SEC Scheduling

[T Town Tommy]

So to be 100% clear, you are saying that beating Southwest Wyoming State at home is better for recruiting than beating Ohio State at Ohio State. Man, all I can say is I completely disagree and you and I have vastly different ideas of what big-time wins do for a program vs playing nobodies in front of a bunch of fans that don't care about a gam whose outcome has already been determined. Peace.

To be 100% clear, read my post again. I don' think it is hard to understand. Alabama has plenty enough big time wins most years so I have a very good understanding of what big time wins and big time programs means.

 

[NDinL.A.]

To be 100% clear, read my post again. I don' think it is hard to understand. Alabama has plenty enough big time wins most years so I have a very good understanding of what big time wins and big time programs means.

You said, "That's exactly what I'm saying" as if what I said was your belief, and then went on a different tangent. The rest of your post didn't jive with your first sentence at all. Read my OP, and then read your response.

 

[T Town Tommy]

You said, "That's exactly what I'm saying" as if what I said was your belief, and then went on a different tangent. The rest of your post didn't jive with your first sentence at all. Read my OP, and then read your response.

Recruiting and money drive all things CFB. That includes scheduling. If playing Ohio State at their house would help us in recruiting, then I am all for it. If it doesn't, then we can maybe play them in the playoff. Pretty simple to me.

 

[Legacy]

Unembarrassed but Castigated

Unembarrassed but Castigated

by writers throughout the South for their feeble scheduling, the SEC continues to schedule only regional, weak sister opponents. Their fans should be embarrassed by scheduling the Mercers of the South, but they aren't really.

Consider this:
The SEC pitifully falls behind all the other major conferences in scheduling major non-conference opponents. The ACC (21 of 56, 37.5 percent), Big Ten (17 of 56, 30.4 percent), Pac 12 (10 of 37, 27 percent) and Big 12 (eight of 30, 26.7 percent) all play more such games than the SEC (19.6 percent).

Just imagine that your a SEC fan and your team plays one out of every five games against a non-conference team that's competitive. Boring.

Looking at those figures (ACC 37.5% vs SEC 19.6%), you have to figure that the major non-conference opponents of the SEC are probably only the ACC teams.

The few exceptions to this (LSU, Tenn and Vandy) make up most of the 19.6% major non-conference opponent scheduling. For the other eleven teams this type of scheduling is ingrained and inbred enough that their fans see nothing pathetic about it.

 

[T Town Tommy]

by writers throughout the South for their feeble scheduling, the SEC continues to schedule only regional, weak sister opponents. Their fans should be embarrassed by scheduling the Mercers of the South, but they aren't really.

Consider this:
The SEC pitifully falls behind all the other major conferences in scheduling major non-conference opponents. The ACC (21 of 56, 37.5 percent), Big Ten (17 of 56, 30.4 percent), Pac 12 (10 of 37, 27 percent) and Big 12 (eight of 30, 26.7 percent) all play more such games than the SEC (19.6 percent).

Just imagine that your a SEC fan and your team plays one out of every five games against a non-conference team that's competitive. Boring.

Looking at those figures (ACC 37.5% vs SEC 19.6%), you have to figure that the major non-conference opponents of the SEC are probably only the ACC teams.

The few exceptions to this (LSU, Tenn and Vandy) make up most of the 19.6% major non-conference opponent scheduling. For the other eleven teams this type of scheduling is ingrained and inbred enough that their fans see nothing pathetic about it.

Just imagine how boring it would be if Bama played in any other conference. Enjoy.

 

[Legacy]

Just imagine how boring it would be if Bama played in any other conference. Enjoy.

That would be awesome. To see them face the USCs, Stanfords, Oregons or the Baylors, Oklahomas, TCUs every year. But Alabama is the anchor that keeps the SEC from drying up and blowing away. The only exception is LSU, who is one of the few teams that will play outside the South. (If they ever find a QB)

Auburn, South Carolina, A&M, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Vandy, etc - fearsome. (Wow. That looks like Alabama's schedule this year - plus the SoCon and Sun Belt teams.)

 

[T Town Tommy]

That would be awesome. To see them face the USCs, Stanfords, Oregons or the Baylors, Oklahomas, TCUs every year. But Alabama is the anchor that keeps the SEC from drying up and blowing away. The only exception is LSU, who is one of the few teams that will play outside the South.

Auburn, South Carolina, A&M, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Vandy, etc - fearsome.

Because all them other conferences are so tough? Not quite following that logic. But hey... you keep doing what you are doing. Have a great day friend.

 

[Legacy]

Because all them other conferences are so tough? Not quite following that logic. But hey... you keep doing what you are doing. Have a great day friend.

Logic and statistics are not your strong points, especially when they clash with scheduling the Mercers.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Logic and statistics are not your strong points, especially when they clash with scheduling the Mercers.

Really dude? Your strong points are what? The fact that the teams in the division we play in went 5-1 in their bowl games against other conferences and won those five games by a margin of at least 21 points in each game. Or... I guess you will pick the A&M loss to bolster your position. Or the fact that the conference set a record for bowl wins this past season AND won the national title. Give me a break. We beat the B1G champ like a rented mule and then beat the ACC champ as well. Bama played and beat how many teams that went to bowl games last season? And on and on.

No son... logic and statistics are not on your side.

But you keep crying about the conference that has dominated CFB for the last decade and I will keep laughing my ass off about it. Now run along and get downstairs... your cereal is getting soggy. Enjoy.

 

[Legacy]

SEC over the last decade

SEC over the last decade

SEC regular season record when they play away games out of the South is 10-10. (all opponents)

SEC West
-- Ala (0)
-- Auburn (1, W)
-- Arkansas (1, L)
-- Miss (1, W)
-- Miss St (1, L)
-- LSU (3, 3-0)

SEC East
-- Florida (0)
-- South Carolina (0)
-- Kentucky (0)
-- Georgia (3, 1-2)
-- Tennessee (4, 0-4)
-- Vanderbilt (7, 4-3)

I did not expect this few games - 21 out of 240 non-conference games outside the South. (8.75 %)

Nine of these twenty-one games were against G-5 teams (Fresno State, UMass, UConn, Rice, Miami (O), Houston, and Rutgers and West Virginia(2) (when both were in the Big East)

Only 12 of 240 games were played against Power 5 teams (5.4%). That's pathetic as is their record.

SEC's regular season record against P-5 teams in games played outside of the South was 4-8. Only five SEC teams played P5 opponents out of the South over the last decade.
Auburn - 1, win (Kansas State)
Vanderbilt - 2, both losses (Northwestern, Michigan)
LSU - 2, both wins (Syracuse, Washington)
Georgia - 3 (Colorado - Loss, Oklahoma St - Loss, Arizona State - Win)
Tennessee - 4, all losses (Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA, Cal)

Winning only 4 games against P5 teams played outside of their region is pitiful and the worst in college football. If not for LSU, their record would be 2-8. (Auburn and Georgia are the only other SEC teams who won a game.)

 

[Bishop2b5]

All schools are trying to maximize their results in some combination of wins, recruiting, championships and money. What works best for Alabama may not be what works best for ND and vice-versa. What works best for a major program certainly isn't the same as what works best for a smaller program.

As a fan, I'd love to see my team play more home & away series with other major programs from all over the country. When I was a freshman at Bama, we played Nebraska, USC, Missouri and Washington. The year before we visited USC and Nebraska. During my later years at Bama we had a home & away series with PSU. We played a lot more home & away series against other top programs in those days, but the landscape of CFB is different now.

As a fan I'd like to see us go to Norman, South Bend, Eugene, Columbus, Ann Arbor, or Los Angeles on a regular basis. From a cost/benefit standpoint though, it's hard to find a good reason to do so. We aren't going to get more recruits by playing a home & away series against Michigan than we would by playing two neutral site games against major programs in Dallas or Atlanta. We probably make as much money or more by playing those neutral site games than we would in a home & away series. We certainly don't need to play them to improve our SOS so we don't get left out of the playoffs or a major bowl. Our SOS is already strong enough that it certainly hasn't hurt us to play Charleston Southern in Tuscaloosa instead of traveling to East Lansing or Stanford. What it comes down to is what would playing more home & away series against major programs from outside of the South get us that we don't already have now?

Whether you & I might like it to be different, it's hard to argue with the results of how we do it. SEC teams have won 8 of the past 10 national championships and Bama has won 4 of the past 7. Our SOS is consistently one of the strongest in CFB. We've brought in 6 consecutive #1 recruiting classes and 8 consecutive top 5 classes. We've been amongst the top 5 programs in the country for the past several years in total revenue and profitability. Forbes just released an article yesterday showing that Bama football generated $95,132,301 in revenue in 2015, the most ever by any single team in the history of college sports.

What we're doing might or might not work for you or another school because every program has its own unique needs, goals and conditions it has to operate under. Regardless of how much I, as a fan, would like to see us play more home & away series and travel outside the South more often, our way of doing it seems to be working quite well at producing the desired performance & financial results.

 

[NDbrbkny]

SEC regular season record when they play away games out of the South is 10-10. (all opponents)

SEC West
-- Ala (0)
-- Auburn (1, W)
-- Arkansas (1, L)
-- Miss (1, W)
-- Miss St (1, L)
-- LSU (3, 3-0)

SEC East
-- Florida (0)
-- South Carolina (0)
-- Kentucky (0)
-- Georgia (3, 1-2)
-- Tennessee (4, 0-4)
-- Vanderbilt (7, 4-3)

I did not expect this few games - 21 out of 240 non-conference games outside the South. (8.75 %)

Nine of these twenty-one games were against G-5 teams (Fresno State, UMass, UConn, Rice, Miami (O), Houston, and Rutgers and West Virginia(2) (when both were in the Big East)

Only 12 of 240 games were played against Power 5 teams (5.4%). That's pathetic as is their record.

SEC's regular season record against P-5 teams in games played outside of the South was 4-8. Only five SEC teams played P5 opponents out of the South over the last decade.
Auburn - 1, win (Kansas State)
Vanderbilt - 2, both losses (Northwestern, Michigan)
LSU - 2, both wins (Syracuse, Washington)
Georgia - 3 (Colorado - Loss, Oklahoma St - Loss, Arizona State - Win)
Tennessee - 4, all losses (Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA, Cal)

Winning only 4 games against P5 teams played outside of their region is pitiful and the worst in college football. If not for LSU, their record would be 2-8. (Auburn and Georgia are the only other SEC teams who won a game.)

dont forget lsu's 2 games in 2010-2011 vs west virginia or are you calculating differently?

 

[Legacy]

dont forget lsu's 2 games in 2010-2011 vs west virginia or are you calculating differently?

A bit differently, NDbrbkny, because I counted only the away games and discounted the one in Morgantown because WVa was a Big East member at the time. Rutgers was in the American Conference when they beat Arkansas. (I almost included both until I realized the dates.)

Nine of these twenty-one games were against G-5 teams (Fresno State, UMass, UConn, Rice, Miami (O), Houston, and Rutgers and West Virginia(2) (when both were in the Big East)

The SEC has lost three games to non-P5 teams in the last decade (outside the South) -- Arkansas to Rutgers (24-28) in '13, Mississippi State to WVa (13-38) in '07 (also when in the Big East) and Vanderbilt lost to Houston (0-34) last year.

Overall, 10-10. Thanks for checking on me. Here's a good source for historical scores If you catch anything I missed, let me know.

 

[Legacy]

Spurrier: Texas A&M Hasn’t Played the “Bigger Teams” (August 14, 2014)

“They haven’t played the bigger teams so their schedule has been a little misleading...Then in 2013, the Aggies played Rice, Sam Houston State, SMU, and UTEP, all at Kyle Field. Those four opponents, Spurrier scoffed, are “barely Division I.”

This season, Texas A&M is set to host Lamar, Rice, and ULM and travel to SMU.

Spurrier again referenced the dormant Texas-Texas A&M rivalry.

“I find it interesting that they quit playing Texas,” Spurrier said. “They played Texas 115 years like we have played Clemson and then they left that Big 12 conference and both schools got mad at each other and said, ‘We aren’t going to play you anymore.’ It would be like us and Clemson saying we are not playing anymore. Our whole state would go crazy. The governor would get involved in that.”

Sumlin poked back after beating S.Carolina 52-28 in Week 1 '14.

A&M has added home-and-homes with UCLA for '16 and '17, with Clemson for '18 and '19, Colorado '20 & '21 and ND for '24 and '25 (and Arizona State last year at a "neutral site" in Houston). Sumlin and Charlie Strong want to renew the A&M-Texas rivalry.

 

[Legacy]

All schools are trying to maximize their results in some combination of wins, recruiting, championships and money. What works best for Alabama may not be what works best for ND and vice-versa. What works best for a major program certainly isn't the same as what works best for a smaller program.

As a fan, I'd love to see my team play more home & away series with other major programs from all over the country. When I was a freshman at Bama, we played Nebraska, USC, Missouri and Washington. The year before we visited USC and Nebraska. During my later years at Bama we had a home & away series with PSU. We played a lot more home & away series against other top programs in those days, but the landscape of CFB is different now.

As a fan I'd like to see us go to Norman, South Bend, Eugene, Columbus, Ann Arbor, or Los Angeles on a regular basis. From a cost/benefit standpoint though, it's hard to find a good reason to do so....

What we're doing might or might not work for you or another school because every program has its own unique needs, goals and conditions it has to operate under. Regardless of how much I, as a fan, would like to see us play more home & away series and travel outside the South more often, our way of doing it seems to be working quite well at producing the desired performance & financial results.

Though I might not share the same conclusions as Bishop, he articulates well so many valid points in scheduling overall and in SEC scheduling, in general. Bishop does so in a manner that respects our differences of opinion. Every conference in college football today has its own framework for scheduling - P5 games, FCS games, strength of G5 teams, playing regional competition, travel for away games, maintaining rivalries, maximizing bowl teams, neutral site games, etc. Teams within conferences and within that framework have the obligation to commit to scheduling that suits their needs and meets their individual goals. Scheduling other P5 teams usually means accounting for and perhaps compromising on those goals Georgia adds home-and-homes with Notre Dame to their traditional rivalry game with Ga Tech for two years, while ND fills precious September spots and plays the closest thing to FCS, New Mexico, prior to one of those games (Temple the other year). Neither team would play each other without that mutual respect from each other and to each other's fans. Either team could choose to have a lighter schedule, but such a game is great for today's college football as have been our games with Texas and Oklahoma and as will be our games with Michigan State and Texas A&M. Arguably, our five ACC games and our three annual rivalries (USC, Navy and even Stanford) account for eight of our twelve games, also. Fortunately for us, we are satisfied with how we schedule. B2b5 and 3T are mostly satisfied, though they each have said they would like to eliminate FCS games and play more home and homes with national powers ideally. My Dawg cousin and I disagree on the same lines, but both of us are looking forward to that matchup and are glad we get to play in our legendary stadiums. A win for both of us. Both Georgia and Notre Dame could have scheduled lighter opponents and improved their performance goals while maintaining their financial gains. IMO there's just too little of that commitment to challenging non-conference games.

 

[Legacy]

Changes or is the past prologue?

Changes or is the past prologue?

Here are the results of future SEC team's scheduling games outside of the South with comparison to how they scheduled these games over the past decade. The SEC has now required all teams must play one P5 non-conference opponent a year.

SEC West
Team -- Games outside the South from 2006-15 -- future games scheduled
Alabama - 0 games in the last decade, 0 games scheduled (Neutral site games only) - non-conference schedule complete through 2018
Arkansas - 1 (Rutgers) -- 1 (Michigan '18) - schedule complete through 2019
Auburn - 1 (K-State) -- 1 (Cal '21) - schedule complete through 2021 except for 2018
Mississippi - 1 (Fresno State) - 1 (Cal '17) - complete through 2020
LSU - 3 (Syracuse, W.Va, Washington) - 3 (Wisc '16, UCLA '21, Ariz St '22) - complete through 2024
Mississippi State - 1 (West Va) - 4 (UMass, BYU '16, K St '18, Ariz St '22) - complete through 2023

Texas A&M - not member for full decade - 3 (UCLA '17, Colo '21, ND ' 25) - complete through 2021

Totals - SEC West in past decade (2006-15) played 7 games outside the South with only three games against P5 teams (does not include A&M). Future games - those same six SEC West teams have scheduled 10 games outside the South so far with nine of those games against P5 teams. (A&M adds another three games - all P5 teams - to those totals.)

Conclusion: Overall, the SEC West is scheduling more of these games and more against P5 teams. Much of that is Mississippi State's increase of three additional P5 games. The other five teams do not show much changes except that Arkansas and Ole Miss are substituting P5 games for G5 games.

 

[Legacy]

Changing or Past is Prologue?

Changing or Past is Prologue?

Here are the results of future SEC team's scheduling games outside of the South with comparison to how they scheduled these games over the past decade. The SEC has now required all teams must play one P5 non-conference opponent a year.

SEC East
Unlike the SEC West, the SEC East has four teams with annual games against in-state rivals - Florida (Florida State), Georgia (Ga Tech), Kentucky (Louisville) and South Carolina (Clemson).

Team -- Games outside the South from 2006-15 -- future games scheduled outside the South
Florida -- 0 -- 0 -- Non-conference schedule complete through 2020
South Carolina -- 0 -- 0 -- Non-conference schedule complete through 2024
Kentucky -- 0 -- 1 (Eastern Michigan) -- Nonconference schedule complete through 2019
Georgia -- 3 (Colorado, Oklahoma St, Arizona State) -- 2 (ND '17, UCLA '25) - Nonconference schedule complete through 2026
Tennessee -- 4 (Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA, Cal) -- 1 (Pitt '22) -- non-conference schedule complete through 2018
Vanderbilt - 7 (Houston, UMass, NW, UConn, Rice, Miami (O), Michigan) -- 4 (Purdue '19, K-State '20, N.Ill '22, Stanford '24) -- Non-conference schedule complete through 2025 except opening in 2018

Missouri -- Not member full decade -- 5 (W.Va '16, UConn '17, Purdue '18, Wyoming '19, BYU '20) -- Non-conference schedule complete through 2020.

Totals - SEC East in past decade (2006-15) played 14 games outside the South with nine games against P5 teams (does not include Missouri). Future games - those same six SEC West teams have scheduled 8 games outside the South so far with six of those games against P5 teams (ND & UCLA (Ga), Pitt (Tenn), Purdue, K-State, & Stanford (Vandy). (Missouri adds another five games - three are P5 teams (W.Va, Purdue, BYU) - to those totals.)

Conclusion: there's no improvement in many of the SEC East teams' scheduling these types of games - in fact, it's worse. Three teams (Florida, South Carolina and Kentucky) have scheduled no games against P5 teams outside the South. Three teams (Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Georgia) are actually scheduling less of these games and less P5 opponents. While there are years remaining to be scheduled, mostly for Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee, we probably will not see much scheduling behavior change for Florida and Kentucky.

 

[kmoose]

Recruiting and money drive all things CFB. That includes scheduling. If playing Ohio State at their house would help us in recruiting, then I am all for it. If it doesn't, then we can maybe play them in the playoff. Pretty simple to me.

Ok......... but then explain to me how playing Chattanooga(2016), Charleston Southern(2015), Florida Atlantic (2014), Georgia State(2013), or Florida Atlantic(2012) benefit Alabama's recruiting or cash flow in ways that playing Ohio State wouldn't?

 

[T Town Tommy]

Ok......... but then explain to me how playing Chattanooga(2016), Charleston Southern(2015), Florida Atlantic (2014), Georgia State(2013), or Florida Atlantic(2012) benefit Alabama's recruiting or cash flow in ways that playing Ohio State wouldn't?

I have stated that the only team in that geographical region that it would make any sense for Bama to play would be Ohio State. I have stated a home and home with the Buckeyes would be beneficial to both Bama and Ohio State. Thought I was clear on that....

Since we now have the former asst coach at Va on staff and we have been making some inroads in the Mid-Atlantic states, I could see a home and home with a team from that area as well. Otherwise, Bama's overall schedule is as tough as anyone's in the nation most every year. I think it is a little self serving to ask Bama to open with a typical top 10-15 non conference opponent most years - even on a neutral site - and then turn around and play another top 10-15 school as one of their remaining OOC games... AND THEN have to play the teams in the SEC that they play. If every team in the country would play that type of schedule, then that would be great. The problem is... they don't. They aren't even close. Money and recruiting... pretty simple in the end.

 

[Legacy]

Scheduling non-SEC games can mean 'bargaining and begging' for Alabama

"You know, we don't have a lot of choices," Saban said Monday. "It's not like going into a restaurant and getting a menu and saying 'OK, we can play these 24 different teams. Which one do you want to play?' Most of the time, we're bargaining and begging to get anybody to play us. So we don't always have a lot of choice."

Florida details Jim McElwain buyout: $3M to Colorado State, $2M guarantee game, $2M from McElwain

Additionally, the Gators are on the hook for more than $6 million due to Will Muschamp, thanks to his "stepping down," so this coaching change seems likely to cost the Gators eight digits even before McElwain's base salary — likely somewhere between $3 million and $4 million — is factored into the accounting.

Florida's $2 million buyout game with Colorado State is scheduled for 9/15/2018.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Scheduling non-SEC games can mean 'bargaining and begging' for Alabama

I'm gonna call BS on Saban's response here. The reason he has a difficult time getting a quality FBS opponent on the schedule is the insistence that the game is a home game only for Bama. The neutral site game Bama opens with each year makes it to where Bama wants to play another non conference game at home. That's why I loathe neutral site games - not to mention the travel costs, etc. Saban and Bama needs to either find quality FBS teams willing to settle for an away game or be willing to lose a home game every season or so in order to get a good home and home set up against a team that would benefit both Bama and that particular team.

 

[Legacy]

I can see Saban's point. He (has to) operates under the framework of a 7-4-1 scheduling model (7 home games, 4 away, 1 neutral site game). The four home games have to be SEC opponents. The neutral site game has to be in September. The FCS SoCal game has to be in November before the Auburn game (An open date proceeds the LSU game). He doesn't want to interrupt the conference scheduling. He does not want to play two strong FBS teams, which would probably mean a home-and-home.

So, Saban needs to get two G5 opponents to come to Tuscaloosa in September. Other conferences want the same, but can be a bit more flexible with their scheduling model or timing.

Saban has argued towards a nine game conference schedule, which would help that. He also argues that scheduling would help with SOS. But he was outvoted 13-1. The rest of the SEC then also competes for those G5 teams in September.

Payouts for G5 teams now are about $1.5 million or more. Alabama's payout for USC in Arlington is $6.5 million and for Florida State in Atlanta is $5 million. For his other three non-conference opponents, they pay $1 million to the FCS school and almost $3 million per for the two G5 games. (Link)

The annual totals (about $4 mill) for the three other non-conference games is squeezing the neutral site game payout ($5-6.5 mill). There's no financial benefit to home-and-home games with Ohio State, for instance, which loses a home game within those two games and increases risk for a loss even if it eliminates a G5 payout. So, the "bargaining and begging" remark to negotiate prices and times and competing with other schools.

That also accounts for teams like Mercer starting football and signing with Alabama after five years of existence. Maybe they take less for the beating.

 

[Bishop2b5]

I think most of this is just much ado about nothing. Really, what difference does it make to anyone if Bama or other SEC teams schedule an FCS opponent each season? What difference does it make if SEC teams don't play outside the South often?

We play one of the toughest schedules in CFB most years. What difference does it make then if we toss in a game against an FCS school or if we play most of our games in our region? I truly have a very difficult time understanding why any of this is so upsetting to some of you or why you even worry about it. What difference does it make to you or your program?

ND's situation - not being in a conference and having a built-in 8-9 game conference schedule - means you guys have to travel in order to put together a strong schedule. Nothing wrong with that, but it's something that's unique to your situation, not everyone else's. If we play a sufficiently strong schedule, what difference does it make if we play it all in the South or criss-cross the country each week? It's not any different than us complaining that you guys don't play a tough conference schedule like we do. The bottom line is that each program's needs, goals, and situation are different and complaining that everyone else doesn't do it your way is rather silly.

 

[Irishcop]

I'm gonna call BS on Saban's response here. The reason he has a difficult time getting a quality FBS opponent on the schedule is the insistence that the game is a home game only for Bama. The neutral site game Bama opens with each year makes it to where Bama wants to play another non conference game at home. That's why I loathe neutral site games - not to mention the travel costs, etc. Saban and Bama needs to either find quality FBS teams willing to settle for an away game or be willing to lose a home game every season or so in order to get a good home and home set up against a team that would benefit both Bama and that particular team.

I have been to the Georgia Florida game several times and it's been a blast. But it's more like a Florida home game. I wish they would just make it a home and home set up.

 

[Legacy]

Bishop,
It really doesn't make a difference to me how Alabama or the rest of the SEC teams schedule. For my part, I wanted to quantify some of the opinions expressed. As for my links, Saban, Auburn on their scheduling, Al.com and the AJC, to mention a few, each have their opinions on SEC scheduling. You do. We do.

I am not "complaining" nor do I think that everyone should do it ND's way. I appreciate Irishcop's contribution, which indicates to me that more teams' fans would like to play SEC teams at home for the experience. Home-and-home is ideal, but may not fit within a scheduling model, financial or performance goals, or any of the other factors mentioned.

Notre Dame does not criss-cross the country to improve their SOS, but for many reasons. One reason is because we have a national alumni base, subway alumni and following.

Which topics related to the SEC would you think merit discussion on IE? You could start a new thread, if we don't have one.

 

[NDbrbkny]

Am i wrong in saying the SEC such as Tennessee and GA should schedule Michigan to shut up the smack talking?

 

[Bishop2b5]

Legacy, my post wasn't intended for you specifically. More of just a general observation. I very much enjoy & appreciate all the stats & info you share with us on this and other matters.

 

[kmoose]

I have stated that the only team in that geographical region that it would make any sense for Bama to play would be Ohio State. I have stated a home and home with the Buckeyes would be beneficial to both Bama and Ohio State. Thought I was clear on that....

Since we now have the former asst coach at Va on staff and we have been making some inroads in the Mid-Atlantic states, I could see a home and home with a team from that area as well. Otherwise, Bama's overall schedule is as tough as anyone's in the nation most every year. I think it is a little self serving to ask Bama to open with a typical top 10-15 non conference opponent most years - even on a neutral site - and then turn around and play another top 10-15 school as one of their remaining OOC games... AND THEN have to play the teams in the SEC that they play. If every team in the country would play that type of schedule, then that would be great. The problem is... they don't. They aren't even close. Money and recruiting... pretty simple in the end.

I just wanted to know what advantage Chattanooga brings, in terms of money and recruiting, that Ohio State wouldn't....

 

[Irishcop]

I just wanted to know what advantage Chattanooga brings, in terms of money and recruiting, that Ohio State wouldn't....

I wonder how much money was made last year when it seemed half the state of Texas traveled to ND for the game. I'm pretty sure Chattanooga doesn't have a fan base close to Texas, but I could be wrong.

 

[Legacy]

Michaux: SEC schedule has wrong mix again Opinion article by Augusta, Georgia journalist (August 1, 2015)

The Southeastern Conference is mixing up a batch of weak tea and presenting it as a fine southern whiskey.
With unquestionably the lamest non-conference football schedule of any major league, the SEC will rely on its reputation to impress the playoff selection committee. It’s a recipe that has worked and may keep on working until someone calls its bluff.

SEC folks will argue that this is going to change in 2016, but that’s not really true. When the league opted to stick with its eight-game conference schedule last year, it implemented a rule starting next season that will require each team to schedule at least one opponent from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten or Pac-12.
All that means is that the Mississippi teams will have to stop dodging quality outside opponents and Vandy will lock in peers games with the Dukes, Wake Forests and Northwesterns of the “Power” realm.
Unlike the Big Ten, the SEC won’t stop scheduling Division I-AA programs (13 are on the schedule this season). And it won’t join the Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten in playing nine-game conference slates.
So you won’t see any appreciable difference in future scheduling. Alabama will keep playing a marquee neutral-site opener (Wisconsin this year) with the faith that a win will grease the playoff track while a loss will be forgotten come December. Most other name programs will replicate the ’Bama template.
South Carolina, Georgia and Florida will continue to be the only marketable SEC programs to venture into deeper waters, adding second power matchups (when it suits them) to the existing annual rivalry games against quality ACC foes.

Until the SEC gets the message, it will keep serving the same predictable weak tea. All it would take is adding a ninth conference game instead of that extra cupcake to boost the flavor for programs and fans alike.
But as long as we keep buying the same diluted formula, nothing will change.