A writer for the Texas rivals site told UGA's Rival's writer that alignment was already done and th hat Texas, A&M and OU would be playing every year. But he didnt go into which format they were going to use. Which make me skeptical of his info, why not spill the whole thing.
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- Thread starter billoliver40
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A writer for the Texas rivals site told UGA's Rival's writer that alignment was already done and th hat Texas, A&M and OU would be playing every year. But he didnt go into which format they were going to use. Which make me skeptical of his info, why not spill the whole thing.
Fair enough. I do agree that it has served the conference well, but I don't agree that it has produced the two best teams in the championship game most years.
I also agree that no system will be perfect, and every system will produce some amount of hand-wringing from at least some of the SEC fanbases.
Lastly, i just think that a pod system would reduce the conflict b/c schedules will turn over more quickly. So, UF fans might be pissed that they get stuck with LSU every year while UGA gets Ole Miss (for example), but if the schedule is turning over quickly and all of the east teams have to play Texas, A&M, OU, etc fairly often, then it would produce the fairest outcomes.
Either way, it's going to be very interesting to see how this pans out!
I think this is spot-on. There is no "pod title" so the pod teams are not necessarily super important. I think the problem that the league will have is that most casual fans might not recognize what you've figured out...so there could be initial outcry from (for example) South Carolina if they're placed in a pod with FLorida, Georgia, and Auburn, while UK would get a pod of Mizzou, UT, and Vandy. So, it would look unfair to the naked eye, but you make a good case on why it wouldn't have to be unfair.
To me, the biggest outcomes for UK would be:
-Maintain Vandy as an annual opponent
-Maintain at least one other peer program (USC, UT, MSU, Mizzou) as an annual opponent
-Avoid Alabama on an annual basis
That would be the best possible outcome for UK. If we get the bonus of not having to play Georgia and Florida every single year, then sign me up TODAY.
So you want a MAC level schedule? Miss all the tough teams, have a good record and then get committed from the playoffs because of SOS, think anyone will complain?
I don't see us playing fewer conference games, I actually see them going to at least a 9 game conference schedule in the future.
I agree, I regardless of 4 pods or 2 divisions I believe we are looking at 9 conference games.
I think you go with geography
UK, MO, UT USC
UGA, UF, Bama, Auburn
MSU, Ole Miss, Vandy, LSU
Arky, A&M, Tex, Okie
each division would have partner divisions
UGA’s division would partner with ours meaning we would play 2 of their teams every year.
Then we would rotate 3 teams from the other 2 divisions every 2 years. Unless we went to 9 SEC games, then we’d have 2 partner divisions, and rotate a team from the other division every 2 years.
UK, MO, UT USC
UGA, UF, Bama, Auburn
MSU, Ole Miss, Vandy, LSU
Arky, A&M, Tex, Okie
each division would have partner divisions
UGA’s division would partner with ours meaning we would play 2 of their teams every year.
Then we would rotate 3 teams from the other 2 divisions every 2 years. Unless we went to 9 SEC games, then we’d have 2 partner divisions, and rotate a team from the other division every 2 years.
Again this is ridiculous. UK is not a legit play off team at this point so that's not even a goal. And if it were we are already playing Georgia and Florida regularly and would need to be Bama before a play off spot can even be discussed. If UK beats UGA, UF and Bama in the same season they will be a playoff team even with the existing schedule. There is no point in beefing up the existing schedule. Losses to top 10 teams don't help us as much as wins do.
Right now UK needs to sustain 8+ wins for as many seasons as they can. Strength of schedule is not a goal for this team right now. Besides UK's strength of schedule is plenty good enough as it is. As we proved 2 years in a row against higher ranked ACC teams.
Really hard for me to see these being the actual pods, though a lot of us fans are hoping it is. All of the teams in pod 2 and three of the teams in pod 4 would be the top team in the UK pod. Don’t think they’re going to just agree to such uneven pods.
^^Higher ranked only because there was a number beside their name. I feel like you guys were a lot better than State. VaTech I'll give you.
I know, but a few things to consider:
1. The Iron Bowl is not going away.
2. UGA vs UF is not going away
3. Auburn vs UGA is not going away
4. The Egg Bowl is not going away
5. The Texas teams and OK will have natural rivalries
6. UK vs UT despite being 2 programs with different trajectories is still a rivalry worth preserving.
7. We will not have an “easy schedule “. The teams I propose are all currently relatively peers. Plus, we will still play 2 from UGA, UF, Bama, Auburn every year. We will get Vandy or Arky no more frequently than LSU or TX or OK.
8. Just like recently the West has been tougher, and prior to Saban, the East used to be tougher, there will always be one pod tougher than another, and those may shift from time to time. Geography remains constant.
Agreed UK would not have an “easy” schedule because no one in the conference will. What they would have is a consistently easier schedule than the teams in the other pods. I hope we get this but my bet is UK/UF/UGA/USC, which is tough but will still likely not be the toughest pod.
If the playoff expands to 2 teams, how do you say UK isnt a playoff contender? Bring in OU and Texas is done to get more Money of course,but to also get more SEC teams in the playoff. One of the criteria will be SOS, would you expect a pl layout FCC invite if UK goes 11-1 in the SEC but didnt play Bama, UF, OU, UGA, UF, A&M and lost to LSU? Of course you would and would be mad if UK got passed over for 2-3 teams with multiple losses that played those teams UK missed? Of course you will.
Everyone of those is maintained with 2 divisions if Bama and AU are moved to the East and Missouri to the west. No permanent crossover opponent needed and you play everyone in the other division every 4 years.
More sense for it to be
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
LSU
Alabama
Auburn
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Kentucky
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Missouri
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
LSU
Alabama
Auburn
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Kentucky
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Missouri
UK could be undefeated and still wouldn't get into the playoffs. No name recognition.
Uhhhh, no.
Our name recognition did not prevent us from being Top 10 in 2018 prior to back-to-back losses to Georgia and UT. Win against UT in ‘18, and we would have finished Top 10ish, and likely in the NYD6 Bowls . . . we were the top ranked matchup outside of the NYD6.
It wouldn't change anything. We aren't in that position yet even with expanded playoffs. At best we are the #3 team in the SEC east. That can get you 8 to 10 wins but not in the playoffs. If we go 11 and 1 then we win the east and get into the SEC championship game. How we perform in that game will decide if we are in the play offs or not. And when you think about it that's exactly the same spot that Georgia is in. Even if it's not Bama that we play if we go 11-1 and lose to LSU but beat A&M in the championship game then we will be a playoff team even if it's left at 4 teams. When you look at the list of top notch SEC teams we will have to be, neither Clemson, Oklahoma nor OSU will have beat more top notch teams. And it's being noted by even people outside the SEC that going 11-1 in the Big 10 or ACC is not the same as going 11-1 in the SEC.
It would really take an odd scenario for UK to deserve to be in the playoffs and yet get left off. The trade off is that beefing up the schedule would make it more likely that we finish every season with 4 wins. That we can't have. We saw it ourselves last season. UK wasn't ready for an all SEC schedule and left wins on the field. That team was not prepared to trade a game against Toledo with a road game to Bama. We not only lost a game that we would have won, but we lost it by 60 points. If that happens again the ship will start to take on water. And there is no reason for us to take that risk. The schedule is plenty difficult as it is. We are punching up for at least half the games.
After reading some things today I dont think we are heading to the pods with 16 teams. But why do you have LSU in the pod with UF. Carolina and UGA?
Bama wasnt a good example, name 1 team that was ready to take Bama on last season. You got robbed at AU. But you cant take credit for playing in the toughest conference and try to dodge the tough teams.
Say we go to pods, the most popular reasons being to play every team home and home every 4 years and to cut dow on travel. Makes no difference who is in the pods 2 play everyone 2 times in 4 years. So all that matters then is travel, the 8 most easter teams would make up 2 pods and the 8 west would make up 2 pods.
How about these.
UK, UT, Carolina, UGA, East
UF, AU, Bama, Vandy, South
State, OM, Arky, Missouri, Mid west
LSU, OU, A&M, Texas Far west
That is done according to location if my Geography is correct with zero regard to program strength. That far west would be a meat grinder dont you think?
If the Power 8 (Bama, Texas, Oklahoma, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, LSU and A&M) are equally divided into 4 pods we will be playing some combo of FIVE of them EVERY year.
It's a cold day in SEC Hell (or at least unseasonably chilly) when we win a game against one of those schools.
We'd better pray to the SEC FB Gods, hope like hell, and offer some type of sacrifice that we get a UK, Tennessee, Vandy, Missouri pod.
It's a cold day in SEC Hell (or at least unseasonably chilly) when we win a game against one of those schools.
We'd better pray to the SEC FB Gods, hope like hell, and offer some type of sacrifice that we get a UK, Tennessee, Vandy, Missouri pod.
Are you reading that keeping divisions is likely? Would it be the idea that slides Alabama and Auburn to the east? I agree with you that this could make sense. Plus if it doesn’t work out for some reason, we could always go to pods from divisions down the road.
Having a mac level schedule is impossible in the SEC, but you know that. Even if our pod is the easiest, we'll still regularly be playing Georgia, Florida, Texas, Alabama, etc.
UK is on par with UF and UGA now?
More like this:
1's. Bama, OU, LSU, UGA
2's. UF, aTm, AU, Texas
3's. UK, UCF north, OM, Missouri
4's. Arky, MSST, Vandy, Carolina.
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