TX & OU Coming Into the SEC Is Going to Destroy Some SEC East Programs

[ShotgunDawg]

Kentucky, Mizzou, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, & Vandy are going to feel the pain.

It's going to be huge for MSU as we'll likely only have Bama on our schedule every other year.

That crappy Kentucky team has a real chance of going 10-2 this year due to being in the East. Think about that

[BrunswickDawg]

I love how former LSU beat reporter Ross Dellenger calls MSU "bottom of the SEC West" when he knows full well that LSU is the bottom, and we were 4th out of 7 going into the game.
Asshat.

But yes - the real possible opportunity - is for MSU to benefit from a new "Pod" system. As long as our Pod is not MSU/Auburn/Bama/LSU, we should see a more balanced schedule than we have ever had.

[Catfish]

When will we know who is in each division and future schedules?

[ShotgunDawg]

I love how former LSU beat reporter Ross Dellenger calls MSU "bottom of the SEC West" when he knows full well that LSU is the bottom, and we were 4th out of 7 going into the game.
Asshat.

But yes - the real possible opportunity - is for MSU to benefit from a new "Pod" system. As long as our Pod is not MSU/Auburn/Bama/LSU, we should see a more balanced schedule than we have ever had.

Ross is actually an MSU grad. MSU is not the bottom of the West unless everyone but Bama is the bottom of the West

[ShotgunDawg]

When will we know who is in each division and future schedules?

You guess is as good as mine.

Likely going to be a rotating schedule with 3 permanent opponents, but, with Bama's 3 permenants being Auburn, Tennessee, & likely Vandy or KY, We won't have to play Bama but every other year.

Now... we'll have OU, Texas, & UGA added to the schedule every other year, likely opposite Bama, but I'll take them every week over Bama

[Catfish]

You guess is as good as mine.

Likely going to be a rotating schedule with 3 permanent opponents, but, with Bama's 3 permenants being Auburn, Tennessee, & likely Vandy or KY, We won't have to play Bama but every other year.

Now... we'll have OU, Texas, & UGA added to the schedule every other year, likely opposite Bama, but I'll take them every week over Bama

Thanks

[Johnson85]

Definitely going to even out the schedule some.

Assuming we end up with 4 pods, you'd have to think that they would try to spread out the blue bloods as much as possible to make sure the blue bloods can keep people interested.
Something like:

FL/UGA
Bama/Auburn
A&M/Oklahoma
Texas/LSU

You will also assume they will spread out the weak sisters, but somebody is going to get a break with Vandy in their pod as they really are in a class of their own as far as consistently sucking. The next best will probably be Mizzou. After that, somebody is going to get the shaft by having MSU, Ole Miss, UK, Arkansas, or USCe as their "weak" member of the pod. All of those teams have had some pretty good runs and at one time or another, will make their division pretty brutal (I don't county Mizzou's two flukish seasons in a ridiculously weak SEC East with lucky west opponents as a good run; they weren't legitimately good like some of the other schools have been).

[TrapGame]

It's going to be interesting to see the criteria involved in determining pods.

And are these pods going to function like NFL Divisions? In other words, SEC West/SEC East/SEC South and SEC North?

[starkvegasdawg]

Watch ours be us, sharts, Bama, and auburn.

[ShotgunDawg]

Watch ours be us, sharts, Bama, and auburn.

Nah. That would destroy the Bama/Tennessee game, which has already held the conference hostage for 20 years.

Bama's permanents would clearly be Auburn, Tennessee, & likely Vandy or Kentucky.

MSU's would Ole Miss + 2

Surely A&M, Texas, A&M, & Ark are lumped together somewho

[TrapGame]

State, ole miss, Kentucky and Mizzou would be nice.

[Coursesuper]

Kentucky, Mizzou, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, & Vandy are going to feel the pain.

It's going to be huge for MSU as we'll likely only have Bama on our schedule every other year.

That crappy Kentucky team has a real chance of going 10-2 this year due to being in the East. Think about that

Have to feel that the Egg and UM Vs LSU will remain, therefore LSU, UM, MSU will be in the same pod. So the question is who is the 4th school, likely will be A&M or Mizzu.

[BrunswickDawg]

Personally, I think it is time to limit each school to 1 permanent opponent. Adding Texas and OK makes that easy:
MSU - OM
Tex - OK
Mizzou - Ark
LSU - A&M
Bama- Auburn
UT - Vandy
UK - USC
GA - FL

Rotate Home & Home series so in a 4 year span every school plays each other 2 times. It's not rocket surgery.

[Johnson85]

Have to feel that the Egg and UM Vs LSU will remain, therefore LSU, UM, MSU will be in the same pod. So the question is who is the 4th school, likely will be A&M or Mizzu.

If they do pods, I don't think there's anyway they let LSU have MS, UM, and Mizzou in a pod. The other blue bloods would (rightfully) raise hell about them getting an easy pod.

The more I look at it, the more I think it's going to be permanent opponents rather than pods. And I think BrunswickDawg's solution would be great. It'd also help the bottom of the conference by matching them up with comparable programs. I'd probably put UT and USCe together and Vandy and UK, but otherwise it looks great to me.

I don't think you'd lose rivalries just because you played them 2 of 4 years, (or every other year if you wanted to do it like that).

[BulldogBear]

I love the idea of Pods if they were truly four "divisions" with a full semifinal round. But that isn't practical or even good for the athletes.

So, with that said, I don't like pods and here is why. And this actually doesn't have much to do with us per say. There are fifteen other schools in the conference. There will be some kind of rotation mechanism but need not be particularly rigid. For example you might have some permanent opponents but there is no need to say "one from each division." A schedule is a schedule and any mathematician can figure out the numbers no matter where your permanent opponent lives in the pod system. You could easily do 1, 2, or 3, permanent opponents. Thinking outside the box I also know that semi-permanent opponents are an option. Think in terms of say we have Auburn and Kentucky as permies but also play either Mizzou or Alabama every year, and then a rotation for the others. That's just an example. There is a lot that can be done to preserve traditional rivalries in a pod systems. But the pod system has a huge problem. It is not nearly as fair as divisions.

In a pod system, the SECCG will just be the two best records. Nine conference games is the best fit for all the math but believe me, EIGHT will be given very serious consideration. Let's assume 9 and then just imagine how even more unfair it could get with 8. So, there are SIX (or SEVEN!!!) conference schools that you don't play. Let's pick on Texas for instance. Inevitably, There will be a 8-1 team that played OU, TAMU, Mizzou, Ole Miss, Vandy, Kentucky, USCe, Arkansas, and Mississippi State (Didn't play Florida, UGA, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, or LSU) that gets in over an 8-1 Mizzou team that played Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi State, UGA, Florida, LSU, TAMU, Arkansas, and OU (Didn't play Auburn, Ole Miss, Mizzou, USCe, Vandy, or Kentucky). Yes, there will be attempts at balance, but that's hard to predict beyond a couple of schools and a couple of years. So, you will still eventually end up with a team whose combined opponents are 30-51 in SEC play over a team they beat with the same record whose combined opponent record is 51-30. Change out the teams and say they didn't even play. Watch the first one get in at 8-1 against a much weaker schedule than the second at 7-2. Because that's SEC games it is a hugely different SOS. Plug MSU for Mizzou one year and we're going to hate this crap. This will favor the Blue Bloods.

The reason divisions are a better option is because sure, you run into easier schedules, but it doesn't happen nearly as often because you have more common opponents and you are competing directly with the other teams in your division rather than the whole conference as in a pod system. Upgrade that to 8 team divisions and you get 7 common opponents plus 2. SOS will rarely be any kind of issue.

[calidawg]

However they decide to do it, 3 or 4 permanent opponents and 9 conference games will be a huge scheduling improvement and can't get here fast enough

[smootness]

If they do pods, to me 3 of them are obvious:

Texas
OU
A&M
Arkansas

MSU
OM
Auburn
Bama

UGA
Florida
Tennessee
Vandy

The problem is, that leaves you with LSU but then SC, UK, and Missouri...which is far too weak a group and also just doesn't make sense. So they'll try to even out the 'blue bloods' and do something like:

OU-Texas
Auburn-Bama
UGA-UF
LSU-A&M

A&M isn't a blue blood but they're resource rich and make sense as a pairing with LSU. To even then out, I'd finish like this:

OU
Texas
Arkansas
Missouri

Auburn
Bama
OM
MSU

UGA
UF
SC
UK

LSU
A&M
Tennessee
Vandy

Then I'd have one permanent opponent from each other pod, which allows you to preserve UGA-Auburn, Bama-UT, Texas-A&M, OM-LSU, etc.

It wouldn't be great for us but nothing will be.

[Maverick91]

If they do pods, to me 3 of them are obvious:

Texas
OU
A&M
Arkansas

MSU
OM
Auburn
Bama

UGA
Florida
Tennessee
Vandy

The problem is, that leaves you with LSU but then SC, UK, and Missouri...which is far too weak a group and also just doesn't make sense. So they'll try to even out the 'blue bloods' and do something like:

OU-Texas
Auburn-Bama
UGA-UF
LSU-A&M

A&M isn't a blue blood but they're resource rich and make sense as a pairing with LSU. To even then out, I'd finish like this:

OU
Texas
Arkansas
Missouri

Auburn
Bama
OM
MSU

UGA
UF
SC
UK

LSU
A&M
Tennessee
Vandy

Then I'd have one permanent opponent from each other pod, which allows you to preserve UGA-Auburn, Bama-UT, Texas-A&M, OM-LSU, etc.

It wouldn't be great for us but nothing will be.

This looks really good. Especially that old southwest? pod with OU, Texas, Arkansas, and misery that would be really go them and really great for us, quick travel games.

[chef dixon]

Personally, I think it is time to limit each school to 1 permanent opponent. Adding Texas and OK makes that easy:
MSU - OM
Tex - OK
Mizzou - Ark
LSU - A&M
Bama- Auburn
UT - Vandy
UK - USC
GA - FL

Rotate Home & Home series so in a 4 year span every school plays each other 2 times. It's not rocket surgery.

That's one of the better ideas I've seen

[IMissJack]

It's going to be interesting to see the criteria involved in determining pods.

And are these pods going to function like NFL Divisions? In other words, SEC West/SEC East/SEC South and SEC North?

I fully expect us to get screwed on the new set up.