Coming into this week’s SEC spring meetings, the future formatting of league’s football schedule seemed all but decided.
Then Wednesday afternoon came along, and the conference’s football coaches threw a wrench in the works.
The 6-1-1 format — which calls for each team to play the other six teams in its division, one permanent opponent from the opposite division and one rotating opponent from the opposite division annually — remains “the leader in the clubhouse,” commissioner Mike Slive said, but it no longer is a given.
“I think most of the coaches would be in favor of eliminating an arbitrary permanent rival,” LSU coach Les Miles said.
We had a vigorous discussion,” Slive said. “Everybody is trying to figure out what the priorities are. It’s not easy.”
Count South Carolina among the schools not married to the idea of a permanent rival, athletics director Eric Hyman said.
The 6-1-1 format makes it impossible to set a fair schedule, Miles said.
“If Mississippi State is going to play Kentucky every year, that’s disproportionate,” he said. “We brought forth and said you really need to look at this and said, ‘This is not equitable.’ ”
There have been discussions about allowing Alabama vs. Tennessee and Georgia vs. Auburn to maintain their yearly games and rotating games among the other 10 teams in the league, but that plan is “awkward,” McGarity said.
“We’ve asked our people to look at that,” Slive said. “There are some real complexities with that. Every time you do something, it raises another set of issues and you have to balance those with another set of issues.”
http://www.gogamecocks.com/2012/05/30/240027/sec-football-slate-creates-debate.html
Then Wednesday afternoon came along, and the conference’s football coaches threw a wrench in the works.
The 6-1-1 format — which calls for each team to play the other six teams in its division, one permanent opponent from the opposite division and one rotating opponent from the opposite division annually — remains “the leader in the clubhouse,” commissioner Mike Slive said, but it no longer is a given.
“I think most of the coaches would be in favor of eliminating an arbitrary permanent rival,” LSU coach Les Miles said.
We had a vigorous discussion,” Slive said. “Everybody is trying to figure out what the priorities are. It’s not easy.”
Count South Carolina among the schools not married to the idea of a permanent rival, athletics director Eric Hyman said.
The 6-1-1 format makes it impossible to set a fair schedule, Miles said.
“If Mississippi State is going to play Kentucky every year, that’s disproportionate,” he said. “We brought forth and said you really need to look at this and said, ‘This is not equitable.’ ”
There have been discussions about allowing Alabama vs. Tennessee and Georgia vs. Auburn to maintain their yearly games and rotating games among the other 10 teams in the league, but that plan is “awkward,” McGarity said.
“We’ve asked our people to look at that,” Slive said. “There are some real complexities with that. Every time you do something, it raises another set of issues and you have to balance those with another set of issues.”
http://www.gogamecocks.com/2012/05/30/240027/sec-football-slate-creates-debate.html