aggiehawg said:

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Win At Life said:

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aggiehawg said:

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wbt5845 said:

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I hate the idea of pods. Two 8 team divisions would be the way to go. I also like the idea of a 9 game SEC schedule, but understand the economics that drive us to only 8.

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9 game conference schedule is a deal killer. Every conference who has gone to a 9 game conference schedule has seen their prestige drop because it cannibalizes the conference. The B1G and the PAC didn't start to suck until they went 9 conference game. The Big XII was forced into it because they didn't have enough teams for divisional play.

So east-west divisions with 8 teams would be 7 divisional games, 2 out of division games and 3 OOC? Or does OOC go down to one (likely) preseason game?

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No. 4 pods. Google the 16 team 4-pod schemes that was discussed last conference realignment. Or check the other threads on here that are discussing it.

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I know that but the poster I was responding to did not know that so I explained why east west divisions would have to go away.

Now here comes the biggest question: Does the conference championship game also go away? That's a big moneymaker for the conference. Either the OOC games are reduced to allow for a semi-final to determine who goes the CCG, or the CCG goes away with an expanded playoff to 12 teams? Really?

How many of those games will the star and well paid players sit out? Bowl games will become a thing of the past as well.

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The two west pods will combine and compare best overall conference record. If there is a tie, then settle head to head. If they did not meet, then there are other tie breakers. This was discussed the last time during conference realignment. Two pods in the east do the same thing and they play for the conference champion. No more games/weeks than we currently have.

I'm pulling for the future divisions to be:
West:
A&M
LSU
ALABAMA
MISS ST
MISS
AUBURN
ARKANSAS

EAST:
SOUTH CAR
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
TENNESSEE
VANDERBILT
KENTUCKY
MISSOURI

TyperWoods said:

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I'm pulling for the future divisions to be:
West:
A&M
LSU
ALABAMA
MISS ST
MISS
AUBURN
ARKANSAS

EAST:
SOUTH CAR
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
TENNESSEE
VANDERBILT
KENTUCKY
MISSOURI

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What you did there. I see it.

Why are we so sure there will be pods? It's kind of confusing, like that Big Ten Legends and Leaders thing. No one will remember what pod has which teams, no one will understand how the two teams for the championship game are selected from four pod "winners" people will be butt hurt that they won their pod but aren't in the title game because [insert conspiracy theory here] seems like a near certain fiasco to me.

East champ v. West champ. Easy to understand, doesn't require a 100 word text graphic to explain

Hayden529 said:

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Can we stop calling them pods? I know your generation has such a fascination with pods that you'll even eat them but cmon.
Dividing something 4 ways can still be called a "division". Who would've thunk?

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I think they were called pods, because in the original idea you combined 2 pods to form a division. Each year you would rotate which two pods would combine to form that year's division. I suppose you could call them subdivisions, but I think the person were trying to come up with a different name for them to clearly differentiate the pods (subdivisions) from the divisions that would be formed by two pods.

But, some of these newer options are also calling them 4 team pods even though they aren't combining pods to form a division.

I see. Sounds overly complicated to me. Also eliminates players getting another shot at half of their divisional opponents.

If the SEC remains at 14 teams, I think we should move to 9-game conference schedule with 6 division opponents, 1 permanent cross-division opponent, and 2 cross-division rotating opponents. That would mean playing a rotating opponent once every 3 years instead of 5 or 7 years. It took us 8 years to finally play Georgia, and we won't host them until 2024. They are the only SEC team that has not played at Kyle Field yet. Also, we won't make a trip to Lexington, Kentucky until 2025, first time since 1953.

My ideal schedule would consist of:
9 conference games (6 SEC West, South Carolina, and 2 rotating SEC East teams)
1 Power 5 non-conference team (home when we play 4 conference games, away when we play 5 conference games)
2 cupcakes (2 Group of 5 teams or 1 Group of 5 and 1 FCS).

Sankey has shown what he thinks of A&M, we will be in the "Screw You" pod.

Ags, LSU, Miss St, Ole Miss
tu, OU, Arkansas, Mizzou
Bama, Auburn, Tenn, Vandy
Florida, USCe, UK, Georgia

Starting to look like a reality now.