OT: If I was named SEC Commissioner for a day...

[aphilso1]

...this would be how I set up the conference football structure.  My priorities would be maintaining rivalries, competitive balance, and ensuring each team plays each other on a rotating basis no less than once every four years.

 

Structure
Four quadrants.  Let’s call them NW, NE, SW, and SE for geographic simplicity.  NE/SE combine to be the Eastern Division while NW/SW combine to be the Western Division.
NW: Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas
SW: LSU, TAMU, Ole Miss, Miss St
NE: Kentucky, Tennessee, Bama, Auburn 
SE: Vandy, UGA, Florida, South Carolina

 

Scheduling
-Play each team within your quad every year.  That’s three games.
-Play one protected “rivalry” game annually with a team that is in your division, but not your quad.
-Play one game against a different team in your division but not in your quad, on a rotating three-year schedule.
-Play one game against a team in each of the opposite division’s quads, on a rotating four-year schedule.  Now we're up to seven games total.
-8th conference game is TBD, and will be scheduled based on the quad standings at the end of the seven regular conference games.  1st place in NW plays 1st place in SW; 2nd in NW plays 2nd in SW; etc.  This will act as a de facto divisional championship game, with the winner of the 1st place NW/SW and NE/SE games advancing to the Conference Championship.

 

Protected rivalry games
Texas/TAMU
Arkansas/LSU
Ole Miss/Texas
Miss St/Mizzou
Vandy/Tenn
Florida/Bama
UGA/Auburn
Kentucky/USC

 

OK, tell me what I got wrong.
 

[cornfed24-7]

I like all, but I think you ax the TAMU v Texas game. To me its like the SEC making AM eat a spoon full of shit then eyeballin' em while saying "AND YOU BETTER FUCKING LIKE IT!"

Pretty sure that's how it would go down though

[hhcmatt]

Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Texas A&M have to be in their own quadrant called the Four Twelves

[HolyBobpilgrimage]

As it seems the mega conference end times are upon us, I have to say I love your model. It's reminiscent of the last game matchups that the B1G used last year, it resulted in some great matchups and was another good test of where teams actually fell in the heirachy. 

[Vinny]

In an 8 team division, play every team in your division every year. That already protects the listed rivalries (which, OU/Texas has to be one).
 

If you want an 11 game season and no out of conference, you play 4 from the other side one year and the other 4 the next. If you want a 9 game season and some out of conference, play through the other side 2 teams a year on a 4 year rotating basis. 

[jayschool]

On 7/27/2021 at 12:12 PM, aphilso1 said:

...this would be how I set up the conference football structure.  My priorities would be maintaining rivalries, competitive balance, and ensuring each team plays each other on a rotating basis no less than once every four years.

 

Structure
Four quadrants.  Let’s call them NW, NE, SW, and SE for geographic simplicity.  NE/SE combine to be the Eastern Division while NW/SW combine to be the Western Division.
NW: Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas
SW: LSU, TAMU, Ole Miss, Miss St
NE: Kentucky, Tennessee, Bama, Auburn 
SE: Vandy, UGA, Florida, South Carolina

 

Scheduling
-Play each team within your quad every year.  That’s three games.
-Play one protected “rivalry” game annually with a team that is in your division, but not your quad.
-Play one game against a different team in your division but not in your quad, on a rotating three-year schedule.
-Play one game against a team in each of the opposite division’s quads, on a rotating four-year schedule.  Now we're up to seven games total.
-8th conference game is TBD, and will be scheduled based on the quad standings at the end of the seven regular conference games.  1st place in NW plays 1st place in SW; 2nd in NW plays 2nd in SW; etc.  This will act as a de facto divisional championship game, with the winner of the 1st place NW/SW and NE/SE games advancing to the Conference Championship.

 

Protected rivalry games
Texas/TAMU
Arkansas/LSU
Ole Miss/Texas
Miss St/Mizzou
Vandy/Tenn
Florida/Bama
UGA/Auburn
Kentucky/USC

 

OK, tell me what I got wrong.
 

As a UF grad, I know Gators wanna beat ... I mean, "play" ... Tennessee every year.

[aphilso1]

26 minutes ago, jayschool said:

As a UF grad, I know Gators wanna beat ... I mean, "play" ... Tennessee every year.

 

That was actually one of the games I thought about the longest.  Most of the pedigree SEC teams have rivalries with the other big name teams, and they can't all play each other every year (unless you make pods that are super uneven from a competitive balance perspective).  I de-prioritized the Tennessee/Florida game because:

 

1. From an outsider's perspective, it doesn't feel like a big-time rivalry anymore like it did in the Fulmer/Spurrier days.  UF going 15-1 in the series since 2005 is probably the biggest reason, but I think the fact that the game is always played early in the year and doesn't have a snazzy nickname like most other SEC rivalries also plays a part.

 

2. The Tennessee fans I know seem to care more about Georgia and Bama than they do about Florida.  And yes, they cared about Bama even before Saban turned Bama into the evil empire that everyone hates.  Bama fans I know hate Tennessee second most, behind only Auburn.  

 

3. The SEC has de-prioritized this game before.  It has only been played annually since the early 90s.

[Handy Johnson]

That’s certainly a well thought out format, but whenever I think of SEC Football, I think of Peyton Manning being benched in the ‘98 Orange Bowl & Osborne’s pregame quote: “we’re gonna smack em like they’ve never been smacked before”...