Out Of Conference Games. Changes coming to SEC.

[MarriedtoStateGrad]

i noticed that a lot of fans really like the 4 cream puff approach. I have been in that number myself. This has been a hot topic on both Ole Miss and State Boards.


However, the SEC has dropped hints that it is going to add another SEC game to our schedules. If and when that happens the have nots [MSU, OLE MISS, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Arkansas] will no longer be able to pursue the 4 cream puff OOC games and knock off a couple of other have nots to make a bowl. Neither will Auburn for that matter.

Heck, SEC has openly discussed this since Texas A&M and Missouri joined. Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama and LSU already have decent to good OOC. The Big Ten has announced no more FBS matchups (old division IAA) in the future. Michigan might stop barely escaping Dayton then.

Has anyone heard when this might occur and what might be the consequences for the poorer schools? Thoughts?



PS -- I tried to post this last week and screwed it up.

 

[Cow College]

Big XII and PAC 12 already have 9 game conference seasons

 

[Heawww]

We'll just play 3 of them in that case.

I don't care what they do, as long as it's fair across the board. As an SEC football fan, I wouldn't mind seeing another SEC game. Certainly more enjoyable than the cream puffs.

I also like the idea of playing only FBS schools. Again, as long as it's straight up across the board, I don't see the problem.

 

[patdog]

For all the talk about it, I don't see the SEC going to 9 games. I think you will see more SEC vs ACC/Big-10?Big-12?PAC-12 games in the out of conference schedules though.

 

[natchezdawg]

It obviously makes it harder to get to six wins...

The only positive I see out all of this for schools like State is that it will serve to drive down the market price for getting FBS schools on the schedule, if we continue to do that.

On the flip side of the coin, if BCS conference schools move away from scheduling FBS schools all together, they will compensate by scheduling games with Non-BCS FCS conferences (Sunbelt, MAC, CUSA). That seems like it will drive up the market price for games like that. Schools like State will have keep taking trips to Troy, Mobile, and Birmingham, to keep the overall cost of scheduling down.

 

[HailState39110]

i noticed that a lot of fans really like the 4 cream puff approach. I have been in that number myself. This has been a hot topic on both Ole Miss and State Boards.


However, the SEC has dropped hints that it is going to add another SEC game to our schedules. If and when that happens the have nots [MSU, OLE MISS, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Arkansas] will no longer be able to pursue the 4 cream puff OOC games and knock off a couple of other have nots to make a bowl. Neither will Auburn for that matter.

Heck, SEC has openly discussed this since Texas A&M and Missouri joined. Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama and LSU already have decent to good OOC. The Big Ten has announced no more FBS matchups (old division IAA) in the future. Michigan might stop barely escaping Dayton then.

Has anyone heard when this might occur and what might be the consequences for the poorer schools? Thoughts?



PS -- I tried to post this last week and screwed it up.

I don't think its good for the SEC. Muschamp already came out and said if they added another conference game and went to 9, then they would probably have to cancel their rivalry with Florida State. Same goes with other OOC matchups such as Georgia-GA Tech, South Carolina-Clemson, Kentucky - Louisville, etc. MSU and Ole Miss wouldn't have played Oklahoma St and Texas this year. TV executives are looking at it as a way to create better matchups and more conference games for such outlets as the SEC Network, but in reality it would force SEC schools not to play tough out of conference games.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

The ACC will also retain an 8-game conference schedule because there will be four universities with rivalry games versus SEC universities (UF-FSU, UGA-GT, USC-Clemson, UK-Louisville) as well as five universities that will rotate playing Notre Dame beginning next year.

 

[Lawdawg.sixpack]

This is exactly right.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Just for correctness, FBS is the old 1-A and FCS is 1-AA. Y'all are getting them backwards.

FBS - Football Bowl Subdivision

FCS - Football Championship Subdivision

 

[Hump4Hoops]

I've always hated the PC naming.

Just for correctness, FBS is the old 1-A and FCS is 1-AA. Y'all are getting them backwards.

FBS - Football Bowl Subdivision

FCS - Football Championship Subdivision

It's like they're afraid to give those less division teams a name that in any way recognizes they are worse than the top division.

 

[patdog]

Hell, they're still I-A and I-AA to me. The new acronyms are stupid.

 

[MagnificentBastard]

This is not an SEC office decision. The schools have to vote on it. Right now there are too many schools needing the non conference wins and/or schools that already have a non conference rivalry game for this to pass.

 

[MagnoliaHunter]

People I've seen calling for the SEC to play 9 games are agenda driven

Most of them are fans of or are from other conferences that want there to be another chance of SEC schools losing a game to knock them out of the championship, whatever format it comes down to, one game or the 3 games. As long as we are playing 8 SEC games and the other conferences are not playing 8 SEC games, 17 'em, don't let them tell us how to run our house. notre dame was supposed to be the 2nd best team last year and we played bama a better game.

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

Bama and LSU think they have "decent to good" OOC?

Bama-- Va Tech(decent at best), Colorado State/Chattanooga/Georgia State (suck/suck/suck)
LSU -- TCU (decent), UAB, Kent State, Furman (suck/suck/suck)

Next year Bama is W. VA (decent) and suck/suck/suck
Lsu is Wisconsin (decent to good, ranked 23rd now) and suck/suck/suck

How is this any harder than our schedule or OMs? I'd say our OOC is harder than that.

In the future, Ole Miss plays Boise State, Fresno, Ga Tech x2 in the next 5 years, and we play USM x2. True, USM sucks now but when we scheduled them, no one saw this coming.

And OM?MSU have several games with Tulane Memphis and La Tech too--not "good" teams, but a lot better than Coastal Carolina, Furman, etc that Bama and LSU play.

 

[MarriedtoStateGrad]

You are correct. I liked the old designation a lot better. FCS, championship series? Does not next year's 2 game serices for DIA not count as a championship series. The PC language is already out of date.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Wouldn`t doubt for one minute ESPN and Slive have had a handshake agreement on the 9 conference game schedule since before the signing of the SEC network agreement. It would definitely mean more quality games for ESPN to televise.....at any rate you can rest assured they`re all for it.

edited to ad: I am totally aware of the protocol that Slive will have to go through to get to the 9 game schedule but I`m also aware we`re talking about a huge investment by ESPN and 100`s of millions changing hands. I would bet he has the votes needed right now.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I bet he doesn't. I don't think even the big boys want 9 games.

 

[CARTER.sixpack]

I AM totally against playing FCS cream puffs and refuse to attend the games in person when they are played. For the life of me I cant see why you cant schedule (especially Ole Miss and State ) lower tier teams in the big ten and BIG 12 AND ACC.

 

[SkullCandy.sixpack]

Because those teams wouldn't play us. They need 6 to get to a bowl too.

I AM totally against playing FCS cream puffs and refuse to attend the games in person when they are played. For the life of me I cant see why you cant schedule (especially Ole Miss and State ) lower tier teams in the big ten and BIG 12 AND ACC.

 

[RocketDawg]

Me too, but our opinions are certainly not the consensus. But it would definitely keep the weaker SEC teams from going to bowls, and would make getting a bowl game mean something once more.

I really think that under the current scheduling scheme with 12 games that you should have to win 7 games to get invited. We'd rarely go to one though unless things change.

 

[RocketDawg]

They do sometimes. We scheduled Georgia Tech (I consider them lower tier ACC) a couple years ago. Of course, we lost both primarily because it was Croome's lame duck season for one, and Mullen's first season for the other one. And we still did quite well in that one, and GT happened to have a pretty good team those years (I think they had Calvin Johnson and Dwyer at that time).

But I agree that the major conferences should have more inter-conference play.

I kinda wonder when we'll have a Mullen/Myer matchup. Mullen is 1-0 vs his old boss. I assume they're still buddy-buddy ... don't really know.

 

[Sutterkane]

The answer? Neutral site games between yearly opponents that aren't primary rivals.

MSU-UK in Nashville or Memphis
TAMU-Mizzou in Shreveport or St Louis
Tennesse-USC in Atlanta
LSU-Auburn in Jackson
Ole Miss-Vandy in Birmingham
Arkansas-Alabama in Nashville or Memphis

17 UGA and Florida they already play a neutral site game together.

This helps some of the bigger television markets get a piece of the pie from game revenue and also see some business sent their way over the weekend.

The biggest disadvantage of the whole 9 game setup is that half the teams get shafted by only having 4 sec home games, and that means lost revenue and a lost advantage as well.

Thoughts?

 

[xxxWalkTheDawg]

Big XII and PAC 12 already have 9 game conference seasons

Do they play a championship game with 9 conference games? If not, that puts the top teams in the SEC at a disadvantage in the championship shakeout. Why vote for a 9 game conference schedule when it puts MSU at a disadvantage? Much more often than not 9 games in the PAC 12 and Big xII isn't the same as 9 in the SEC.

Would i I be ok playing 9 conference teams when the choices include Washington State, Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado, Stanford, Washington, UCLA, Cal, and Utah? Yea. Would I be ok playing 9 when the choices include Alabama, LSU, aTm, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, USCe, Auburn, and Tennessee? And then have to play one again in that rare year in making the champ game? Hell no. Lesser teams could go to bowls over MSU all in the name of playing a tough conference schedule.

 

[patdog]

The SEC has 100% ownership and control over the content for the SECN. ESPN has no say in the matter. But it's to both ESPN's and the SEC's best interests to have more inter-sectional matchups because that will make it easier for them to sell the SECN as a standard tier network throughout the whole country.

 

[patdog]

Neutral site games will never happen, even if the SEC does go to 9 games (it won't). Why would schools ever agree to play 8 SEC home games in 2 years instead of 9?

 

[msstate7]

FCS teams will lose a lot of money when this happens. I'm sure more than a few athletic programs benefit greatly from taking beatings for money

 

[Cow College]

Wouldn`t doubt for one minute ESPN and Slive have had a handshake agreement on the 9 conference game schedule since before the signing of the SEC network agreement. It would definitely mean more quality games for ESPN to televise.....at any rate you can rest assured they`re all for it.

edited to ad: I am totally aware of the protocol that Slive will have to go through to get to the 9 game schedule but I`m also aware we`re talking about a huge investment by ESPN and 100`s of millions changing hands. I would bet he has the votes needed right now.

by by pushing for a 9 game SEC slate it would decrease number of games they show by 7 as instead of 14 ooc games you get 7 conference games.

 

[thatsbaseball]

I`ll type slower q u a l i t y - g a m e s .... you know the kind that people actually watch on TV

 

[patdog]

LSU-TCU, Bama-VA Tech, Tennessee-Oregon, South Carolina - North Carolina, MSU - Oklahoma St., Georgia-Clemson, Mississippi-Texas, Arkansas-Rutgers. Likely that none of those games happen if the SEC had a 9-game schedule. All quality games that people will watch on TV, and most involving a team outside the SEC's geographic footprint. I don't think the SEC or ESPN is going to want to give those games up.

 

[whosyourdawgy]

This is exactly right. The only ones I hear clamoring for the SEC to go to a 9 game schedule are the Colin Coherds of the world. Dipshits that have radio shows that want to appeal to the non SEC crowd and push their buttons to belittle the SEC and our cupcake schedules. You don't hear it from any one in the sec except Lord Saban who wants it I believe because even if they slip up and lose one game to say A&M, they will have that extra conference game for A&M or LSU or whoever may be ahead of them in the West to lose so he can still get to Atlanta

 

[thatsbaseball]

So will there be some sort of mandate or stipulation put in place that SEC teams schedule "attractive" OOC games to expand the footprint ? If Stricklin scheduled another Ok. State right now he would probably be castrated and left to die a slow death. The 9 game SEC schedule is inevitable and will probably cut MSU bowl appearances by 25-30% IMO so I`m 1000% against it but it`s coming probably in 2016.

 

[patdog]

The 9 game SEC schedule is inevitable

No. It is not. In fact, I really doubt it ever happens. The only thing that would move the SEC to a 9-game schedule would be if we started getting teams left out of the 4-team playoff due to strength of schedule. That's very unlikely to happen.

 

[RocketDawg]

Bama and LSU get that reputation because for the past couple or three years they've opened with very good competition. This year, it turns out that Va Tech isn't so hot. They almost got beat by Marshall this past weekend. Bama with WVa next year might not be so tough either. I believe they were shut out this weekend, and they almost got beat my William & Mary.

One could argue that our schedule this year is tougher than Bama's and LSU's has been so far, even with Bama playing A&M.

 

[Tomas Smid]

As I understand it, commencing with the 2014 season . . . . . .

teams will be selected by a committee for the national championship playoffs. As with selection for the NCAA basketball tournament, strength of schedule will be a factor. Regardless of whether the SEC stays at 8 or goes to 9 conference games, a team could be left out of the playoffs if its non-conference schedule does not measure up to par.

 

[patdog]

No question. If the SEC stays at 8 games, the top teams are going to have to schedule at least 1 tough OOC game every year. Which I think is the SEC's plan. We're already seeing more tough OOC games being scheduled. TCU, Oregon, Texas, UNC, Rutgers, Oklahoma St., Clemson, VA Tech this year, plus the traditional games against FSU, GA Tech & Clemson.

 

[DAWG61]

No question. If the SEC stays at 8 games, the top teams are going to have to schedule at least 1 tough OOC game every year. Which I think is the SEC's plan. We're already seeing more tough OOC games being scheduled. TCU, Oregon, Texas, UNC, Rutgers, Oklahoma St., Clemson, VA Tech this year, plus the traditional games against FSU, GA Tech & Clemson.

This^^^. The SECNetwork will schedule one "blackout" game a year for all 14 SEC teams (like Ole Miss/Texas was blacked out) and this game will most likely be vs a quality OOC opponent forcing the other states cable networks to add a fee to every cable subscriber in their respective states. Money people. A **** ton of money drives this decision. So go ahead and get the bitching out the way on OSU cause you're going to see MSU playing one of these games every year.

 

[patdog]

It won't just be OOC games. You're going to see a lot of the big SEC games on the SECN and not on ESPN to force cable networks to include the SECN in their basic tier nationwide. The first game on the SECN is going to be a Thursday night game between Texas A&M and South Carolina.

 

[FISHDAWG]

I agree ... just too many bowls out there that have SEC tie-ins