re: How To Re-Align the SEC

BUT.....ANNUAL RIVALRY GAMES.......

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How To Re-Align the SEC by MetroAtlantaGatorFan
Okay then how do you decide who plays in the SEC title game?

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Pair up the pods yearly. Best record in each group of 8 is an SECCG contestant.

Y1 - AB vrs. CD
Y2 - AC vrs. BD
Y3 - AD vrs. BC

Everyone also plays everyone home and home every 4 years..with no divisions and rotating 6 and 3 rivalries.

14-team/8-game model: 6 in-div + 1 cross-div fixed rival (AL-TN, AU-GA...) + 1 of 6 cross-div rotating every other year—requires 12 years to rotate all 6. That flaw needs to be resolved, but are four 4-team pods a good way? Pods make 80% of all SEC matchups rotate and sacrifice many rivalries and their big financial benefits. Maybe that's why the 14-team/8-game model isn't already 3 fixed rivals, rotating the other 10 teams in 5 schedule slots (like pods).

SEC 16-team structure / scheduling solution with more rivalries + more frequent rotation:

SEC--East (8): FL GA KY SC TN VU + AL AU
SEC-West (8): AR LS 0M MS TA + M0 0K TX

^This not only facilitates more SEC rivalries, it ends the need for fixed cross-div rivals, which frees a 2nd schedule slot to use for rotations.

SEC schedules = 3 non-SEC + 9 SEC games;
7 in-division + 2 of 8 cross-div rotating yearly:

4 Rotations - #1, #8 | #2, #7 | #3, #6 | #4, #5
2 E teams --- AL, VU | GA, SC | KY, FL | TN, AU
2 W teams -- LS MO | 0K MS | 0M TX | AR TA

All 8 cross-div teams rotate in 4 years, playing 2 per year once and then the home/aways flip (as often as all 12 cross-pod teams rotate).

Consistent schedule format: 7-8 homes/year; aligns rotationals; limits post-bye opponents.
Sep: non-SEC & cross-division games
Oct: in-division games & bye (mid-season)
Nov: in-division & non-SEC rivalry games
Dec: SEC Championship game

Benefits include balanced divisions, equitable schedules, more frequent cross-div rotations, and a net gain in high-value annual rivalries — AL-LS, FL-LS rotate, but added annuals include AL-GA, FL-AU & SEC-W games vs TX, OK, MO.

Facts: With four 4-team pods (or 3 fixed rivals), the SEC would play only 48 yearly games and thereby less high-value annual rivalries. But with 8-team divisions, the SEC would play 112 yearly games and thereby more high-value annual rivalries. Either option would resolve the 14-team/8-game model's 12-year rotation flaw; but pods' financial impact is negative, while divisions' financial impact is positive.

Not only do the new 8-team divisions enable more financially beneficial scheduling (twice as many high-value yearly games as pods), they also offer more intrinsic value, such as division winners earning opportunities to compete in the SEC Championship game.

Note: The NCAA requires conferences with 12 or more teams to have 2 divisions.

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UT and UK have played 117 times.. it’s their Oldest and longest rivalry.. Bama and UT have played 103. 3rd longest in SEC.
UT and UGA played 51.

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Texas Aggies and Texas Longhorns have played 118 times and did not play for the last 10 years.

WHAT'S WRONG with 4 4-team pods paired yearly to create "an 8 team division"?
Y1 - AB vrs. CD
Y2 - AC vrs. BD
Y3 - AD vrs. BC

The best record in each "division is an SECCG contestant.
& the SECCG won't have repeat teams possible until every 3rd year.

Actually the NCAA does not require divisions at all.. it just requires a round robin play with no divisions to have a champ game.., it also doesn’t allow for more than 2 divisions; so a change in rules will have to be made either way. Unless like you propose stay at 2 (8) team divisions

Probably been poster already

East

UGA
Alabama
UF
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
South Carolina
Kentucky
Auburn

West

LSU
Ol miss
Miss state
Texas
Oklahoma
Texas a&m
Arkansas
Missouri

Pretty simple East is East, West is West

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3)
Ol miss
Miss state
LSU
Arkansas


4)
TEXAS
Texas a&m
Oklahoma
Missouri

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Arkansas has a really strong historical interest in playing Texas and Oklahoma. They also border Missouri and already seem (because of the pit boss among other reasons) to have a nice antipathy for each other that A&M and Missouri don't enjoy.

On the balance that means you probably do better with:

Pod 3: Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas
Pod 4: LSU, A&M, MSU, Ole Miss

The one permanent out of pod opponent per pod lets you line up Texas with A&M and Arkansas with LSU.

Depends in scheduling. My way plays everybody in 3 years. Yours won't see teams until 2/4 years...& then another 4 to play again.

All up to when you flip home sites.