Started By
Message

Playing conference teams after their bye

Posted on 12/12/24 at 10:53 am
Posted by bamabenny
Member since Nov 2009
15439 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 10:53 am
I've been curious about this, as it seems we've been getting shafted on this for a number of years, so just did a quick run through to see if the numbers matched the feeling. This is only counting conference games where intra-conference teams took a bye before a conference opponent. There could be a couple extra for each team if I dug deep into OOC schedules each year, but I'm not going to do that. This is a basic 40min effort. Could be off by 1-2 I guess, I did this by hand.

SEC opponents played off of their bye week since 2010:

Bama - 38
Arkansas - 14
Auburn - 11
Florida - 23
Georgia - 24
Kentucky - 14
LSU - 29
Mississippi St - 14
Missouri - 9
Ole Miss - 12
South Carolina - 14
Tennessee - 9
Texas A&M - 17
Vanderbilt - 9

2010 was a bit of an outlier for Alabama since we played 6 teams off of their bye that year, so here is that data if we remove 2010 and start at 2011.

Alabama - 32
Arkansas - 14
Auburn - 11
Florida - 23
Georgia - 23
Kentucky - 14
LSU - 28
Miss St - 14
Missouri - 9
Ole Miss - 12
South Carolina - 14
Tennessee - 9
A&M - 16
Vandy - 8

Of the 15 years I looked at, there are only 8 years where we played 2 or less SEC teams coming off of their bye, those years were:

12
14
16
17
18
20
22
23

Interesting data. Would be cool if Byrne would put his foot down about scheduling, we've been getting shafted (with LSU close behind) for years.

More random data outliers:

Only Bama and LSU have played at least one opponent coming off a bye every season since 2010. Tennessee and Missouri have EIGHT seasons where they did not play a single team coming off of a bye. Auburn comes in behind that at 7 seasons.

Alabama has 7 seasons where they played 3 or more SEC opponents off of their bye week. LSU has 5, UF has 4, UGA has 3.
This post was edited on 12/12/24 at 12:51 pm
Posted by Sl0thstronautEsq
Member since Aug 2018
16491 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 10:55 am to
I know we had a bunch of issues in the OU game this year, but them getting an additional week to essentially install the Vandy offense, which they hadn't run all year, was a big advantage for them.

Posted by Night Vision
Member since Feb 2018
19286 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 10:57 am to
A league rule was supposed to be put in place around 2011-2012 that put a max # on how many bye week league teams another SEC team was allowed to face. Believe it was 3.

This came about because Mal Moore started raising hell about it.

There were articles written about it.
This post was edited on 12/12/24 at 11:02 am
Posted by bamabenny
Member since Nov 2009
15439 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 11:00 am to
quote:

A league rule was supposed to be put in place around 2011-2012 that put a max # on how many bye week league teams another SEC team was allowed to face. Believe it was 3.


We played four teams off their bye last year and have four again next season. They obviously don't give a damn about that rule as it pertains to our schedule. The data is there.

South Carolina and Tennessee played ZERO conference opponents off of their bye last year.
This post was edited on 12/12/24 at 11:01 am
Posted by Marktastic86
Pismo Beach, CA
Member since Dec 2020
20958 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 11:02 am to
quote:

SEC opponents played off of their bye week since 2010:

Bama - 38
LSU - 29


To be fair, one of those games every year is LSU, who Bama also has a bye week prior to playing. So, kind of a wash.

But yeah, doesn't explain the rest.
Posted by Night Vision
Member since Feb 2018
19286 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 11:03 am to
I know we've been playing more. Maybe the rule was for 10 years, or they just thought we would forget and not pay attention.
Posted by bamabenny
Member since Nov 2009
15439 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 11:04 am to
You can say the same about UF and UGA, there's ways to dial this spreadsheet down to account for that, but that would involve time I don't have. This is simple black and white numbers with no context behind it other than what I mentioned above.
Posted by CrimsonTider98
Member since Nov 2017
809 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 11:09 am to
Biggest problem with the schedule is Auburn having a bye and Mercer before us. This basically gives them three weeks to prepare for a Jordan Hare Iron Bowl.
Posted by bamabenny
Member since Nov 2009
15439 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 11:14 am to
You could probably add another tab with byes before cupcake OOC games and run that data too. I’m sure we’ll be on top again.
Posted by Robot Santa
Member since Oct 2009
46055 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 11:26 am to
quote:

You can say the same about UF and UGA, there's ways to dial this spreadsheet down to account for that, but that would involve time I don't have.


There's no good reason that the SEC allows that (the same two teams having the same bye week before playing each other every year) in the first place, but even if you account for it the spread would still be like 15 games and there's no good explanation for that.
Posted by Sauron
Birmingham
Member since Dec 2015
1098 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 11:59 am to
quote:

even if you account for it the spread would still be like 15 games and there's no good explanation for that.


Sure there is. Particularly since Saban arrived, the rest of the SEC has it out for Alabama, and the league office is either ambivalent about that or is complicit in trying to minimize our success.
Posted by UGAnations
North Georgia
Member since Nov 2015
908 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 12:37 pm to
Georgia has to play 4 teams coming of a bye next season. UGA has their two before Bama and Florida. The two other teams that have byes before UGA are Texas and Auburn. I guess UGA is starting to get the Bama treatment. All to please the SEC's new darlings Texas.
Posted by bamabenny
Member since Nov 2009
15439 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 12:52 pm to
quote:

Georgia has to play 4 teams coming of a bye next season


2025 will be Georgia's fourth time in 16 seasons of playing three or more SEC opponents off their bye.

It will be Alabama's eighth.
Posted by Chad4Bama
Member since Sep 2020
8636 posts
Posted on 12/12/24 at 1:27 pm to
And the teams we play after byes usually have a bye themselves...nullifying any perceived advantage in preparation that other teams get before playing Bama.

Honestly, the numbers are so egregious that it has to be done on purpose.
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 1Next pagelast page
refresh

Back to top
logoFollow SECRant for SEC Football News
Follow us on X and Facebook to get the latest updates on SEC Football and Recruiting.

FacebookTwitter