Only Two SEC Teams Will Play Ten P5 Opponents In 2023 - outkick
Only two SEC teams - Florida and South Carolina - will play ten P5 opponents in 2023. Is scheduling in the conference too weak?
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Just two SEC teams will play 10 power five opponents in 2023
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SEC is leaning on their reputation now. More teams will go to higher bowls because of Georgia and Alabama's success with National titles combined with playing weaker out of conference opponents. They are basically saying, we're the SEC, we get the benefit of the doubt.Only Two SEC Teams Will Play Ten P5 Opponents In 2023 - outkick
Only two SEC teams - Florida and South Carolina - will play ten P5 opponents in 2023. Is scheduling in the conference too weak?
But 12 of the SEC teams playing 3 or more teams that aren't Power 5? That's pathetic.
And they always schedule a late season patsy to rest the team for Big Rivalry Game and the conference title game.
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I don't care that they only play 8 conference games - if they would play 2 P5 teams non conference it would make up for it. But instead most of the SEC teams schedule 1 P5 team and three cupcakes. And that contributes to the rep the SEC has garnered in recent years - when Vanderbilt or Kentucky get an extra win since they play Louisiana-Monroe instead of Louisiana State it makes the whole conference seem "tougher".
I wish the sports media would start to label teams based on the number of P5 teams they play. Playing 10 (or even 11 in some cases) versus only 9 makes a huge difference in terms of how hard a schedule can be. Those cupcake games are real breathers that allow for resting of starters and playing backups and less stress. Would be nice if the playoff committee would have number of P5 games as a specific criteria kind of like "Quad 1" wins in hoops.
Along those lines, conferences adding the top teams from other conferences (USC, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma) is going to water down the number of wins by top teams. You can't take the top teams from 2 different conferences and expect them all to go 11-1 or better. That just isn't going to happen.
But if you remove those top teams from other conferences then you are going to get 12-0 TCU and 11-1 Baylor, 11-1 Oregon or Washington, for example. The SEC and Big 10 just stole their likely 1.75 losses per remaining team by removing 2 of the top teams of their conference.
When the SEC/B2G expand to 20+ teams each and form a 12-16 team playoff, it won't matter.
The graph changes dramatically when you consider that Rutgers is not a Power Five opponent.Only Two SEC Teams Will Play Ten P5 Opponents In 2023 - outkick
Only two SEC teams - Florida and South Carolina - will play ten P5 opponents in 2023. Is scheduling in the conference too weak?
This is actually the SEC's formula every year. The SEC is the ultimate paper tiger. They play the softest schedules year in, year out. ESPN has been in their corner since they signed their first deal with them. Go do a detailed (beyond what the slappies in the press do) schedule analysis for most years and you will see that the champion usually has the weakest strength of schedule of any power 5 champion. Michigan played the weakest schedule any Big Ten champ has in memory but was still stronger than Georgia's when you dig in.
You would think that soft scheduling would affect the media contract they are able to negotiate. Media negotiator, "But you have a significant number of your games scheduled against cupcakes that nobody watches".
ESPN pays for them because their rabid fans watch them. We're not much different. Before the Big Ten was at 9 conference games, we had an extra cupcake each year and we rabidly watched them.
But I agree with the frustration. The media drools over the SEC top to bottom, when it's mainly the top that has been ridiculously impressive.
The Big Ten could have changed that narrative last year...Michigan and OSU had clear paths to a "The Game, pt 2" in the NCG but both choked.
But I agree with the frustration. The media drools over the SEC top to bottom, when it's mainly the top that has been ridiculously impressive.
The Big Ten could have changed that narrative last year...Michigan and OSU had clear paths to a "The Game, pt 2" in the NCG but both choked.
Im not really sure that’s true. An extra conference games means fewer total games and ESPN uses that lower lever inventory for the SEC Network and ESPN+. The SEC provides a decent number of higher quality matchups throughout the season as programming for ESPN (and next year will anchor ABC since the Big Ten is gone and the Big 12/PAC-12 will lose their top programs).
The SEC asked ESPN to pony up more cash per year (they wanted $5M/team annually so $80M a year more) to switch to 9 conference games and ESPN didn’t go for it.
The problem is that Michigan and Ohio St have choked in the playoffs for nearly the last decade so no respect to the Big 10 who aids Michigan and Ohio St in winning the conference when needed.
GO JIM - GO BLUE - 2 straight B1G championships and Playoff appearances. Oh, and the future 2023 National Champions
It's not the 80s. Stop pretending bowls matter. Bash them for losing to TCU but stop thinking a bow game defines a season in order to believe we're better or more successful than we have been. We all know Michigan is superior to us. Hopefully that changes this year but us criticizing is insanity.
Michigan and Notre Dame for the last 40 years have been year in and year out the two most overrated programs. Most people don’t care about anything more than 10 years ago, but only UM and ND care about all the wins in the 20s through 60s.
Agree with this 100% and it will be interesting to see what happens to many of the lesser Bowls that aren't part of the 12-team CF Playoffs starting in 2024. To be quite honest - and I have a feeling I have quite a bit of company - in the past few years I only remember the Playoff teams.
It's a parody account. He's not really a Michigan fan. He's a buckeye.
Michigan - the 2021 and 2022 B1G Champions and Playoff team both years. OSU is history - they're officially dead in the water thanks to the Big Blue and Jim
Wolve1972 bounces around the Rivals boards disguising himself as a fan of different schools. I used to see him a lot on the ND Rivals board trying to stir the pot. He really gets the Nebraska and Iowa fans going. Nebraska fans swear he's an Iowa moron in disguise. He really kicks it into gear when CF gets under way. He doesn't attack anyone personally.......basically, he's harmless. He's really good at knowing what buttons to push depending on what board he's on.
Michigan was better than us last year.
Michigan choked in the playoffs.
The two statements are not mutually exclusive. Elementary logic should be mandatory high school education.
Michigan choked in the playoffs.
The two statements are not mutually exclusive. Elementary logic should be mandatory high school education.
