards OOC in this measurement

PAC:
ND - Rice, SDSU | 1 P5, 2 G5
Rutgers - Montana, Fresno St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
0 - Montana St, Boise St, Nevada | 0 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Nebraska - Southern Utah, Wyoming | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
UNC, Ole Miss - Weber St | 2 P5, 1 non-G5
Minnesota - Colorado St, Portland St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Texas, ND - Western Michigan | 2 P5, 1 G5
Texas Tech - New Mexico St, SDSU | 1 P5, 2 G5
0 - Houston, UTEP, Northern Arizona | 0 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Texas A&M - Hawaii, Memphis | 1 P5, 2 G5
BYU - North Dakota, SJSU | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
0 - Colorado St, Texas St, Northern Colorado | 0 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Overall record: 82 - 62 = 56.9%
OOC make-up: 11 P5/INDY teams = .91, 17 G5 teams = 1.41, 8 non-G5 = .66


B1G:
Oklahoma - Army, UNLV | 1 P5, 2 G5
Pitt - Akron, Georgia St | 1 P5, 2 G5
ND - Western Michigan, Bowling Green | 1 P5, 2 G5
Florida - Cincinnati, Air Force | 1 P5, 2 G5
Washington - Eastern Michigan, Morgan St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Texas - Towson St, UCF | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Virginia - Georgia State, Charleston Southern | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
BYU - FAU, Utah St | 1 P5, 2 G5
Duke - Nevada, Bowling Green | 1 P5, 2 G5
Louisville, Missouri - Ohio | 2 P5, 1 G5
Iowa St - North Texas, Wyoming | 1 P5, 2 G5
Oregon - Arkansas St, Northern Illinois | 1 P5, 2 G5
Oregon St - Buffalo, MTSU | 1 P5, 2 G5
0 - USF, Ball St, Western Kentucky | 0 P5, 3 G5
Overall record: 95 - 73 =56.5%
OOC make-up: 14 P5 teams = 1.00, 25 G5 teams = 1.78, 3 non-G5 teams = .21


Big XII:
tOSU - Tulane, UTEP | 1 P5, 2 G5
Arkansas - SMU, Jackson St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Pitt - Tulsa, South Alabama | 1 P5, 2 G5
USC, Maryland - SJSU | 2 P5, 1 G5
VT - Eastern Carolina, Delaware St | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Vanderbilt - Central Arkansas, Charlotte | 1 P5, 1 G5, 1 non-G5
Iowa - Akron, Northern Illinois | 1 P5, 2 G5
Arizona St - Houston, Eastern Washington | 1 P5, 2 G5
Duke - Liberty, UTSA | 1 P5, 2 non-G5
0 - S.E. Missouri, Central Michigan, Ohio | 0 P5, 2 G5, 1 non-G5
Overall record: 65 - 55 = 54.2%
OOC make-up: 10 P5 teams = 1.00, 14 G5 teams = 1.40, 6 non-G5 teams = .60

OOC P5 RANK: (highest occurrence ranked higher)
ACC
SEC
B1G
Big XII
PAC

OOC G5 RANK: (lowest occurrence ranked higher)
ACC
Big XII
PAC
SEC
B1G

OOC non-G5 RANK: (lowest occurrence ranked higher)
B1G
Big XII
PAC
ACC/SEC

The ACC and SEC also have an extra opportunity to play a P5 opponent so it isn’t exactly a fair comparison.

 

[stanford the manford]

No, we take that game because we play Auburn the week after and want to get healed up before we play our rival.

If we just wanted a win, we'd schedule it up front like the rest of college football.

Like I said, not playing conference teams is both the SECs prerogative and preference... I just don't understand the point of a conference if you avoid playing in it

 

[Deep Creek]

So what I can gather the argument is this.......because three conferences were stupid enough to handicap themselves by:

A. Assuring that half of their conference carries an additional loss

and

B. Assuring that half the conference faces a tougher schedule because of the home/road imbalance every year

That now the two conferences that were smart enough not to do it should be forced to? Because you shot yourself in the foot we should have to shoot ourselves too?

That pretty much the gist of it?


Like I said earlier in the thread, I can see the logic behind the Pac 12 playing nine conference games because of the lack of OOC options out west. I can also see the logic in the Big 12 because it allows for a round robin. But there is no real reason why the Big Slow had to go to nine games.

Accurate summary. End thread/

 

[4down20]

Like I said, not playing conference teams is both the SECs prerogative and preference... I just don't understand the point of a conference if you avoid playing in it

So 8 games instead of 9 is avoiding it?

 

[The Oldtimer]

Like I said, not playing conference teams is both the SECs prerogative and preference... I just don't understand the point of a conference if you avoid playing in it.

 

[Deep Creek]

The ACC and SEC also have an extra opportunity to play a P5 opponent so it isn’t exactly a fair comparison.

They have the extra opportunity but not the desire to accomplish it.

Kind of like comedian Ron White said when he got arrested for being drunk in public. He said "He had the right to remain silent but he didn't have the ability."

 

[Kaplony]

Maybe just me, but I always prefer conference games over OOC. What's the point of having conference teams if you rarely play them?

I prefer series like Auburn and Texas A&M to playing Duke and UVA.

 

[4down20]

They have the extra opportunity but not the desire to accomplish it.

Kind of like comedian Ron White said when he got arrested for being drunk in public. He said "He had the right to remain silent but he didn't have the ability."

2 P5 seems to really only happen when the teams have a permanent date setup.

 

[Deep Creek]

Like I said, not playing conference teams is both the SECs prerogative and preference... I just don't understand the point of a conference if you avoid playing in it

There isn't one. IF teams don't play each other very often they are members of the same conference in name only. Georgia plays Georgia Tech every year but has yet to play Texas A&M.