South Carolina President Pastides: SEC Will Move to Nine-Game Conference Schedule in 2012
by Year2 on Nov 7, 2011 10:47 AM EST
in SEC Football
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PrintThe SEC hasn't made any announcements along these lines that I've seen yet, but South Carolina president Harris Pastides revealed that the SEC will play nine conference football games beginning with the 2012 regular season. The reason, of course, is due to the SEC's addition of Missouri to get to 14 conference members.
Back when 13-team schedules were the concern, they were always going to consist of eight conference games. There is a very good reason for that: you cannot make a nine-game schedule with 13 teams work. You end up with an impossible 58.5 conference games to be played.
However because most SEC schools have lined up four non-conference games for 2012 already, many schools will have to buy out one of those opponents. Pastides, for his part, promised that Clemson would not be the team that his school will get rid of. Most of the schools with four opponents lined up already have a I-AA opponent among them, and because they generally have the lowest guarantees, they'll probably be the cheapest to buy out.
Hopefully, this shift to nine conference games will not interrupt the non-conference rivalries that some schools have with teams from BCS conferences. Most SEC programs, whether they have non-conference rivals or not, had committed to a schedule with at least three cupcakes. I really hope that schools will not choose to end any historic series just to schedule an extra body bag game.
I also hope that this scheduling switch won't threaten to move the Florida-Georgia series out of Jacksonville. It's impossible for Jeremy Foley to schedule what he thinks is his required seven home games per year while both playing UGA at a neutral site and doing an annual home-and-home with FSU.
Regardless, this is a big change for the conference. The nation's toughest conference schedule just got tougher.
UPDATE
Matt Hayes of the Sporting News is reporting that the SEC league office will reimburse schools the money required to buy out a non-conference opponent this fall. He's also reporting that the two newbies of A&M and Missouri will be cross-division designated rivals. There was some speculation that Arkansas could be reassigned from South Carolina to Mizzou, but that didn't come to pass.
UPDATE 2
Charles Bloom, the SEC's PR guy, has denied that a nine-game schedule has even been discussed. Either Pastides got some seriously bad intel, or he seriously jumped the gun with this.
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I think I read
somewhere that UGA and Fla make more money from Jacksonville than they would a home and home. I could be wrong because I’m too lazy to look it up. This comment has no real nutritional value.
by Mark Mandingo on Nov 7, 2011 11:13 AM EST via mobile reply actions
I read that article a couple of years ago
it was talked about when Atlanta was trying to get them to give it a few of the games.
by ev on Nov 7, 2011 11:14 AM EST up reply actions
Cosigned
I’d rather play an extra SEC game than a I-AA or Sun Belt/WAC/MAC money game any day.
by commodore_dude on Nov 7, 2011 11:43 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Also
It means we don’t go back to playing our non-permanent cross division teams only twice every 10 years
Hit me up on Google+
by jd is legend on Nov 7, 2011 11:57 AM EST up reply actions
This is great
With, of course, the caveat that SC-Clemson, Fla-FSU and Ga-GT all stay intact. I would add Ken-UL to the list, but let’s all admit that that will be a non-AQ game for Kentucky in a few years anyhow, and we all know how much the Wildcats love their non-AQ opponents
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
by cocknfire on Nov 7, 2011 11:51 AM EST via mobile reply actions
I like it...
For UGA, we keep all of our traditional rivalries, including GT, and add Mizzou each season. What’s wrong with that?
Does anyone know when the new schedules will be released? I’m curious which of FAU, Georgia Southern, and Buffalo will get axed. I’m assuming, looking at the schedule, it will either be GSU or FAU, since Buffalo is the first game of the season. If I had to guess, we’d replace GSU, which is between Auburn and GT at the end of the season. (Also, I’m assuming the entire schedule, including BYEs, isn’t shaken up.)
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
Despite what I said above
Southern is a game I don’t have a problem with since at least it keeps the money in-state (some states, IIRC, require the big public schools keep their money games in state) and there is the shared history between the schools. I’d rather have our cupcake schedule be a rotation of GA Southern, GA State in a couple of years, Savannah State (now that they’re in a conference and eligible to play I-A teams) and Kennesaw State after they get their team going (Mercer will not be eligible to play I-A teams if they go non-scholarship, I think) than bring in Idaho State, Tennessee Tech, etc. I’d vote for keeping FAU over Buffalo if Schnellenberger wasn’t retiring, but I guess whichever is cheaper to buy out now. And long-term, I’d rather not play either and instead play another BCS OOC game – was just theorizing this weekend that it would be cool to play Wisconsin home and home just so I can go have some of their beer.
by commodore_dude on Nov 7, 2011 12:36 PM EST up reply actions
I like it
provided Tennessee doesn’t buy out of our games with Oregon, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Ohio State.
Heel for school, Vol for life!
Bolts, Preds, Canes (childhood team, home state team, hometown team). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity!
by Incipient_Senescence on Nov 7, 2011 12:07 PM EST reply actions
It seems like you're going to keep the return trip to Oregon,
And even if you bought your way out of that at least you played us once, unlike UGA. Thanks for screwing our schedule UGA.
your AD said it was no problem
Our AD said if it would’ve been, we wouldn’t have canceled.
by Mark Mandingo on Nov 7, 2011 7:04 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Please note
The SEC is denying that a 9-game schedule is in the works. For now.
Team Speed Kills -- SBNation's SEC Blog
If you're so inclined, follow me @Year2
Yeah...
But I don’t buy it, for how is the SEC going to keep an eight-game slate? With a permanent rival, an eight-game schedule would only allow for only one rotating game a season. Would we (UGA) simply play LSU, for example, once a decade or so?
Moving to a nine-game conference schedule makes the most sense, for it keeps the status quo (mostly) and accounts for the two new SEC squads.
Not arguing with you, but it simply doesn’t make sense, for the SEC should want to see Bama play Florida and UGA more often, not less.
I think the SEC denied reports of Mizzou coming on board, even after the accidental post on its home website, so I’m not buying it, not one bit.
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
just because they haven't talked about it yet doesn't mean it's not the only sensible option
Heel for school, Vol for life!
Bolts, Preds, Canes (childhood team, home state team, hometown team). Canes mini-STH. Southern hockey solidarity!
by Incipient_Senescence on Nov 7, 2011 1:49 PM EST up reply actions
I am on the fence about it
On the one hand, I think its not a good thing to only get to play 6 of the teams from the other division once every decade or so. On the other hand, there are going to be years when some teams get a leg up now in the divisional race not only by getting a good draw on the schedule (see Georgia this year) but the added new wrinkle of fewer road games in conference. There will be years when a divisional race is influenced by one team having 5 home games and 4 road games, and another team only 4 home games and 5 road games.
Yeah...
but some programs have a divisional rival that is actually tough… and some get away with playing a team that rarely makes it to a bowl every season. Give me the alternating 5 and 4 games over competing with a division title against a team that ends up getting the equivalent of 3 free wins in a good year.
Disappointed
I haven’t really wanted Mizzou at any point and was pretty meh about TAMU. I think they should have gone after UNA to bring Tater Tot and his band of former SEC miscreants back into the Circ de SEC.
I wouldn't mind moving to 10 games eventually.
5 home, 5 away…..it’s more fair and you get to play the other teams even more often.
But who knows if a big change like that is coming down the track one day.
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