As the Southeastern Conference prepares to expand to 16 teams with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas, they were considering two scheduling paradigms either eight or nine conference games, and they've elected to defer. We know that they're staying at eight for the first year, that they're a 16 team league, but they don't yet know if that's going to be their final answer. So both of the scheduling models that were on the table were intended to combat the same challenge
Matt Cardenas
@SanedracSays · 2:51
And also there is, of course, just the argument that having less conference games in such a grueling conference increases odds of playoff appearances and national titles, though. But I do think nine games is coming, and that's something I'd like to see. I think it was Kirby Smart in the very early time of the announcement that Texas and Oklahoma were joining, he pointed out that they could do a nine conference game schedule in which every school has a neutral site game
Curtis Tarver
@cwt302 · 4:11
Now, I think who ought to be worried about a set of permanent opponents would be Auburn. They are almost assuredly going to get their iron bowl opponent and their deep south's oldest rivalry opponent. That gives them Alabama and Georgia on an annual basis, so that's not the most fun for them. But regardless, I'm sure that the conference is going back to the drawing board. I know there's probably politicking going about and like you said, once, texas and Oklahoma are voting members
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
phil spade
@Phil · 3:04
I don't know if that's the way the Ads will take a look at that, but it does kind of raise that question for me. It's the middle to bottom tier teams in the SEC that I think will be the most affected there. Do you get LSU? Do you get Texas? Oklahoma? Or can you avoid certain powerhouses in certain years and how do you fit that into your schedule to make sure that you're going to be bowl eligible
Matt Cardenas
@SanedracSays · 4:13
Hey, Phil, I think you brought up a lot of good points. And I think that's kind of the interesting thing about, from what I understand, how those meetings at the SEC meetings went, is that there was a lot of talk on adding that 9th Conference game could limit the number of teams that would be bowl eligible. Whereas you have a lot of those teams that kind of teeter on six and six, five and seven
Curtis Tarver
@cwt302 · 2:52
And those games might be the ones that fall by the wayside, or perhaps looking at it a different way, they may just sort of be transformed. So for example, of those three games I just mentioned, that LSU Florida State in particular sounds like a game that if we don't see it early in the season, we very well may end up seeing it in the playoffs. And of course, we're not talking about this coming year, we're not at twelve teams yet
phil spade
@Phil · 3:08
And Phil, you could schedule USC and Texas and Notre Dame and assume you're going to have a great team. You never really know for sure. You could have scheduled UCLA when Chip Kelly first got hired, not knowing that you're not going to have a bowl team that you're going to be playing until last year. Now, all that being said, I am a fan I think you mentioned this, but I am a fan of some of the, like the Georgia Georgia Tech game