From the Article:

The SEC enters the College Football Playoff era boldly -- without changing a thing, basically.

The league on Sunday decided to maintain an eight-game football schedule for the foreseeable future, CBSSports.com has learned. The league announced the schedule commitment at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

All 14 teams are required to play at least one opponent from the four other power conferences, which most SEC schools already do, while keeping a 6-1-1 format inside the league (six divisional games, one permanent crossover, one rotating crossover).

The SEC was locked into eight games for 2014-15 but had been evaluating a possible to jump to nine games, a path taken by the Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten.

Here is the link:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball...and-beyond

Not to mention that they did NOT put a freeze on playing FCS teams. Such a sham.

(04-27-2014 07:53 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Not to mention that they did NOT put a freeze on playing FCS teams. Such a sham.

No but they did force everyone to schedule at least one P-5 game after 2016.

bottom line- a 1 loss SEC champion isn't going to get left out of a playoff. Until that happens, why would the SEC change?

(04-27-2014 07:53 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Not to mention that they did NOT put a freeze on playing FCS teams. Such a sham.

Sham? Buffalo, San Diego State, Florida A&M and an OOC game against an extremely weak Cal team and perennial Big 10 losers Indiana and Purdue gave the Buckeyes an automatic bowl berth before you even had to defeat what was a majority sub par Big 10. Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Clemson were essentially the Buckeyes season. No matter which division an SEC school plays in they too will have three solid games or more per season, but it's the middle of the schedule that sets the SEC apart. This year there are only 4 SEC schools that won't be playing a decent P5 school. The only one that is a perennial winner that fails to play a strong OOC game is Texas A&M. Auburn plays at Kansas State, Alabama has West Virginia, South Carolina gets Clemson, Florida plays the Noles, Kentucky gets Louisville, Tennessee gets Virginia Tech, and so on.
There is little difference between most FCS schools and Florida A&M. Buffalo and San Diego State are steps up but not by a lot. The Buckeyes couldn't help that Cal was flat. So the scheduling between the SEC and Big 10 is a wash in attempt, but by virtue of the flagging middle of the Big 10 the edge goes to the SEC. The PAC is the one that plays a more aggressive schedule and the ACC is improving its approach. Unfortunately for them going to 9 games will probably reduce their SOS.

The one mistake the SEC is making is the whole permanent crossovers thing. Just establish permanent crossovers only where absolutely necessary otherwise you only get 6 teams at home once every 12 years.

(04-27-2014 08:27 PM)brista21 Wrote:  The one mistake the SEC is making is the whole permanent crossovers thing. Just establish permanent crossovers only where absolutely necessary otherwise you only get 6 teams at home once every 12 years.

I agree with this. The SEC isn't going to give away any renegotiating leverage though. I think that most of our conference schools know eventually they will play a 9 game conference schedule and that they will be required to play a P5 school OOC by 2016. I just think they are dragging their feet until all of the contracts are done so they that when they do agree to a 9 conference game schedule they'll know what kind of bump to ask for. And if we go that route I look for a 6-2-1 schedule where with the permanent cross over game and the two rotating games it would mean that every school in the conference would be played within each three year span.

Were still adjusting to the move but already have UCLA, Oregon and Southern Cal on our future sched list (guess where we are trying to increase our exposure)

(04-27-2014 07:53 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Not to mention that they did NOT put a freeze on playing FCS teams. Such a sham.

An FCS school splitting the gate with, say, LSU or Alabama is not a sham. It helps the little guys financially....a lot.

SEC is banking on the flexibility proposal the ACC put forth. If it passes, divisions don't matter.

(04-27-2014 08:08 PM)stever20 Wrote:  bottom line- a 1 loss SEC champion isn't going to get left out of a playoff. Until that happens, why would the SEC change?

Exactly. Chances are that a 1-loss SEC non-champ will also be at or near the top of the pecking order for the playoff in any year that at least two other P5 conferences have a 2-loss champ. They have no reason to change, unless a 1-loss SEC team isn't chosen for the playoff some year.

They voted to keep screwing LSU and Auburn with the "permanent crossover", and even the scheduling of the "floating crossover" has been suspicious in the past (as LSU's AD noted in his statement), but that's a different point, I suppose. There's nothing stopping other conferences from giving their most-favored teams a usually-easier schedule if they want to; they just haven't done it yet.

Auburn-Georgia is one of the oldest rivalries in college football, so it makes sense for a permanent crossover. I don't think there's such emotional attachment between LSU and Florida, but Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, and South Carolina aren't volunteering themselves for Florida or LSU.

This was predictable. It makes it easy for SEC teams to continue scheduling 7 home games per season, as all 14 SEC schools have done for 2014. By contrast, half of the Pac-12 schools will play only 6 home games this season (Arizona State, Colorado, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah). That extra home game gives the SEC an advantage in landing CFP playoff and bowl berths.

(04-27-2014 09:07 PM)HawaiiMongoose Wrote:  This was predictable. It makes it easy for SEC teams to continue scheduling 7 home games per season, as all 14 SEC schools have done for 2014. By contrast, half of the Pac-12 schools will play only 6 home games this season (Arizona State, Colorado, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah). That extra home game gives the SEC an advantage in landing CFP playoff and bowl berths.

Its more about greed. They want to play Idaho St. or Coastal Carolina and pay them 400k for a buy game instead of a home and home. They know they are driving away fans with that type of scheduling as several SEC ADs have talked about it, but they are thinking very short term.

(04-27-2014 08:21 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 07:53 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Not to mention that they did NOT put a freeze on playing FCS teams. Such a sham.

Sham? Buffalo, San Diego State, Florida A&M and an OOC game against an extremely weak Cal team and perennial Big 10 losers Indiana and Purdue gave the Buckeyes an automatic bowl berth before you even had to defeat what was a majority sub par Big 10. Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Clemson were essentially the Buckeyes season. No matter which division an SEC school plays in they too will have three solid games or more per season, but it's the middle of the schedule that sets the SEC apart. This year there are only 4 SEC schools that won't be playing a decent P5 school. The only one that is a perennial winner that fails to play a strong OOC game is Texas A&M. Auburn plays at Kansas State, Alabama has West Virginia, South Carolina gets Clemson, Florida plays the Noles, Kentucky gets Louisville, Tennessee gets Virginia Tech, and so on.
There is little difference between most FCS schools and Florida A&M. Buffalo and San Diego State are steps up but not by a lot. The Buckeyes couldn't help that Cal was flat. So the scheduling between the SEC and Big 10 is a wash in attempt, but by virtue of the flagging middle of the Big 10 the edge goes to the SEC. The PAC is the one that plays a more aggressive schedule and the ACC is improving its approach. Unfortunately for them going to 9 games will probably reduce their SOS.

True, but at least the B1G put forth an edict to NOT play FCS teams. It just seems like there's more and more collusion for the P5 to not play the G5 at all - or at the very least, not home-and-home.

(04-27-2014 09:26 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 08:21 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 07:53 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Not to mention that they did NOT put a freeze on playing FCS teams. Such a sham.

Sham? Buffalo, San Diego State, Florida A&M and an OOC game against an extremely weak Cal team and perennial Big 10 losers Indiana and Purdue gave the Buckeyes an automatic bowl berth before you even had to defeat what was a majority sub par Big 10. Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Clemson were essentially the Buckeyes season. No matter which division an SEC school plays in they too will have three solid games or more per season, but it's the middle of the schedule that sets the SEC apart. This year there are only 4 SEC schools that won't be playing a decent P5 school. The only one that is a perennial winner that fails to play a strong OOC game is Texas A&M. Auburn plays at Kansas State, Alabama has West Virginia, South Carolina gets Clemson, Florida plays the Noles, Kentucky gets Louisville, Tennessee gets Virginia Tech, and so on.
There is little difference between most FCS schools and Florida A&M. Buffalo and San Diego State are steps up but not by a lot. The Buckeyes couldn't help that Cal was flat. So the scheduling between the SEC and Big 10 is a wash in attempt, but by virtue of the flagging middle of the Big 10 the edge goes to the SEC. The PAC is the one that plays a more aggressive schedule and the ACC is improving its approach. Unfortunately for them going to 9 games will probably reduce their SOS.

True, but at least the B1G put forth an edict to NOT play FCS teams. It just seems like there's more and more collusion for the P5 to not play the G5 at all - or at the very least, not home-and-home.

Well the SEC didn't prevent South Carolina from playing the Knights in Orlando? We'll see plenty of Sunbelt games next year in the SEC but no, most of them will not be home and home. Stadium capacity and gate are the reasons.

(04-27-2014 08:44 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  SEC is banking on the flexibility proposal the ACC put forth. If it passes, divisions don't matter.

No one is banking on that proposal.

(04-27-2014 09:26 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 08:21 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 07:53 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Not to mention that they did NOT put a freeze on playing FCS teams. Such a sham.

Sham? Buffalo, San Diego State, Florida A&M and an OOC game against an extremely weak Cal team and perennial Big 10 losers Indiana and Purdue gave the Buckeyes an automatic bowl berth before you even had to defeat what was a majority sub par Big 10. Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Clemson were essentially the Buckeyes season. No matter which division an SEC school plays in they too will have three solid games or more per season, but it's the middle of the schedule that sets the SEC apart. This year there are only 4 SEC schools that won't be playing a decent P5 school. The only one that is a perennial winner that fails to play a strong OOC game is Texas A&M. Auburn plays at Kansas State, Alabama has West Virginia, South Carolina gets Clemson, Florida plays the Noles, Kentucky gets Louisville, Tennessee gets Virginia Tech, and so on.
There is little difference between most FCS schools and Florida A&M. Buffalo and San Diego State are steps up but not by a lot. The Buckeyes couldn't help that Cal was flat. So the scheduling between the SEC and Big 10 is a wash in attempt, but by virtue of the flagging middle of the Big 10 the edge goes to the SEC. The PAC is the one that plays a more aggressive schedule and the ACC is improving its approach. Unfortunately for them going to 9 games will probably reduce their SOS.

True, but at least the B1G put forth an edict to NOT play FCS teams. It just seems like there's more and more collusion for the P5 to not play the G5 at all - or at the very least, not home-and-home.

There isn't any "collusion", just simple economics. It's more financially viable to play a nobody at home than go on the road for just about all of the P5 programs because of the size of their stadiums. Cut a P5 school a check that makes up the difference and you'll get your home games. Until the G5 schools start doing that they look silly crying "collusion" or "conspiracy" in their team colored tin foil hats.

(04-27-2014 10:00 PM)He1nousOne Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 08:44 PM)jaminandjachin Wrote:  SEC is banking on the flexibility proposal the ACC put forth. If it passes, divisions don't matter.

No one is banking on that proposal.

We shall see. With the P5 having more autonomy it may be a foregone conclusion.

(04-27-2014 10:03 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 09:26 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 08:21 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-27-2014 07:53 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  Not to mention that they did NOT put a freeze on playing FCS teams. Such a sham.

Sham? Buffalo, San Diego State, Florida A&M and an OOC game against an extremely weak Cal team and perennial Big 10 losers Indiana and Purdue gave the Buckeyes an automatic bowl berth before you even had to defeat what was a majority sub par Big 10. Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Clemson were essentially the Buckeyes season. No matter which division an SEC school plays in they too will have three solid games or more per season, but it's the middle of the schedule that sets the SEC apart. This year there are only 4 SEC schools that won't be playing a decent P5 school. The only one that is a perennial winner that fails to play a strong OOC game is Texas A&M. Auburn plays at Kansas State, Alabama has West Virginia, South Carolina gets Clemson, Florida plays the Noles, Kentucky gets Louisville, Tennessee gets Virginia Tech, and so on.
There is little difference between most FCS schools and Florida A&M. Buffalo and San Diego State are steps up but not by a lot. The Buckeyes couldn't help that Cal was flat. So the scheduling between the SEC and Big 10 is a wash in attempt, but by virtue of the flagging middle of the Big 10 the edge goes to the SEC. The PAC is the one that plays a more aggressive schedule and the ACC is improving its approach. Unfortunately for them going to 9 games will probably reduce their SOS.

True, but at least the B1G put forth an edict to NOT play FCS teams. It just seems like there's more and more collusion for the P5 to not play the G5 at all - or at the very least, not home-and-home.

There isn't any "collusion", just simple economics. It's more financially viable to play a nobody at home than go on the road for just about all of the P5 programs because of the size of their stadiums. Cut a P5 school a check that makes up the difference and you'll get your home games. Until the G5 schools start doing that they look silly crying "collusion" or "conspiracy" in their team colored tin foil hats.

That is why most g5 will have to settle for 2-1 deals. Give the p5 two home games for one road game