Hobbs: Current SEC football scheduling needs repair

Never gets old...

It has to change. I believe

Gonna have to come from several, unbiased sources to put any pressure on SEC. It's obvious to us, while easy for others to turn away from and move on.

Is this on the secr yet?

The LSU-Fla Series, and it's ramifications on one or the other making it to Atlanta..

1996 LSU lost to Florida and Alabama, both LSU and Bama were 6-2, so Bama went to the SECCG on the tie breaker. A win over some other SEC East team, and LSU plays Fla in SECCG.

2001, Florida dropped the last game to Tenn, or LSU would have played them in the SECCG.

2005 Florida lost to LSU and finished 1 game behind UGA, whom they beat head-to-head, in SEC East. Urban's first year, LSU got out to early lead in BR, and had to hold on late for the small win.

2007 Fla lost to LSU in epic 5-for-5 4th Down classic on road, and finished one game behind UGA and Tenn in the SEC. They beat UT, but lost to UGA, so not sure how the 3 team tie breaker was decided? Tenn went to Atl.

A minimum of 4 times the rivalry greatly factored into the possibility of LSU-Fla meeting up in Atlanta over 21 yrs.

And LSU was poor for five of the 21 seasons('92, '93,'94,'98,'99) with no bowl chances, thus it has factored around once every four years for LSU-Fla(4 times in 16 seasons where both contended), for 25% of the time mimimum.

The SECCG has featured a rematch of a regular season game a total of six times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010), none of which were amongst permanent regular season rivals, 0-for-21 permanent foe rematches! A stat that though seems hard to believe as true..really isn't if you just think about some stacked factors that aid it along

The team who won the regular season game is 5-1 in the rematches, the lone exception being in 2001 when LSU defeated Tennessee in the championship game after losing to them in the regular season. Which stands to rationale, that if the regular season loss alone wasn't enough to deny a school a trip to Atlanta, beating them when you couldn't the first time, is rather daunting.

That, and the SEC having the Natty Champ emerge 11 of the last 21 yrs(Fla 3, Bama 4, LSU 2, Tenn 1, Aub 1)..tough sledding to want play the powerhouse of the state of Fla, and the toughest division in D-1 in SEC-West!

Something to ponder for the fans of the series, whom mantra 'to be the best gotta beat the best' and 'I pay a King's ransom for my season tickets..thus need marquee games..championships be damned'..

Just keep spinning and telling yourselves the series isn't a factor at all. Or that Bama with Tenn, doesn't have a huge inbuilt scheduling edge(not even to mention the recently added rotation of LSU-UGa vs Bama-Ky).

Sorry, ee, but that horse still needs smashing!

Plus, most folks make generalizations on the series, pro or against, with only lite conjecture, yet without any numbers or proof to their assertions..I have.

The thing about the scheduling is that it's really 2 separate issues. As much as I hate the permanent opponents, history says that LSU-Fla and Alabama-Tenn SHOULD be roughly equivalent over any 3 or 5 year stretch. The fact that Alabama is going through one of it's best 5 year periods ever and UT it's worst is just a cruel fact LSU fans have to live with. I'd love to see the permanents done away with for the simple fact I'd like to see LSU play Georgia or Vanderbilt or Missouri more than twice every 12 years or whatever.

The real blatant issue is the other opponent for 2013. It's a bridge year, a one season stop gap schedule. The SEC could have made it almost any way they want to. They know LSU and Bama are the top 2 teams in the West. They know Georgia and South Carolina are the best 2 teams outside of Florida in the East right now. There's really no legit reason they gave LSU a road game in Athens the same year Bama gets a layup against Kentucky. That's the point that needs to be addressed and unfortunately no one really will.

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The fact that Alabama is going through one of it's best 5 year periods ever and UT it's worst is just a cruel fact LSU fans have to live with

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And more importantly, is this

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The real blatant issue is the other opponent for 2013. It's a bridge year, a one season stop gap schedule. The SEC could have made it almost any way they want to. They know LSU and Bama are the top 2 teams in the West. They know Georgia and South Carolina are the best 2 teams outside of Florida in the East right now. There's really no legit reason they gave LSU a road game in Athens the same year Bama gets a layup against Kentucky. That's the point that needs to be addressed and unfortunately no one really will.

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...history says that LSU-Fla and Alabama-Tenn SHOULD be roughly equivalent over any 3 or 5 year stretch

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Not to continue to beat on the poor, long-dead horse, but I have to disagree on this one point.

Tennessee has fallen, and they can't get up.

Their athletic department is deep in debt, and they live in a recruit-poor state that they share with another SEC school. The neighboring states that UT used to get recruits from all have SEC schools that have been a lot more successful recently. They have, in short, the deck stacked against them. It's long odds that they will ever be the equal of Florida as a football program, ever again.

You just can't compare the two schools any longer, and say they both have the same prospects going forward. Because they don't.