Question: Should the SEC go to no division?

RollTide1017 said:

If you drop the divisions then you have to drop the CCG unless the NCAA changes the rules. Right now they require divisions to have a CCG...

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Actually, that rule changed this week. Starting with the 2016 season, any league with fewer than 12 members that plays a round-robin schedule has the option to hold a championship game between its top two teams even though, by definitional they already played each other. The conferences have the freedom to choose how to determine their top two teams, so look for the Big 12 (sic) to get too cute once again...

I want to keep the divisions and the SECCG.

I would like to see Missouri move to the West and move the barn to the East, but that is because Missouri being in the east messes with my sense of geography. It's the same way with West Virginia being in the Big 12. It just seems wrong somehow.

rgw said:

I don't want to see defections and the reality is that we're more likely to see expansion to 16 or 18 teams in the next few decades than seeing contraction to 10 or 12 teams. The cable television bubble is close to bursting and I think another round of consolidation will happen sooner or later. Maybe towards the end of this round of conference television contracts that were the impetus for the restructuring in the early years of this decade?

The big rub is that I believe consumers are exiting the cable service model for over-the-top streaming services. ESPN and others are not going to be able to offer as much money as they have in the past and major IT companies with huge streaming infrastructure - cough cough Google cough cough - may swoop in and outbid the traditional networks. There could be a not-so-distant future where SEC Network is an app and not a channel. It is entirely possible that the college football playoffs are hosted on the Youtube app. This change is coming and I don't know if Disney is being agile enough to prep themselves for it. In fact, they seem to be doubling down on big-time cinema in the last few years and just trying to ride out the tide on cable television.

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We cannot forget that all the major shakeups since the 1980s have mostly been made over television. We didn't add South Carolina and Arkansas because we just loved what they were about so much. Kramer added them because he wanted to market a standalone conference championship game to the broadcasters.

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We didn't add Texas A&M and Missouri because they're just a bunch of nice guys. We added them because we wanted to enhance our market presence nationally as a first move towards our own conference television network.


The moves in all the other conferences have been done in a similar vein. This stuff has all been about the money and when the money dictates even more teams then they'll worry about the scheduling structure as an afterthought to those decisions. In a 16-18 team conference, the 9-game schedule and divisionless structures will be considered.

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outstanding posts on the subject . . . kudos

What it comes down to is that these power conferences have grown accustom to a certain standard of living and austerity is not what they're going to push for when the money within the current status quo dries up. There will be a big imbroglio where some conferences get eaten alive for all they are worth and the losers get left high and dry. I think the Pac-12, Big Ten, SEC, and ACC are incredibly well positioned. I think Oklahoma and Texas are incredibly well positioned but I don't know if I'd say the modern Big-12 as a whole is in good shape. I feel like that conference will get picked clean to keep the good times rolling when the money situation of the status quo dictates tightening the belt. And what we'll end up with is a internet-enabled, direct-to-the-customer PPV type model with 4 super massive conferences. A lot of the Texas Techs and TCUs of the world will go crying when Mississippi State, Vandy, and Washington State still have a seat at the table and they may not...but that is why it pays to be aligned with the big boys over the long haul.


This projection I have for the future of college football is why I just think the UAB program restart is useless. At least, it is useless for them to bother trying to rebuild in the FBS. They should've went ahead and gotten a head start on building an FCS type program...because a good bulk of the FBS is going to be heading that direction in a decade or so when the cable contract well dries up.

CrimSonami said:

Okay. I listen to Thom Abraham during my evening commute. (Just can't stomach "Pawl" anymore). During his Thursday show the Big12-2 fiasco prompted this scenario:

Dissolve divisions with each team having 3 annual rivalry games (Barn, Viles & Corndogs for Bama). This would allow a more frequent scheduling of all other SEC teams on the current 8 conference game schedule. I like the concept but would prefer a 9 conference game schedule and get rid of an FCS opponent.

Whaddaya think?

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Playing LSU, Auburn and Tennessee every year while others feasted on the bottom feeders would be insane. If going to no divisions is the answer, scheduling needs to be equal.

SEC should adopt a 12 game conference schedule and the rest of the gang of 5 will follow

if we go to more than 4 teams for the college football playoffs, i say get rid of conference divisions and the sec championship game.

Noah.Dreams said:

SEC should adopt a 12 game conference schedule and the rest of the gang of 5 will follow

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For the SEC that would be INSANE!


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No, asinine idea.

Next caller?

No, move Missouri to the west (or preferably replace them with Memphis or Louisville) and Auburn to the east and keep the divisions. They need to go back to divisions in basketball to avoid the weird schedules every year.

NO! The SEC should NOT go to no division. The only thing I'd do in the SEC is DROP the Barn. Let them go to the ACC and add another team like UH since UTw would never go for that. That is a huge market for football. Maybe we could steal more recruits from this area.

Now, I wonder! UTw has bought 100 acres in southwest Houston and plans to add another 200 acres to build a campus. What is their EVIL intent here in Houston???????

4Q Basket Case said:

No.

Keep it the way it is. Only change I would even consider is home-and-home on consecutive years for rotating cross-divisional games.

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Yep. And I wouldn't give that much consideration.