Dan Mullen suggests SEC should make change to conference scheduling
Florida’s next SEC game will be against Auburn on Oct. 5. Thanks to the SEC’s scheduling model of six division opponents, one permanent cross-division rival and one rotational cross-division opponent, it will be the first time the Gators and Tigers have faced off since 2011 (first meeting in Gainesville since 2007). If it were up to UF coach Dan Mullen, SEC teams wouldn’t have such long breaks between playing teams from the other division.
“In the league, I think we should mix up the league schedule more, to be perfectly honest with you,” Mullen said during his Monday press conference. “If you look over the next six years, I think we play Miami three times, Florida State six times, South Florida three times, Mississippi State once. So who’re the SEC teams?
“I think it’s an injustice for the kids. We should mix those games up and you should play more teams from the West and get the opportunity to play more SEC games. You come play in this league and play in those games, conference games are a lot of fun, playing other SEC teams. I think moving forward scheduling-wise, obviously conference, we don’t control that, but I think that’d be a heck of a deal and I know we’re working to play more Power 5 teams.”
This might be one of the few times even rival fans would agree with Mullen (but don’t hold your breath…) Changing the scheduling format is fun for fans and players alike to think about. Under the current system, many players play 3-4 years and leave school without having faced all the other teams in the SEC. Adding more cross-division games would mix things up a bit.
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Mullen’s comments came on the same day that Florida announced a home-and-home with Utah for 2022 and 2023.
He is not wrong.
SEC needs a 9 game conference schedule, realignment based on geography and end the cross division every year.
Huh???
If you have two 7-team divisions, that’s 6 games within your division (as it is now), but if there are no cross-division games, where do the other 3 SEC games come from?
Huh???
I’m pretty sure he is talking about the permanent games from the opposite side.
Add a SEC game and lose an OCG. Pretty easy.
Thank you Dan Mullen. It’s dumb. Play the division round robin. Then rotate both games cross-division. Additionally, Let each institution play as many cross-division games as they want, ie. if don’t have their favorite opponent in the rotation that year. Games against cross-division conference members should NEVER count toward the division championship. What idiot thought that was deciding the conference race with the same finish line.
I know right… Who could imagine that games against SEC opponents count toward the standings… That’s just insane.
You know what he means. If your team is in the West and to win an SEC championship, you must FIRST win the SEC West, only the games against WEST teams should count towards that WEST division title. If you happen to be the best team in the West (hypothetical here now) but you happen to draw the two top teams from the East that year as your cross div rivals, and manage to lose them, then they count against you winning your own division. So a lesser team who you beat in the conference schedule played 2 of the cheddar East teams and easily won, and now they win the West instead of you? That’s fair?
So is it fair that one Division is crap compared to the other?
There is no perfect layout with divisions and the size of conferences but not counting conference games is stupid…
And there never will be. Besides Bama and you could make an argument for LSU there has been no steady elite or really good team the last 10 years in the SEC. UF, Auburn, UGA, Mizzou, and TX A&M have all been up and down. The perennial bottom feeders like Arkansas and Vandy tend to not very good but everyone else is a toss up in the middle
Exactly right Gromit, It is so easy to have a clear division champion. Whose afraid of that? Then there’s the question of programs that have a contender every year playing a permanent cross division rival that rarely has a contender. No program should get a one game head start toward winning their division every year.
Championships are won on the field. If you are the best team you win. You forgot that you can also lose to an inferior team. Auburn vs UT last year comes to mind.
Missouri plays Arky every year… WOW
Spot on. The current cross division scheduling format is bad for players and fans. There should be an opportunity to play each team from the opposite side at least once every four years
Exactly. A possible benefit may also be bringing the separate divisions closer to the same level over time and bringing teams within the divisions closer as this would also give a shot to “mid-level” teams’ recruiting. More opportunity to compete with AL, LSU, UGA on the trail. More revenue from big/unique games to upgrade facilities leading to more blue chips on more teams. THAT would be great for all. As a minimum, seeing teams play more regularly would be fantastic.
In my opinion i believe we should have 9 conference games a year would weed out who’s for real and who’s the slobs of our league. We play to many non conference games.
And then you would be unjustly harming ALL SEC teams from winning a national championship. Clearly with having a 9 game conference schedule, most teams would have a tougher schedule yes, and thus the conference champion would overwhelmingly be guaranteed a spot in the playoffs (except with 2 losses which is now more likely for EVERYONE), but what about those years when the SEC’s #2 team is every bit as deserving to be in the top 4 teams in the country? An extra game each year in conference isn’t doing them much good, and it’ll also prevent most every SEC team from scheduling the home and homes with teams from other conferences that we want to see. I for one am sick and tired of seeing Florida play the 8 SEC games it has, the game against Florida State that is required by law, and then almost always 3 cupcake squads. We got lucky this year and had Miami in week 1 at least. Now we’re scheduling a home and home with Utah in the upcoming seasons. But if you put another SEC game on people’s schedules, they will have even less incentive to make their schedule tougher by putting on out of conference power5 team on their slate. SEC teams already have the toughest schedules in the country by far.
That’s right. Playing out of conference worthy opponents will help us in the years we truly deserve to have many of our conference members ranked near the top….. and that’s most years.
I disagree with Mullen on this one. SEC teams already beat each up enough during the season. We have enough SEC rival games. They are great and I love them but they are also emotionally and physically draining for the team. I think their is a formula for winning an SEC/National Championship and it is to run the already difficult gauntlet of the SEC schedule given to you and then beat your non conference rivals and other cupcakes.
I think what his point is that 9 sec games a year allows every team to play each other at least once every 4 years
Yes but selfishly I do not want to trade trade my Vandy for a Bama. I wanna win a SEC or NATTY. I just do not think teams in the SEC should do ANYTHING to make their schedule more difficult. Especially when teams like Notre Dame get to hand pick their schedule. They made a mistake adding that Georgia game. With the way the system is set up now, you can beat a couple of ranked teams and go undefeated and be in the Final 4.
But what if we added an extra Sec game and rotated two those games so like one year Bama and Arkansas, one year LSU and ole miss, Auburn and MSSt ect. So you play one good team and one bad team each year
You wouldn’t be trading Vandy for Bama, you’d be trading LSU for Arkansas or Mississippi St. While I am personally in favor of a 9 game schedule, I think Mullen’s bigger issue is the permanent cross-division rival. You all play LSU every year, while Kentucky plays Mississippi State, wouldn’t you want to mix that up a bit?
Good thoughts and options. I guess I am jaded because SEC schedules are always so brutal already. I am for whatever lightens the load. It is just unnecessary to play the strength of schedule that we play in order to get into the final 4 for the Natty.
When you only count the division games toward winning the division, and rotate the other two games. It gives the AD and the Coach freedom to protect themselves in years they know they will have unbalanced roster, injury, transfer, or other position problems. Example: two weak freshman classes in a row at quarterback, then schedule team’s that have to beat you by smaller margins. There are unlimited permutations on this.
@Wolfman. The coaches and ADs don’t make the SEC schedule. The SEC does. That makes your point both moot and inane.
You’re an idiot Wolfman… You say you were a Div 1 coach but doesn’t know how scheduling works…
Kind of waters down the rationale for having divisions and a conference championship game imo.
I’d definitely be on board for rotating both cross division teams every year or two. Waiting as long as 10 to 12 years for an LSU or Bama to come to Athens is ridiculous, not to mention playing Auburn 7 times in a row before we get to see Arkansas.
Conferences should get rid of divisions go to 14 teams and only play conference opponents during the season….
The winner of each power conference goes to the playoff.. No other way to take subjectivity out of something with so many teams and variables..
Agreed. Doubt it will happen though.
As a 16-team playoff truther, I’ve always wanted each P5 division winner to make it (thereby eliminating the need for conference championship games for those worried about an increased amount of games), with two dedicated group of 5 spots and four wild cards. I recognize this won’t happen anytime soon, but it’d by both fair and fun.
I think 16 is to much but I’ve always felt power 5 and Group of 5 should separate…
Out of conference games, in my opinion, are needed as a gauge of where the conferences compare to each other
That will be answered with the conference champs in the playoffs…
You absolutely right, but I personally like how it’s used to compare the middle and bottom of conferences too. That’s where the conferences can really separate from each other. Being top heavy is one thing, but having “middle tier” programs from one conference dominate their OOC games can really help demonstrate how good a conference is.
And eliminate those “Cupcake” games…
Where did you come up with this idea? Just the opposite. Divisions free up lots of open dates. Those dates are exciting to fans because they want to see different football philosophies, or they want to travel to new places. This year after the Wyoming game I bagged some peaks in the Medicine Bows and had run-ins with several big bull Moose.
If we rotated both cross-division games we would still travel to every opponent’s campus once every 6-7 years and division opponents 3-4 times during the same frame.
The conference could still allow members to schedule more than two cross games if that rivalry is more important than ie. new geography, since they wouldn’t count toward winning the division. LSU v Texas, Georgia v Dame, South Carolina v Clemson, Florida v Florida State, there are unlimited examples of non-conference games that would be interesting and profitable
And it still doesn’t change anything…
I agree there should be nine conference games.
BUT that would leave only two ‘baby seals’ considering the games most are playing against another Power 5 school.
Playing an ninth conference game would give ticket holders a game every other year against a quality opponent, instead of one like we have at Lexington against a Mid American or OVC school.
BUT, yea another but, can you school compete against another SEC team, and possibly risk a loss? Do they need to get to that ‘sacred six’ win to get to be one of the GREAT EIGHTY going to a bowl?
Kentucky isn’t going to vote to have to play another SEC opponent.
The likelihood of that is about as good as our AD ever holding a coaching search to find a coach in basketball or football.
Sounds like he now wants a 9 games SEC schedule. Saban has said this for a few years and Malzahn agreed this off season. The SEC will listen if other coaches get on board.
I doubt it. The only two conferences to send a representative to the playoffs every season are the two that only play eight conference games. The SEC is also the only one to send two. I don’t think the powers to be will want to mess with a winning formula. The SEC also sends a ton of teams to bowl games each season. Seven more guaranteed losses for conference teams cannot help that.
The Zynka plan:
9 game schedule
Eliminate divisions
Each team has 5 permanent games played annually.
Remaining 4 games rotate between the 8 schools.
Top 2 records play in CCG
Over a 4 year period, every school is played at least once at home and once away.
A nice game conference schedule without divisions leaves an imbalance between home and away teams. How about three permanent foes and rotate the other five?
I saw the 8 game (3 perm / 5 rot) pitched on ESPN(?). Looks like the 8-game equivalent of my proposal.
It might be the better proposal, now that I think of it. As a Bama fan, I would prefer that Ole Miss and Miss St continue to be annual rivalries (assuming LSU, Tenn, and Auburn are the 3 permanent), but teams like Georgia, Florida, and USC have an annual non-conference rivalry that would give them 5 scheduled road games every season.
Let’s set a precedent and schedule 10 conference games.
Lot of good ideas. I think 9 game conference sched, 2 or 3 power 5 have 2 crossover rotations. Another conf game is same as power 5. But big issue before division play was preserving 2 longtime rivalries in 2 Divisions Al and Tenn and Ga Auburn. Move Al and Aub to east and Miz and Vand to west.
Moving Bama and Auburn to east would preserve the rivalries. Moving Vandy and Missoue would preserve theirs as well against Ark and Ole Miss.
That makes the East way stronger than the West. I’m all in favor, but I don’t see any chance of that happening unless the conference eventually expands and brings in Texas and OU for the West. I don’t see that happening either.
Going to 9 games hurts UGA in that the years with 5A games, we’ld have to host GT AS WELL AS the 2 teams we can schedule just to have 7H games. The years with 5H games would have us @ GT, & again needing to hose 2 teams to make 7H games.
For those saying go without divisions – then please tell me how you’re going to rank every team due to their lack of common opponents. Say 3 teams end up 6-2, but 2 of those teams played each other while the 3rd didn’t. What’s the solution? BTW, the NCAA REQUIRES conferences with 10+ teams to have divisions.
Or those saying playing TSIO or DSOR as non-conf. games. WHY? it’s a conf. opponent, so it counts as a conf. game!
Lastly, the whole “move Aub. east” dialogue. Let me propose something to you:
Aub. goes east. This now makes DSOR not a c-d game. What do you do then…..put TN in the west to make TSIO not a c-d game. But what do you have still have – MIZZ IN THE EAST! So congrats – you’ve ALMOST solved removing perm c-d games (forgetting a little event called The Iron Bowl?), but haven’t corrected this.
FYI, Aub. fans – if playing UF is that important to you, how about you playing them as non-conf.?
what is DSOR and TSIO?