Should SEC count crossover games in division races?
I’m already on record as saying every Power 5 conference plays too many conference games.
I much prefer a scheduling model of seven conference games, one game vs. each of the other four Power 5 leagues and a cupcake for dessert.
The SEC is locked into an 8-game conference scheduling format that includes two East vs. West crossover games. Obviously no two crossover schedules are alike.
The issue we’ve been discussing is, given the inherent imbalance, should crossover games help determine who wins each division?
Connor O’Gara, senior national columnist: Absolutely. If crossover games didn’t count in divisional records, they may as well split up the SEC into two separate conferences. Sure, not everyone gets an equal draw, but that’s part of college football.
Treating those as essentially non-conference games would hurt some of the SEC’s best rivalries. Everything should be at stake during an SEC matchup. Plain and simple.
Michael Bratton, news editor: It’s hard for me to argue otherwise. I understand the inequality the current scheduling format provides for some teams, but that should be used as motivation to improve — not used as an excuse for lack of success.
I also tend to think those inequalities are cyclical. While Alabama may have Tennessee’s number now, it wasn’t that long ago the shoe was on the other foot in that series.
Of more pressing concern in my opinion is the current divisional format and the scheduling process. It badly needs to be reworked, which would make crossover games nonexistent.
A UGA beat writer recently pointed out that Georgia still will not have traveled to College Station by the summer of 2024. Considering the Aggies are entering Year 5 in the SEC, that’s a disgrace. The two programs may as well not be in the same league they play so rarely.
John Crist, senior writer: College football is sometimes celebrated for its imperfections, and this is one of them.
Take Tennessee for example. This season, not only do the Volunteers have their annual cross-division matchup with king-of-the-West Alabama, but LSU makes a visit to Neyland Stadium.
Compare that to Kentucky, which travels to Mississippi State before hosting Ole Miss a few weeks later. Needless to say, that’s a much easier road for the Wildcats to navigate outside the scope of their six divisional tilts. It’s one of the reasons I’m higher on UK in 2017 than UT.
The Crimson Tide got to host the ’Cats last year and travel to Vanderbilt this time around, which is about as easy as it gets crossing over with the East. They’ve had the Vols’ number lately, too.
But SEC record is SEC record, no matter what those eight games tend to be, so deal with it.
Jon Cooper, director of operations: Absolutely. College football is cyclical, and just because teams feel they have received the short end of the stick in their current slate, it comes back around.
Now, there may be a bigger question here about essentially eliminating the divisions altogether, but in this specific scenario, East vs. West games have to matter.
Chris Wright, executive editor: Luck is for the lottery. Nobody likes it when random events impact results, especially when there is a solution to prevent it.
There’s no way to balance the crossover schedules, so there’s no logical reason for including those games in the divisional race. The powers might be cyclical (Alabama’s on some cycle, huh?), but the random nature of this process isn’t.
The only thing you can control is having every team in the division play every other team. Those games should determine the division champion.
It’s not a crazy idea. LSU AD Joe Alleva suggested not counting crossover games last year when it looked like LSU and Florida might not play.
We all love traditions and rivalries. But I’ll never understand why Tennessee wants to play Alabama every year, knowing it impacts the Vols’ chances of getting to Atlanta (the past decade negatively).
So let’s have the best of both worlds. Let’s protect the rivalries (let’s face it, we’re only talking about 3 of them) and not have those games impact either team’s chance of winning the division.
The game absolutely would still matter because it still would impact their bigger goals and bowl destination.
You know, just like it did for decades before the SEC adopted divisions.
Just do away with the divisions already. Play 3 permanent rivalries, rotate 6 other conference games, play one power 5 team outside of conference, 2 cupcakes. Call it a day.
Agreed.
Beats what is going now, only thing missing is the championship game formula.
Except you should rotate 5 other conference games, that way you play all 13 teams (3+5+5) exactly every two years
if you want to change something, make it better, not worse.
The existing format doesn’t make sense but I don’t have a better one to put out there after 45 seconds thinking about it. Most of us TN fans want to keep playing the red ocean fungus but it’s reasonable to question why, based solely on the last decade or so. “Yes Nick may I have another” (bent over, eyes squinting, teeth gritting). The cycle will change at some point, maybe, but looks like it will be a while.
I wish the NCAA would regulate conference size and officially Sanction a playoff…. Have team’s only play conference opponents during the season with conference champs get a auto spot into the playoffs. The rest of the team’s fill out the bowls….
Chris-
You should do a run-down of the past 10 years to see what the difference would be in who represented each side in Atlanta if cross-over games didn’t count.
I was going to post my opinion but I would actually rather see this data before I do, as it would add more information
Great suggestion and would love to see the results. I know off the top of my head there was one USC-Surrier lead season where they were 5-0 in division games (before expansion) but 0-2 in crossover games and did not win their division. UGA, I believe, won that year.
South Carolina 2011; but then again they lost to a really bad Auburn team so it was deserved.
What? You mean journalists (I use this term loosely) should back up their articles with actual facts rather than baseless opinions. Well I never…
TN still would of lost the east last year lol.
That wasn’t at all what I was insinuating (I realize insinuating is a big word for someone from Florida with a double negative in their user name). I simply thought it would be interesting to see the data on the subject. I figured it would be posted given the title of the article.
Is this a trick question? The SEC claims to want to know who the best team in the division is ?…. but they are considering non-division results ? And they call themselves an associated with institutions of “higher learning”?
Rotate and don’t repeat non-divisional games that have nothing to do with division championships. Rivalries do not have to happen every year, and rivalries can be scheduled as non-conference games that don’t count toward the division races or as division games either way. This is so easy, don’t make it hard, and keep it fair.
What non divisonal games have nothing to do with the Championship?
There is no question UT has a disadvantage playing Alabubba every year, but welcome to football. I think the divisions are stupid – it is ridiculous to not play each team at least home and home every four years so all the football players get to play each team and the fans get to see each stadium. I agree, add another game so SEC teams actually play each other (what a concept). Add the power five from another conference and a cupcake or two for an easy win and lots of money for the cupcake.
Move Auburn to the East, Mizou to the West. That allows all “rivalry” games to be continued to be played every year.
Go to a 9 game conference schedule like every other Conference. 6 division + 2 rotating + 1 permanent + 1 Power 5 team. Insist ND and the Service Academies join a Conference.
CF Playoff = 5 Conference Champions plus 3 at-large (next highest ranked non-conference champions)
Would speed up everyone playing everyone else within 4 years. Cuts out one cupcake.
…and this would ensure that AL can play both TN and AU every season? Think you are not killing off a rivalry there?
Losing to a team in your own division is already like losing twice. They have to lose twice for you to pass them because they own the head-to-head. Furthermore, you have lost the opportunity to make it happen yourself. With weaker teams in the rest of the division – see the east right now – you could put an entire season even more in the hands of one freak play or one injury. It would dramatically cheapen the regular season.
Imagine that Jacob Eason has an all-world year. Imagine that he is nice enough to sign an autograph for a kid and the dad slides ten grand in his pocket without his knowledge. The NCAA finds out and suspends him for the GA FL game. FL beats GA and then would have to lose to TWO of the following for GA to catch them: Missouri, Vandy, SC, Tennessee, or Kentucky (all while going undefeated). All because of some stupid idiot. I understand that the FL/GA game is last – just an example.