Revised 13-team SEC schedule shouldn’t endanger Georgia-Auburn rivalry
The revised SEC logo has 13 pennants. (SEC)
As MrSEC notes, you could easily get a headache trying to figure out how the SEC is going to make a 13-team schedule work next year, but from all indications that’s just what the league is going to be doing.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity told Bulldogs Blog “that’s the direction we’ve heard, is that we’re moving along with 13,” and with Texas A&M now officially in the conference the SEC even issued a photo of the rejiggered logo with 13 pennants.
Indications are that the SEC probably will be sticking with eight conference games until a 14th team is added at sometime in the future. That leaves seven teams in one division (most likely the West) and six in the other.
The problem with handling unbalanced divisions, as MrSEC explains, is that while normally a schedule with eight conference games includes five division opponents and three games against opponents from the other division, with 13 teams three teams in the larger division must play six division games (and just two non-division contests).
So the conference has to decide which previously scheduled West vs. East games won’t take place next year.
The assumption everyone appears to be working under is that all of the current “permanent” East-West rivalries, including Georgia-Auburn, Alabama-Tennessee and Florida-LSU, will be maintained.
“It’s critical that the Georgia-Auburn series stay intact in football,” McGarity told the Macon Telegraph last week. “I can’t imagine that being displaced or being discontinued. I think your traditional rivalries are always going to be there. Tennessee-Alabama, count on that.”
I hope he’s right. Of course, if Missouri winds up being the eventual 14th team in the league, it’s quite likely that Auburn will move over to the SEC East and the Georgia-Auburn rivalry won’t need protecting.
But until then any schedule changes that would interrupt the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry need to be vetoed by Michael Adams and McGarity, if necessary.
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287 comments Add your comment
PigIron
September 27th, 2011
1:03 pm
@Nashville Dawg
So… You can’t count either?
Buzzer
September 27th, 2011
1:09 pm
If the ACC is so inferior, why are all the posters on here intent on raiding the ACC for a 14th team?
New Moon Rising
September 27th, 2011
1:12 pm
Miss State 31, UGA 24
Beast from the East
September 27th, 2011
1:16 pm
“If the ACC is so inferior, why are all the posters on here intent on raiding the ACC for a 14th team?”
Buzzer,
Do you disagree that the ACC is inferior in football? They certianly aren’t in baseball, basketball or academics, but football pays the bills for all of the non-revenue sports.
AceDawg
September 27th, 2011
1:17 pm
Division One football needs a playoff system. That is more important than the division realignment discussions across the nation. New conferences will add a couple diverse matchups for a couple years, but then once new teams become a part of their conference identity, we’ll probably see less out of conference marquee matchups since conference schedules may be bigger or the quality of conference games increases slightly.
Gordon
September 27th, 2011
1:18 pm
How about this:
Add Missouri. Drop the divisions. Every team gets 3 permanent opponents. Those teams will not have all the same permanent opponents you do. For example, Georgia gets Florida, Tennessee, and Auburn. Florida gets Georgia, Auburn, and LSU. Auburn gets Alabama, Georgia, Florida. Etc.
You play the other 10 teams every other year.
This plan:
1) Preserves all the rivalries.
2) Keeps the conference schedule at 8 games.
3) Ensures every single team plays in every single stadium once every 4 years (it is 5 years now).
4) Ensures that every team plays every other team once every 2 years (it is twice in 5 years now).
Misty From Macon
September 27th, 2011
1:18 pm
Is it possible SEC may query some member to voluntarily give up its membership? and compensate the member with $20million? Vandy or Kentucky may take the bait.
You’re thinking as if the only game in town is FOOTBALL. Kentucky is a basketball powerhouse, Vandy consistently has a Women’s Basketball team that makes the Sweet 16 every year and has won a few SEC Championships.
Don’t be so quick to let these schools go all in the name of FOOTBALL. There are more sports on the agenda than that..
Beast from the East
September 27th, 2011
1:19 pm
AceDawg,
My hope is that once we do get to 4 16 team “super conferences”, then we will have some type of play-off format.
Misty From Macon
September 27th, 2011
1:19 pm
They certianly aren’t in baseball, basketball or academics, but football pays the bills for all of the non-revenue sports.
Dawg crap!
Beast from the East
September 27th, 2011
1:20 pm
Misty From Macon,
Then who foots the bill for all of those, if not the revenue from football?
Bo in NorthCarolina
September 27th, 2011
1:22 pm
What about Cincinnati? They took NC State to the woodshed and laid it on hard. Those who keep bringing up VT, forget it. The legislature of the Commonwealth of Va. has already put a stop to that. They will never allow it to happen
gbal
September 27th, 2011
1:32 pm
Gordon –
And do you suggest dropping the SEC championship game?
I like the idea but I just cant see that divisional champ to the championship game being dropped?? Guess you could do like the old days and have confrence records determine 1 & 2 and have them play in the SECC game/
SECInsider
September 27th, 2011
1:35 pm
I have been told in confidence that TCU will be the 14th team and that Auburn will slide to the east… The SEC wants a smaller school like Vandy in the west for balance, but they want a smaller school in good market like Dallas with good athletics… I like it!
TexasDawg
September 27th, 2011
1:42 pm
I welcome Texas A&M to the club for selfish reasons. As a Georgia Alumni in Houston, who married an Aggie, it will be nice to go up the road to Kyle Field to see Georgia play every few years. The Aggie fans are much more classy than the LSU fans. I much rather go to see my dawgs play in College Station than to travel to Baton Rogue and dealing with all the insanity there. Plus, just to have SEC football that close again is great, no matter who comes in to play.
Misty From Macon
September 27th, 2011
1:43 pm
Then who foots the bill for all of those, if not the revenue from football?
All revenue goes into a combined pot. However basketball with its tournaments that climaxes with the Final Four has a huge economic footprint for television, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), advertisers and the colleges that are part of the tournament.
Basketball tournaments are also important to the NCAA, the tournament brings in 90% of the organization’s revenues. Interest over recent decades in the “brackets” — a term used for the grids that separate the 65 teams in the tournament into 16 different groupings — and in the eventual winners has greatly increased the tournament’s economic impact.
Colleges get direct payments from the telecast based on a complicated formula that takes into account the school’s athletic conference, how many teams from that conference make it to the tournament and how far each advances. Sometimes, these payments are split evenly throughout the conference, allotted even to those teams that do not make the tournament. For example, Morgan State University, one of the lesser teams in the tournament, got $291,000 for appearing one year. The 12 schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference — which includes previous year’s winner, the University of North Carolina — evenly split a hefty $15,863,538.
Basketball has more games, more tournaments, and more television appearances (which brings the school money) than does Football.
Gordon
September 27th, 2011
1:43 pm
gbal,
The SECCG would be the two top teams (conference record). It is possible they would have already played, but that is possible now. What is good about this plan is that any student or player who goes through 4 years at UGA will see every team at Sanford stadium at least once (except Florida).
Scorekeeper
September 27th, 2011
1:47 pm
DawginLex -
A little sensitive today are we? Cheer up. Whenever UGA wins another football game you will feel much better.
That’s a pretty harsh response. UGA isn’t going to win many more games, not while Richt is in Athens.
Gordon
September 27th, 2011
1:48 pm
SECInsider,
Any idea on how the permanent opponents will work? Will the SEC go to 2 or does Alabama/Tennessee go away?
Half Century Dawg
September 27th, 2011
1:55 pm
SSIgator, Gainsville is a landfill
Gator Bob
September 27th, 2011
1:57 pm
No to FSU
Yes to VA Tech, GT or TCU
Misty From Macon
September 27th, 2011
2:00 pm
That’s a pretty harsh response. UGA isn’t going to win many more games, not while Richt is in Athens.
Way harsh! UGA still has to play Vandy, New Mexico State and Kentucky.
So What?
September 27th, 2011
2:05 pm
What about Central Florida? South Florida? Or Louisville?
GSO Dawg
September 27th, 2011
2:06 pm
@SSIgator
Tough day in the office today? You did not graduate from the University of Florida.
The reason why Missouri is the better fit than all the rest of the schools mentioned on this thread (especially FSU), is that it will open the television markets in St. Louis and Kansas City. These moves are strategic strictly for money in TV ratings. I don’t like the move any more than the next person…
Priester John
September 27th, 2011
2:07 pm
Add Rice University to the SEC West to balance Vandy in the SEC West.
Priester John
September 27th, 2011
2:09 pm
Vandy in the SEC East that’s SEC EAST! Sorry for the typo.
GeoffDawg
September 27th, 2011
2:10 pm
You were told in confidence SECInsider? Are you sure you know what “in confidence” means? Probably not sharing on a public blog.
Misty From Macon
September 27th, 2011
2:10 pm
Louisville is a great up and coming team, however their fan base is not that tried and true. I’m for West Va. OR Notre Dame. If we’re going to be on television, we have to have FANS to be in the stands.
gbal
September 27th, 2011
2:14 pm
Id really hate to see teams go to 2 permanant out of division games. That could say that a team NEVER plays a group of teams in the other division….NEVER >>>>> that is unless we went to 9 game SEC schedule – 6 Division and 3 non division and then 2 out of confrence games. If two of those are permanant the we play the other 5 non division teams once per 5 years. I dont care for that. I say some rivalries are going to have to be broken…. Hate to say it!. But as a UGA guy I would have a hard time choosing between giving up playing AU every year and never having the chance to play LSU, BAMA, Miss, Ark again.
GeoffDawg
September 27th, 2011
2:16 pm
WVU adds very little to the common SEC pie. They don’t justify divvying it up further. Louisville is what Louisville is. They consistently have decent, sometimes good teams and don’t particularly have a large following. Notre Dame isn’t going anywhere they would have to actually compete with quality teams on a week to week basis. If they were to actually join a conference, smart money would be on the ACC.
Gator Bob
September 27th, 2011
2:19 pm
Also welcome to Texas A&M!
really???
September 27th, 2011
2:20 pm
Actually, bringing in NC State would, from a media perspective, bring you the Charlotte metro area (about 500k to 700k population) and the Winston-Salem area (approx. 200k population), plus the rest of North Carolina and parts of Virginia.
From a sports perspective, you get NC State, not UNC. The Tar Heels are suffering under potential NCAA investigations at the moment. You also open up yet another state for recruiting.
Beast from the East
September 27th, 2011
2:21 pm
Misty from Macon,
I just heard recently that UNC makes more money from football than basketball. Can’t remember the exact source, but it was an alum of UNC on The Herd. Football pays the lion share of the bills in all big-time sports programs. Mabe not in the example you showed about Morgan State, but in all big time conferences.
If you think for one minute that 12 teams splitting $15,863,538 in revenue from the NCAA tournament will support all of the non-revunue sports, then I have a 2,900 sq ft home in Henry County I’ll sell you for that exact same price. FOOTBALL PAYS THE BILLS!
gbal
September 27th, 2011
2:23 pm
If AU shiftsed to the east, bama UT rivalry gets cut out as a permanant game. I see that as the only loss, but it just cant be avoided. Bamer has to keep the Iron Bowl!
GeoffDawg
September 27th, 2011
2:28 pm
Isn’t it the stated expansion preference of the SEC to admit state “flagship” universities? I guess you could quibble on what flagship means – A&M / Va Tech may or may not meet that definition but that’s definitely not TCU or NC St. Mizzou definitely would.
It’s likely coming down to Mizzou/Va Tech on the SEC wishlist. Everything else being equal, it costs $20 mil to get Va Tech and $0 to get Mizzou. Unless they decide to stay put, Missouri is the likely 14th member.
GeoffDawg
September 27th, 2011
2:31 pm
BTW – just read that the MU Board of Curators is likely meeting this Friday to vote on seeking SEC membership. Apparently, Mizzou fans have been lobbying them hard to leave the Big 12.
Beast from the East
September 27th, 2011
2:32 pm
GeoffDawg,
Hope you’re right. I think they would be the best choice at this point in time.
SCarolinaFan
September 27th, 2011
2:33 pm
I do not love the idea of Alabama and Auburn moving to the east with Vandy moving to the west if Mizzou is the 14th team. This appears to be the most likely scenario to protect the Iron Bowl and keep an 8 game conference schedule. 6 divisonal games with 2 rotating other divsion games. Playing a permanent other division team would go away until the SEC can see what a 9 game conference schedule will do to the 9 SEC bowl slots. I would much prefer to add a team to the east and NC State makes the most since to me. Dear NC State, would you like to ge out from the shadow of UNC? UNC is the Texas of the ACC. Imagine what 15K visiting fans from SC, GA, TN, and FL would do for your bottom line. Even UK travels for football. What would you rather see, NCSU vs Syracuse or NCSU vs Alabama? Imagine what having an SEC defense will do with your rivalry with UNC? Your recruiting will improve, your revenues would improve and you would have the money to improve your facilities to SEC standards. Yes, for the first 5-7 years, it may be painful, but look at what has happened to South Carolina since joining the SEC. South Carolina, once one step above Vandy and UK in football, has now played in the SEC championship game and is now competitive with every SEC football power. This could be you NC State so start saving your $$ to pay that $20m ACC exit fee, and when the invite comes write the check to the ACC with a smile on your face.
Gator Bob
September 27th, 2011
2:36 pm
Notre Dame should be B10 – after that, ACC.
I would like to keep some geographical integrity to the all of this.
That is why TCU makes great since for our brothers out in the SEC West – Arkansas, TX AM, LSU – not too bad of a trip to Dallas for baseball, soccer, swimming, etc.
GeoffDawg
September 27th, 2011
2:37 pm
SCarolinaFan, if you add 2 western teams, only 1 needs to move to the East for balance. If that’s Auburn, they’ll take Bama as their permanent rival, preserving the Iron Bowl and Georgia and Tennessee will split the two new entries. The only true sacrifice on the schedule would be the annual Bama-UT game. Unfortunate, but they gave up the Auburn-UF rivalry during the last expansion in ‘91.
SSIgator
September 27th, 2011
2:48 pm
GSO Dawg -
And you think you know this to be true because . . .
octavian
September 27th, 2011
2:52 pm
The best move would be to add NCSU, assuming the Wolfpack could be persuaded. Of course, the Pack isn’t all that great in football but it has a great basketball tradition – and NCSU’s addition would give the SEC a wedge into the NC market, which is substantial.
USCndaATL
September 27th, 2011
2:56 pm
My bad, people. I forgot to mention that they would move Vanderbilt to the Western Division to keep all rivalries intact.
Are we cool now?
Cupcake City
September 27th, 2011
2:58 pm
Why does UGA hardly ever schedule LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas?
Never mind, the answer is obvious. They’d rather play cupcakes.
Gordon
September 27th, 2011
3:04 pm
If you move both Auburn and Alabama to the East, you should change the name of the SECCG to the LSU Invitational.
GeoffDawg
September 27th, 2011
3:05 pm
USCndaATL, if you did that, you can pretty much chalk up LSU winning the West every 2 out of 3 years. Going through the East will amount to a death march. Kentucky may never win a division game again.
Lausch P.
September 27th, 2011
3:05 pm
It doesn’t matter how the SEC divisions shake out. UGA will still be mired in the second tier, irrelevant and forgotten. That’s never going to change.
Tech=highSchoolOffense
September 27th, 2011
3:06 pm
listen retards, if Auburn moves to the East they would play UGA every year anyways like everybody else on our side….stupids….who cares about Tenn and Alabama
ASSESSOR
September 27th, 2011
3:06 pm
Maryland has been mentioned, but VA Tech makes the most sense.This would be the most balanced approach. Bammer and aubbie stay in the west and VA Tech in the east problems solved.
PigIron
September 27th, 2011
3:11 pm
Didn’t take long for this discussion to devolve into inanity, did it?
Eye on the prize
September 27th, 2011
3:12 pm
Mississippi State 37, Georgia 24
Bye bye to Richt.