New SEC divisions and pods thread (Page 30 starts recent discussion)

[maninblack 7974]

Finebaum just said again that he believes it will be some type of pod configuration and it won't be as it is today.

[Huckleberry 32859]

Just now, maninblack said:

Finebaum just said again that he believes it will be some type of pod configuration and it won't be as it is today.

He obviously read my post. Let me rephrase, he obviously had someone read him my post.

[gmr548 16576]

I’m all for Huckleberry’s setup just to see aggy’s reaction to Texas getting Vandy as a permanent game while they get Alabama lol

[ChiTownDoc 21152]

20 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

I’m all for Huckleberry’s setup just to see aggy’s reaction to Texas getting Vandy as a permanent game while they get Alabama lol

They get a bye into their national championship game - every year!

[ChiTownDoc 21152]

On 8/2/2021 at 9:55 AM, Mitch Cumsteen said:

The sec has manipulated their schedule for years to give themselves the best chance(s) to get into the playoffs. I wonder what the expanded playoffs does to the conference championship game? It could render it essentially meaningless or worse, it could knock out a team that's otherwise playoff worthy.

I'm all for the pod system but they are going to have to think long and hard about the ramifications on playoff eligibility. All the pretense of how strong the sec is from top to bottom was laid bare this past season when they only played each other. This conference made its bones by having the big dogs ducking each other and padding their win totals against fcs pushovers. Are they really willing to scrap all that to give us better matchups each week during the season? I sure as shit hope so. 

Remember - there's a reason the SEC was pushing hard on the expanded playoffs.  Every one of those conversations were had with their knowledge about grabbing Texas-OU.  They realize with that new system a couple SEC teams could eat 2 losses and not make any championship game and still make the playoffs.  They can have their cake and eat it too.  Get the big time matchups and the loser won't be eliminated and may actually get a bump just by playing a great team close.  

Also, further down the line they can have their teams freeze out any brands for big matchups in the regular season and put even more pressure on the holdouts to join their conference.  If they get 3-4 more blue bloods they're close to being able to collapse the whole system into a private league outside of the NCAA...that's where all this is heading.  It's not a matter of if...only a question of timing. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by ChiTownDoc

[TKthunder2 4991]

On 7/27/2021 at 5:56 PM, JohnLocke said:

This is the alignment that makes the most sense to me. It's the most competitively balanced.

This setup makes too much sense.  Needs rivalries obviously.

important - Texas/aggy, Bama/LSU, UGA/Aub, OU/UF(new but would be huge)

not important- arky/Ole Miss, UK/TN, Mizzou/Vandy, MSU/SC

(you could do UF/TN, OleMiss/Vandy, arky/SC, Mizzou/UK, OU/MSU to keep “traditional rivals”/air quotes, but that seems less appealing for TV)

[Tomatillo 354]

On 8/2/2021 at 1:05 PM, mdmost said:

If the Georgia-Auburn and LSU-Florida rivalries matter then the SEC will have to find a way to keep those going with pods or divisions. If it's pods then everyone is getting a dedicated rivalry game they play against another pod. That way no one needs to be paired up with a specific team. I think for the sake of balance, they will make changes that make geographic sense while also knocking out a rivalry game in the process such as pairing up Alabama in a pod with Tennessee. Then Alabama is free to have a yearly rivalry game with LSU. Texas and OU don't necessarily have to be partnered together in a pod if there's a dedicated rivalry game. Logistically it makes sense to have Texas and OU together. Then you open up those two to another cross pod rival like Arkansas for Texas or Mizzou for Oklahoma. 

The sooner we get clarification on when Texas and OU can leave the Big 12, the sooner will get movement on how the divisions or pods will be laid out. 

On behalf of (most) UGA fans, we don't give shit about playing that game every year. LSU-Fla is not that much of a traditional rivalry and bot h would probably like to give it up and take their chances on a rotation to fill that spot. Ala-Tenn is the only rivalry in which both schools would want to keep it, I'd think. 

Pods makes the most sense, as teams can play more of the league more often than the current system in which we have still yet to travel to CS and have been to Starkville once since 2009. 

We'd each play our three pod teams yearly, then presumably 6 of the others teams in the league each year, forcing each team to play much more often than now. 

Or just screw the pods, play nine teams yearly, all on a rotation, keep maybe one or two rivals on a yearly basis, and top two records play in the SECCG, if it still exists ...

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Tomatillo

[billfromlaketravis 11466]

4 hours ago, Tomatillo said:

On behalf of (most) UGA fans, we don't give shit about playing that game every year. LSU-Fla is not that much of a traditional rivalry and bot h would probably like to give it up and take their chances on a rotation to fill that spot. Ala-Tenn is the only rivalry in which both schools would want to keep it, I'd think. 

Pods makes the most sense, as teams can play more of the league more often than the current system in which we have still yet to travel to CS and have been to Starkville once since 2009. 

We'd each play our three pod teams yearly, then presumably 6 of the others teams in the league each year, forcing each team to play much more often than now. 

Or just screw the pods, play nine teams yearly, all on a rotation, keep maybe one or two rivals on a yearly basis, and top two records play in the SECCG, if it still exists ...

 

Sure, but the Georgia game means a lot to Auburn. 
 

I agree with your sentiment on LSU-Florida. Both schools want to see that game die. 

[Tomatillo 354]

On 8/2/2021 at 5:47 PM, Huckleberry said:

Really long, you can skip until the image and still get the important info

Okay, so I've posted a football pod system on here before. The structure and mechanics were perfect in that it preserved all the great rivalries and also ensured that every team would play every other team in football both home and away at least every 6 years. But there was admittedly a problem with fairness based on the permanent annual opponents. Some teams got screwed and some had it easy, so I went about fixing that.

The first step is determining what fair means when coming up with an unbalanced schedule system. I knew I was going to take the average strength of each team over a given period, and I decided on the 1992-2019 seasons as the basis. 1992 was the first SEC Championship Game and 2020 was a jacked up season without enough interconference play so that made sense to me. At first you might think that making it so that every team has about the same average strength of their permanent annual opponents would be fair, but that's actually not the case. Why not? Well it should be intuitively obvious that a complete round robin is the ultimate perfectly fair schedule format. Everyone plays everyone else, so the schedules are even. But in that scenario everyone does not have the same average opponent strength. The best team has the easiest schedule, the worst team has the hardest schedule. I realize there may be some SEC graduates reading this so take your time figuring that out and then proceed.

So it would actually be unfair to the historically stronger teams to make all the schedules as equally difficult as possible. We shouldn't reward weaker programs by doing that. So what will I consider fair? I first calculated what the average opponent strength would be for each team if the new SEC played a full round robin. Then I tried to get the pod system to approximate those values as closely as possible. That meant that the criteria I used were as follows:

1. Maintain all of the biggest rivalries
2. Attempt to eliminate quick championship game rematch possibilities by keeping all rivalry week opponents in the same pods
3. Make the schedule as fair as possible as explained above

Round Robin Average Opponent Strength:

Florida - 75.23
Alabama - 75.25
Oklahoma - 75.37
LSU - 75.50
Georgia - 75.52
Texas - 75.59
Auburn - 75.65
Tennessee - 75.70
Texas A&M - 75.78
Arkansas - 76.07
South Carolina - 76.10
Missouri - 76.15
Ole Miss - 76.16
Mississippi St. - 76.21
Kentucky - 76.51
Vanderbilt - 76.69

So I first started with the previous setup I posted to see how close it was:

West Pod - Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M
River Pod - LSU, Mississippi St., Missouri, Ole Miss
Central Pod - Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
East Pod - Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina

Permanent Interpod Rivals:

Arkansas - Ole Miss, Alabama, Kentucky
Oklahoma - Mississippi St., Tennessee, Florida
Texas - Missouri, Vanderbilt, Georgia
Texas A&M - LS, Auburn, South Carolina
LSU - Texas A&M, Alabama, South Carolina
Mississippi St. - Oklahoma, Auburn, Georgia
Missouri - Texas, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
Ole Miss - Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida
Alabmama - Arkansas, LSU, Kentucky
Auburn - Texas A&M, Mississippi St., Georgia
Tennessee - Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Florida
Vanderbilt - Texas, Missouri, South Carolina
Florida - Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Tennessee
Georgia - Texas, Mississippi St., Auburn
Kentucky - Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama
South Carolina - Texas A&M, LSU, Vanderbilt

So the original annual opponents were:

Alabama - Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Arkansas - Alabama, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Texas, Texas A&M
Auburn - Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi St., Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Florida - Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee
Georgia - Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi St., South Carolina, Texas
Kentucky - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina
LSU - Alabama, Mississippi St., Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M
Mississippi St. - Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss
Missouri - Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi St., Ole Miss, Texas, Vanderbilt
Oklahoma - Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi St., Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M
Ole Miss - Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Mississippi St., Missouri, Tennessee
South Carolina - Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Tennessee - Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt
Texas - Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Texas A&M - Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas
Vanderbilt - Alabama, Auburn, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas

which resulted in average permanent annual opponent strength of:

Alabama  - 73.20
Arkansas  - 76.82
Auburn  - 75.59
Florida  - 75.10
Georgia  - 75.26
Kentucky  - 77.67
LSU  - 74.36
Mississippi St.  - 77.61
Missouri  - 71.83
Oklahoma  - 77.01
Ole Miss  - 76.33
South Carolina  - 75.39
Tennessee  - 77.60
Texas  - 74.52
Texas A&M  - 77.79
Vanderbilt  - 77.39

So there are clearly some issues. Way too easy on Mizzou is the most obvious one, so it will require some reconfiguring. First thing I did was look at the average strength of the pods to see if that was the issue:

West - 77.93
River - 73.41
Central - 76.15
East - 75.88

Yep, that's a problem. The River pod is just too weak relative to the West pod. But who should move? We need to make up an 18-point difference in total strength, which means we need to switch teams that are roughly 9 points different.  Switching Texas and Missouri would get it done but that wouldn't work because Texas needs annual games with both Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The next best switch after moving Texas would be Missisippi St. and Texas A&M. I thought about doing that but it just kind of ruins the West pod, the Egg Bowl doesn't meet criterion 2 way above at the top of the post, etc. So we'll just have to deal with the River Pod giving the weakest schedules which I'm sure LSU won't complain about.

I then realized that the teams won't ever just play the annual opponents. We should be calculating schedule strength based on the actual full schedule. There are three configurations in the system. Configuration One (C1) has the West and River pods together as Division A. C2 has the West and Central together and C3 of course has the West and East together. This matters because, for example, if you have the easiest opponent in a pod for your permanent opponent from that pod, your schedule actually gets [i]harder[/i] relative to your podmates when you're paired with that one as a division. The other three teams in your pod are adding that cupcake to their schedule while you're the only one who isnt adding them to your base schedule. Long story short, I tried out various configurations but arrived at this as the best I could come up with on short notice (shows the pods and each team's permanent opponent from the other pods):

This results in average opponent strengths for each configuration as follows:

Configuration One (West/River and Central/East):

Alabama - 74.50

Georgia - 74.58

Oklahoma - 74.72

Auburn - 74.78

Florida - 74.87

Texas - 74.88

LSU - 74.93

Texas A&M - 75.46

Ole Miss - 75.82

Mississippi St. - 76.18

Kentucky - 76.59

Arkansas - 76.93

Missouri - 77.06

Tennessee - 77.12

Vanderbilt - 77.30

South Carolina - 77.78

Configuration Two (West/Central and River/East):

Florida - 72.77

LSU - 74.07

Georgia - 74.20

Ole Miss - 74.31

Alabama - 74.89

Oklahoma - 75.08

Texas A&M - 75.19

Missouri - 75.72

Tennessee - 76.13

Kentucky - 76.23

Auburn - 76.60

South Carolina - 76.97

Texas - 76.98

Mississippi St. - 77.17

Arkansas - 78.39

Vanderbilt - 78.81

Configuration Three (West/East and River/Central):

LSU - 73.53

Alabama - 73.60

Florida - 73.83

Tennessee - 74.34

Texas - 74.43

Auburn - 74.73

Mississippi St. - 75.20

Oklahoma - 75.62

Missouri - 76.04

Georgia - 76.07

Ole Miss - 76.86

Texas A&M - 77.16

Kentucky - 77.52

Vanderbilt - 77.74

Arkansas - 78.06

South Carolina - 78.76

Total Average Opponent Strength for all three configurations:

Florida - 73.82

LSU - 74.18

Alabama - 74.33

Georgia - 74.95

Oklahoma - 75.14

Auburn - 75.37

Texas - 75.43

Ole Miss - 75.66

Tennessee - 75.86

Texas A&M - 75.94

Mississippi St. - 76.18

Missouri - 76.27

Kentucky - 76.78

Arkansas - 77.79

South Carolina - 77.84

Vanderbilt - 77.95

So that's my pod system. Year 1 would be Configuration One, Year 2 would be Configuration Two, 3 would be Three, then start over and flip home/road games from the last time through. That way every player would play every other SEC team at least once. So Texas's conference schedules would be (assuming a 2022 start):

2022 - vs. Oklahoma, @Arkansas, Texas A&M, @LSU, Mississippi St., @Ole Miss, Missouri, Vanderbilt, @Florida
2023 - vs. Oklahoma, Arkansas, @Texas A&M, @Alabama, Auburn, @Tennessee, @Vanderbilt, Florida, Ole Miss
2024 - vs. Oklahoma, @Arkansas, Texas A&M, @Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, @South Carolina, @Ole Miss, Vanderbilt
2025 - vs. Oklahoma, Arkansas, @Texas A&M, LSU, @Mississippi St., Ole Miss, @Missouri, @Vanderbilt, Florida
2026 - vs. Oklahoma, @Arkansas, Texas A&M, Alabama, @Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, @Florida, @Ole Miss
2027 - vs. Oklahoma, Arkansas, @Texas A&M, Florida, @Georgia, @Kentucky, South Carolina, Ole Miss, @Vanderbilt

This is great stuff and thank you for doing it, but I don't think the SEC would have the West and River like that as one would be super competitive and the other pretty average. I think they'd switch A&M with Mizzou for competitive balance and also to keep them away from UT and OU. 

Other than that, I agree with this alignment and the pods. I hope they do something like this instead of 8-team divisions. 

 

[Tomatillo 354]

7 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Sure, but the Georgia game means a lot to Auburn. 
 

I agree with your sentiment on LSU-Florida. Both schools want to see that game die. 

I just really hope the league doesn't plan around preserving a couple rivalries. I'd much rather have 2-3 regular opponents and rotate the rest of the teams. 

 

It would make the most sense to do the pods thing with four teams each and rotate the other 12 teams evenly, but that may not happen, largely due to "tradition" and preserving rivalries. 

[billfromlaketravis 11466]

5 minutes ago, Tomatillo said:

I just really hope the league doesn't plan around preserving a couple rivalries. I'd much rather have 2-3 regular opponents and rotate the rest of the teams. 

 

It would make the most sense to do the pods thing with four teams each and rotate the other 12 teams evenly, but that may not happen, largely due to "tradition" and preserving rivalries. 

I think Bama wants to keep the Tennessee game, but it’s all anecdotal.  Outside of that, we’re talking about the Egg Bowl, the Iron Bowl, and Georgia - Florida as the only rivalry games that really matter in the current SEC. 
 

Texas will play Aggy, Piggy, and OU every year. You could throw 6 darts at remaining 12 schools and come up with a much more compelling schedule than our 2021 schedule. 

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

13 minutes ago, Tomatillo said:

I just really hope the league doesn't plan around preserving a couple rivalries. I'd much rather have 2-3 regular opponents and rotate the rest of the teams. 

Well, the 2-3 regular opponents I'd want Texas to have are largely the ones talked about (OU, pig, and ew, gross, aggy). I'd have zero problem with dropping aggy from that rotation, though I know there's zero chance of that happening. But hell yeah, I'd love to rotate through the remainder as regularly as possible.

[billfromlaketravis 11466]

I hope Texas tells Jerrah no. An annual home and home with Piggy needs to happen again. 

With the OU game at a neutral site, I'd be surprised if there's even a discussion between Texas and Jerrah/Piggy. Texas needs a rivalry home game just as much as Piggy does. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by billfromlaketravis

[utee94 15820]

17 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I think Bama wants to keep the Tennessee game, but it’s all anecdotal.  Outside of that, we’re talking about the Egg Bowl, the Iron Bowl, and Georgia - Florida as the only rivalry games that really matter in the current SEC. 
 

Texas will play Aggy, Piggy, and OU every year. You could throw 6 darts at remaining 12 schools and come up with a much more compelling schedule than our 2021 schedule. 

 

I don't think that's a statement you can accurately make.

Auburn-Georgia is the oldest rivalry in the Deep South and some of those fans value that.

LSU-Alabama is one that is valued by the LSU fans i know.

So the challenges are:

Georgia-Florida, Georgia-Auburn

Alabama-Tennessee, Alabama-Auburn, Alabama-LSU

You can't have a 4-team pod that includes: Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, LSU

But you can solve all of that by using divisions instead of pods, moving Alabama and Auburn to the East, and establishing LSU-Alabama as a permanent x-div rivalry.

That also solves the Egg Bowl which remains as a division rivalry, plus Texas-OU, Texas-A&M, and Texas-Arky.  With the bonus of playing LSU every year.

It's certainly not ideal, not playing the other division very much.  But that's already a problem in the current incarnations of the SEC and B1G.

 

 

 

 

[billfromlaketravis 11466]

I touched on the Auburn - Georgia game upthread.

[utee94 15820]

5 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I touched on the Auburn - Georgia game upthread.

Yes.  I'm telling you that it's not your decision to dismiss it.  You really have no idea at all whether or not it's valued by the SEC.

I believe it likely is, since the LAST time they created divisions, they intentionally saved it as a X-Div rivalry.  The proof is in the pudding.

 

 

[TKthunder2 4991]

55 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I think Bama wants to keep the Tennessee game, but it’s all anecdotal.  Outside of that, we’re talking about the Egg Bowl, the Iron Bowl, and Georgia - Florida as the only rivalry games that really matter in the current SEC. 
 

Texas will play Aggy, Piggy, and OU every year. You could throw 6 darts at remaining 12 schools and come up with a much more compelling schedule than our 2021 schedule. 

 

Worst sec schedule I could make:

OU, arky, aggy, Vandy, Ole Miss, MSU, UK, Mizzou, SC

vs our standard B12 schedule

OU, OSU, tech, Baylor, TCU, K State, KU, ISU, WVU

It’s close but I’d probably give the edge to the Big12 but again that was against the WORST sec schedule I could come up with which would likely never happen since it means its opposite would be playing OU, arky, aggy, Bama, Aub, UF, UGA, LSU, and TN in the same year.

[bullet 1596]

On 8/2/2021 at 1:05 PM, mdmost said:

If the Georgia-Auburn and LSU-Florida rivalries matter then the SEC will have to find a way to keep those going with pods or divisions. If it's pods then everyone is getting a dedicated rivalry game they play against another pod. That way no one needs to be paired up with a specific team. I think for the sake of balance, they will make changes that make geographic sense while also knocking out a rivalry game in the process such as pairing up Alabama in a pod with Tennessee. Then Alabama is free to have a yearly rivalry game with LSU. Texas and OU don't necessarily have to be partnered together in a pod if there's a dedicated rivalry game. Logistically it makes sense to have Texas and OU together. Then you open up those two to another cross pod rival like Arkansas for Texas or Mizzou for Oklahoma. 

The sooner we get clarification on when Texas and OU can leave the Big 12, the sooner will get movement on how the divisions or pods will be laid out. 

LSU has been trying to dump the Florida every year game.  But Georgia-Auburn is important.

[bullet 1596]

On 8/3/2021 at 4:56 PM, maninblack said:

Finebaum just said again that he believes it will be some type of pod configuration and it won't be as it is today.

Well the ones proposed here don't comply with NCAA rules.  You can't have a ccg without playing a round robin.

If its a pod system, it has to be rotating pods.  You have two pods making up an 8 team division.  2 years later you pair different pods.  2 years later you pair a 3rd way.  So you get your pod every year and everyone else 2 out of 6 years even with a 7 game schedule.  With 8 or 9 you can include some every year non-pod rivalries.

The one that seems to make the most sense for competitive balance is:

East Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida

South Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Central LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Texas A&M

West Texas, OU, Arkansas, Missouri.

4 out of 6 years, Texas could play aggy in the 8th game.  Same for Georgia-Auburn, Alabama-LSU, Kentucky-Tennessee, Ole Miss-Vanderbilt and perhaps Arkansas-Mississippi St., OU-Florida and Missouri-South Carolina.

 

 

[TKthunder2 4991]

1 hour ago, bullet said:

Well the ones proposed here don't comply with NCAA rules.  You can't have a ccg without playing a round robin.

If its a pod system, it has to be rotating pods.  You have two pods making up an 8 team division.  2 years later you pair different pods.  2 years later you pair a 3rd way.  So you get your pod every year and everyone else 2 out of 6 years even with a 7 game schedule.  With 8 or 9 you can include some every year non-pod rivalries.

The one that seems to make the most sense for competitive balance is:

East Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida

South Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Central LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Texas A&M

West Texas, OU, Arkansas, Missouri.

4 out of 6 years, Texas could play aggy in the 8th game.  Same for Georgia-Auburn, Alabama-LSU, Kentucky-Tennessee, Ole Miss-Vanderbilt and perhaps Arkansas-Mississippi St., OU-Florida and Missouri-South Carolina.

 

 

How does the Big12 have a CCG without divisions? NCAA rules lol 

[closetohumping 17440]

I miss this thread. 

[closetohumping 17440]

1 hour ago, bullet said:

Well the ones proposed here don't comply with NCAA rules.  You can't have a ccg without playing a round robin.

If its a pod system, it has to be rotating pods.  You have two pods making up an 8 team division.  2 years later you pair different pods.  2 years later you pair a 3rd way.  So you get your pod every year and everyone else 2 out of 6 years even with a 7 game schedule.  With 8 or 9 you can include some every year non-pod rivalries.

The one that seems to make the most sense for competitive balance is:

East Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida

South Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Central LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Texas A&M

West Texas, OU, Arkansas, Missouri.

4 out of 6 years, Texas could play aggy in the 8th game.  Same for Georgia-Auburn, Alabama-LSU, Kentucky-Tennessee, Ole Miss-Vanderbilt and perhaps Arkansas-Mississippi St., OU-Florida and Missouri-South Carolina.

 

 

Yep, that makes the most geo sense but I would find a way to play aggy every year.  Also, flipping aggy with ou works just as well.  

[Huckleberry 32859]

Texas and A&M in different pods is a bad idea just because of the possibility of consecutive games if they both reach the CCG. Don't laugh. But any teams who play rivalry week should be in the same pod so they're always in the same division. 

[closetohumping 17440]

Just now, Huckleberry said:

Texas and A&M in different pods is a bad idea just because of the possibility of consecutive games if they both reach the CCG. Don't laugh. But any teams who play rivalry week should be in the same pod so they're always in the same division. 

And we are much closer geographically.  I don't mind being in a different pod than ou if we can keep that game.  

[bullet 1596]

12 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Sure, but the Georgia game means a lot to Auburn. 
 

I agree with your sentiment on LSU-Florida. Both schools want to see that game die. 

Every UGA fan I know just hates Auburn.  That ranks up with Florida and ahead of Georgia Tech.

[bullet 1596]

8 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Texas and A&M in different pods is a bad idea just because of the possibility of consecutive games if they both reach the CCG. Don't laugh. But any teams who play rivalry week should be in the same pod so they're always in the same division. 

Well its possible Florida and Vanderbilt could end up in the ccg too....

[utee94 15820]

1 hour ago, bullet said:

Every UGA fan I know just hates Auburn.  That ranks up with Florida and ahead of Georgia Tech.

The Georgia fans I know don't give a rat's arse about GaTech and would gladly drop that game.  Doesn't have anything to do with SEC scheduling of course, but they don't value it.

[maninblack 7974]

3 hours ago, bullet said:

Well the ones proposed here don't comply with NCAA rules.  You can't have a ccg without playing a round robin.

[gmr548 16576]

OU/UF(new but would be huge)

Might be the only series that could surpass OU vs WVU in terms of “states that deserve each other.”

[Huckleberry 32859]

2 hours ago, bullet said:

Well its possible Florida and Vanderbilt could end up in the ccg too....

Florida's a little busy during rivalry week, and they're certainly not playing Vanderbilt.

[billfromlaketravis 11466]

17 hours ago, TKthunder2 said:

Worst sec schedule I could make:

OU, arky, aggy, Vandy, Ole Miss, MSU, UK, Mizzou, SC

vs our standard B12 schedule

OU, OSU, tech, Baylor, TCU, K State, KU, ISU, WVU

It’s close but I’d probably give the edge to the Big12 but again that was against the WORST sec schedule I could come up with which would likely never happen since it means its opposite would be playing OU, arky, aggy, Bama, Aub, UF, UGA, LSU, and TN in the same year.

Yeah I like that SEC schedule better. We play the big 3 of our rivals, and if Vandy and UK are road games both would be awesome trips. 

[billfromlaketravis 11466]

After some thought, I'm pro divisions IF the SEC makes Ole Miss and MS State go East. Mizzou almost certainly would have to go West. 

West 

Texas 

OU 

Aggy 

Piggy 

Bama 

Auburn 

LSU 

Mizzou

 

East

Florida 

Georgia 

Ole Miss 

MS State 

UK 

Vandy 

South Carolina 

Tennessee

 

The cross division rivals would be the next stumbling block. Auburn will want to keep Georgia. Bama will want to keep Tennessee (probably). LSU definitely wants to kill the Florida game. I'm sure Aggy isn't thrilled playing South Carolina every year. Vandy - Ole Miss, Piggy - Mizzou, and MS State - Kentucky bring absolutely nothing to the table. 

[utee94 15820]

8 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

After some thought, I'm pro divisions IF the SEC makes Ole Miss and MS State go East. Mizzou almost certainly would have to go West. 

West 

Texas 

OU 

Aggy 

Piggy 

Bama 

Auburn 

LSU 

Mizzou

 

East

Florida 

Georgia 

Ole Miss 

MS State 

UK 

Vandy 

South Carolina 

Tennessee

 

The cross division rivals would be the next stumbling block. Auburn will want to keep Georgia. Bama will want to keep Tennessee (probably). LSU definitely wants to kill the Florida game. I'm sure Aggy isn't thrilled playing South Carolina every year. Vandy - Ole Miss, Piggy - Mizzou, and MS State - Kentucky bring absolutely nothing to the table. 

Interesting idea.  It doesn't make geographic sense, but then again not much about a 16-team conference makes geographic sense anyway.

LSU - Ole Miss is a longstanding rivalry.  The Tigers would probably be okay with replacing Florida with Ole Miss as their permanent x-div rivals.

Major problem I see is that it dilutes an already-weak SEC East and makes it even weaker by percentage, while the SEC West actually gets harder with TWO regular CFP-participants in the mix.

 

[Texas Wahoo 3394]

58 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

After some thought, I'm pro divisions IF the SEC makes Ole Miss and MS State go East. Mizzou almost certainly would have to go West. 

West 

Texas 

OU 

Aggy 

Piggy 

Bama 

Auburn 

LSU 

Mizzou

 

East

Florida 

Georgia 

Ole Miss 

MS State 

UK 

Vandy 

South Carolina 

Tennessee

 

The cross division rivals would be the next stumbling block. Auburn will want to keep Georgia. Bama will want to keep Tennessee (probably). LSU definitely wants to kill the Florida game. I'm sure Aggy isn't thrilled playing South Carolina every year. Vandy - Ole Miss, Piggy - Mizzou, and MS State - Kentucky bring absolutely nothing to the table. 

I'm not sure I understand why you wouldn't just move Alabama and Auburn over instead of Ole Miss and Miss State?  It makes more geographic sense and both of the Alabama schools already have at least one big rivalry with teams in the East, whereas I am not aware of any rivalries that the Mississippi schools have with the East.  I don't even think you would need cross-division rivalry games with that set-up, as it makes the two most important ones intra-division games.  Plus, I think it evens out the divisions better, as you end up with Bama/UGA/UF on one side and Texas/OU/LSU on the other.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Texas Wahoo

[utee94 15820]

1 hour ago, Texas Wahoo said:

I'm not sure I understand why you wouldn't just move Alabama and Auburn over instead of Ole Miss and Miss State?  It makes more geographic sense and both of the Alabama schools already have at least one big rivalry with teams in the East, whereas I am not aware of any rivalries that the Mississippi schools have with the East.  I don't even think you would need cross-division rivalry games with that set-up, as it makes the two most important ones intra-division games.  Plus, I think it evens out the divisions better, as you end up with Bama/UGA/UF on one side and Texas/OU/LSU on the other.

Yeah that's the division setup that most people are proposing.  It makes the most sense from a geographic and power/strength-balancing viewpoint.

They'd still need x-div game to cover LSU-Alabama, though.  But that's about it.  Which is why that division setup actually makes the most sense, and is the most likely arrangement ultimately, despite the obsession here over pods.

 

Edited August 19, 2021 by utee94

[billfromlaketravis 11466]

1 hour ago, Texas Wahoo said:

I'm not sure I understand why you wouldn't just move Alabama and Auburn over instead of Ole Miss and Miss State?  It makes more geographic sense and both of the Alabama schools already have at least one big rivalry with teams in the East, whereas I am not aware of any rivalries that the Mississippi schools have with the East.  I don't even think you would need cross-division rivalry games with that set-up, as it makes the two most important ones intra-division games.  Plus, I think it evens out the divisions better, as you end up with Bama/UGA/UF on one side and Texas/OU/LSU on the other.

The big question is, does Bama want to go the East? You better believe Saban wants regular games in Texas. 

[wildturkey8 24]

4 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Yeah I like that SEC schedule better. We play the big 3 of our rivals, and if Vandy and UK are road games both would be awesome trips. 

Bourbon and Tennessee Whiskey.

[DFW Horn 6123]

2 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

The big question is, does Bama want to go the East? You better believe Saban wants regular games in Texas. 

Bama will be taken care of like they always are with regular games against UT and aggy.

[TKthunder2 4991]

4 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

The big question is, does Bama want to go the East? You better believe Saban wants regular games in Texas. 

Bama doesn’t have a super vote, just like we didn’t have one in the Big 12 either, that shtick is so played out.  You’ll see pods or the logical division setup.  There is no way they put Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama, Auburn and aggy in the same West division.  It would be ridiculously lopsided.

West - Alabama, LSU, OU, Texas, Auburn, aggy, Mizzou, arky

East - Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, SC, MSU, UK, Vandy

By moving Bama/Auburn to the East and Mizzou/UT/OU to the West they have 3 major current football power in each division, 4 if you count Auburn and aggy. Each side a two major states for football recruiting TX/LA and FL/GA.

The reason I think pods is more likely, is that the sec wants to take advantage of making more big game matchups and keep these matchups regular enough for TV$ but irregular enough to keep national interest.

These could be the yearly schedule with just pod/rivalry games

pod-UT/OU (early Oct)

pod-LSU/aggy (no set date, mid Oct?)

pod-UF/UGA (late Oct/early Nov)

rival-Bama/LSU (early Nov)

rival-UGA/Aub (mid Nov)

rival-UF/OU(new, mid Nov?)

rival-UT/aggy (Thanksgiving)

pod-Bama/Aub (Thanksgiving)

 

Now add in irregular games like Texas/UF OU/Bama, and LSU/UGA to that schedule in mid October plus OOC games in September and the SEC would have the game of the week locked up for the majority of college football season.  Keeping LSU out of our pod keeps that game exciting when it comes around which will make it a novelty and drive viewers, tickets and $.

[Tomatillo 354]

15 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

After some thought, I'm pro divisions IF the SEC makes Ole Miss and MS State go East. Mizzou almost certainly would have to go West. 

West 

Texas 

OU 

Aggy 

Piggy 

Bama 

Auburn 

LSU 

Mizzou

 

East

Florida 

Georgia 

Ole Miss 

MS State 

UK 

Vandy 

South Carolina 

Tennessee

 

The cross division rivals would be the next stumbling block. Auburn will want to keep Georgia. Bama will want to keep Tennessee (probably). LSU definitely wants to kill the Florida game. I'm sure Aggy isn't thrilled playing South Carolina every year. Vandy - Ole Miss, Piggy - Mizzou, and MS State - Kentucky bring absolutely nothing to the table. 

I would be 100% in favor of this, but seriously doubt they make the west that much stronger than the east. 

[closetohumping 17440]

18 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

After some thought, I'm pro divisions IF the SEC makes Ole Miss and MS State go East. Mizzou almost certainly would have to go West. 

West 

Texas 

OU 

Aggy 

Piggy 

Bama 

Auburn 

LSU 

Mizzou

 

East

Florida 

Georgia 

Ole Miss 

MS State 

UK 

Vandy 

South Carolina 

Tennessee

 

The cross division rivals would be the next stumbling block. Auburn will want to keep Georgia. Bama will want to keep Tennessee (probably). LSU definitely wants to kill the Florida game. I'm sure Aggy isn't thrilled playing South Carolina every year. Vandy - Ole Miss, Piggy - Mizzou, and MS State - Kentucky bring absolutely nothing to the table. 

More lopsided than a tennis players tittays 

[Dnaguy 11948]

#1 I'm no scheduling guru.

 

When it comes to pods, you've locked in 3 rivals / permanent games a year. I get this.

But what then?

Every year, two pods are 'combined' and form a division? Then the winner of the 'division' plays the other winner of its 'division'?

 

Or do you only use 'pods' to lock in permanent games and then just take the best two teams every year? 

In this case, couldn't you also just assign each team 3 rivals and be done.

 

 

UT - A&M, OU, Arky

OU - Texas, Missouri, Arky

Arky - Texas, A&M, Missouri

A&M - Texas, Arky, LSU

Mizzu - OU, Arky, Vandy

LSU - Ole Miss, A&M, Alabama

Ole Miss - LSU, Miss St, ____?___

Miss St - Ole Miss, Auburn, ____?____

Alabama - Auburn, Tenn, LSU

Auburn - Alabama, Georgia, Miss St

Tenn - Alabama, Vandy, Florida

Vandy - Tenn, UK , Mizzu

Florida - Georgia, Tenn, USCeast

Georgia - Florida, Auburn, USCeast

UK - USCeast, Vandy, ___?___

USC - Florida, Georgia, UK

 

I know I just screwed something up... but you get the idea

[DigglerontheHoof 21195]

12 hours ago, TKthunder2 said:

West - Alabama, LSU, OU, Texas, Auburn, aggy, Mizzou, arky

East - Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, SC, MSU, UK, Vandy

To me, this makes more sense if you flip flop Bama/Auburn with Ol Miss/MSU. 

[DFW Horn 6123]

29 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

To me, this makes more sense if you flip flop Bama/Auburn with Ol Miss/MSU. 

Yeah, worrying about "competitive balance" at this point is foolhardy.

Things change.

[TKthunder2 4991]

2 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

To me, this makes more sense if you flip flop Bama/Auburn with Ol Miss/MSU. 

Yes 100% agree that was me illustrating how lopsided it would be if you put the MS schools in the East and the AL schools in the West.

I still think pods are far more attractive for fans and TV.

[jTower 227]

On 8/18/2021 at 7:02 PM, TKthunder2 said:

How does the Big12 have a CCG without divisions? NCAA rules lol 

Round robin

[TKthunder2 4991]

1 hour ago, jTower said:

Round robin

Which until they changed the rules was not allowed.  If the Big12 could get a rule change as dumb as that through the SEC should have no trouble.

[BachelorTrek 2968]

FWIW: Without citing sources, Finebaum just said on his show off the cuff, that from what he is hearing, the SEC is leaning towards:
 

eliminating divisions
keeping the yearly traditional rivalry games
rotating schedule for the rest of the conference opponents 
Top 2 conference records play in the SEC championship game
no more details than that

and then proceeded to smugly comment that it will just be a fight for 2nd place, implying that BamaJelly will always be 1st or something. What a little Cunt he is!

However, in that scheduling scenario for Texas, I wonder if they would have 3 rivalry games (piggy/Mobilehoma/aggy) or not, with piggy first out if every team is only allowed 2 yearly rivalry games.

Edited August 20, 2021 by BachelorTrek

[closetohumping 17440]

On 8/20/2021 at 4:01 AM, Dnaguy said:

#1 I'm no scheduling guru.

 

When it comes to pods, you've locked in 3 rivals / permanent games a year. I get this.

But what then?

Every year, two pods are 'combined' and form a division? Then the winner of the 'division' plays the other winner of its 'division'?

 

Or do you only use 'pods' to lock in permanent games and then just take the best two teams every year? 

In this case, couldn't you also just assign each team 3 rivals and be done.

 

 

UT - A&M, OU, Arky

OU - Texas, Missouri, Arky

Arky - Texas, A&M, Missouri

A&M - Texas, Arky, LSU

Mizzu - OU, Arky, Vandy

LSU - Ole Miss, A&M, Alabama

Ole Miss - LSU, Miss St, ____?___

Miss St - Ole Miss, Auburn, ____?____

Alabama - Auburn, Tenn, LSU

Auburn - Alabama, Georgia, Miss St

Tenn - Alabama, Vandy, Florida

Vandy - Tenn, UK , Mizzu

Florida - Georgia, Tenn, USCeast

Georgia - Florida, Auburn, USCeast

UK - USCeast, Vandy, ___?___

USC - Florida, Georgia, UK

 

I know I just screwed something up... but you get the idea

Take the 4 pod winners and have them play a semi final then finals

[Hagbard Celine 10857]

tineye shows no matches for this.

does anyone know where to find the blank template with nothing drawn on it yet?