(12-02-2017 10:15 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  

(12-02-2017 10:05 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(12-02-2017 09:29 PM)esayem Wrote:  I think conferences shouldn’t be forced to have divisions if they have 12 teams. How dumb is that rule when 10 team conferences can reap the benefits?

The ACC could settle a lot of scheduling issues by not being forced to have divisions. Ultimately, divisions create fabricated yearly bouts like Texas A&M-South Carolina and Louisville-Virginia. It would have benefitted the old Big XII by allowing Oklahoma and Nebraska to play every year. All the Cali schools in the Pac 12 could go back to playing each other yearly as well.

The old school 12 team SEC (with GT and Tulane) didn’t have divisions and they were fine.

The only good thing about divisions is that it eliminates a back to back repeat game.

You mean like Fresno State and Boise State?

Ha..yep!

There has been some emails sent to the MW office that all cross division games should be played first. If there is a rematch, it would be a game that happened a while ago.

That's a pretty good idea.

(12-02-2017 03:07 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  How silly is it conferences without divisions are holding conference championship games?

What you mean to say is, "How silly is it that conferences are holding conference championship games?“

Whether the conference has 10 teams or 14, the CCG is nothing but a money grab. And whether the conference has too many teams to play a round robin in football is irrelevant. The Big Ten has never played a round robin. The Pac had 10 teams for more than 30 years and played a round robin fewer than 10 times during that period. For a very long time (about 50 years, I think) the SEC had 10 teams and played only 6 conference games. All of these conferences got along fine for all those years without a CCG.

No, at least teams in 12 team conferences don't play the same schedule. Teams in the Big 12 all play each other. Playing a conference title game is redundant. If anything, they should play a semifinal...if it were legal.

(12-04-2017 08:31 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  Big 10 East has proven to be the toughest division from a collective standpoint since Harbaugh showed up, followed by the SEC West. Do we need byes before every tough game now? Sorry but it just makes no sense. The season is long enough as it is. It starts Labor Day before the NFL season.

They need to stop scheduling FCS and add another conference opponent. Couldn't be more obvious than that. What if OSU had scheduled a MAC or North Dakota instead of the Iowa game? They probably still would have lost considering how bad they played, but still, it's a different animal.

Look at Bama's OOC schedule next year and tell me that's a championship schedule? I actually liked Bama this year over OSU, but next year they have no chance if they do not win the SEC outright with the best P5 record.

They'll add conference games and play less FCS games when they're actually punished for it. I wouldn't hold your breath.

(12-04-2017 08:31 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  Big 10 East has proven to be the toughest division from a collective standpoint since Harbaugh showed up, followed by the SEC West. Do we need byes before every tough game now? Sorry but it just makes no sense. The season is long enough as it is. It starts Labor Day before the NFL season.

They need to stop scheduling FCS and add another conference opponent. Couldn't be more obvious than that. What if OSU had scheduled a MAC or North Dakota instead of the Iowa game? They probably still would have lost considering how bad they played, but still, it's a different animal.

Look at Bama's OOC schedule next year and tell me that's a championship schedule? I actually liked Bama this year over OSU, but next year they have no chance if they do not win the SEC outright with the best P5 record.

Why does the Big Ten always play its OOC at the beginning of the year, every year? The SEC East is known playing a big OOC at the end of the year every year. I know that Penn State would prefer playing Pittsburgh at the end of the year, and I’m sure Maryland wouldn’t mind doing the same with Navy.

(12-04-2017 11:13 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  No, at least teams in 12 team conferences don't play the same schedule. Teams in the Big 12 all play each other. Playing a conference title game is redundant. If anything, they should play a semifinal...if it were legal.

Using that line of argument, the Pac-12 and SEC title games were also redundant because, like the Big 12 game, they were rematches. The Georgia-Auburn SEC CCG was a rematch of a game played only three weeks earlier. All but one of the Pac-12 CCGs have been rematches.

The CCGs are nothing but a money grab, regardless of whether you play 9 of 9 conference opponents, or 9 of 11, or 8 of 13. Conferences got along fine, and always determined a conference champ, for nearly 100 years even though they never or almost never played a football round robin.

(12-04-2017 01:31 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(12-04-2017 08:31 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  Big 10 East has proven to be the toughest division from a collective standpoint since Harbaugh showed up, followed by the SEC West. Do we need byes before every tough game now? Sorry but it just makes no sense. The season is long enough as it is. It starts Labor Day before the NFL season.

They need to stop scheduling FCS and add another conference opponent. Couldn't be more obvious than that. What if OSU had scheduled a MAC or North Dakota instead of the Iowa game? They probably still would have lost considering how bad they played, but still, it's a different animal.

Look at Bama's OOC schedule next year and tell me that's a championship schedule? I actually liked Bama this year over OSU, but next year they have no chance if they do not win the SEC outright with the best P5 record.

Why does the Big Ten always play its OOC at the beginning of the year, every year? The SEC East is known playing a big OOC at the end of the year every year. I know that Penn State would prefer playing Pittsburgh at the end of the year, and I’m sure Maryland wouldn’t mind doing the same with Navy.

I’ve said it once before and I’ll say it again: adding another conference game is a bad idea for the SEC. I can see it with the PAC 12 because it’s hard to get good opponents to come out west. Many teams don’t want to do that. The Big Ten had no excuse but did anyway just to spite the SEC, I think. Question for the Rutgers fan: when was the last time the Big Ten had two teams in the playoffs? I rest my case. The SEC actually does like playing good OOC games, but with only one bye in the schedule, teams have to look at that angle also. More times than not, an SEC team will schedule an OOC breather right before a big rivalry game if they have already used their bye week. I don’t know why Big Ten teams don’t do like the SEC teams do. I think that’s a discussion that needs to take place between Big Ten teams, coaches, and ADs. Sheesh, maybe the lack of bye weeks is responsible or maybe at least partially responsible for CTE or it getting worse!! At any rate, I think it’s something that the NCAA should examine closer.

(12-05-2017 03:47 AM)DawgNBama Wrote:  ... More times than not, an SEC team will schedule an OOC breather right before a big rivalry game if they have already used their bye week. I don’t know why Big Ten teams don’t do like the SEC teams do. ...

Don't neglect the difference in climate ... it's harder to get season ticket holders to be happy about playing an SEC-style OOC cupcake game in late October or November in most of Big Ten country, given the balmy weather the season ticket holders will be expecting.