Memo to SEC: 9-Game Schedules Are More Useful Than They Appear

There is much to discuss this week in Florida for all the big shots of the SEC.

As usual.

For one week every year in late May (or in this year's case, early June), football and basketball coaches get together with school officials and talk. Some years the topics are boring and pointless; this year they are quite crucial if the SEC wants to continue to have enviable success in the future.

Specifically, scheduling for future years.

With Texas A&M, Missouri and possibly more schools coming into the country's most dominant football (and probably best overall) conference, schedules for all sports need to be set for future years. Some formats that have been thrown out there are (in the order of intra-division, permanent cross-division rival and rotating cross-divison opponent) 6-1-1, 6-0-2, and 6-2-1. That last one would be great for college football, except that nobody in these Destin, Florida meetings can see it.

Somebody explain to me. Why not? Oh sure, I know. By now, I've heard it all. An extra game makes the players tired, gives the team another chance to lose and hurts its championship chances, etc.

But if these bigwigs could see beyond their noses, they would look again.

Let me translate the carefully crafted explanation above.

An extra conference game robs us of the chance to blow 500,000 bucks to lure some junior high school team to our stadium, where we will be lucky to sell half of our tickets to fans who would probably leave by halftime anyway once we're up 35-0. It gives our offensive players a chance to practice some new plays against a defense whose best and most effective tactic is to play rock-paper-scissors over which gap to shoot. It gives our defense a chance to see who can make the most tackles with their hands wrapped behind their backs. It gives our team a win. A win is a win. We're willing to give up a chance to play another legitimate opponent to make our players better, increase our athletic income and exposure and basically take the day off just to win.

Come on, man.

What other reason is there for Florida to play Charleston Southern or for Alabama to play Georgia Southern? Adding the ninth conference game is simply better for the game of college football, because more fans will watch even the worst conference matchup possible (say Ole Miss vs. Vanderbilt) than either of those teams against The Citadel.

Oh and for what it's worth, there would still be three games out of conference. You can schedule the School Of Milking Goats & Cows in any of those games for all I care.

Another problem with keeping the eight game schedule is the possibility of ruining some of the game's best rivalries. Some that come to mind are Alabama-Tennessee, Georgia-Auburn and Florida-LSU. Once upon a time, the Auburn Tigers were considered the Gators' top rival (or at least one of them). With the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina, that rivalry couldn't last together forever—not with teams taking five years to play non-rivals from opposite divisons. They coexisted for longer than I would have thought—10 years—but the ultimate resolution was to kill a great rivalry.

Florida-LSU has become the nation's top interstate rivalry over the past 20 years outside of Florida-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee. Even some intra-state rivalries can't touch this one since Steve Spurrier came along. Florida and Louisiana State have become friendly rivals, an oxymoron if there ever was one. Rivalries mean warfare, but I've noticed that Florida and LSU fans get along shockingly well. Once one fan base feels it has harassed the opposing QB enough, the opposing fans bond over their common affections for great football, hot weather and beer.

The point is: these teams love to play each other. Everybody (except Les Miles) from both schools love this matchup—players, fans and most coaches. To destroy this rivalry is a huge mistake.

Unfortunately, the 6-0-2 format appears to be the leader of all the proposals. The 6-1-1, even if implemented, would mean that it would take 12 years to complete a home-and-home series with every other team in the opposite division, and as a Florida fan, I want to play Auburn every year. I miss that rivalry very much, and the Gators and Tigers would almost certainly agree to reignite the flame as inter-divisional rivals if the 6-2-1 is indeed implemented.

But it's up to the big heads at the SEC meetings this week to realize what some of these cross-divisional rivalries would mean for schools, fan bases and conference exposure on a national stage.

All I can do is hope against hope...