Nick Saban questions SEC's 3 permanent opponents proposed for Alabama football schedule for 2024

[PA Tide Fan]

Having Auburn and Tennessee permanent opponents seem like obvious choices, so that leaves LSU as perhaps a questionable one because given the fact that Louisiana does not border Alabama but Mississippi does one could rightly argue a team from Mississippi belongs as a permanent opponent.

It's hard to say if Tennessee was a "flash in the pan" last year or if they have staying power. Auburn should be better under Freeze but nobody knows for sure at this point. I don't blame Saban one bit for fighting for favorable opponents as any good coach should do but given the fact that we've beaten LSU 10 out of the last 12 and Tennessee 15 out of the last 16 his argument may fall on deaf ears.

 

[bamaclimber]

The more I think about it, the more I think I'd be in favor of no permanents, even if it means you rarely play a school.

 

[BamaMoon]

The more I think about it, the more I think I'd be in favor of no permanents, even if it means you rarely play a school.

Actually a round-robin schedule would insure you play every team in the conference more often.

 

[CrimsonBloodn62]

Only way to make this fair is to play a 15 game SEC schedule. Top 2 finishers play in the SEC Championship and the winner declared National Champion.

 

[smith5753]

Better for us, but Arkansas gets shafted on that.

Also, why in every model I've seen does UT get us and two perennial cream puffs???

Nobody should be allowed to have both Vandy and Kentucky as permanent opponent’s. I think I agree with do away with permanent opponents and schedule for complete fairness.

 

[dWarriors88]

CNS doesn't say anything publicly without intent. I like how he's trying to "protect" Bama and get out in front of this possibility.

He has the biggest influence in college football and the SEC.

FWIW, I totally agree with him we shouldn't have 3 top SEC teams as permanents!

The longer this goes on I say forget the permanent rivals and just play a round-robin so everybody plays everybody ASAP.

Auburn, LSU, and Tenn aren't really top SEC programs... are they?

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Better for us, but Arkansas gets shafted on that.

Also, why in every model I've seen does UT get us and two perennial cream puffs???

Have Arkansas and UT swap. Arkansas gets UK, and UT gets aTm.

Alternatively, how would it work if every school had only two annual games, and the rest rotated? We’d have UTe and the barn.

We give up LSU annually, but as others have already noted, until Saban was at LSU, then here, the game didn’t have all that high a profile.

 

[dWarriors88]

View attachment 32476View attachment 32476
I have shared this model before. It is fairly equitable. It is from Kyle Umlang.

The only problem I see with this graph is OU's ooc opponent Oklahoma State and OU won't play one another any longer. This was rather big news for my area. But all the fans seem beyond content to let this "rivalry" game go. The game was holding both programs back, OU whose all time record is 91-19 against OSU, had nothing left to prove, and only stood to be embarrassed should they lose (like they did in 2021 before Lincoln Riley left to USCw), or they win against the Cowboy/Pokes (as expected, Locally and Nationally) and in that case the Oklahoma State fans are sick of always losing to OU and preventing them from getting out of that preverbal little brother shadow.

Oklahoma and Oklahoma State unlikely to continue 112-year-old Bedlam rivalry after Sooners join SEC

The Sooners are expected to leave the Big 12 for the SEC before the 2025 season

www.cbssports.com

 

[TideEngineer08]

Having Auburn and Tennessee permanent opponents seem like obvious choices, so that leaves LSU as perhaps a questionable one because given the fact that Louisiana does not border Alabama but Mississippi does one could rightly argue a team from Mississippi belongs as a permanent opponent.

It's hard to say if Tennessee was a "flash in the pan" last year or if they have staying power. Auburn should be better under Freeze but nobody knows for sure at this point. I don't blame Saban one bit for fighting for favorable opponents as any good coach should do but given the fact that we've beaten LSU 10 out of the last 12 and Tennessee 15 out of the last 16 his argument may fall on deaf ears.

Even though we’ve dominated LSU under Coach Saban, the games have never not been a blood bath.

The dominance over Tennessee has been glorious but is a serious deviation from the norm. It’s a streaky serious, no doubt, but not 15 in a row streaky and not in such dominant fashion.

I am not one who believes Tennessee can ever regain its late 1990s status. But I also don’t think they’ll return to being a cupcake either.

And finally, quite unfortunately, we are going to return to earth at some point as well. I hope never to the Mikes era, but even a return to our level during Gene Stallings… well then that rotation is simply not fair.

 

[BamaMoon]

Auburn, LSU, and Tenn aren't really top SEC programs... are they?

Other than Georgia and maybe Florida who else would you put in there?

I'm speaking historically.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Other than Georgia and maybe Florida who else would you put in there?

I'm speaking historically.

The top 6 in the SEC is Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, and Florida.

They did balance the original divisions quite well. You can now say the top half are those 6 and OU and Texas.

 

[JDCrimson]

Coach Saban is going to coach forever...

- Alabama needs a schedule that will help it when it returns to earth post - Saban

- Permanent rivals should come from 1 quadrant above or below your quadrant, not 2 quadrants above or below you, see Tennessee v Vandy

- Alabama should lobby for a rotation of Auburn, LSU, A&M to maximize recruiting visibility, imo. Tennessee does nothing for us from a recruiting standpoint

- With rotating schedule, in variably, Bama will end up with a schedule that has Aub, Tennessee, LSU, UGA, OU, Vandy, SoCar, OM, Ark - that's a brutal schedule

 

[GP for Bama]

The top 6 in the SEC is Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, and Florida.

They did balance the original divisions quite well. You can now say the top half are those 6 and OU and Texas.

These are the top 8 historically power teams...
This is how many each team plays annually...
Bama..... 3
AU...........2
Arky.........2
Fla...........2
GA... .. ....2
KY...... . ..1
LSU.........1
Miss..... ..1
Miss St....0
Mizzou....1
Okie.. .. ..2
S. C.........2
Tenn.......1
Texas.....1
Tex AM....2
Vandy.....2

Not very equitable.

 

[BamaInBham]

I posted this in a similar thread earlier today but no one is reading it that thread, so here's some more hot air.

This is a travesty. IMO, Greg Sankey (assuming he has the primary input in this) is doing all he can to hamstring Alabama. Never acknowledging Alabama but always seeming sad when they win, the Miller award saga, now this. He is a real problem for Alabama.

Alabama is the only program that has only the historical top 8 programs as fixed opponents: UA, OU, UTx, UTn, LSU, UGA, UF, AU. Sankey (assuming) would almost rather Alabama join the Big 10. He's despicable. There will be years where Alabama's SEC slate could be: LSU, UTn, AU, OU, UTx, UGA, UF, A&M, Ark. The Eagles, Bills and Chiefs would have trouble with that. Everyone else gets at least one softer opponent in the fixed 3. Every single program but Alabama. Greg Sankey despises his own conference.

E.g., LSU's fixed opponents: OM, A&M, Alabama; AU: UGA, Vandy, Alabama; UGA: AU, UF, UK; UTn: Vandy, Alabama, USCe; etc. This is criminal .

Everyone else is laughing at Bama's mistreatment, so a chuckling Sankey will be their hero. 15 vs 1. The Alabama admin should insist that they will not accept this. Stomp their feet, kick and holler. Thankfully, Saban has already started. Bama has always been a great team player, they get rewarded with this garbage. If they accept this they are soft and/or stupid.

Also, unless he was just railroaded, and I like him in general, almost feel like Greg Byrne should be fired if he OK'ed this.

 

[bamaga]

We play them every year now, it doesn’t seem fair, but that’s life. When the SEC had its own network, CBS had the Bama/LSU game as its only prime time game for a decade. How many ’Games of the Century ‘ did they play? I see the thought behind keeping Bama /LSU.

 

[DrJJoyner]

I just know the SEC is trying to screw over Alabama here, in a pretty bad way.

and

This is a travesty. IMO, Greg Sankey (assuming he has the primary input in this) is doing all he can to hamstring Alabama.

Alabama remains the SEC's biggest and most important brand. It just makes no sense that the SEC is trying to screw us over.

The answer to all these questions, almost all the time, is MONEY. The SEC wants to create the best matchups possible to maximize gate and, especially, television revenue. Yes, Auburn-Tennessee-Mississippi State would be more "fair" than Auburn-Tennessee-LSU. But 99% of college football fans would rather see Alabama-LSU than Alabama-Mississippi State.

Auburn is likely to get screwed even harder. Alabama and Georgia are a given and my strong suspicion is that Florida will come back in as a permanent opponent. That's brutal! But it's good TV and therefore profitable, not an attempt to screw over Auburn.

 

[Tidewater]

Nobody should be allowed to have both Vandy and Kentucky as permanent opponent’s.

Au contraire, mon ami. Bama should. They have always been rivals. Vandy, Kentucky, and Mizzou. Great games. Great tradition.

 

[Tidewater]

and



Alabama remains the SEC's biggest and most important brand. It just makes no sense that the SEC is trying to screw us over.

The answer to all these questions, almost all the time, is MONEY. The SEC wants to create the best matchups possible to maximize gate and, especially, television revenue. Yes, Auburn-Tennessee-Mississippi State would be more "fair" than Auburn-Tennessee-LSU. But 99% of college football fans would rather see Alabama-LSU than Alabama-Mississippi State.

Auburn is likely to get screwed even harder. Alabama and Georgia are a given and my strong suspicion is that Florida will come back in as a permanent opponent. That's brutal! But it's good TV and therefore profitable, not an attempt to screw over Auburn.

I'm always in favor of screwing Auburn over. Until they disband football and stop wasting the state's limited resources.

 

[BamaMoon]

These are the top 8 historically power teams...
This is how many each team plays annually...
Bama..... 3
AU...........2
Arky.........2
Fla...........2
GA... .. ....2
KY...... . ..1
LSU.........1
Miss..... ..1
Miss St....0
Mizzou....1
Okie.. .. ..2
S. C.........2
Tenn.......1
Texas.....1
Tex AM....2
Vandy.....2

Not very equitable.

I just can't imagine that Alabama will allow for this inequality. This is so obvious.

And the easy fix is to give us Miss. St. so we only have 2 and they will go from O to 1.

And there's not way UT and LSU should only play 1!

 

[DrJJoyner]

I just can't imagine that Alabama will allow for this inequality. This is so obvious.

And the easy fix is to give us Miss. St. so we only have 2 and they will go from O to 1.

And there's not way UT and LSU should only play 1!

I'm with you but that's always going to be the nature of permanent rivalries. LSU fans constantly complained that they had to play Florida every year while we got Tennessee. These things are ultimately cyclical but Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU, and Auburn are the only programs to have won a title in the 21st Century.

Of course, it's unfair that Alabama never has to play Alabama, which is year in, year out the best program in the conference! But it's hard to fix that problem.