I have been thinking about schedule possibilities for when Texas and the land thieves enter the sec. Will it be divisions? Pods? Well, the SEC brass is stating they are looking at one conference schedule, all sixteen teams in the mix. How will that work? My proposals:
Based on either an 9-game conference schedule for each team, or an 8-game schedule:
9 games:
There are 15 opponents for each team to rotate through over a multi-year rotation. The goal is to complete that rotation in as few years as possible and also to maintain annual rivalries.
Option A: Each team has a permanent annual rivalry with 3 different teams. Of the 15 opponents, that leaves 12. Of the remaining 12, you would play 6 home/home and then the other 6. Schedule in year 1 and year 2 will be identical except home/away would flip.
The schedule would take four years to cycle through.
For example, Texas could have OU, A&M and Arkansas as their 3 permanent rivals. I won’t begin to get into who all the others should have, might be complicated.
Option B: Same as above, but your home/home schedule is every other year. So, every team would play each other every two years. Example, Texas would play our three rivalries every year. We would play Georgia at home in year 1 and then at Georgia in year 3 (as opposed to year 1 and year 2)
A four-year player/family would play every team at least twice and play in everybody’s home stadium at least once (save for neutral site games)
8 games:
Same concept as above, but each team would only have one permanent rivalry and then rotate home/home with the 14 other schools, 7 each year.
Personally, I like the 9-game schedule. The other caveat would be that after the four-year cycle, the permanent rivalries could change or rotate. Maybe we would switch off of Arkansas and pick up LSU. This would have to all be worked out in the conference meetings, etc.…
Conclusion: I’m just playing here, but if they don’t want divisions or pods, I don’t see many other options than what’s been discussed. Sixteen teams are the max number of teams you can have and still have a semblance of a balanced schedule. If the SEC decides to expand to 18 or 20 schools, then they have to go to some sort of division format, which I don’t think is a good option.
Based on either an 9-game conference schedule for each team, or an 8-game schedule:
9 games:
There are 15 opponents for each team to rotate through over a multi-year rotation. The goal is to complete that rotation in as few years as possible and also to maintain annual rivalries.
Option A: Each team has a permanent annual rivalry with 3 different teams. Of the 15 opponents, that leaves 12. Of the remaining 12, you would play 6 home/home and then the other 6. Schedule in year 1 and year 2 will be identical except home/away would flip.
The schedule would take four years to cycle through.
For example, Texas could have OU, A&M and Arkansas as their 3 permanent rivals. I won’t begin to get into who all the others should have, might be complicated.
Option B: Same as above, but your home/home schedule is every other year. So, every team would play each other every two years. Example, Texas would play our three rivalries every year. We would play Georgia at home in year 1 and then at Georgia in year 3 (as opposed to year 1 and year 2)
A four-year player/family would play every team at least twice and play in everybody’s home stadium at least once (save for neutral site games)
8 games:
Same concept as above, but each team would only have one permanent rivalry and then rotate home/home with the 14 other schools, 7 each year.
Personally, I like the 9-game schedule. The other caveat would be that after the four-year cycle, the permanent rivalries could change or rotate. Maybe we would switch off of Arkansas and pick up LSU. This would have to all be worked out in the conference meetings, etc.…
Conclusion: I’m just playing here, but if they don’t want divisions or pods, I don’t see many other options than what’s been discussed. Sixteen teams are the max number of teams you can have and still have a semblance of a balanced schedule. If the SEC decides to expand to 18 or 20 schools, then they have to go to some sort of division format, which I don’t think is a good option.
