What do you think about Spurrier's idea to use division records
- Thread starter patdog
- Start date
S
Sauron
Guest
It won't gain any traction. Can't blame him for wanting to not let his West side whippings enter into the picture.
There's some validity to the argument.
For example, let's compare our schedule with Alabama's from last year...
- We played each other, of course.
- Both teamsplayed the remaining Western division opponents LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, and Ole Miss.
- Alabama played Florida, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee.
- We played Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky.
So, fromeight SEC games, nearly half are completely different. Of course, this is an extreme example (in fact, it's the ONLY example of it in the West, oddly enough).You'll generally share at least one common non-division opponent(and sometimes two) withthe other teams in the division.But the point stands: your "luck" in scheduling can play a huge part.
That said, I wouldn't want the division winner to be determined first by division record. That would effectivelysplit the SEC into two conferences.I think it's sufficient enough that it's the first tie-breaker after head-to-head.
For example, let's compare our schedule with Alabama's from last year...
- We played each other, of course.
- Both teamsplayed the remaining Western division opponents LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, and Ole Miss.
- Alabama played Florida, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee.
- We played Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky.
So, fromeight SEC games, nearly half are completely different. Of course, this is an extreme example (in fact, it's the ONLY example of it in the West, oddly enough).You'll generally share at least one common non-division opponent(and sometimes two) withthe other teams in the division.But the point stands: your "luck" in scheduling can play a huge part.
That said, I wouldn't want the division winner to be determined first by division record. That would effectivelysplit the SEC into two conferences.I think it's sufficient enough that it's the first tie-breaker after head-to-head.
I think it is good to go to division records if you need to break a tie within the division - such as if 2 teams both finished 6-2 in conference then go to divisional records to see who goes to Atlanta, but to not count cross divisional games would be completely ludicrous.
South Carolina would have been in the title game if they had beaten a mediocre Auburn team in Columbia. Everything else is excuses.
Otherwise, there is no point in scheduling the 3 other non-division games? Get rid of those and schedule 2 cupcakes and 1 decent team and inflate your record for bowl purposes.
There's no perfect system when the math doesn't allow fairness. You just have to assume it all evens out in the long-term with some folks having something to ***** about every now and again.
There's no perfect system when the math doesn't allow fairness. You just have to assume it all evens out in the long-term with some folks having something to ***** about every now and again.
Each year, some teams are going to get more favorable cross-divisional matchups. As long as there is one team in each division good enough to knock-off one of the top two teams from the other divisions (which would apply most years), either side could end up with a divisional winner that's there in large part because it avoided the best team(s) from the other division.
Everyone has 3 permanent opponents and rotates 5 of the other 10. Top two play for conference title. OR go with 9 conference games and no CCG. Add an 8 or 16 team NCAA playoff so a team screwed by an unfair schedule still can play for the title.
Now there's only 2 games against the other division each year. Before you could theoretically have a 5-3 team going to the title game over a 7-1 team. You're right, there's no perfect system. I don't like that the cross-division schedule are often very unequal, but I also don't like not counting conference games. Pretty sure we'll just continue like we are.
conference record in your division and still go to the title game. And that would be very unlikely. Even if it did happen, would that be less fair than a team that goes undefeated in their division not making the title game just because they had to play the top 2 teams in the other division while the 2nd best team got to play the bottom 2?
a west team and an east team and using out ofdivision results. if you're going to have an east and west then it only makes sense tolet the division record determine the division champ. if spurrier is looking for 'fair" then the two best teams overallshould go to atlanta, screw where they are located. any other system...what we have now or any permutation thereof, is artificial and bogus.