they still have a chance if the Pac-12 allows them in. They're usually good enough to where they could compete there. Texas Tech looks more likely to get the invite there though...

UsmcDawg, if Bama, Auburn, and Miss St moved to the East, then another team would have to join Mizzou coming over here in addition to TX and Oklahoma joining... why not just move Bama and Auburn over and slide Mizzou to the West if you want to keep divisions. I get Bama wants to play Miss St but unfortunately a lot of teams are gonna lose rivalry games here. LSU-Florida will probably die, Auburn-LSU could die, and other schools have rivalries that would die as well. unfortunate but thats how it will be

consider this as well... LSU and Kentucky (using these two schools because it was on my mind at the time, but im sure other examples like this exist) played each other every year from 1952 to 2002. Since then, they've played on average once every 4.5 years.

my idea going forward would be 4 team pods that look like this SEC East: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky SEC Central: Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt SEC South: LSU, Texas A/M, Mississippi St, Ole Miss SEC West: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri 3 against the teams in your pod, 6 against the other pods. if you make 1 of those games against each of the other pods, you could preserve most rivalries (I think LSU v Auburn was the most notable one that wouldn't be played every year, or if Bama would rather play a Mississippi school or A/M over LSU that would be more notable i suppose. I also think depending on who Tennessee draws from the East, that the other 3 would lose a somewhat compelling rivalry, especially UF and UGA). If you do 1 team from each pod as permanent, then you play every team at least once every 3 years... Compared to our current system which enhances rivalries but also limits cross-play between teams (before this coming season, LSU hasn't played at Kentucky since 2007), it's not a bad system...

i think pods work better than larger divisions because that way you can play more teams more often, but if you add Clemson and UCF the SEC becomes 18 teams and you would need to split into 3 or 6 (unlikely) pods. What that could look like... SEC East: UF, SC, UGA, UCF/FSU/MIA (personally think FSU and MIA would be more preferred than UCF), Clemson, Kentucky SEC Central: Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi St SEC West: Missouri, Arkansas, LSU, Texas A/M, Texas, Oklahoma 5 SEC games vs 2 from each other pod (one permanent) to make 9 conference games, best two from the conference makes it to the chip... Now hypothetically, three team pods could be fun... SEC Southwest: LSU, Texas, Texas A/M SEC Northwest: Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas SEC North: Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee SEC Central: Mississippi St, Ole Miss, Alabama SEC Southeast: Florida, Auburn, UCF/UM/FSU SEC East: Georgia, SC, Clemson scheduling gets murkier there though...

I feel that, i just guess that NC State would be the easiest target to pry from the ACC that's in NC thats also semi-feasible for the SEC... no way UNC or Duke are moving

I don't think this has a chance of happening; if the SEC votes on it, then 4 NO votes are what it takes to prevent the newcomers. A&M, Mizzou, and Arkansas are all likely NO's, LSU would also be a possible no, and word on the street is that aTm, UF, UGA, and SC have an agreement to keep other teams in their states out of the SEC. So it would be killed before it gets started. Hypothetically though, if it gets through, I think 4 team pods might be the best way to do it... SEC Southeast: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Auburn SEC North: Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama SEC Gulf Coast: LSU, Texas A/M, Ole Miss, Mississippi St SEC West: Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas each team plays each team in their pods plus 2 others from the other 3 pods for a 9 game conf schedule (to preserve rivalries like Auburn and Alabama one could be permanent) and the top two teams across the pods are the SEC chip representatives... Personally for expansion though, I'd rather see a team from the ACC. I know GT, Clemson, FSU, Miami, etc. would be hard to poach given the agreement I mentioned earlier, but teams like Virginia Tech, NC State, as well as the others would bring more flavor to the SEC imo (and it helps me be able to go to more SEC games given VT and NCSU are closer to me than SC and UGA are)

sheesh 5 mil is a lot of money for anyone. I like Taylor but i wouldn't give her that much and definitely not 8 million. i don't really know if there's anyone at ESPN that deserves 5 million except maybe Stephen A... right now there just isn't anyone that sticks out and really brings different ideas at ESPN

congrats State, well deserved. were the superior team for 26 of the 27 innings in this series. welcome to the champions club!

this sucks. obviously if the kids are positive, you can't let them play. but it sucks for NC State. I know a player on the team there, and it just sucks to see him and the Wolfpack go out without a chance to really play for a title. I also feel like the NCAA made the right choice in calling the game off, but I feel like they should've explored alternatives like postponing the game until additional testing could be done (false positives are a thing) or postponing until they could play the game.

haven't commented in a minute but here we go... If you have to expand, go to 8. play the games at the big 6 bowls (Hypothetically, Peach, Fiesta, Rose, and Sugar host quarterfinals, Orange and Cotton host semifinals, and another site hosts the chip (Santa Clara, Tampa, etc.)). No automatic bids (the 2020 Oregon Ducks, P12 champions, don't belong near the playoff). The non P5 would get the short end of the straw here (only '20 Cincinnati and '18 UCF would've made the playoffs in an 8 team field) but someone comes up short every time. 12 seems like too many teams, and too many games. and too many undeserving teams that might even lose 3 times in a year might make it in. keep it at 8 and don't let auto bids happen.

strong day for the Southeast... FL,TX,and GA pulling their weight and NC and LA having good days too

What a hire. I think her son used to play baseball here too... Hopefully she makes our team relevant again...

RIP. Had his future ahead of him and had worked hard to get back on the right track. Good kid by all accounts. Glad Boston is ok.

he should be giving intel on who he thinks would be the best lineman pairing for him. Cincy has improved his weapons but you can't use those weapons when you're running for your life or on the ground every other play

I've seen his highlights, he's a baller, but you're right, I don't really think he's quite as good as some. He and Quinn Ewers ('22 commit to Ohio St, has a perfect 1.000 composite score) seem a bit overhyped to me... Good luck to Arch though, we're loaded at QB but I like the kid...

correct. Guice was on the call apparently, I think Segar (suspended assistant AD in charge of Title IX issues) was as well. If Coach O was on the call is the big question.

Yes, Bama won. But that wasn't elite defense on that play. Hyatt got about as good of a look following the Watford miss as he could've gotten. If that ball takes a couple of bounces the right way then yea LSU could've won. I dunno if yall had timeouts at that point where you could advance the ball and get a better look than a half-court heave.

looks like it's gonna be an us-against-the-world mentality for LSU this tournament. If they don't bring it against the Bonnies, then we're gonna lose. But if we bring out our best against them, I think LSU could ride that to the Elite Eight maybe the Final Four. Hot take: the winner of Tigers/Bonnies will be in the Elite Eight with the Bama/UCONN second round winner.

ehhh, UT got treated pretty well. Oregon St is playing solid rn, but it's reasonable for Tennessee. UF on the 7 line is pretty good for them as well.

that's probably true. Michigan is the worst #1 seed and will be a bit shorthanded. The rest of the region is really tough, however; Bama, FSU, Texas, UConn, St. Bonnie's are all good clubs.

LSU at an 8 seed is pretty poor... thought wins against Ole Miss and a top-10 Arkansas would propel us higher. Jerry Palm at CBS had us at a 5 seed where Tennessee ended up... And now we get a hot St. Bonnie's team in the first round. Michigan awaits. Must just be an f you from the NCAA committee to Will Wade...

I don't really want to go up, because the first round opponents are pretty solid regardless if you are a 6 or 5 seed. Second round is a little more meaningful as there is a drop-off between 3 and 4. But I don't want any part of Gonzaga Baylor or Illinois. I'd be ok if we get drawn with Michigan, they aren't like the other 3. But the other 2 seeds are pretty good too. Either way, we're in for a tough draw

good win. Hope we can get up to the 6 line, as Arkansas is a great win... 7 seed is ok, but the 2's are really good, and the 8 seed would be even worse...

bigger issue is what happens if it's the Final Four or Elite Eight and this happens to a team? They won't be able to play for anything. Centralizing the location to Indiana for the tournament was a good start but cases can still happen for sure.

Is that just an SEC ban? Because some transitional schools in the Atlantic Sun (Bellarmine and North Alabama) played in the ASUN tourney, in fact North Alabama made it all the way to the final. And these schools aren't allowed into March Madness. I guess it must be a conference thing...

expecting this for LSU hoops as well. Sean Miller's and Will Wade's days are numbered. With the problems football will face as well, we're going to be in the NCAA's doghouse for the next half-decade...

previously 2-6 Oral Roberts as well... what a mess...

for the record, A&M had 4 home games, with 99,500 fans total, so about 24,875 fans per game, or 24.21% capacity of Kyle Field, which seats 102,733. A&M said seating capacity would be limited to 25%, so they were actually under their metric there. Try again.

Stafford I think will be the next, because LA is so much better than Detroit. He'll have talent and a good offensive line, and Stafford was already a good QB anyway. Tua's situation is a wild-card, and Burrow needs a functioning o-line for the Bengals to go anywhere. Dallas has the weakest division but the rest of the NFC is tough.