At 14 teams will we definitely have a 9th conference game ?.... nm

quote:

---

We don't usually have "nm" posts around here.

---

We usually don't get a poster who knows how to write a title.

Sounds like the talk is to drop the rivalry game, so we stay at 8. Don't like it, but "times they are ah changin".

14 teams in a conference leaves you choosing between shitty options.

option 1: 8 conference games, 6 within division, 1 fixed, 1 rotating opponent
option 2: 8 conference games, 6 within division, 2 rotating
option 3: 9 conference games, 6 within division, 1 fixed, 2 rotating
option 4: 9 conference games, 6 within division, 3 rotating

9 conference games is shitty because it makes for uneven numbers of home/away games in conference play (is unequal), costs teams home gates and potential wins to get bowl eligible, and reduces opportunities to play out of conference opponents

8 conference games is shitty because you rotate through you opposite division opponents pretty slowly and it ends up almost being two different conferences (instead of divisions) that share a conference championship game

14 teams in a conference kinda just sucks

quote:

---

14 teams in a conference kinda just sucks

---

12 is great, but once you added one team, you need to get to 16 and pods.

I very much doubt we go to 9 game conference schedules, which is part of the reason we'll be at 16 soon

quote:

---

option 1: 8 conference games, 6 within division, 1 fixed, 1 rotating opponent

---

Only lets us play the rotating East team twice every 12 years, but preserves UT-Bama game, which is apparently all that matters. And you are spot on with this...

quote:

---

it ends up almost being two different conferences (instead of divisions) that share a conference championship game

---

Yep. Back to the old days of LSU playing in the same conference with Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson and Peyton Manning, but never getting to play against any of them.

quote:

---

option 2: 8 conference games, 6 within division, 2 rotating

---

Much better because you would play everyone else in the conference twice every seven years, but it will never fly unless both Alabama and Auburn move to the East.

quote:

---

option 3: 9 conference games, 6 within division, 1 fixed, 2 rotating

---

Probably the best compromise because it preserves Alabama-Tennessee, which is all that matters, but also allows rotating teams to play each other twice every six years. Nine SEC games will, as you point out, mess up non-conference scheduling. We'd never have a schedule like this year's again, for instance.

quote:

---

option 4: 9 conference games, 6 within division, 3 rotating

---

The ideal situation for creating the best matchups the most frequently, if only that mattered in light of the entire conference's dependence on a certain two teams playing each other every year.

quote:

---

14 teams in a conference kinda just sucks

---

Especially if a certain two of them ruin it for the other 12 by insisting that, as the conference throws tradition out the window for more money with expansion, we keep their precious tradition intact.

quote:

---

We're not going to a 9 game conference schedule

---

I would not be surprised if you are right.

quote:

---

You do that and it will be impossible to win a national championship

---

That's what we thought about the SECCG back in 1992, but it didn't turn out that way. Most SEC teams are now playing a decent BCS AQ conference team outside of conference play now, so substituting an SEC game for that wouldn't appreciably toughen the schedule. It would screw up non-conference scheduling, though.