Superconferences & Realignment

[Irish#1]

The conference realignment has always sucks and is getting worse imo... regionality was a great part of cfb for decades... but whatever. One good thing that can come of all this is UTEP is pushing for a Mountain West move. That would actually make more regional sense and would help the bottom line of the athletic department also... but it may not happen.

And when you had a team travel a ways to play out of the region, it made those game more interesting and fun to watch.

 

[Irish#1]

As the conference reach expands it inflates the costs for smaller schools to travel for games too. This is why many have to take a game against the P5 to pay the bills.

Not CFB related, but I read where the Big East is talking to Gonzaga about becoming a member. The vast majority of the Big East are east cost teams with a handful in the Midwest. It will take an Einstein to figure out the travel plans if that were to happen and the travel costs would be crazy.

 

[Rogue219]

All I know is I'm going to enjoy watching Texas get their dicks knocked into the dirt when they join the SEC. Loads of fun headed our way.

 

[IRISHMAN]

All I know is I'm going to enjoy watching Texas get their dicks knocked into the dirt when they join the SEC. Loads of fun headed our way.

totally agree. UT & OU will make a lot of money in the SEC but i believe that their football programs will take a hit. not sure i see OU doing much better than A&M in the SEC.

 

[zelezo vlk]

My buddy who's a Longhorn loves the move to the SEC. I asked if he really would prefer going 9-3 every year to being the big fish in a small pond. "Yup, as long as we get to play good teams every year, sounds like an upgrade!" I'm now downgrading that record to 8-4...

 

[IRISHMAN]

once OU & UT leave the big12 i wonder if the Big12 can still be considered a power 5 football conference.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

My buddy who's a Longhorn loves the move to the SEC. I asked if he really would prefer going 9-3 every year to being the big fish in a small pond. "Yup, as long as we get to play good teams every year, sounds like an upgrade!" I'm now downgrading that record to 8-4...

UT has only managed to win at least 9 games twice in the last twelve years, and that's within their "small pond". There's no way they can count on 9-3 or even 8-4 in the SEC given their present trajectory.

 

[zelezo vlk]

UT has only managed to win at least 9 games twice in the last twelve years, and that's within their "small pond". There's no way they can count on 9-3 or even 8-4 in the SEC given their present trajectory.

I was expecting the SEC to get them a favorable schedule to protect their Brands, just like they do now. A 9-3 UT will bring in more dollars than a 7-5 UT

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I was expecting the SEC to get them a favorable schedule to protect their Brands, just like they do now. A 9-3 UT will bring in more dollars than a 7-5 UT

Even if they go out of their way to give UT the easiest possible SEC schedule, there's no way it's easier than what they've got now in the Big-12 right? So even with that sort of favoritism, they're still in for a rude awakening.

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

once OU & UT leave the big12 i wonder if the Big12 can still be considered a power 5 football conference.

It can’t possibly be.

 

[Dale]

It can’t possibly be.

Eh. It’s not the old Big 12 nor is the Big Ten or SEC but the ACC is a one team league right now and the Pac-12 is too.

BYU is a USC win away from being 6-1 vs P5, 5-0 vs the Pac 12, this year with the lone loss coming @ a solid Baylor team.

Cincinnati we of course know.

UCF I’m sure has zero plan to stay down. Houston will be a consistently solid program. TCU has big eyes for the future. Baylor could really get it going with Aranda. Ok St is a playoff contender as we stand here today. Iowa St has been at minimum a consistent P5 quality team under Campbell.

They don’t have a bellcow but I really would actually appreciate a top to bottom competitive league like it could be. ACC and Pac-12 games are for the most part irrelevant, parity could be enjoyable and with an expanded playoff at least 1-2 should stay in the national convo each year

 

[ulukinatme]

You have to figure this may or may not help OU and Texas' playoff chances by moving to the SEC, depending on how the SEC West gets rearranged. They most certainly will both be put in the SEC West along with A&M so they can all play yearly. The question is...which two teams move from the SEC West to the SEC East to compensate? Do Alabama and Auburn move to the East? That makes the most sense from a geographical standpoint. Does the SEC East become the most dominant division then? Or does the SEC move the Mississippi schools instead?

 

[Bishop2b5]

You have to figure this may or may not help OU and Texas' playoff chances by moving to the SEC, depending on how the SEC West gets rearranged. They most certainly will both be put in the SEC West along with A&M so they can all play yearly. The question is...which two teams move from the SEC West to the SEC East to compensate? Do Alabama and Auburn move to the East? That makes the most sense from a geographical standpoint. Does the SEC East become the most dominant division then? Or does the SEC move the Mississippi schools instead?

Actually you only have to move one school from the West to the East to offset OK & TX coming in. That would leave 8 in each division. If one moves, it will almost certainly be Auburn. However, I think moving someone from West to East and continuing as a 2-division conference would only be a short term solution. When OK & TX move in full time, the SEC will almost certainly go to a four pod arrangement.

 

[Bishop2b5]

A four-pod system with four teams each seems likely once OK and TX are fully in. I'd actually been thinking about this earlier today and came up with what I thought would be the best arrangement of teams in each pod based on competitive balance, traditional rivalries, and geography, only to find that SI and just about every other source I looked at afterwards had come to the same exact arrangements. Oh well, great minds of course. Anyway....

Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri

LSU, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State

Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina


That puts at least two traditional and/or recent powerhouses in each pod.

Every team plays each of its other pod members every year. Inter-pod games could be scheduled in a number of different ways. You could have a traditional rival in each of the other pods that you play every year, and then play the other 3 teams on a rotating basis, or you could do away with traditional inter-pod rivalries and play all the teams from each pod on a rotating basis so that you face each team in the conference every 2-3 years, depending on how you do the rotation. About the only rivalry issue I see here is that TX & TAMU and Auburn & UGA, two traditional rivalries, would no longer be annual events.

 

[ulukinatme]

How does an SEC Championship work in that system then? Does the top team in Pods 1&2 face the top team from Pods 3&4? I haven't looked into this at all obviously.

 

[Bishop2b5]

How does an SEC Championship work in that system then? Does the top team in Pods 1&2 face the top team from Pods 3&4? I haven't looked into this at all obviously.

I don't think anyone's quite settled on that yet. A semifinal round seems a bit too much with yet another extra game. I think the idea most likely to be adopted is simply match up the two teams with the best conference records, regardless of pod, in the SECCG. There would be enough head to head and inter-pod play to make that rather a rather accurate basis for determining the two best teams in the conference.

I think Saban's been right for years when calling for a 9-game conference schedule and making sure that every team played every other in the conference at least once every three years.

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

I don't think anyone's quite settled on that yet. A semifinal round seems a bit too much with yet another extra game. I think the idea most likely to be adopted is simply match up the two teams with the best conference records, regardless of pod, in the SECCG. There would be enough head to head and inter-pod play to make that rather a rather accurate basis for determining the two best teams in the conference.

I think Saban's been right for years when calling for a 9-game conference schedule and making sure that every team played every other in the conference at least once every three years.

If you play a team once every three years, are you really even in a conference with them?

 

[IrishLion]

I don't think anyone's quite settled on that yet. A semifinal round seems a bit too much with yet another extra game. I think the idea most likely to be adopted is simply match up the two teams with the best conference records, regardless of pod, in the SECCG. There would be enough head to head and inter-pod play to make that rather a rather accurate basis for determining the two best teams in the conference.

I think Saban's been right for years when calling for a 9-game conference schedule and making sure that every team played every other in the conference at least once every three years.

I think it would be cool if they left the last regular-season conference game open for each team, turning the final week into de facto semifinal without adding an extra game that would need approval from the NCAA.

The top teams from each pod get seeded and matched up for week 14 (seeding based on conference and overall records, point differential tiebreaker), the winners moving on to the SECCG.

The league then has freedom to create interesting matchups for the remaining teams based on rivalries, historical connections, etc.

You would have to order all SEC teams to schedule a bye or non-conference game for week 13, that way they have extra time to arrange for travel and accommodations for the final week of conference play, but it would keep the last week of the season really interesting and unique every year, even for the non-contenders.

 

[IrishLion]

Pod 1:
1st Oklahoma (10-2)
2nd Texas
3rd Arkansas
4th Missouri

Pod 2:
1st LSU (9-3)
2nd Texas A&M
3rd Ole Miss
4th Mississippi State

Pod 3:
1st Alabama (12-0)
2nd Auburn
3rd Tennessee
4th Vanderbilt

Pod 4:
1st Florida (10-2)
2nd Georgia
3rd Kentucky
4th South Carolina


You'd have
(1) Alabama vs (4) LSU
(2) Florida vs (3) Oklahoma (Florida has tiebreaker to host, either head-to-head or point differential)

Then you'd have the freedom to schedule Texas vs Texas A&M if they didn't play already, Kentucky vs Tennesse, Georgia vs Auburn, etc.

Probably too much left up in the air too late in the season to make it work, but if I were the college football czar, I would make it happen.

 

[Rogue219]

I am looking at how Missouri and TAMU have faired in the SEC. Those programs are not OU and UT by any stretch, but I think this is going to be a challenge for them in the long haul.

Sumlin went 25-23 in the SEC at TAMU and Jimbo is 21-11 at present. Barry Odom was 13-19 at Mizzou and Pinkel was 17-15.

I think it is going to be an uphill battle. OU is going to need to figure out how to play defense really fast and Texas is a complete mess.

 

[Dizzyphil]

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips weighs in on Notre Dame possibly joining ACC as full-time member



https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/no...ygOagB1vn6XiHE

 

[Dale]

Feel like he’s used close to the same line before

 

[ShamrockOnHelmet]

It’s not ever happening. Ever. So get over it.

 

[BilboBaggins]

Pretty interesting to think about if Notre Dame could get Navy brought along with them.

Pod 1

• Notre Dame
• Boston College
• Navy
• Miami

Pod 2

• Clemson
• Georgia Tech
• Syracuse
• Pittsburgh

Pod 3

• Florida State
• Virginia
• Virginia Tech
• Louisville

Pod 4

• Duke
• North Carolina
• North Carolina State
• Wake Forest

OR

Division A

• Boston College
• Louisville
• Miami
• Notre Dame
• Navy?
• Pittsburgh
• Syracuse
• Virginia Tech

Division B

• Clemson
• Duke
• Florida State
• Georgia Tech
• North Carolina
• North Carolina State
• Virginia
• Wake Forest

 

[NDPhilly]

Anyone currently leading a "return to the Big East for basketball" campaign?

 

[Dizzyphil]

It’s not ever happening. Ever. So get over it.

You would have to call Jim Phillips and tell him that.

 

[Dale]

Yeah we’re in this Alliance but play them instead of Notre Dame? Lol.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

ND is part of the Alliance as an ACC member, aren't they? Or it the Alliance just a football thing?

(I realize football is the tail that wags the dog for Alliance purposes).

 

[Dale]

We are not technically in the Alliance. But nobody is technically in anything with the Alliance because nothing is written even in pencil with it. I think it’s all just show to try to get Fox to pony up for the Playoffs.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Yeah we’re in this Alliance but play them instead of Notre Dame? Lol.