Comments on: ACC Sticking With 8-Game Football Schedule As Rumors Of 9-Game SEC Slate Heat Up

By: AllTideUp

AllTideUp — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 05:46:34 +0000

With 14 teams, the SEC needs to go to 9 if the teams in the opposite divisions are ever going to see each other more than twice every 12 years. No sense in losing some of the league’s unity and tradition if it’s not necessary.

The good thing about 9 league games when it comes to TV is that it will create additional high quality match-ups for the major broadcast networks while also creating additional lower quality match-ups that might be better suited for an SEC-centric network. I don’t know what effect this new SEC Network might have on the syndicated SEC broadcast that goes out now, but the new network probably needs one conference game per week in addition to the occasional cupcake game. That would make it much more likely to get picked up quickly.

I like 9 conference games…I like the idea of a deal with the ACC too. I also think the SEC needs to work on a divisionless setup so that teams may focus on preserving all their important rivalries while playing everyone else with regularity.

By: AllTideUp

AllTideUp — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 05:35:43 +0000

@Speedy98 I actually think 10 games would be a good idea although I don’t expect anyone to go for it. Maybe in the future.

By: John at MrSEC

John at MrSEC — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:37:03 +0000

@Marwinny

It has nothing to do with what I think. It has nothing to do with what you think. The only thing that will matter is what a selection committee thinks. And every league in America wants to de-throne the SEC (which is why we finally got a big playoff push just as soon as two SEC teams met for the BCS crown).

If the people on that panel feel that a Big Ten team that’s played 12 big-conference foes has done more than an SEC team that’s played eight league games and one big nonconference foe… that’s all that will matter.

So if I’m Mike Slive or an SEC athletic director, I wouldn’t want to give people who do not want multiple SEC teams in the playoff any added reason to keep that second team out.

This has nothing to do with SEC fans’ perception of how tough their league is. It has only to do with who’s on the selection committee and what their motivations are.

Thanks for reading,
John

By: Marwinny

Marwinny — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:14:35 +0000

John – you really think a big 10 eight game schedule is comparable to an SEC schedule? Much like notre dame the buckeyes probable feel that feasting on illinois and indiana will not cut it with the computers.

By: Speedy98

Speedy98 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:31:36 +0000

Why no get radical and go to a 10 game conference schedule?
1. It would give each school 5 conference home games
2. With a 6-1-3 format you would play every school at least twice in a four year period.
On another, note I am all for some type of deal with the ACC, B1G, or Big 12 to play some type of rotating schedule.

By: kentatm

kentatm — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 04:05:02 +0000

would rather have 8 league games and just set up deals with the ACC, Big 10, and Big 12 to all schedule eachother.

By: John at MrSEC

John at MrSEC — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:28:04 +0000

@BoroMarkH

I’ve not spoken to folks at either school about that, but I would imagine that OSU cancelled the series thinking nine BCS games (eight versus Big Ten and one versus Pac-12) would be enough in the BCS environment. Therefore, they canceled the Tennessee series and did the same with a home-and-home set-up with Georgia.

Then came the new college football playoff plan and the use of a selection committee as well as the end of the Big Ten/Pac-12 deal. OSU leadership now apparently feels like the more games against big-time foes the better.

Whether or not they went back to Tennessee or Georgia to discuss kickstarting the games they’d cancelled, I do not know. It’s possible that those schools went ahead and booked other opponents when OSU initially pulled out, but I doubt it.

Thanks for reading the site,
John

By: BoroMarkH

BoroMarkH — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:05:27 +0000

Help me out John. UT was scheduled to play Ohio State in 2017-2018 in a home and home. OSU backed out of the contract because of the proposed 9 game B1G conferenced schedule. Now OSU has TCU scheduled in that same timeframe. Why wouldn’t they just keep UT on their schedule? Thanks for the help.

By: USAFMEDIC

USAFMEDIC — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:03:52 +0000

Mizzou scheduled Arizona State, Syracuse, and UCF. Those are pretty good opponents.

By: GeoffDawg

GeoffDawg — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:07:10 +0000

@m_Ag Additional tv revenue might make up for the loss of a home game ever other year but for UGA, UF, and SC, they would still be at a financial disadvantage relative to the rest of the league due to equal revenue sharing. I still think there will need to be some type of concession or creative scheduling to get them on board.

By: bpa_kc

bpa_kc — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:56:59 +0000

I’m “ok” with 8 league games. What I would like to see would be a partnership with either the Big 12 or ACC to schedule x number of cross-conference games each year. Kind of like what the PAC/B1G were trying to do before the deal fell apart.

By: ACC Sticking With 8-Game Football Schedule As Rumors Of 9-Game SEC Slate … | A.C.C. College Football

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:53:13 +0000

[...] Send This Story To A Friend [...]

By: m_Ag

m_Ag — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:16:04 +0000

Greater TV revenue from scheduling better will offset any lost revenue from a home game lost every other year.

I’d be OK with 9 conference games, but I would rather see our league stick with 8 conference games but our TV negotiations require:
1) no FCS schools be scheduled
2) every school schedule 2 ‘AQ’ teams per year (so they get 1 TV home game each year), with at least one not being from the Big East

Any school that didn’t meet these requirements would forfeit some of their TV revenue back to the networks.

This would require most current schools to drop their worst annual ‘buy’ game and replace that with an interesting match-up. Georgia has a series in the future scheduled with Clemson to go with their Georgia Tech series. Florida could play Miami in a addition to FSU or it could schedule someone from out of state. MSU could schedule a Washington State or Minnesota in addition to a Memphis (a soon-to-be Big East team), so they can’t argue their schedule would be impossibly hard.

Replacing the 14 games that have little TV value with 7 games with high TV value would be good for the SEC’s TV package. And if we really are the best conference we’ll win most of those games and continue to stay well positioned in the new playoff/bowl system.

By: iDBrown

iDBrown — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:42:38 +0000

No, I don’t want more conference games. 8 SEC games is fine and balanced. It works. I have not seen a compelling case to expand to 9 games, yet. When a team like Mississippi State has to on an annual basis play LSU and Alabama, arguably the top 2 programs in the country, I have no issue with them playing a soft non-conference schedule. Over the last 5 years, State has played something like 26 ranked opponents. I don’t see a need for a tougher schedule.

By: GeoffDawg

GeoffDawg — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:34:24 +0000

I wonder how the administrators at Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina feel about this development though? With annual ACC rivalries, a ninth conference game would mean a loss in home team revenue. In my mind, an interesting solution would be to partner with the ACC and with the exception of the three previously mentioned, establish a rotating annual schedule with an ACC opponent.