![]() Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, or access exclusive columns via the SEC Unfiltered.Although the final schedule plan isn’t expected to be announced until the conference leaders get together for their spring meeting in May, there are strong indications that divisions will be done away with, and a nine-game conference schedule will begin, with three annual opponents and teams playing six of the remaining teams in one year and the other six the next year. Email him at follow him on Twitter you enjoy Blake’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. I’d expect Freeze to effectively chum it up with SEC scribes, as he pedals Auburn away from the miserable Bryan Harsin era.Įver the affable showman, Freeze is a prime candidate to do a cannonball during Tuesday’s poolside reception.īlake Toppmeyer is an SEC Columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Unlike SEC media days in July, the spring meetings are not a made-for-TV event full of goofy or “Gotcha!” questions. Freeze’s Ole Miss incineration is old news. This will be Auburn coach Hugh Freeze’s first opportunity in front of SEC-wide media since his 2016 resignation from Ole Miss amid twin scandals involving calls to an escort service and an unrelated NCAA investigation into his football program. View Gallery: Hugh Freeze: Auburn football coach The SEC’s current fine system is an ineffective deterrent. Sankey organized a committee last fall to explore ways to curtail fan storming of football fields and basketball courts. Curtailing field rushing or court storming The ACC’s media rights deal remains a firewall, though. Sankey seems content at 16, but he hasn’t shut the door to more expansion. With the ACC’s brotherhood exhibiting fissures, expect reporters to ask Sankey about his conference’s interest in further expansion. That long-term contract has kept the ACC free from raid in this latest realignment carousel, but dialogue about ACC members’ media rights displeasure and possible exit interest dominated the ACC’s spring meetings. Several ACC schools reportedly have examined the bonds of the media rights deal that handcuffs schools to the conference through 2036. Just kidding, ACC members won’t be there, although some might like to be. I’ll also keep a lookout for Clemson and Florida State representatives. Oklahoma and Texas will have representatives at the meetings, but they cannot vote on the schedule format or other issues. View Gallery: Tennessee football vs Alabama: Our best photos from UT Vols game Realignment debate One downside of sticking with eight conference games would be the sacrifice of some longstanding annual secondary rivalries, like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia. Saban’s stated hang-up with the nine-game format revolved around Alabama’s earmarked rivals being Auburn, LSU and Tennessee. Sports Illustrated reported that Nick Saban told the publication Alabama favors sticking with eight conference games, a pivot from his years-long pandering for a ninth conference game. Florida, LSU and Texas A&M are among those favoring nine.īut the divide is not neatly divided among the SEC’s haves and have-nots. Kentucky and South Carolina are among the schools on record favoring staying with eight SEC games. With nine games, each team will have three earmarked rivals, plus six rotating opponents. In the eight-game format, each team will have one affixed rival, plus seven rotating opponents. In either schedule format, teams will play every other SEC member at a minimum of once every two years. The schedule debate centers on whether to stick with an eight-game conference schedule or increase to nine. After OU and Texas join, teams will compete within an undivided 16-team conference. Let’s review what we know about scheduling: This is the final year for SEC divisions. SEC FOOTBALL: Alabama football coach Nick Saban amazed by worldwide Roll TideĪlong with a potential scheduling verdict, here are topics that will garner my attention, in between my trips to the Panhandle’s white sands. TOPPMEYER: If ACC splinters, SEC must feast and stick Big Ten with the scraps Indeed, coaches and administrators debated eight- and nine-game schedule formats a year ago. “Could be,” Sankey said then, when asked if the schedule would be decided at the meetings. View Gallery: Greg Sankey: SEC Commissioner in photos
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |