Third Saturday and SEC Expansion

#126
#126
I wouldn't like it but it's possible they could just get rid of the East/West monikers. As long as it's not something stupid like "legends" division they could pretty much do whatever they needed to protect rivalries.

Div. A - Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU
Div. B - Ole Miss, MSU, Vandy, A&M, OU, SouthCar, Arky

On 2nd thought, OU wouldn't have much competition in that division...
 
#127
#127
tvolsfan said:
I'd be fine, but it may be lopsided.
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I thought about that when I was typing it up, but I also know that strength runs in cycles too. Right now OK and A&M are strong programs so there wouldn't be a big fall-off other than the Vandy move. Also Mississippi State seems to be on the rise while some in the east are little down. One could argue that it would completely balance things if you look strictly where each program is at this point in time. No matter what you do, it is nearly impossible to maintain a balance between the divisions. Just look at how strong the West is in football right now. Compare that to the strength of the East in basketball and baseball.
 
#128
#128
kenrblan said:
If that specific expansion happened, why would we expect to have to move just Auburn to the East? Why not move Auburn and Alabama east and Vandy west to join OK and A&M? Here's how the divisions would look:

East: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee
West: Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt

That would protect the following rivalries- Iron Bowl, Auburn-Georgia, Florida-Georgia, Florida-Tennessee, Tennessee-Alabama, LSU-Arkansas, Egg Bowl, and Tennessee-Kentucky. I might be missing some, but that protects most of the big games I can think of. It would also add natural and pre-existing rivalries with Arkansas-A&M and A&M-Oklahoma. LSU and A&M could become a good rivalry based on proximity. LSU-Oklahoma would become the potential division deciding game every year. I could see Vanderbilt-Ole Miss becoming a big rivalry just to see who won't finish dead last. It might also strengthen the West in basketball by sending Vandy West. If you had six division games plus three out-of-division games, that still leaves room to for a standing out-of-division opponent and three out-of-conference games.

I'm no conference commissioner, but that alignment makes sense to me.
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I'll say this as a proud Tennessee fan, would Tennessee ever win the East?? It would be extremely difficult.
 
#130
#130
Just add 1 team to each division and drop an out of conference game; how difficult is that? No matter who wins the SEC any other team would be hard-pressed to beat the SEC champion because the competition is too tough already in the SEC. Adding another conference game just makes the winner tougher to beat.
 
#133
#133
kenrblan said:
If that specific expansion happened, why would we expect to have to move just Auburn to the East? Why not move Auburn and Alabama east and Vandy west to join OK and A&M? Here's how the divisions would look:

East: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee
West: Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt

That would protect the following rivalries- Iron Bowl, Auburn-Georgia, Florida-Georgia, Florida-Tennessee, Tennessee-Alabama, LSU-Arkansas, Egg Bowl, and Tennessee-Kentucky. I might be missing some, but that protects most of the big games I can think of. It would also add natural and pre-existing rivalries with Arkansas-A&M and A&M-Oklahoma. LSU and A&M could become a good rivalry based on proximity. LSU-Oklahoma would become the potential division deciding game every year. I could see Vanderbilt-Ole Miss becoming a big rivalry just to see who won't finish dead last. It might also strengthen the West in basketball by sending Vandy West. If you had six division games plus three out-of-division games, that still leaves room to for a standing out-of-division opponent and three out-of-conference games.

I'm no conference commissioner, but that alignment makes sense to me.
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Your suggestions make a lot of sense. Afterall, Arkansas came out of the SWC (Big12) and they used to play A&M and OK. LSU used to play some of those teams too. That would also be a good move for Vandy. Good ideas.
 
#134
#134
I remember how many people were against expansion the last time, and it has been nothing but great for the SEC. if its going to happen I would rather us be the first ones to expand to 14 teams. it would suck to see the Big 10 and pac-12 beat us to it. jmo
 
#135
#135
SIAP- Are we the only ones (UT vs Bammer) that have a guaranteed cross over game that doesnt rotate? I thought we were but someone said Arkansas and South Carolina do it too.
 
#136
#136
alwaysvol said:
I remember how many people were against expansion the last time, and it has been nothing but great for the SEC. if its going to happen I would rather us be the first ones to expand to 14 teams. it would suck to see the Big 10 and pac-12 beat us to it. jmo
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12 teams is just right. Why add more? College sports with five conferences and 40 independents (football-wise) would be terrible
 
#137
#137
alwaysvol said:
I remember how many people were against expansion the last time, and it has been nothing but great for the SEC. if its going to happen I would rather us be the first ones to expand to 14 teams. it would suck to see the Big 10 and pac-12 beat us to it. jmo
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I'm more upset about UT losing it's biggest rival than expansion.

If we lose Alabama, Tennessee's biggest rival is a team we play in September that considers UT their third biggest rivalry game. Sweet.
 
#138
#138
tvolsfan said:
I'm more upset about UT losing it's biggest rival than expansion.

If we lose Alabama, Tennessee's biggest rival is a team we play in September that considers UT their third biggest rivalry game. Sweet.
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This, too. Michigan's my second-favorite school, so I experienced this last year when Jim Delany considered moving The Game to mid-October.
 
#139
#139
bamawriter said:
That would present another problem. While most of AU's historical rivals are in the East (the one exception being Alabama), most of Bama's historical rivals are in the West (the exception being Tennessee, and UGA to a much lesser extent). Bama has long-running rivalries with LSU, Ole Miss, and MSU (MSU is our most-often played rival).
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You'd still get to keep three of your top five rivalries, including your top two. That's not too bad (and is actually just about what Tennessee had in the original expansion, we kept Bama, UK, and Vandy and lost Auburn and Ole Miss). Better than losing one of the top two, I'd say.
 
#140
#140
govols120 said:
This, too. Michigan's my second-favorite school, so I experienced this last year when Jim Delany considered moving The Game to mid-October.
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I'm at OSU now, so I hated that as well. I hate that they're in different divisions.
 
#141
#141
kenrblan said:
If that specific expansion happened, why would we expect to have to move just Auburn to the East? Why not move Auburn and Alabama east and Vandy west to join OK and A&M? Here's how the divisions would look:

East: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee
West: Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt
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That is a very unbalanced conference. UT, Bama, Auburn, Georgia and Florida in the same division?

If expansion does happen, I'd prefer Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. Plus, that way no one would have to move divisions.
 
#142
#142
The concern expressed by the original poster is not that far-fetched. When the Big 12 split into a divisional alignment, the powers that be decided not to retain the rivalry (Oklahoma vs. Nebraska) which had been, far and away, the marquis matchup of that conference for at least a quarter of a century.
 
#143
#143
kenrblan said:
East: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
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There's a firing line. If anyone can make it through that division unscathed, they should just cancel the BCSCG and crown them.
 
#144
#144
Volosaurus rex said:
The concern expressed by the original poster is not that far-fetched. When the Big 12 split into a divisional alignment, the powers that be decided not to retain the rivalry (Oklahoma vs. Nebraska) which had been, far and away, the marquis matchup of that conference for at least a quarter of a century.
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This scares me. Might actually help from a competitive standpoint, but would be horrific from a fan standpoint.
 
#145
#145
If you buy the hype on the TAMU Scout board, and I'm not sure I do, A&M will be in the SEC for the 2012 season, and we will look to add 3 more teams, two from the ACC.

Twitter
 
#148
#148
tvolsfan said:
A 16 team conference would suck regardless.
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The only way I can see in which it'd make any sense is to have rotating divisions with four pods instead of fixed divisions (basically, what the 90s superWAC did, but without the anchors that ruined everything).
 
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