SEC expansion, pods, & traditional rivals

Divisions make the most sense

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Divisions make the most sense

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I like divisions over pods, myself. There's been a lot of talk about pods. Hopefully it is just talk.

I think Pods where A&M isnt in one is Texas is what got the Aggies on board. They were bitching huge about being in the same division.

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

9 games, 3 Perm + 6 Rotating would make the most sense in my opinion... *but* it would take getting an exception to the "must round robin or have 2 divisions with full round robin to have conference championship" rule from the NCAA.

It would get you UGA/UF and UGA/AU plus one additional permanent (probably USC if I had to guess, due to proximity and balancing...) and then within every 4 years, you'd play every other SEC team home and away.

I think 9 SEC games is pretty much a foregone conclusion now that we're expanding to 16 and the CFP looks to expand to 12 teams... without it, B1G would shout from the rooftops about their 9 game conference schedule as though it's some kind of equalizer.

It is the SEC.
Complaining that something is too hard is something the ACC should do.

All i care about is DSOR, WLOC, and COFH. I dont care if we play bama, lsu, oklahoma, and texas every year (how come people bitch about cupcake games and not playing great conference opponents, but then get worried about balance or fairness when we can get everything we want?)

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Yes I'm fully aware that Tennessee has been down and a team like Texas A&M is currently better, but the big 6 is the big 6 for a really good raeson and it's not just becuase of the last 10 years. For one division (ours, of course) to have 5 of the 8 best teams, including a team currently on the best run in cfb history, and the only division only having 3 is simply not fair or equal.

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While I agree that the Big 6 is the Big 6 for a reason and thing all teams in the Big 6 should stay in the Big 6 (at least for the time being) I just don't think Tennessee will ever become a power again. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. But things have changed drastically the last 20 years since UT has been relevant. Recruiting especially. Of course, we are seeing another major shift in recruiting right now with NIL. Tennessee doesn't seem to have as a strong of a financial base as some others and coupled with their struggles the past 20 years things are not going to get any easier.

I also think it's a mistake to set divisions, pods or anything else up according to who is or is not a power at the moment. Those things change. Texas A&M has come on strong, and with NIL and their financial base will probably emerge into a long term power in football. The landscape of college football has changed drastically and will continue to change for the near future.

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Pods make by far the most logical sense when it comes to preserving traditional (remember tradition?) rivals and ensuring you play the other teams in this massive conference semi-regularly.

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Tweaking scheduling would still allow traditional rivalries to go on. I mean with the way I had the conference divisions set up which traditional rivalries would be hard pressed to continue?
We could still play Florida and Auburn.
Alabama would still have Auburn and Tennessee.
With one permanent cross divisional rival game you could keep all traditional rival games intact that I can think of.

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Then since you still need to have a CCG just take the top 2 teams at the end regardless of pod and have them play.

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With divisions it would be easy to pick the two best teams. With pods you would have 4 pod champions...which teams make the championship game. You said the two best, but now people would be using the eye test. You would be back to having essentially the 4 team playoff scenario of the #3 team arguing they should have been included in the CCG.

I have to think that the AD's want to keep the traditional rivalries intact as a high priority. It seems the SEC needs to go to pods so you don't have the East division lopsided with higher ranked teams. I would assume if you have pods then it's SC, Ga, Fl, UT. Then we have one of our cross-pod games as Auburn every year; and the other teams will cross-pod rivals can do the same. I would assume the top 2 teams play for the SECCG irrespective of your pod.

The other realignment they could do is just add one team to each division that is joining. Add Texas in the East and Oklahoma in the west. I don't see moving 2 teams over from the current west division to the east. Bama or LSU makes it too lopsided. You can't split up Ole Miss and Miss St.

I could care less about annual rivalries, especially Georgia Tech. UF game must go to a hone and home. If we need to play UF every year put them in our pod. Every other year is plenty for Auburn in a 9 game conference rotation. I want more teams more often. No permanent matchups outside the pod.

The rapid rotation and limited permanent opponents accounts for schedule parity too as teams scale up and down in power over time since everyone plays everyone over two years.

If there are no clear win/loss leaders then use known tiebreaks in common opponents etc. if the playoff goes to 12 the top 4 are getting in no matter what.

You have to appeal to the kids too. They are going to favor visiting all the venues to play all over the SEC.

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Every other year is plenty for Auburn

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GTFO... Deep South's Oldest Rivalry... eh, every other year's ok.