re: Here’s what the SEC’s 3 protected rivalry games should look like for every team (SDS)

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At the end of the day, I understand your point, but it isn't as big of a difference as it might seem when playing 9 games..

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I don't disagree. Just simply stating that it will be hard to do both.

As good as it possibly could get for us...

Mississippi State
Vanderbilt
Ole Miss
Kentucky

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I think what they are doing is trying not to give the new teams all former Big 12 permanents. Not sure it is avoidable.

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So unnecessary, everything in cfb should be regional.

I'm going to ignore the linked article because his pairings are not very good, in my opinion. But, I did want to go back and look at the pairings that were leaked out two years ago, which were based upon taking the 10 year conference records of all teams, splitting the league into a top 8 and bottom 8, then assigning each top 8 team 2 other top 8 rivals and one bottom 8, and vice versa for the bottom of the league.

It's possible my math could be off a digit here or there, but this is what the last 10 years looks like:

1. .878 72-10 Alabama
2. .827 67-14 Georgia
3. .750 66-22 Oklahoma
4. .659 54-28 LSU
5. .602 53-35 Texas
6. .573 47-25 Florida
7. .543 44-37 A&M
8. .476 39-43 Tennessee
9. .475 38-42 Ole Miss
10. .463 38-44 Auburn
11. .439 36-46 Missouri
12. .415 34-48 Kentucky
13. .402 33-49 S. Carolina
14. .369 30-52 Miss. State
15. .288 23-57 Arkansas
16. .185 15-66 Vandy

I then looked at the leaked pairings (according to a Dellenger tweet from 2 years ago) from 2023. When you add up the winning percentages of each team's permanent opponents, this is what you come up with:

Florida: Georgia; South Carolina; Oklahoma = .661
LSU: Ole Miss; Texas A&M; Alabama = .634
Auburn: Alabama; Georgia; Vanderbilt = .631
Texas A&M: LSU; Texas; Mississippi State = .544
Oklahoma: Texas; Missouri; Florida = .540
Texas: Oklahoma; Texas A&M; Arkansas = .534
Alabama: Auburn; Tennessee; LSU = .533
Kentucky: Mississippi State; South Carolina; Georgia = .531
Arkansas: Missouri; Texas; Ole Miss = .492
Tennessee: Vanderbilt; Alabama; South Carolina = .490
South Carolina: Florida; Tennessee; Kentucky = .488
Georgia: Auburn; Florida; Kentucky = .484
Mississippi State: Ole Miss; Kentucky; Texas A&M = .477
Vanderbilt: Tennessee; Auburn; Missouri = .459
Ole Miss: Mississippi State; LSU; Arkansas = .439
Missouri: Oklahoma; Arkansas; Vanderiblt = .418

One of the funny things about updating the numbers is that if they used the same formula as last time, Bama could still end up with Auburn, UT, and LSU, because although UT has now moved into the top 8, Auburn has dropped into the bottom 8. But, I hope that they do not stick with that formula.

If you want to balance out the opponents (which I think is a fools errand, given the minimal statistical difference in swiching out of your your annual opponents and making them a biennial opponent), then you would have to look at winning percentages, rather than this top 8, bottom 8 stuff.

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LSU and Ole Miss will always be preserved, no matter what.

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I hope. It’s always been a great rivalry.

Yeah Oklahoma LSU is bullshite.

I don’t want MS St but we’ve played them the most. 1. Ole Miss 2. Arky

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I dont see why not. Thr 4 from the big 12 have played each other for a long time. Why stop now? It all feels forced. We can absorb those 4 teams and not ruin the games that have been played for 100 years.

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That's simply not true. A&M and Missouri have only played 17 times, and five of those have been since joining the SEC.

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Your HC sure chats a lot about Auburn.

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Our HC chats a lot about everyone. You just haven't noticed because you are too busy watching your own program burn down.

Arkansas is going to have Texas and Texas A & M. The debate is if their 3rd team is LSU or Missouri. It should be LSU, but who really knows?

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ell lsu has played oklahoma 4 times. 4 is less than 1 quarter of 17

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So, your erroneous claim is negated by a totally irrelevant statistic? That's cajun logic, I suppose.

I'm not too worried about who we play every year, because, in the end, we will play every team in alternating years. That's the main concern. Fix that, and the rest is just icing on the cake.