The Sun Belt has a great set of natural divisions.

This year the top two teams, by conference record, came from the same division.

Can we put to bed the notion that the Sun Belt should go to a single division when deciding CCG teams? Or would including South Alabama have made the Sun Belt more competitive on the national scene?

Not a Sunbelter, but they do have a nice divisional set up and I think most years, both divisions should produce a decent divisional winner.

I think doing away with divisions would kill a decent chunk of why this conference is so great. I hope it doesn't happen, but the reasoning is obvious with the guaranteed G5 spot coming to the CFP. I think it'll be rare for it to be an issue, but I bet the first time it is then a lot of people will suddenly want to do away with them. All the people who currently want to do away with the hoops tournament will want to do away with divisions.

KEEP THE GD DIVISIONS!!!!!!

(11-27-2022 10:30 PM)THUNDERStruck73 Wrote:  KEEP THE GD DIVISIONS!!!!!!

I didn’t make up the divisions. But I agree

I think we should keep them. The regular season should be meaningful. South Alabama had a chance to beat Troy and didn’t get it done.

Keep the divisions at least functionally for scheduling. I don't think that'll be even a little controversial.

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I would like to see only division games count towards division standings and the division champ. Example: This season Marshall played Troy and Louisiana in their cross-division schedule while Coastal played USM and ULM. May not have tipped the scale this season, but it could be an issue in the future.

(11-27-2022 10:30 PM)THUNDERStruck73 Wrote:  KEEP THE GD DIVISIONS!!!!!!

Agreed.

The rankings/polls did not align with the conference records in terms of "best teams". Picking the two best conference records may not result in either the best team or highest CFP rated team advancing. And relying on the CFP committee to determine the outcome is flawed also.

The beauty of our divisions is every team in the division plays every other team. There will not be much question about who the best team in each division is. The best overall SBC team earns the title on the field at the CCG. This is the right way to do things.

(11-27-2022 10:30 PM)THUNDERStruck73 Wrote:  KEEP THE GD DIVISIONS!!!!!!

when I first read the OP, it was an immediate 'dafuq'..

I really like divisions. At 14 teams, it can work fine the way it is. Even if we go to 16, finding a way to keep them would be ideal, IMO. I’d even consider going to nine conference games to preserve both divisions and cross-division play.

(11-27-2022 10:48 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Keep the divisions at least functionally for scheduling. I don't think that'll be even a little controversial.

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I would like to see only division games count towards division standings and the division champ. Example: This season Marshall played Troy and Louisiana in their cross-division schedule while Coastal played USM and ULM. May not have tipped the scale this season, but it could be an issue in the future.

Could see this either way. The argument against is that the cross-divisional games become less meaningful if they do not count towards the standings, and it should balance out over time with rotation of opponents. Also feel like a championship level team will generally overcome such a hurdle.

As a fan, I like that every conference game carries a lot of importance. Every win is sweet, and every loss is painful.

(11-27-2022 10:58 PM)Eagle Talon Wrote:  I really like divisions. At 14 teams, it can work fine the way it is. Even if we go to 16, finding a way to keep them would be ideal, IMO. I’d even consider going to nine conference games to preserve both divisions and cross-division play.

don't be surprised if that day comes very soon...

(11-27-2022 11:01 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(11-27-2022 10:58 PM)Eagle Talon Wrote:  I really like divisions. At 14 teams, it can work fine the way it is. Even if we go to 16, finding a way to keep them would be ideal, IMO. I’d even consider going to nine conference games to preserve both divisions and cross-division play.

don't be surprised if that day comes very soon...

Yeah, I’m afraid the availability of “P5” opponents will become more scarce in the near future.

Keep the divisions. The worst thing this conference could do would be to do anything that would take away focus from the regional rivalries that make it great. That's our draw.

I think the SEC is shooting themselves in the foot by doing away with them. I bet they go back to them before too long.

(11-27-2022 11:25 PM)Eagle Talon Wrote:  I think the SEC is shooting themselves in the foot by doing away with them. I bet they go back to them before too long.

I understand what Sankey is trying to do. If he goes with regional divisions there is going to be a serious imbalance of power regarding scheduling. Bit of a nightmare situation. This way they can, at least to some degree, keep the schedules "fair". However, I do agree that there will be much clamoring to create divisions and in a few years they will capitulate.

Yes, keep the divisions. I never want there to be a year where we don't play App, Georgia Southern, JMU, ODU or CC. No offense Georgia State, the hate/respect will get there between us eventually, just isn't there yet.

Why change? Don’t try and fix what’s not broken.

The West-East divisions are perfect.

You have to consider that the two best records come from the same side because the competitive balance isnt the same in each division this year. Not saying that Troy and USA aren’t the two best teams this year, but can’t definitely say they are because they faced a different set of opponents. Massey Composite has the East ranked a good bit higher than the west.

If you did away with divisions you end up with even more schedule disparities. It’s bad enough that the two cross divisional games create SOS differences. You certainly wouldn’t want a situation where the two teams in the championship game played what turns out to be the two weakest conference schedules.

There are really only two completely fair models, a smaller conference where everyone play’s everyone, or two divisions where you play everyone in your division and no crossover games or crossover games don’t count in the divisional standings. For example, say Troy played JMU instead of Marshall and lost. They would be 6-2 with a 6-0 record in the west. USA would be 7-1, 5-1 in the west and have a head to head loss to Troy. To me Troy is the west champ, but just had a tough draw. Instead USA would be in the championship game.

Over time I guess that stuff balances out, but in this conference, that doesn’t have a lot of easy outs, the cross division draws are going to be pretty impactful.

Why even start this conversation again?

There's a lot of stupid in college football these days, but we shouldn't feel obligated to include ourselves in it. When it comes down to it, I'd rather have what we have and miss the AQ bid than wreck what works all year in an effort to rig the odds in our favor for one bowl game. Especially when it realistically only matters once in a blue moon. Even if we had USA vs. Troy in the CG this year, it wouldn't matter because neither would jump the Tulane/UCF winner because reasons. Even if you get the teams with the 2 best records in the CG every year, there's always the chance that the lower-ranked team wins and blows the deal anyway. It's not worth it.