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

[mdmost 42996]

3 hours ago, Gohogs14 said:

Every year that goes by I'm not sure if Tennessee will ever get back to what they were. Kentucky has been a better program lately which I never thought would be possible in football.

Honestly not much difference between Tennessee and Arkansas at this point except Arkansas had success in the 60's-70's and Tennessee did in the 90's - couple decades difference 30+ years ago.

I'll say even though we've sucked for 10+ years now, we at least never sunk to Tennessee's level. Of the matchups in the SEC I most look forward to, Tennessee is up there for me.

[BigHorn'13 3363]

2 minutes ago, mdmost said:

I'll say even though we've sucked for 10+ years now, we at least never sunk to Tennessee's level. Of the matchups in the SEC I most look forward to, Tennessee is up there for me.

I mean... they only took one of our rejects while an actual blue blood took the rest. Not sure what the point is of this post or how it relates towards yours. Drunk and whatnot. But fuck you, too, condoms!

[Murfdogg21 4412]

8 hours ago, n64ra said:

But I want aggy every year not Mizzou.

It’s funnier that aggy dodges us within conference the way they dodged us the last 3 Texas Bowls. Maybe they think narrowly losing to Case McCoy was their peak vs. us. 

[maninblack 7974]

Finebaum - "The pod setup is gaining traction"

[Huckleberry 32830]

7 minutes ago, maninblack said:

Finebaum - "The pod setup is gaining traction"

Hucklepod system is best system

[Js1 85238]

11 minutes ago, maninblack said:

Finebaum - "The pod setup is gaining traction"

It’s the best. Fuck divisions for 16 teams 

[DFW Horn 6123]

23 minutes ago, Js1 said:

It’s the best. Fuck divisions for 16 teams 

This

UT, OU, Arky, and A&M to complete the evisceration of aggy. Southwest Pod. Nostalgia

[DFW Horn 6123]

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.

Bowlsby can use this screenshot as proof of collusion between ESPN and SEC.

aggy's gotta be with us

[clapclapclap 9000]

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 is good, but still play aTm every year.  Would be passing up a lot of TV revenue to not renew an annual Thanksgiving extended weekend hatefest. 

[Speedway 152]

On 7/24/2021 at 2:12 AM, longhornmatt said:

Schedules would potentially be way too imbalanced with the pods.  That all sounds wonderful until the year we go 8-4 because we played all the best teams while LSU is worse than us but goes to the championship because their pod is ass and they drew the bad teams from the other pods.   The pod schedules won’t have enough common opponents to meaningfully choose who goes to the championship game. And they’ll get really unbalanced if you try to build in permanent rival games from other pods (which would be the only way to protect a few important rivalries).

The East/West divisions protect every big rivalry game except LSU vs. Bama, which is mostly just a recent phenomenon of being a big game because both teams have been good.  The cross division games can also be done in an equitable way if you’re only playing 2 per year - the proposed East/West divisions match up nicely to have everyone play 1 big name and 1 more manageable opponent.   Nobody would have a draw of Bama and Georgia while someone else gets Vandy and Kentucky.  The teams within each division would also primarily be playing common opponents.  Everything would be home and home instead of weird 3 year cycles where someone gets 2 home games and the other school only gets 1 home game.

The only downside to divisions is not playing all the teams from the other division as often as you would with pods.  That is a definitely a material drawback.   But by the same token, pods also probably mean you don’t play some rivalry games every year that you’d want to be annual games.   All things considered, I think the division set up works much better than pods.

Alabama/LSU is NOT just a recent rivalry.  While it may be true that Alabama fans do not consider LSU their major rival, LSU fans definitely consider Alabama their major rival.  This has been the case since the sixties. 

[maninblack 7974]

Some pretty funny responses in here to @OnAComputer

 

[DFW Horn 6123]

 

[closetohumping 17429]

So any word on when they’ll announce the divisions and pods?

[Huckleberry 32830]

3 hours ago, DFW Horn said:

 

My pod system handles all of that. Using pods and a permanent rival from every other pod to vary the division setup for football.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Huckleberry

[Barbacoa 1934]

Texas, OU, Arky, Aggy

The Pod of Hate. 

Play LSU every year. 

[mdmost 42996]

7 hours ago, closetohumping said:

So any word on when they’ll announce the divisions and pods?

I'd assume they won't say anything until the exact time frame for Texas and OU starting play is more ironed out. If it's supposed to be January-February when the settlement is worked out, we'll see it then. 

[Foosters 17802]

I came up with a solution last night while really high. Woke up this morning and it still kinda checks out:

4 Pods, with 2 pods in each division

Each team plays all three in their own pod, and plays 2 from each pod on rotating schedule for a total of 9 games.

Here's where it gets different (and complicated), but preserves the Conference championship game while adding a "FLEX week" on the weekend prior to Conference championship.

FLEX WEEK:

      - Only the first 8 games of the season are scheduled, while the 9th game remains open and dependent on conference standings.

      - In the West division, the FLEX week sees the 1 seed from POD A plays 1 seed from POD B, 2 seed plays 2 seed, and so on. Same with East division.

      - The winning 1 seed goes on to play the winning 1 seed from other division in the SEC championship game. This gives you a true "champion" from each division.

     - Perhaps as important for the TV networks, it gives you a guaranteed slate of important, high profile games in the week prior to the championship game, with playoff implications in multiple games. 

      - It also gives advantage to those non-division winners to enhance resume for bowls.

      - The PODS alternate home/away for flex week, which means you will know prior to the season begins whether or not your FLEX week game is home or away - you just wont know the opponent until later.

     - Drawbacks -  During flex week, you risk possibly being matched with a team you have already played in the season. This could be remedied by simply playing the next seed down or something, idk. Not knowing who you will be playing until the week before could complicate things from a logistical standpoint.

*Edited format

Edited July 30, 2021 by Foosters

[maninblack 7974]

Sankey has asked AD's and school officials to come to the table with an open mind about scheduling. He wants teams to see each other more often. He's thinking about all sports in regard to scheduling creatively.

[maninblack 7974]

1 hour ago, Foosters said:

I came up with a solution last night while really high. Woke up this morning and it still kinda checks out:

Usually when my best work happens

[Js1 85238]

3 hours ago, Foosters said:

I came up with a solution last night while really high. Woke up this morning and it still kinda checks out:

4 Pods, with 2 pods in each division

Each team plays all three in their own pod, and plays 2 from each pod on rotating schedule for a total of 9 games.

Here's where it gets different (and complicated), but preserves the Conference championship game while adding a "FLEX week" on the weekend prior to Conference championship.

FLEX WEEK:

      - Only the first 8 games of the season are scheduled, while the 9th game remains open and dependent on conference standings.

      - In the West division, the FLEX week sees the 1 seed from POD A plays 1 seed from POD B, 2 seed plays 2 seed, and so on. Same with East division.

      - The winning 1 seed goes on to play the winning 1 seed from other division in the SEC championship game. This gives you a true "champion" from each division.

     - Perhaps as important for the TV networks, it gives you a guaranteed slate of important, high profile games in the week prior to the championship game, with playoff implications in multiple games. 

      - It also gives advantage to those non-division winners to enhance resume for bowls.

      - The PODS alternate home/away for flex week, which means you will know prior to the season begins whether or not your FLEX week game is home or away - you just wont know the opponent until later.

     - Drawbacks -  During flex week, you risk possibly being matched with a team you have already played in the season. This could be remedied by simply playing the next seed down or something, idk. Not knowing who you will be playing until the week before could complicate things from a logistical standpoint.

*Edited format

No, that doesn't work out to me.  If the pod division winners are Texas/LSU and Alabama/Florida but Texas/LSU already played once that season, and LSU won, why does LSU then get an easier opponent in the CCG semifinal (#2 from Texas' pod).  The winner of Alabama/Florida would go fucking nuts that LSU got to play the runner-up of that pod. 

Rematches will happen.  Since the FLEX week doesn't count towards conference standings, I don't see the big deal with rematches in conference championships semifinals.  They happen all the time.  New Orleans had to face Tampa Bay in the NFC divisional round, after beat them by 35 points earlier in the year.  TB won the re-match. 

But overall, I like the idea of the FLEX week acting as a semifinal for the CCG.  However, I would give it to the team with the better conference record or the better overall pod winning %. 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Js1

[Foosters 17802]

Just now, Js1 said:

No, that doesn't work out to me.  If the pod division winners are Texas/LSU and Alabama/Florida but Texas/LSU already played once that season, and LSU won, why does LSU then get an easier opponent in the CCG semifinal (#2 from Texas' pod).  The winner of Alabama/Florida would go fucking nuts that LSU got to play the runner-up of that pod. 

Rematches will happen.  Since the FLEX week doesn't count towards conference standings, I don't see the big deal with rematches in conference championships semifinals.  They happen all the time.  New Orleans had to face Tampa Bay in the NFC divisional round, after beat them by 35 points earlier in the year.  TB won the re-match. 

Well, Bama Florida shouldnt be too upset in that example bc they will have played an easier schedule up to that point (not having played each other.) But I do see your point, and like I said, i was pretty high

[Js1 85238]

Just now, Foosters said:

Well, Bama Florida shouldnt be too upset in that example bc they will have played an easier schedule up to that point (not having played each other.) But I do see your point, and like I said, i was pretty high

I just think pod winners going up against each other in de-fact semifinal games makes sense.  Rematches don't bother me.  And the teams with the better record should host the game.   It would be too hard to do them neutral, because the western side of the SEC has 3 domed stadiums (Jerry World, NRG, Superdome) but the eastern side only has the Mercedes Benz, which is where the CCG is played. 

[utee94 15780]

I uncovered this on another CFB message board.

NCAA rules might say pods of 4 must play double round-robin schedules within the pod.


"A conference with subdivisions of four members must conduct double round-robin competition within each subdivision, plus a postseason tournament, to determine its champion."

https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/bylaw?ruleId=9206

 

[TXSooner518 2436]

nah. the pods aren't officially "divisions" they are just scheduling metrics. there won't be "pod standings"

[utee94 15780]

Some folks have suggested playing off the pod winners against each other, in which case that is most definitely a subdivision with standings.

Using them for anything other than scheduling would make them against the rules.

Which means all you could really do for the SEC CCG, is take the two best records.  I suspect a lot of tiebreakers would be invoked.

[TXSooner518 2436]

Yeah, I think playing off the pod winners would actually suck. It places WAY too much emphasis on your 3 pod games and on the random distribution of teams.  Super dumb to have a "four team pod playoff" of 3 5-4 "pod champs" and one 9-0 "pod champ" when there is an 8-1 team that only lost to the 9-0 team and dumptrucked all 3 of the other "pod champs". It also creates a lot of meaningless games where, say, a team is 5-1 in pod and the other 3 teams are 2-4, 2-4, 1-5 and have all lost to the 5-1 team, the 5-1 team is "guaranteed" a playoff spot and the last 3 games are meaningless. Sucks. 

Edited July 30, 2021 by TXSooner518

[SEC 1174]

the solution to the three 5-4 vs one 9-0 with one 8-1 being left out is to add a "semi-champ" week that is flexible.

Split the conference into east and west, then split those divisions up into pods. Top two in a division, regardless of pod, play for the spot in the conference championship, while the other 6 teams get a flex scheduled game with whoever is left, which would presumably play into New Years Six or whatever contention if they're good enough.

That way everyone gets same number of games minus conference championship game, but one of the games is used to settle division disputes. If there is a team that is 7-2 with both losses coming to the 9-0, well they had *two* chances and blew it, argument over. Pod "champion" is essentially meaningless, but who cares if you're the champion of a 4-team pod? Pods only exist to make full 16-team scheduling logical over the course of many years, not really to decide the conference champion.

Edited July 30, 2021 by SEC

[maninblack 7974]

55 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I uncovered this on another CFB message board.

NCAA rules might say pods of 4 must play double round-robin schedules within the pod.


"A conference with subdivisions of four members must conduct double round-robin competition within each subdivision, plus a postseason tournament, to determine its champion."

https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/bylaw?ruleId=9206

 

[Huckleberry 32830]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

I uncovered this on another CFB message board.

NCAA rules might say pods of 4 must play double round-robin schedules within the pod.


"A conference with subdivisions of four members must conduct double round-robin competition within each subdivision, plus a postseason tournament, to determine its champion."

https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/bylaw?ruleId=9206

 

 

1 hour ago, TXSooner518 said:

nah. the pods aren't officially "divisions" they are just scheduling metrics. there won't be "pod standings"

Wouldn't matter anyway. That rule refers to entry into championships and there isn't one for FBS. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19170]

On 7/27/2021 at 1:55 PM, MIkeHoncho said:

Best option: 

Take the 4 strongest programs and let them be like captains on the middle school playground and pick the rest of their pods. Picking in order:  Bama, OU, GA, TX

TX would be about 6th in the pecking order.  FL and Auburn probably get more stroke.

[Lowcountry Hog 266]

On 7/29/2021 at 6:04 PM, DFW Horn said:

This

UT, OU, Arky, and A&M to complete the evisceration of aggy. Southwest Pod. Nostalgia

I don’t know about you, but my peenie just went “Whoop!”

[Lowcountry Hog 266]

19 hours ago, closetohumping said:

So any word on when they’ll announce the divisions and pods?

No, but if it ain’t a prime time reveal on the SEC Network, hosted by Finebaum, with mouth breathing callers allowed to chime in afterwards, the network is doing it wrong 

[Foosters 17802]

1 hour ago, TXSooner518 said:

Yeah, I think playing off the pod winners would actually suck. It places WAY too much emphasis on your 3 pod games and on the random distribution of teams.  Super dumb to have a "four team pod playoff" of 3 5-4 "pod champs" and one 9-0 "pod champ" when there is an 8-1 team that only lost to the 9-0 team and dumptrucked all 3 of the other "pod champs". It also creates a lot of meaningless games where, say, a team is 5-1 in pod and the other 3 teams are 2-4, 2-4, 1-5 and have all lost to the 5-1 team, the 5-1 team is "guaranteed" a playoff spot and the last 3 games are meaningless. Sucks. 

[Bigbend1812 12914]

20 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

My pod system handles all of that. Using pods and a permanent rival from every other pod to vary the division setup for football.

This man has perfected this with NCAA2014.   Listen to him. 

[AeroHorn 748]

I prefer the rivals + 2-3 year rotation of all teams hybrid, without specifically dividing into two divisions. In this case of no divisions, the CCG participants will be the two having the best conference records, right? Hopefully, not winners of two pseudo-divisions.

 

[TexasMan 10890]

 

[Pato del Muerto 52474]

I picture it going like this:

aggy for 10 years to the conference: it ain’t fair we got to play bammer every year. 
 

conference:  tough shit

New alignment suggests bama and auburn move to the east

georgia:  hey y’all that wouldn’t be fair if we was havin’ to play bama ever season

conference:  good point. Hey bama, which teams actually want to play you every year?

bama:  well sih, that’d be barn and 10rc. 
 

conference:  would it be ok if we made pods and your group is you, Tennessee, and auburn?  
 

bama:  add Vanderbilt for reasons and you’ve got a deal. 
 

conference:  oh thank you sir.  Another sweet tea, sir?  Sharpen your lure hooks, sir?

[Mitch Cumsteen 18542]

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. 

[ousux 5595]

Agreed. Each pod has a current dominant team (OU, LSU, Alabama, Georgia), a traditional team that can be great (Texas, aggy, Auburn, Florida), a decent team (Mizzou, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Kentucky) and the cannon fodder (Arkansas, MSU, Vandy, and Cocks). 

Since when is aggy a "traditional team that can be great"? Harvard, Rutgers etc..have more traditional greatness than aggy

[Hermanator 7026]

What are the biggest name programs in the conference? Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, ???

I'd make each of these headline their own pod and the 4th be one of Florida, LSU, or Georgia. Then fill out the pods with the rest

[HornsofBevo 122]

Dream scenario for me would be Texas, Ousux, pig and aggy all in one pod with a permanent rivalry with LSU. After that you can schedule pods however you want. That’s most likely not going to happen in a pod scenario so I would prefer divisions. Out of the east we can play one of the better schools(bama ,Georgia, Florida, auburn) paired up with one of the weaker schools. It’s not perfect but I think it would work pretty well and our fans would be able to reasonably travel to almost all of our games. 

[Your Mom 4805]

20 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

What are the biggest name programs in the conference? Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, ???

I'd make each of these headline their own pod and the 4th be one of Florida, LSU, or Georgia. Then fill out the pods with the rest

I don't disagree with the reasoning but the SEC sure as hell isn't about to treat Texas or OU like one of the biggest names in the conference all of a sudden.  We're going to be shoe-horned into whatever pod or division best suits the legacy schools.  

[utee94 15780]

1 hour ago, Your Mom said:

I don't disagree with the reasoning but the SEC sure as hell isn't about to treat Texas or OU like one of the biggest names in the conference all of a sudden.  We're going to be shoe-horned into whatever pod or division best suits the legacy schools.  

Whatever happens, we'll be playing OU every season.  That was absolutely a condition of joining the SEC.  Beyond that, it doesn't really matter much to me.  I'd like to play the ags and pigs every season, too, but if it doesn't work out that way, we'll still be playing and beating them regularly, which is nice.

[mdmost 42996]

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. 

[Dnaguy 11887]

2 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I don't disagree with the reasoning but the SEC sure as hell isn't about to treat Texas or OU like one of the biggest names in the conference all of a sudden.  We're going to be shoe-horned into whatever pod or division best suits the legacy schools.  

 

Texas and OU aren't going to join this league only to take a backseat to anyone. 

We will get what we want. 

[RomaVicta 29884]

2 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I don't disagree with the reasoning but the SEC sure as hell isn't about to treat Texas or OU like one of the biggest names in the conference all of a sudden.  We're going to be shoe-horned into whatever pod or division best suits the legacy schools.  

 

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Whatever happens, we'll be playing OU every season.  That was absolutely a condition of joining the SEC.  Beyond that, it doesn't really matter much to me.  I'd like to play the ags and pigs every season, too, but if it doesn't work out that way, we'll still be playing and beating them regularly, which is nice.

My guess is that a lot of things were negotiated about schedule and set up. Entering the conference was the only moment Texas and OU had any leverage. They're smart enough to know to use it.

Now it may all be a gentleman's agreement, but I'd wager a gentleman's agreement just means more when you're courting Texas or OU rather than A&M. 

[BigHornedLurker 1931]

2 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I don't disagree with the reasoning but the SEC sure as hell isn't about to treat Texas or OU like one of the biggest names in the conference all of a sudden.  We're going to be shoe-horned into whatever pod or division best suits the legacy schools.  

Let's not be confused about the motivation here. ESPN is doing all this because of money, which is derived from viewers, who want to watch the best games. 

The best games to watch are the spicy rivalries, and whatever POD/Division makeup we end up with will be to MAXIMIZE drama and eyeballs. 

This means we will be playing OU,Piggy,Aggy and LSU as much as possible 

Edited August 2, 2021 by BigHornedLurker

[Huckleberry 32830]

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

[zalienman 1]

How about the Split Pod / 8 Year Rotating Divisions option?  Has this been thrown out yet?

 

It seemed like most other models have trouble balancing playing rivals every year while getting enough variety into the schedule.  And then the “no divisions” or options where everyone plays wildly different schedules are too convoluted to pick top teams for a championship game.  What if we pushed two pod rivals over to the other division?  However, in this scenario no Thanksgiving week rivals can end up immediately paired again in the championship game as that rival is the only team permanently sharing a division. 

 

In the example, Texas every year is paired with A&M (within Division), and meet up against the rest of their pod (Oklahoma and Arkansas) but those two teams are never in Texas’ division.  You then play the 6 other teams in your division, which is cycling through all combinations of the 8 pairs of teams.  There will be years where the divisions will be a little unbalanced (BA+CB), but I think the 6 other pods are even enough difficulty.

 

You play every other team 4 times in 8 years, with some unevenness in the regularity.  The only 4-on/4-off pod pairing is Pod A/Pod D I think it’s a fine model if Texas/OU don’t play Florida/Georgia for 4 years.  The only big sacrifice is the Georgia/Auburn game which sounds like it may be a deal breaker.  This game moves to every other year in this scenario.

 

 

 

 

[DFW Horn 6123]

If it means playing okie, arky, and aggy every year I'm all for it. Call it pods, divisions, or whatever makes you happy. 

Don't make a shit.