re: Case Can Be Made For Strengthening SEC Football Schedules

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Giving USC credit for a playing 9 conference games would be the equivalent of giving Bama credit if we played a schedule of vandy, Kentucky, ole miss, Missouri, Arkansas, Tamu, South Carolina, miss st and then rotating one of LSU, Georgia, Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee. 

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Are you sure about that?

The SEC had 8 teams (8/14=58%) with 7 wins or less (incl. 9 FCS games) in 2017. The PAC12 (not "PAC16") had 7 teams (7/12=57%) with 7 wins or less (incl. only 5 FCS games) -- and the PAC12 plays one more conf game. The SEC was 2-5 in its bowl games (excl. CFP). 4 of Bama's 8 SEC opponents weren't bowl eligible and Bama's other 4 SEC opponents went 1-3 in bowl games.

2018 Schedules
So Cal -- Bama (2017 W-L)
ND 10-3 -- AU 10-4
Stan 9-5 -- LSU 9-4 (lost to ND)
WSU 9-4 -- Miss St 9-4
Texas 7-6 -- Louisville 8-5
UCLA 6-7 -- ATM 7-6 (lost vs UCLA)
Ariz 7-6 -- Ole Miss 6-6 (lost at Cal)
ASU 7-6 -- Mizzou 7-6 (lost to Texas)
Utah 7-6 -- Arky 4-8
Cal 5-7 -- Tenn. 4-8
Col 5-7 -- Ark St. 7-5
UNLV 5-7 -- ULL 5-7
OrSt 1-11 -- Citadel 5-6
Totals 78-75 -- 81-69 (difference: OrSt 1-11)

I just took a quick swag at that, so I probably don't have all of the pairings aligned just right, but overall Bama's 12 opponents don't seem to be much (if any) better than USC's. But, if you replaced The Citadel with USCe (9th SEC), Bama's resumé would be much improved.

ETA: Added 2017 W-L and tweeked the pairings just a little bit, considering the new 2018 HCs.

At the top, UA and UGA are better than USC and Wash. Otherwise, neither conference appears to be much (if any) better than the other right now.

The PAC12 plays 9 conf games and filled 8 bowl slots. The SEC(14) plays 8 conf games and filled 9 bowl/CFP slots (Ole Miss banned). The SEC can play a 9th conf game and still fill its bowl slots, if weaker SEC teams schedule 3 beatable non-conf opponents. There is no need to be scared of playing 9 conf games.

Have a nice evening.

Alabama adds Western Carolina to already terrible 2019 schedule

Let's check with the S&P Rankings once again:

#13 ND vs #10 Auburn
#32 Stanford vs #19 LSU
#50 Texas vs #28 Miss St
#39 Wazzu vs #16 Louisville
#77 UCLA vs #61 Texas A&M
#87 Cal vs #42 Ole Miss
#33 Utah vs #35 Mizzou
#48 Arizona vs #91 Arkansas
#81 Arizona St vs #107 Tennessee
#93 Colorado vs #24 Arkansas St
#95 UNLV vs #113 ULL
#127 Oregon St vs #130 FCS Citadel

Even with your weird matchups it's not even close to being the same with only a few being in USC's favor. Now let's go down the list in actual order.

#13 ND vs #10 Auburn
#32 Stanford vs #16 Louisville
#33 Utah vs #19 LSU
#39 Wazzu vs #24 Arkansas St
#48 Arizona vs #28 Miss St
#50 Texas vs #35 Mizzou
#77 UCLA vs #42 Ole Miss
#81 Arizona St vs #61 Texas A&M
#87 Cal vs #91 Arkansas
#93 Colorado vs #107 Tennessee
#95 UNLV vs #113 ULL
#127 Oregon St vs FCS Oregon St.


So it wasn't until the very bottom that USC finally started to play teams "better" than Alabama and they were ALL cupcakes even before that point.

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ut overall Bama's 12 opponents don't seem to be much (if any) better than USC's.

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And yet you've been going on about how USC will play 11 P5's and Alabama only 8.

Which is why labels like "P5" are meaningless.

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And yet you've been going on about how USC will play 11 P5's and Alabama only 8. 

Which is why labels like "P5" are meaningless.

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I've been going on about 1 main point -- the SEC should play 9 conf games instead of FCS games.

Why labels like "S&P Rank" are meaningless:

S&P #24 ArkSt
S&P #16 Louisville
S&P #11 FL Atlantic
S&P #42 Ole Miss lost to S&P #87 Cal
S&P #61 ATM lost to S&P #77 UCLA

And yet jryanw was going on about Bama's brutal schedule compared to USC's in the "PAC16". He tried to prove his SEC-biased opinion was right, but he failed miserably.

S&P has some merit, but it's ratings hardly prove a higher S&P-ranked team is better. There are inherent flaws in rating teams based on stats. For example, they can be greatly inflated for teams who keep their starters in to run up the score (& stats) in garbage time against inferior opponents; e.g., FL Atlantic and Louisville.

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It's called best team doesn't always win.

The S&P uses all the games, not just single games.

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I know. But thanks anyway.

I do get the points you guys are arguing, and I do think they have some merit. But I still think it's in the best interest of the SEC and Bama to play 9 SEC games instead of playing an FCS game.

It's obvious you and some others don't, and won't ever, agree with me about that. So, there's really nothing to be gained by debating it anymore.

Have a nice evening.

Alabama adds Western Carolina to already terrible 2019 schedule