SEC arrogance

[UTE98]

Saw a postgame review on the Gainesville Sun. One of the guys said, “Well I don’t think they learned much about SEC football tonight.” Well I disagree, now Utah sees what it’s like to play UF, Vanderbilt, etc.

This is exactly what Tennessee, LSU, and Georgia get with Florida. Those three teams are all ranked ahead of us and benefit from playing Florida, Vanderbilt, Missouri. Not to mention, the mid-November slobber knockers against powers like UCONN, Jacksonville St, Chattanooga, FIU, New Mexico St, Georgia St, Southern Miss, UL Monroe, and Abilene Christian.

Whew, not sure what Utah would do with that.

Also of interest, looking through SEC schedules, it appears the “better” teams are the most guilty of these cupcake games. Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss, aTm, all top 25 teams have them. Georgia is the only one without a November cupcake game. While others not ranked in the top 25 seem to not have the same situation. Odd.

[RedUte14]

Georgia has a super cupcake schedule nonetheless

[EagleMountainUte]

It isn’t arrogance. It is intelligence.

We can all puff our chest out and say pac12 was harder conference. Reality is 9 conference games doomed the conference. Scheduling being what it was in the SEC is a huge factor.
Florida are idiots for taking the return trip to SLC. It was evident. It is a bad time to travel far from that region.
Big12 better not dick it up either. 8 conference games is what you need. I won’t like a SUU or Weber state game in November either but it is the way to go.

[chinngiskhaan]

all those Ute fans whining about weak non-con games and hoping for others in the PAC to step up their game were wrong the whole time. I’ve been saying this for years. The SEC got where they are as a conference because of their weak scheduling. SOS is not anywhere close to as important as win/loss record. People look at the SEC and see a bunch of teams that are bowl-eligible or close, and they assume they all earned it just like every other bowl-eligible team in FBS. They don’t stop to think about who those wins are against. All the teams in the SEC have winning records (or close), so they all must be decent-good.

If Utah was the only bowl-eligible team in the PAC, but they went undefeated or lost 1 game, they’d be in the playoff. If Every team in the PAC was bowl eligible, and Utah went undefeated or lost 1 game, they’d be in the playoff. Who you play doesn’t mean a damn thing.

If Utah wants to make the playoff consistently, they need to schedule as many cupcakes as possible going forward, or maybe 1 likely win against a respectable opponent, and the rest cupcakes.

Win games. That is the only thing that matters. Playing cupcakes means you win games, and you have an easier time doing it. You are healthier when the conference schedule starts, and you win more games as a result.

Our program has enough respect now that we will start most seasons ranked. All we have to do at that point is keep winning games. Playing Florida was fun, but those kinds of games won’t help us get into the playoff. It will help us get talked about as a 2-4 loss team, but if the goal is the playoff, cupcake schedules are the answer.

[RoboUte]

I do tend to think that in the Big 12 our SOS will generally be compelling enough for us to schedule cupcakes and not pay for it. That hasn’t always been the case for us.

[TexasRancher45]

Looks like a big 10 team would look good on SOS without a problem of losing.

[TexasRancher45]

Well alabama thinks everyone is afraid of them. Lol

[RoboUte]

Georgia may be the only team without a November cupcake but their schedule is weirdly weak. Utah could go undefeated with Georgia’s schedule. And I don’t mean plausibly, I mean that it is a serious possibility.

In other words Georgia is undefeated with near certainty at the end of the regular schedule.

[TexasRancher45]

The SEC only wants a few good teams. Then they look good. Texas and Oklahoma prove my point.

[TX_UTE]

I think another key to SEC scheduling is to schedule the first two non-conference games at the start of the season and then the third the week before the biggest rivalry game so you can rest the starters after the 1st quarter and keep them fresh for the following week.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Plus they only have to play 8 conference games instead of 9. That provides for more room on your schedule to play an FCS team AND a bunch of additional matchups vs the MAC, Sun Belt, and C-USA.

[89ute]

I’d rather have a schedule like we have now. As a paying fan, I want good games. This game was incredible and why I continue to purchase my season tickets year after year. No way do I want to see 4 conference games and a pile crap so I can MAYBE watch my team on TV in January. SEC fans are getting screwed paying top dollar to see Chattanooga in November.

For me, the 4 team playoff is not worth a lifetime of 40 percent crap home games.

Also, to think that Georgia playing another SEC game would have somehow changed the outcome of the national championship game is … stupid in my opinion. Georgia was far superior to TCU and another conference game would not have meant squat.

Utah’s experience along with my personal experience in the Pac-12 has been by far the best decade of Utah.

The only thing better than 9 conference games is 10 conference games.

[UofU Fanatic]

I’ve never thought of it like that. I actually like that opinion as it was exciting to get to see the Utes go into the swamp and have them here this year vs a cupcake

[EagleMountainUte]

Chattanooga in November while you play for a title in January. I think they will always prefer that.

[The Miami Ute]

I can say this from personal experience, Chattanooga is lovely in the fall. You’ll need Google Translate to talk to people though.

[TheOCUte]

The 8/9 conference game debate often drives fan conversation, but the causation is where the rest of college football should be scrutinizing past decisions. We know ESPN, CBS and the NCAA all benefit from a strong college football presence in the largely pro sport void SEC footprint. Rabid sports fans with limited other sport opinions, allow for Alabama vs Arkansas Central to still draw interest, low supply/high demand, but so what?

The problem for the other conferences isn’t that Alabama destroys Jackson St in November, it’s that LSU losing to a 3-5 Miss St team in Oct isn’t catastrophic allowing LSU to remain a top 15 team when they play Bama…see any A&M team, they benefit from “high” floor losses every season. So when Minnesota wanders out to Laramie and loses, that eventually trickles up to Wisconsin, then Penn St and upward.

But here’s where this becomes the chicken or the egg conundrum…and while the SEC hype media is easy to blame, so are the other power conferences. The SEC is rarely exposed as being overrated because programs like USC, Oregon…etc continue to schedule non conference games with the SEC at “neutral” sites like the Georgia Dome or Jerry World. A couple years ago I took the time to review the SEC non conference schedule and it was shocking how infrequently the conference as a whole left it’s geographic footprint. When they do they look pedestrian just like any other conference. Great teams win on the road, everyone else struggles. So whether this is TV driving the “neutral” site narrative or if it’s poor vision by ADs I do not profess to know, but this is, in my opinion why the SEC is the SEC. Florida going to North Carolina, G Tech are more winnable games for the Gators than coming to Utah, UW or even the Pac12 murderers in LA.