What does Sankey do? 3 consecutive years, no SEC champ

OrangeRock21 said:

What does he plan for his state of the union? Other leagues have passed his in the NIL era. "If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying" is not the advantage it used to be.

You could make that argument for the Big 10. What if Miami wins? Are you going to say the ACC has passed us as well?

They would have a champion since he's had one. I don't know the answer. I think the field has been leveled more for uprisings than anyone could have imagined.

Well going to the 9 game SEC schedule certainly doesn't help. Every single decision in college football at all levels is made about money. The winning is a secondary concern.

OneParticularHarbour said:

Well going to the 9 game SEC schedule certainly doesn't help. Every single decision in college football at all levels is made about money. The winning is a secondary concern.

Why are yall so scared of this 9 sec games? Yall rather play UT Martin or something

9 game sec schedule is lunacy with this format.

Push for more consolidation with Big10 to form a two-division super league to push out the threat of the occasional well-funded rogue programs in other conferences like Texas Tech and Miami. They will splinter off and then just make the athletes employees so that a collective bargaining agreement can come in and put a cap on how much players can make and where that money can come from (just like the professional leagues).

QB play has been lackluster. Best QB transformed Vandy. They just didn't have the surrounding cast.

I have never understood why he hasn’t pushed for a yearly sec/big 10 challenge in football. Would be great for the sport.

SEC had its time and will again someday in the future.

OneParticularHarbour said:

Well going to the 9 game SEC schedule certainly doesn't help. Every single decision in college football at all levels is made about money. The winning is a secondary concern.

However it happened, he has presided over the league during the time BIGX became the best conference with the best TV contract. Hard to see that changing anytime soon.

OrangeRock21 said:

What does he plan for his state of the union? Other leagues have passed his in the NIL era. "If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying" is not the advantage it used to be.

"How can we restart the Bama dynasty" isn't a keynote I would like to hear. I'm ok with the SEC not winning every year, thanks.

Things are cyclical. And now that pay is legal (and not based on under the table shenanigans), some of these B1G schools and Miami and Texas Tech and the private schools (Duke, Vandy, Northwestern, SMU) are open for business. Not sure there is much Sankey can do about not having the most money at the casino at the moment.

PrimeTimeVol87 said:

Why are yall so scared of this 9 sec games? Yall rather play UT Martin or something

Yup. The Big10 and ACC schedules outside of 2-3 games a year is a cakewalk. The SEC already had the toughest schedule and we made it worse. These other conference arrive at the playoffs much fresher than the beat up SEC teams.

OrangeRock21 said:

What does he plan for his state of the union? Other leagues have passed his in the NIL era. "If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying" is not the advantage it used to be.

Get no complaints from me. The rest of the SEC can go kick rocks.

I think Sankey is getting run over by the committee and he's taking it because the SEC is getting the money for the five teams in it. I hate Alabama as much as the next guy, but they deserved to be in it, just as Oklahoma did. Where Sankey laid down and took it was when they seeded Oregon at five and Ole Miss at six. That forced a matchup of SEC teams in the quarters (to go along with the bama/oklahoma 8/9 game). The Big 10 was set up by the seeding committee to be successful. No matchups against each other until the semi finals and no matchups vs SEC until then. Ole Miss and Oregon had the exact same record (11-1). Oregon played one playoff team and lost by ten at home. Ole Miss played three and went 2-1(8 pt loss to georgia on the road, 8 pt win against OK on the road and 35 point win against Tulane at home). If the seeding of those two are reversed, we would very likely have had Ole Miss vs IU and Georgia vs Miami in the semi finals

Guess he should of been in on goaline defense last night for ole piss and got Beck’s ass to the ground… Bleed orange and personality couldn’t care less about the success of another SEC program

OneParticularHarbour said:

Yup. The Big10 and ACC schedules outside of 2-3 games a year is a cakewalk. The SEC already had the toughest schedule and we made it worse. These other conference arrive at the playoffs much fresher than the beat up SEC teams.

Looking at the last couple of years, I don’t think this argument holds nearly as much water as it did in 2016. The middle of the B1G in particular hasn’t fared badly head to head post COVID. That gap has narrowed significantly.

However I was rooting for Ole Miss solely for the fact I wanted it out there Lane Kiffin quit on national champion to chase championships….

OneParticularHarbour said:

Yup. The Big10 and ACC schedules outside of 2-3 games a year is a cakewalk. The SEC already had the toughest schedule and we made it worse. These other conference arrive at the playoffs much fresher than the beat up SEC teams.

The middle of the pack B1G teams are much closer to being equal to the middle of the pack SEC teams than they’ve been in years.

Good players (top end talent) is being spread thinner among SEC schools because there are more SEC teams competitive enough to attract those players. The BIG10 only has a few, Big12 a couple, ACC a couple, etc. SEC still has most talent in its conference, it’s just dispersed out more among more teams IMO

PrimeTimeVol87 said:

Why are yall so scared of this 9 sec games? Yall rather play UT Martin or something

because 12 SEC teams had the top 15 toughest schedules last year. When that is the case with 8 and you add one more team to that already brutal gauntlet, it takes a toll. So the SEC has beat each other up all year and the B1G has played maybe 2 or 3 tough teams with a 40th ranked strength of schedule and coasted into the playoffs relatively unscathed. They're able to sit starters at halftime of most of their games including B1G matchups, you can't do that in SEC play, even against the lower tier SEC schools. so, yes, it is a huge deal.

dubp17 said:

9 game sec schedule is lunacy with this format.

Instead of a 9 game SEC Schedule. He should of pushed the Big 10 to do a Big 10/SEC Challenge every year.......as that would have forced the Big 10 to play a tougher schedule........ Having the 2nd best TV contract is also lunacy.......SEC TV ratings smashes the big 10s.......

DrTNT said:

because 12 SEC teams had the top 15 toughest schedules last year. When that is the case with 8 and you add one more team to that already brutal gauntlet, it takes a toll. So the SEC has beat each other up all year and the B1G has played maybe 2 or 3 tough teams with a 40th ranked strength of schedule and coasted into the playoffs relatively unscathed. They're able to sit starters at halftime of most of their games including B1G matchups, you can't do that in SEC play, even against the lower tier SEC schools. so, yes, it is a huge deal.

It is what it is. I love watching the playoffs and would love to see UT make a run at some point, but regular season SEC football is still my favorite sport to watch, so I love it. This is not NCAA basketball to me where the only thing that matters is the tourney.

Sankey's biggest mistake was to allow the clock changes that resulted in lower possessions per game. That directly benefits B1G teams who play a slower, ball control type of game. It's what Miami did last night. Completely neutered HUNH stuff. Keeps slower teams in games. Keeps teams with questionable depth in games. Makes going to games miserable because you wait around for commercials half the real time spent in stadium... CFB variety is what made the game fun IMO. The chase for money isn't always a chase you need to make. Then you have rev share, where the yankee's do indeed have more money. Why level the field, on field, like that? It's worth noting that the days of Bama and UGA dynasties are over. No way to effectively stack talent and pay it. You end up with roughly 25-32 teams competing for all the talent to actually win a championship, who all play a similar style that is dictated by your budget as much as creativity. I don't like NFL for a reason. Last thought: if the meta for the game is shifting to ground/pound + defense, Vols are going to have to play more like 24 than 22 or 25. Diminishing returns on scoring fast and being explosive. Get ready, we're going back to the 90's/00's.