BG, Miami and OU are clearly the winners in the pod sweepstakes.

-They got a divorce from playing Kent/Akron/Buffalo and being linked to their languishing programs for recruiting.

-Going from 3 former MAC West opponents to 4-5 former MAC West on the schedule.

There are no real losers however:

-Kent/Akron/Buffalo get more exposure outside of Ohio.
-MAC West schools get more exposure inside of Ohio.
-MAC gets away from the "Michigan division" "Ohio divsion" look.
-Standings will have 12 schools listed from Top to Bottom (More Top Heavy).

Great move for the MAC.

(11-30-2023 03:46 PM)Schadenfreude Wrote:  

(11-30-2023 03:30 PM)mpurdy22 Wrote:  Thinking about it, I suppose you could just add UMASS and put them in the pod with Buffalo, Akron and Kent State. They would just have 3 protected games, not sure it would negatively affect scheduling, would it?

I'm not a mathematician, but if there is a way to do a balanced conference schedule with 13 schools, figuring out the rotation (pods) would just be a detail.

I don't know about a balanced schedule, but you could 4 protected rivals and play everyone every other year or play 2 protected rivals and play everyone 3x in 5 years with 13 teams.

With scheduling groups?

With 12 schools, you have 96 opponents, 48 games.
With 4x3, you have three in-group games, so 12 total, then AxB, AxC, AxD, BxC, BxD, CxD, six games per group cross-over, 12+6x6=48.

With 13 schools, you have 104 opponents, 52 games. I don't know if scheduling groups work ... it might be two annual games spread around and just rotating the other six games through the other 10 schools.