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New SEC divisions and pods thread (Page 30 starts recent discussion)


mdmost

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Don’t care if we get podded with aggy or not, as long as they aren’t rewarded with an annual thanksgiving matchup. Let’s play piggy or LSU on thanksgiving weekend. Aggy is not special and is undeserving of any recognition. How does 4th weekend of September or October sound, aggy?

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Not really. This thread was created because the SEC Network brought up pods the day after our intentions to join were known. It's definitely going to get kicked around and all who think division are the only way to go might need to come to grips with this being the way for everyone to get what they want and no one to get bitter about being stuck with Alabama (read Georgia and Florida). 

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4 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Repping to get you to 667. Your pod hands ou A shot at the final four every year.  Here’s the winning nsiap D1E9B893-7D5C-47F4-8BEF-28E1271D5E5A.jpeg.d98976645fec654a144aaa48cadf9f80.jpeg

If it's set up for 4 groups (I hate the term "pod") similar to this, then the best way is for it to be two from each group one year followed by the other two teams the next year.  None of that 2-and-2 shit that the old Big XII used to do.  I hated skipping teams 2 years in a row in the old North division.  The entire conference would be better off if every team played every other team within a 2 year span - more unity, more potential rivalries, more great football games every year,

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If it's 2 divisions:

WEST:

Texas, OU, LSU, Aggy, Arkansas, Mizzou, Ole Miss, Miss St.

EAST:

Bama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, S. Carolina

 

If it's 4 Pods:

Texas, OU, Arkansas, Mizzou

LSU, Aggy, Ole Miss, Miss St

Bama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vandy

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, S. Carolina

 

Personally, I prefer divisions. Pods are stupid and make scheduling difficult, imo. Plus, if we're gonna be in the same conference, I want to play Aggy every year

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1 minute ago, Mason Ramsey said:

Pods are stupid and make scheduling difficult, imo

How? 

Even Year: OU, Arkansas, Mizzou, LSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky

Odd Year: OU, Arkansas, Mizzou, Aggy, Miss State, Alabama, Vandy, Florida, South Carolina

How is this difficult?

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5 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

How? 

Even Year: OU, Arkansas, Mizzou, LSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky

Odd Year: OU, Arkansas, Mizzou, Aggy, Miss State, Alabama, Vandy, Florida, South Carolina

How is this difficult?

I came in to better understand this pod idea. This post cleared it up, for me. This pod system's alright.

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4 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

How? 

Even Year: OU, Arkansas, Mizzou, LSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky

Odd Year: OU, Arkansas, Mizzou, Aggy, Miss State, Alabama, Vandy, Florida, South Carolina

How is this difficult?

The better way to say it is divisions is simpler.

With pods, do you just take the top 2 teams in the conference for your CCG? Do you have a CCG semifinals and then finals? If you choose that, how do you choose which pod plays who if teams have the same record?

Obviously all that can get figured out and it's not my problem, but why change to pods when two divisions has worked in the past? And why not want to play Aggy every year if we're in the same conference?

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On 7/23/2021 at 12:06 PM, Saint Austin said:

Here's my preference:

WEST DIVISION:
Pod 1:
Texas
A&M
OU
Arkansas

Pod 2:
Mizzou
Ole Miss
Miss St.
LSU

EAST DIVISION:
Pod 3:
Alabama
Auburn
Vandy
Tennessee

Pod 4:
Kentucky
S.C.
Georgia
Florida

Fits well geographically and is mostly equally competitive (except for maybe Pod 2).

 

My preference as well, but Aggy will duck us and be in a different pod. 

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11 minutes ago, Mason Ramsey said:

The better way to say it is divisions is simpler.

With pods, do you just take the top 2 teams in the conference for your CCG? Do you have a CCG semifinals and then finals? If you choose that, how do you choose which pod plays who if teams have the same record?

Obviously all that can get figured out and it's not my problem, but why change to pods when two divisions has worked in the past? And why not want to play Aggy every year if we're in the same conference?

No, divisions is not simpler. I only displayed it that way so some people could visualize it. Read the instructions on the SEC TV screenshot. It’s incredibly simple. 

9 conference games, 3 core Pod, 2 from each other pods, 

here is the difference 


Two divisions: 7 East Division Games, 2 West Division Games. 9 Total Conference games. The major problem is you are only playing west teams once every 4 years. 

Pods: 3 Core West Pod, 2 LSU Pod, 2 Bama Pod, 2 East Pod. 9 Conference games. Every team is played in 2 years. 
 

Divisions works for 12 teams. Little enough to rotate through every team in 2 years. 5 north, + 3 south, 4 non conference 

 

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8 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Two divisions: 7 East Division Games, 2 West Division Games. 9 Total Conference games. The major problem is you are only playing west teams once every 4 years. 

Pods: 3 Core West Pod, 2 LSU Pod, 2 Bama Pod, 2 East Pod. 9 Conference games. Every team is played in 2 years.

Not sure why some folks are failing to grasp this

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10 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Co-worker who is an Arky said he loves the idea of a Hate Pod or Pod of Hate with OU/UT/Arky/ATM. 
 

We’ve been Ned in the First Reader ever since Petrino wrecked the Harley (sans a BielemaTexas Bowl blowout v you clowns).  If The Pod of Hate doesn’t kick start us, nothing will

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Just now, Lowcountry Hog said:

We’ve been Ned in the First Reader ever since Petrino wrecked the Harley (sans a BielemaTexas Bowl blowout v you clowns).  If The Pod of Hate doesn’t kick start us, nothing will

I understand. If a move to the SEC doesn’t toughen up our football program…nothing will. I’d love to have that pod. But aggy…may not want…

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I think they are going to a 9 conference game slate regardless of pods or divisions.

Pods sound good at first because you can set it up so that each team plays every other team in the league every two years.  3 years if you add 1 permanent rival in each pod.  The problem I have with it is that the degree of difficulty within each pod is going to vary wildly.  Because of that I like the idea of the Alabama schools going to the East and Texas/OU/Mizzou going West.  Play 2 of the other division's teams each year, and each team plays every other team every 4 years.  Problem with this one is that some rivalry games get scrapped and that's not going to sit well with some fans.  I don't envy who has to come up with the format and scheduling.

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3 minutes ago, Hozz said:

I think they are going to a 9 conference game slate regardless of pods or divisions.

Pods sound good at first because you can set it up so that each team plays every other team in the league every two years.  3 years if you add 1 permanent rival in each pod.  The problem I have with it is that the degree of difficulty within each pod is going to vary wildly.  Because of that I like the idea of the Alabama schools going to the East and Texas/OU/Mizzou going West.  Play 2 of the other division's teams each year, and each team plays every other team every 4 years.  Problem with this one is that some rivalry games get scrapped and that's not going to sit well with some fans.  I don't envy who has to come up with the format and scheduling.

You literally just said pods are easy and scheduling won’t be hard…now here are three twists that make this super complicated. Scheduling will be hard….?

The pod system is easy. Scheduling is easy. Each pod is relatively even, here is them organized by recent strength. When scheduling for 2 teams from a pod, you have to pick one from the first group and one from the second group 
 

OU, Texas -  Arky, Mizzou

LSU, Aggy - Miss State, Ole Miss

Bama, Auburn - Tennessee, Vandy

Florida, Georgia - South Carolina, Kentucky 

 

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8 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

You literally just said pods are easy and scheduling won’t be hard…now here are three twists that make this super complicated. Scheduling will be hard….?

The pod system is easy. Scheduling is easy. Each pod is relatively even, here is them organized by recent strength. When scheduling for 2 teams from a pod, you have to pick one from the first group and one from the second group 
 

OU, Texas -  Arky, Mizzou

LSU, Aggy - Miss State, Ole Miss

Bama, Auburn - Tennessee, Vandy

Florida, Georgia - South Carolina, Kentucky 

 

Playing TAMU every other year would be stupid. 

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25 minutes ago, Hozz said:

I think they are going to a 9 conference game slate regardless of pods or divisions.

Pods sound good at first because you can set it up so that each team plays every other team in the league every two years.  3 years if you add 1 permanent rival in each pod.  The problem I have with it is that the degree of difficulty within each pod is going to vary wildly.  Because of that I like the idea of the Alabama schools going to the East and Texas/OU/Mizzou going West.  Play 2 of the other division's teams each year, and each team plays every other team every 4 years.  Problem with this one is that some rivalry games get scrapped and that's not going to sit well with some fans.  I don't envy who has to come up with the format and scheduling.

Yes it's going to have to be 9 conference games no matter what.  The divisions, as you write them out, are about as balanced as it's going to get.  Also-- which rivalry games will get scrapped?  The SEC already does one x-division perma-rival in order to maintain the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry.  If Alabama moves to the east, then they don't have to use up a x-div game on Tennessee, and could use it on LSU instead--if both of those teams really wanted to.  What other games might be lost, and could a x-div perma-rivalry save it?  That's what's going to have to be explored.  I believe it's easier to save those games using divisions, than it is using pods.

5 minutes ago, immamac said:

Playing TAMU every other year would be stupid. 

Agreed.  

3 minutes ago, Muy Frio said:

I love the Hate Pod. Please please

But if we DID end up with pods, I love the idea of the Hate Pod. :)

 

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My Arky co-worker put it like this (complete with badass accent): “I’ve been thinking about this ever since the news dropped…a Hate Pod. With Arkansas, Aggy, OU and Texas. Sell it to the SEC brass just like that. It’s like hate to the power of four. Enough hate in that whole pod to power a lesser conference with 16 teams. I guar—-an—-tee the Ags won’t like it. They’ll hate it. And that’s my point. They can either work out their hate with the SEC (he laughs) OR they can work out their rage and issues in the pod. Not a tough decision if you’re SEC brass…” he’s a cool dude. 

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4 hours ago, RollLeft said:

 

A : Texas, Aggy, Arky, Tenn

B : OU, LSU, Mizzou, Vandy

C : Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Miss St

D : Florida, UGA, SC, UK

or

A : Texas, Aggy, Arky, Ole Miss

B : OU, LSU, Mizzou, Miss St.

C : Bama, Auburn, Tenn, UK

D : Florida, UGA, SC, Vandy

 

For the top 1 I’d switch tenn and mizzou 

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Assuming a balanced pod schedule of 9 conference games... if they wanted to keep certain rivalries alive in the two years when the teams are not scheduled to face each other, they could essentially make it a non-conference game. In other words, you still play the game for bragging rights and for ranking, but it doesn't impact either team's conference record. 

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2 hours ago, Mason Ramsey said:

If it's 2 divisions:

WEST:

Texas, OU, LSU, Aggy, Arkansas, Mizzou, Ole Miss, Miss St.

EAST:

Bama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, S. Carolina

 

If it's 4 Pods:

Texas, OU, Arkansas, Mizzou

LSU, Aggy, Ole Miss, Miss St

Bama, Auburn, Tennessee, Vandy

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, S. Carolina

 

Personally, I prefer divisions. Pods are stupid and make scheduling difficult, imo. Plus, if we're gonna be in the same conference, I want to play Aggy every year

With divisions we’ll go 10+ years without playing some teams at their stadium. With pods it’s gonna be 4 or less

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37 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Assuming a balanced pod schedule of 9 conference games... if they wanted to keep certain rivalries alive in the two years when the teams are not scheduled to face each other, they could essentially make it a non-conference game. In other words, you still play the game for bragging rights and for ranking, but it doesn't impact either team's conference record. 

These schools wouldn't give up their cupcakes to do that

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4 hours ago, maninblack said:

If A&M isn't in the pod with Texas and the SEC doesn't take advantage of reigniting the annual Thanksgiving game they've missed a huge opportunity. Aggy won't live it down either because the perception will be they whined their way out of being in our pod and are ducking us. 

Everything you said is spot on, but I bet it doesn't happen. It will be the placating item given to A&M.

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Pods or "3 set and rotate for the other 6" are way better than divisions. Everyone here has mocked the SEC for things like Aggy playing at Georgia 0 times in 12 years or whatever and it will just be worse with more teams added. Trashcan to join SEC and play Bama once per 8 years at home and once per 8 years on the road. GTFO.

You take the top 2 teams and play in the CCG.  With an expanded playoff, a team that goes 9-3 because they got buttfucked on the schedule strength can grab an at-large easily.

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8 minutes ago, maninblack said:

These schools wouldn't give up their cupcakes to do that

and we will be scheduling 3 cupcakes once we join, at least I hope we do.  The SEC also has a 1 power five requirement that I believe just went into effect; I bet that is dropped with 9 conference games.  we will be playing 3 cupcakes a year.  That is so huge from a recuperation perspective throughout the season.

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An 8 game conference schedule with divisions means you play 7 division games and 1 against the other division. That's awful. A 9 game conference schedule gives you 2 games against the other division. That's still awful. Pods make it a lot easier to do either 8 or 9 conference games and getting some variety each year. 

Edited by mdmost
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2 minutes ago, alphahorn said:

and we will be scheduling 3 cupcakes once we join, at least I hope we do.  The SEC also has a 1 power five requirement that I believe just went into effect; I bet that is dropped with 9 conference games.  we will be playing 3 cupcakes a year.  That is so huge from a recuperation perspective throughout the season.

The problem the SEC will have with going away from 8 games is then teams are losing an extra home game. That's partially why they have the cupcake games. You can force an FCS or lower FBS to come to you. It's what we're now doing with UTEP and UTSA for the next 6 years. That way we can have the flexibility to have the home and homes with big name teams. If we go into the SEC with 4 OOCs, you bet your ass we're picking up a team that can only come to DKR. 

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Just now, alphahorn said:

and we will be scheduling 3 cupcakes once we join, at least I hope we do.  The SEC also has a 1 power five requirement that I believe just went into effect; I bet that is dropped with 9 conference games.  we will be playing 3 cupcakes a year.  That is so huge from a recuperation perspective throughout the season.

I believe the SEC is going to have to go to 9 conference games regardless of whether it's divisions or pods, so there's only 3 OOC games total.  Texas isn't going to schedule all of those as cupcakes, we'll continue to have one marquee OOC game per year.

The expansion of the playoff makes it possible, because taking an early loss against a top-5 Ohio State kind of team won't immediately kill you.  And playing bigger names and better teams from other regions, is better for player development, better for team improvement,  better for individual player promotion and branding through NIL, better for school branding, better for TV revenue packages, better for college football across the board.

 

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2 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I believe the SEC is going to have to go to 9 conference games regardless of whether it's divisions or pods, so there's only 3 OOC games total.  Texas isn't going to schedule all of those as cupcakes, we'll continue to have one marquee OOC game per year.

The expansion of the playoff makes it possible, because taking an early loss against a top-5 Ohio State kind of team won't immediately kill you.  And playing bigger names and better teams from other regions, is better for player development, better for team improvement,  better for individual player promotion and branding through NIL, better for school branding, better for TV revenue packages, better for college football across the board.

 

I disagree.  We'll have no need to prove the size of our dicks (or clits) once we join the SEC.  As mdmost correctly stated it's also about home games and forcing schools to take a pay day.  We'll see tOSU in the  playoffs

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Just now, alphahorn said:

I disagree.  We'll have no need to prove the size of our dicks (or clits) once we join the SEC.  As mdmost correctly stated it's also about home games and forcing schools to take a pay day.  We'll see tOSU in the  playoffs

Nah.  Big intersectional matchups have always been part of our formula and they will continue to be.  We have plenty of money, and the expanded playoff means taking early losses isn't killer.

Just sit back and enjoy killer home schedules including marquee OOC games.  It's gonna be great.

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1 minute ago, alphahorn said:

I disagree.  We'll have no need to prove the size of our dicks (or clits) once we join the SEC.  As mdmost correctly stated it's also about home games and forcing schools to take a pay day.  We'll see tOSU in the  playoffs

That’s the sec, sec, sec attitude!

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Everyone is loving kicking Texas right now.  Texas has been average, because we've hired average coaches.  But during all the SEC bravado talk about how mediocre we've been since we won the title, we still kicked Georgia ass in the Sugar Bowl as a big dog.  The SEC has moved a little bit offensively over the past couple of years, mostly because of Sark.  They are going to learn that it's not easy to prepare for Sark and Riley in 3 days. Texas and OU will do very well in the SEC.  You have to put us in the same division/pod.  But think about it, Saban is old as fuck, he's not going to be there forever and once he's gone Bama will return to the pre Saban days and you'll have possibly the 2 best teams in the same pod/division

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11 minutes ago, alphahorn said:

I disagree.  We'll have no need to prove the size of our dicks (or clits) once we join the SEC.  As mdmost correctly stated it's also about home games and forcing schools to take a pay day.  We'll see tOSU in the  playoffs

Whoa whoa whoa. We're not abandoning our marquee OOC matchups for cupcakes. Playing tOSU and Michigan is still a big deal. I'm just saying if we're only playing 8 conference games, we'll find a regional lower level FBS opponent like a Louisiana school or another Texas school like Rice. I'd imagine we'll replace the upcoming SEC opponents after 2026 with softer opponents like mid-tier ACC, Big 10, and Pac 12 opponents. We've already got Arizona State on the 2032-2033 time frame. 

Here's our current slate:

2022-ULM, Bama, UTSA- Bama stays as I think this our last year in the Big 12.

2023-Rice, @Bama, Wyoming- Bama would be a conference game so that gets changed.

2024-Colorado State, Michigan, UTSA

2025- @tOSU, San Jose State, UTEP

2026- Texas State, tOSU, UTSA

2027- @Michigan, UTEP

2028- Georgia, UTSA- UGA now a conference game

2029- @Georgia, UTEP-same issue

2030- @Florida, UTSA-same issue

2031- Florida, UTEP- same issue

2032-@Arizona State

2033- Arizona State

Edited by mdmost
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11 minutes ago, alphahorn said:

I disagree.  We'll have no need to prove the size of our dicks (or clits) once we join the SEC.  As mdmost correctly stated it's also about home games and forcing schools to take a pay day.  We'll see tOSU in the  playoffs

Lsu schedules pretty aggressively for 1 of their 4 ooc. Us, tcu, Oregon in the not too distant past. We should mirror that. 

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7 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Lsu schedules pretty aggressively for 1 of their 4 ooc. Us, tcu, Oregon in the not too distant past. We should mirror that. 

Don't think we need to "mirror" anything.  We already schedule one marquee OOC per year.  We'll have to do some shuffling since we have several SEC schools over the next 12-15 years, but we also have Ohio State and Michigan and they'll certainly stay.

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2 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Whoa whoa whoa. We're not abandoning our marquee OOC matchups for cupcakes. Playing tOSU and Michigan is still a big deal. I'm just saying if we're only playing 8 conference games, we'll find a regional lower level FBS opponent like a Louisiana school or another Texas school like Rice. I'd imagine we'll replace the upcoming SEC opponents after 2026 with softer opponents like mid-tier ACC, Big 10, and Pac 12 opponents. We've already got Arizona State on the 2032-2033 time frame. 

We'll have to see what pod/division we land in. I'm sure that has already been decided.  But, I bet you'll be surprised at least initially.  A 12 week college football schedule is a grind.  Marquee matchups will happen in the playoffs, especially going to a 12 team playoff.  It becomes an IQ test at some point.  The perceived quality of the SEC is enough, why do anything to tarnish perception by taking the chance of losing OOC.  In the Big 12 we had something to prove, that is about to go away.

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Bama and LSU aren't afraid to play big name OOC matchups. We should do the same. You want to be the best, beat the best. I've argued this point before but 2005 became realistic when we beat tOSU in the Shoe. That set the team on a great run and showed them they could play and beat anyone, anywhere. 

Hell, Bama has this coming up:

2025-@FSU, Wisconsin

2026- @WVU, FSU

2027- WVU, @tOSU

2028- tOSU, @Ok State

2029- @Notre Dame, Ok State

 

Georgia:

2026-UCLA, @Louisville

2027-@FSU, Louisville

2028- @Texas, FSU

2029- Texas, @Clemson

2030- Clemson, tOSU

2031- @tOSU, OU

 

Edited by mdmost
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