After lost weekend, should LSU and Florida play or is it time to move on?
BATON ROUGE, La. — Until Monday, we heard all the arguments for when the LSU-Florida game should be played.
Play it Nov. 19 and boot South Alabama and Presbyterian off the schedules. Play it Oct. 29 and move the Georgia-Florida game. Play it Dec. 3 and move the SEC Championship Game.
Play it Monday night.
But the premise all along has been, play it because it has to be played.
Or does it?
On Monday, LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva gave the first real plan that would allow the season to unfurl without the game in a manner that would not give an unfair advantage to any one team.
My emphasis on unfair. And the plan is as simple as this:
Don’t count cross-division games in the SEC standings this season. And then, just cancel the LSU-Florida game altogether. Two teams lose a game, but the conference standings would keep their integrity.
It’s an intriguing solution to the dilemma of finding a way to play a game that really should have been played over this weekend.
First, let’s identify the problem of not playing the LSU-Florida game but keeping an eight-game schedule as the basis for your conference standings.
If you don’t play it, it creates an unfair advantage for some teams, particularly Alabama and Florida.
Alabama could lose to LSU (which already has one conference loss) and still finish 7-1, half-game better than LSU can potentially finish as the Tigers could only finish as high as 6-1 because of the lost Florida game. That would give Alabama the division title based purely on playing more conference games.
The other scenario involves Tennessee, which if it loses to heavily-favored Alabama, could only finish no better than 6-2. In that scenario, it’s possible for Florida to finish 6-1, with the only loss to Tennessee. The Gators would win the division without having to face a plausible second loss against LSU.
So there’s the issue. The non-game could potentially decide both divisions. So it must be played.
Right?
Not if they don’t count cross-division games. And frankly, those games have always been problematic.
Every team plays two games across divisions every year. One is against a permanent opponent — like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia — and the other is a rotating opponent.
If there is anything more unfair than a race decided by teams not playing the same number of games, it’s certain teams having to play a much tougher schedule simply through the luck of the draw. This year, Tennessee has to play maybe the two best teams in the West (Texas A&M, which beat the Vols, 45-38, in two overtimes on Saturday, and Alabama) while Florida has a much more forgiving West schedule with LSU and Arkansas.
So it’s possible Tennessee could go undefeated against the weaker East Division and still lose the division title to a team playing a much softer cross-division schedule.
I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that permanently change — the Auburn-Georgia and Tennessee-Alabama games should always count as SEC games, right? — but how about just for this season? It’s the one solution where the playing field stays level for everyone.
Sure, Florida will scream about losing its edge over Tennessee based on scheduling. The Gators were perhaps counting on that advantage of not having to play Alabama and Texas A&M while Tennessee does. But that’s a rather arbitrary and, it can be argued, unfair advantage.
Every other option on the table creates an unwarranted hardship for somebody or somebodies.
Playing Nov. 19 forces both LSU and Florida to lose a home game from their schedules. LSU would lose a home game weekend and all the economic impact that creates. Plus, the Tigers would have to finish the season with three SEC road games in 13 days.
Playing on Oct. 29 forces the Georgia-Florida game to be pushed up a week, which is a hardship on the city of Jacksonville, plus it puts Florida into a situation where it has to play Georgia and LSU back-to-back while LSU has to play Florida and Alabama back-to-back with Alabama given the advantage of having an off week before the LSU game.
Then there’s Dec. 3, where the game would create a hardship for the entire SEC and maybe all of college football. That’s the day of the SEC Championship Game, which would have to be pushed back a week, along with bowl announcements (or at least most of them).
So there really is not a good time to play this game for either team.
Maybe it’s time to not play it.
Sure, Florida will lose an edge in the East race, but really it loses an advantage as opposed to being forced into a disadvantage, which every other make-up date creates.
Florida and LSU are two outstanding defensive teams that are offensively challenged. If they are to play, there would probably be quite a few punts.
Maybe it’s time to punt the whole game.
It sucks that the game won’t be played, but that’s how it looks now. Hopefully, this is a teachable moment for our rookie commissioner. He let Foley play him badly. If the game isn’t played, then division records should decide each side’s champ.
Ya’ll would have lost! Don’t act like ya’ll aren’t happy! haha
Are you 12? Every college football fan wants every game played.
ekinggill88 is a troll who hates LSU because they haven’t beaten us in 5 straight years, no matter what the media writes about their beloved darling quarterbacks or how bad our qbs are. They finally have their best CHANCE to beat us this year, so he’s going to get it in while he can.
LSu is going down on their way to a 6-6 season.
Oops, 5 – 6 season, LOL, however I’ll allow you to count FL as a win (McNeese) this year..
~You’re Welcome
It should be played. There is no legitimate reason why it should not be played. If it isn’t played, both teams should have to take a forfeit loss so as to not have an unfair advantage over the other teams in the conference.
Moronic post. Thinking can be your friend.
It could have been played already…Ridiculous
Yeah, this is on Stankey. He’s been coasting and just whiffed on his first real test. Game should have been played on Sunday like UGA/USC, no negotiating.
True that.
Not counting cross divisional games should not be the answer. That would mean Tennessee could have 3 conference losses and still hold the tie breaker with Florida. So you could have a 1 loss say top 10 Florida team sitting at home Dec 3, while 3 loss Tennessee possibly un-ranked to bottom 25 team playing in the conference championship game? Just play the game, I personally think canceling both cupcake games and playing each other is the best solution. The people saying Florida is scared of LSU? have you not read the comments from the LSU AD?
LSU is scared to play Florida, not the other way around. They attempted to steal a home game as a result of a hurricane that took 19 lives. If they really wanted to play the game they would pay South Alabama and the teams would play on November 19. If the Gators did not want to play the game, they would not be pushing for November 19. It is LSU who does not want to play this game.
LSU was ready to play Florida Sunday or Monday. Foley, the coward passed. This is all on Florida. No way they should be rewarded for being cowards and trying to work the system.
Ask USC if they think LSU “stole” a home game from them last year. What a stupid excuse. LSU was the only one trying to negotiate to play this game. Are you blind or just dumb?
LOL, for years LSU and Florida have played the toughest cross divisional games. If this is how we want to play it then UF can be awarded about 5 more SEC championships.
It also screws the SEC’s chances of getting teams in more top bowls and Playoff scenarios. You could potentially have 1 loss teams lose their division to a 3 loss team.
Foley should have thought more about this before he decided to be a coward.
Haha LSUSMC may be the dumbest person on any of these blogs. Florida will play LSU on any day they choose going forward. Unfortunately, the game could not be played last week in Gainesville. If LSU ever quits crying long enough to pick a date, the Gators will be there. Your AD was so adamant about playing last week, because he knew it was impossible. Now he is acting like a baby and refusing to make it up. He is scared. The postponing of this game does not negatively affect LSU. They will end up with at least 4 conference losses anyways. The game needs to be played if it affects who represents the East in the SECCG. Alabama will represent the West.
LSU will lose to Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M. They will lose to Florida if they ever decide to play, and they may even lose to Arkansas. LSU has zero chance of making it to Atlanta.
Neither does Florida you stupid motha fker.
Thank you. LSU has a 0% chance at winning the west!
I’m still trying to figure out why foley was so scared to play LSU if LSU is so bad. Gator fans talking trash is comical. LSU has beaten the gators three in a row and five of six. LSU was willing to go there and play on Sunday. You cowards had your chance to back up your tough talk. Your AD doesn’t share your confidence.
The game did not happen last weekend. Nothing anyone can do now. Their are multiple options available and Florida is willing to play on any of them. LSU is the coward. Buncha damn babies.
LSU plays in Gainesville on the 19th. South Alabama plays Presbyterian on the 19th at LSU. Have the SEC pick up the $1.5m of LSU plus cost of the game. Offer special travels packets to fans of both schools . The economic would not be quite the same but would make up most of the lost.
It makes sense to everyone but LSU. Their schedule would be too tough….poor babies.
We aren’t the ones that played the coward card for the game that was scheduled. Is there even anyone on the gator roster that has ever beaten LSU? LSU has won three in a row and 5 of 6. Only the stupid would say LSU was the problem here.
By that comparison you could say LSU played the coward card during the Katrina aftermath. The whole college world altered schedules for LSU during and after Katrina and Katrina made land fall in Bay St Louis Ms 114 miles from Baton Rouge as a Cat3. Baton Rouge had no flooding or hurricane force winds either. However Gainesville was 74 miles from St. Augustine and Jacksonville which were submerged just like lower Ms and New Orleans. LSU got a lot of help from cfb but you want to extend the same courtesy to Florida? Good thing most of my LSU friends have more class than you.
Hopefully your never in the situation many of these students families are right now.
Sorry HW, your public education let you down. Badly.
OK buddy if that makes you feel better.
I would say you need a history lesson, HWB, but it’s clear that you would simply rather not acknowledge the facts that don’t fit your narrative . In 2005, LSU played a “home” game in Arizona because of Katrina and played Tennessee on a Monday night after Rita. UF was offered both options (playing in Baton Rouge or postponing to Sunday or Monday) and refused to consider either one. Instead, on Saturday, Foley chose to try to shift blame by making up the lie that rescheduling to Nov. 19th was already offered to and rejected by LSU. There is no reason why the game could not have been postponed to Sunday or Monday with the understanding that cancellation was still a possibility once the extent of damage could be evaluated by Saturday afternoon. By the way, your ignorant attempt to compare the two storms by saying, ” St. Augustine and Jacksonville which were submerged just like lower Ms and New Orleans” is sickening. Death tolls of 1800 versus 22. I’ll save you the headache of doing the math. That’s a difference of almost 100X.
“Playing on Oct. 29 forces the Georgia-Florida game to be pushed up a week, which is a hardship on the city of Jacksonville, plus it puts Florida into a situation where it has to play Georgia and LSU back-to-back while LSU has to play Florida and Alabama back-to-back with Alabama given the advantage of having an off week before the LSU game.”
Tennessee played Florida, Georgia, aTm, and soon Alabama over a 4 game stretch. This argument has no merit for excluding the Oct 29th game.
So Florida loses a game to a rival with a back up qb and then gets hit by a hurricane and our season is over? F!@k that.. if tn loses to alabama this game will be played whether lsu likes it or not you cant punish the schools bc of a natural disaster.
What I’d like to know is why Florida State and University of Miami played their game but the GAYtors couldn’t play LSU? Chicken shit cowards is why they didn’t want to play us.
South Florida was not impacted (ask me how I know).
UCF, 90 miles south of Gainesville, postponed their game because of the impact to the personnel required to host the game. Their situation was similar to UF’s
Try again larry.
Larry the geography buff. Take a look at a map just once, before you make ignorant comments. Go to google.com and type in “Map of Florida.” Then see if you can figure out why it is possible. Think really hard. You can do it!