When the prospect of the SEC schedule expanding to 9 games first came out I was excited…..mainly because the non-conference games have gotten so boring. The idea of eliminating a Sun Belt or Conference USA team from the schedule in favor of a SEC game sounded pretty good to me.
Even if it means Mississippi State would be in a lot more jeopardy of losing the game? Sure. The Bulldogs have made 12 straight bowl trips, and they are getting to the point of mundane, putting it at risk in favor of more exciting regular season games is fine.
But, does that necessarily mean the SEC has to increase to 9 games? The idea sounds a lot better from the perspective of two divisions like we’ve had for the last 30 years, or from the initial 4-team pod idea. However, it seems as though there will be no divisions or pods…just 1 thru 16.
There are two options: 9 game schedule with 3 permanents or 8 game schedule with 1 permanent.
If it’s an 8 game schedule, the permanent opponent for MSU would obviously be Ole Miss. Then the other seven games would rotate so that you’d play a home and home with every SEC team over a four year period.
So, you still get to play everyone with the 8-game option.
Considering that a 9 game SEC schedule would mean more road games than home games every other year, that doesn’t sound too good. If it were 10 games to even it out it might be more palatable, but it’s not.
What if an 8-game conference schedule were selected, and State were to play two non-conference games against Power 5 schools? They could play one at home and one on the road.
Considering the new 12-team playoff, it shouldn’t be hard to find ACC, Big 12 or Pac 12 teams that would be happy to beef up their schedule with a SEC opponent. And State is a lot more likely to find equal status programs of their choosing outside the league than in it.
Upon further reflection, I’m not really sure what State would stand to gain by adding another conference game? Other than maybe $5-10 million per year in TV money. The added revenue from a home SEC game every other year could be mostly offset by scheduling a unique non-SEC Power 5 school coming to Starkville.
Is the driving factor behind a 9-game schedule the added money or is it just finding a way to preserve Auburn/Georgia, Alabama/Tennessee and reviving Texas A&M/Texas? If it’s the latter, those teams would still play each other twice in four years.
If the SEC made the schedule so that you play each team every other year, swapping home and home, it would give a little different dynamic to those rivalries as they would hold bragging rights for two years.
The SEC fan inside of me says there is no doubt that more conference games is better. The more the merrier. Non-conference games have become really boring and take up 1/3 of the schedule. But….as a Mississippi State fan I think it may be better to stick to 8 games. I don’t want to see 5 road SEC games on a once in five uptick year. Stick to eight: the division-less schedule still affords the same round robin.
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