In other news (apolitical thread)...

[utee94]

I'm not trying to only single out that one instance, it's just well known to Aggie fans that the scheduling was wonky.  With a 14 team league, you should be able to get some kind of round-robin home/away with all league teams on something of a normal schedule. Preferably at least every 4 years.  I'm sure that there are lots of other teams in there that hardly ever played.  It just makes things feel like you're a stranger in your own conference.  I think I mentioned it, but we played Tenn, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Florida all multiple times in that span. 

The point I'm trying to make, and failing at miserably, is that there was hardly any consistency in the scheduling, and a lot of it was due to 3-4 teams having multiple rivals outside their division. 

No I get your point, but I'm not sure it's accurate.  I've listed the Auburn-Georgia rivalry as a non-divisional one.  Were there any others?

I mean, I think they set up LSU-Florida is a x-div perma-rival, but was that necessary?  Were they actual rivals or was that just so they'd have 1 x-div game every year, same as A&M-SoCar?  Were there any other REAL x-div rivalries that were preserved?

And even if they did maintain several x-div rivalries, there was only one per team.  So even if every single legacy SEC team had 1 real x-div rivalry that they HAD to preserve, there was still room in the schedule for A&M to play Georgia more than once in 13 years, especially if y'all were playing other SEC-East teams multiple times.  And the same would be true of any other teams that only played a x-div team once in that 13 years.  Mathematically, it's not necessary.  Mathematically, it should have at least been 2-3x in 13 years, with all other things being equal.

Which is why I'm suggesting it wasn't so much the existence of that 1 x-div rivalry game, but rather the SEC just doing SEC things with the schedules.

[847badgerfan]

No I get your point, but I'm not sure it's accurate.  I've listed the Auburn-Georgia rivalry as a non-divisional one.  Were there any others?

I mean, I think they set up LSU-Florida is a x-div perma-rival, but was that necessary?  Were they actual rivals or was that just so they'd have 1 x-div game every year, same as A&M-SoCar?  Were there any other REAL x-div rivalries that were preserved?

And even if they did maintain several x-div rivalries, there was only one per team.  So even if every single legacy SEC team had 1 real x-div rivalry that they HAD to preserve, there was still room in the schedule for A&M to play Georgia more than once in 13 years, especially if y'all were playing other SEC-East teams multiple times.  And the same would be true of any other teams that only played a x-div team once in that 13 years.  Mathematically, it's not necessary.  Mathematically, it should have at least been 2-3x in 13 years, with all other things being equal.

Which is why I'm suggesting it wasn't so much the existence of that 1 x-div rivalry game, but rather the SEC just doing SEC things with the schedules.

Tennessee/Bama is one.

[utee94]

Tennessee/Bama is one.

Yup, good one.  And it was covered by the SEC's one protected x-div rival system.  Which every team had, even if that x-div rival was made-up, like A&M-SoCar.

But Gigem has stated that the Ags played other East Division teams multiple times, while only playing Georgia once.  To me that demonstrates that it was a matter of SEC scheduling choice, rather than the x-div rivalry games themselves.

Looking at the actual season schedules, A&M played Florida four times in 13 years, and Georgia only once.  That could just as easily have been 2 and 3 or 3 and 2.  It was a deliberate choice not to do so, but it wasn't a direct result of protecting the x-div rivalries.

[utee94]

Anyway, moving forward, this is what Ross Dellenger floated a while back.  He was the first to break the news that the 9-conference-game schedule is happening, and is at least somewhat dialed in with the SEC main office.

Missouri: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Vanderbilt
Arkansas: Missouri, Texas, Ole Miss
Texas A&M: LSU, Texas, Mississippi State
Texas: Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas
Oklahoma: Texas, Missouri, Florida
LSU: Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama
Ole Miss: Mississippi State, LSU, Arkansas
Mississippi State: Ole Miss, Kentucky, Texas A&M
Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee, LSU
Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt: Tennessee, Auburn, Missouri
Tennessee: Vanderbilt, Alabama, South Carolina
Kentucky: Mississippi State, South Carolina, Georgia
Georgia: Auburn, Florida, Kentucky
Florida: Georgia, South Carolina, Oklahoma
South Carolina: Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky

[FearlessF]

Georgia: Auburn, Florida, Kentucky

Florida: Georgia, South Carolina, Oklahoma

[utee94]

Georgia: Auburn, Florida, Kentucky

Florida: Georgia, South Carolina, Oklahoma

Yeah I think there are some Florida fans that would really like Auburn on that schedule?  Can't speak for @OrangeAfroMan of course.

But it's hard to imagine that Auburn would have permanent rivals Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.  @eltigrerex might take issue with that.  Or, maybe not.

[FearlessF]

seems reasonable that the Dawgs would git Kentucky!

[Cincydawg]

I'm more interested in what happens with OOC scheduling.

[utee94]

I'm more interested in what happens with OOC scheduling.

Well for one thing, I think Georgia should probably try to avoid playing both Clemson and Ohio State in the same season...

[utee94]

Texas typically schedules one marquee OOC game each year.  Recent and upcoming seasons the Horns have:


2022: Alabama
2023: @Alabama
2024: @Michigan
2025: @Ohio State
2026: Ohio State
2027: Michigan
2028: @Notre Dame
2029: Notre Dame
2030: Open (was @Florida before the conference realignment)
2031: Open (was Florida before the conference realignment)
2032: @Arizona State
2033: Arizona State

[Cincydawg]

I'd be OK with playing Clemson, Ohio State, and Georgia Tech OOC in the same year, if it happens.  I assume they will continue to schedule Tech, who might be pretty good this year, and hopefully one other.

[FearlessF]

but, your AD and head coach will probably opt for other less accomplished opponents

[bayareabadger]

I suspect that the selections for the 3 rivals will do their best to preserve as many historic, traditional legacy rivalries as possible.  That's good for the game but more importantly to the SEC and ESPN, it'll be good for ratings.  The other 6+6 teams rotated every 2 and 4 years, will almost certainly capture a lot of top team matchups.  It'll be pretty tough to "hide" them from another.  If you stack one school's "other 6-team schedule" with the lowest tier teams for one cycle, then two years later the schedule would flip and be overloaded with too many top teams.

For Texas' 3 rivals, it should be pretty easy.  The Horns have 3 historical rivals and all of them are now in the SEC.  OU, A&M, and Arkansas.  The SEC wants these games to be played.

For some other teams I think it gets trickier, but I won't pretend to know the intricacies of historical rivalries for legacy SEC teams.

Like, I can imagine Florida would want to play Georgia and Tennessee every year, but I don't know who a third would be. 

And I can imagine that Georgia would want to play Florida and... Auburn every year?  I think that's an old rivalry.  But I don't know who a third would be.

Tennessee might have Florida and Vanderbilt and... Alabama? 

Alabama would have Auburn and... Tennessee?  And who else?

I don't know those old rivalries well enough to do anything other than speculate wildly.

I assume they start with all the really burned in historical ones and then ripple out. Start with the must haves, then go mix and match.

Gonna. Be weird for second-tier teams who have rivalries that are second-tier to first-tier rivals.

[bayareabadger]

I'm more interested in what happens with OOC scheduling.

Wonder who willingly plays only one body bag.