Tennessee Vols: Fixing The SEC Scheduling Mess

The current structure of SEC schedules isn’t ideal, especially for teams like the Tennessee Vols. But fortunately, there’s a solution.

The current SEC scheduling setup sucks for teams like the Tennessee Vols.

Tennessee’s permanent cross division rival is Alabama. That series, in recent years, has been incredibly one-sided. And that has made it even tougher for the Vols to win the SEC East.

Obviously the Vols can’t use that as an excuse, but there is some discrepancy in the fairness of the conference schedule on a yearly basis that needs to be addressed.

Georgia playing Auburn in a down year and Mississippi State would have a big advantage in winning the SEC East over Tennessee.

There is, however, a solution to the scheduling madness that extends a bit beyond just the SEC.

Step One

Mandate that all Power-5 conferences have the same scheduling template. I think we need to do away with so many FBS games on the schedule. I understand having one on the schedule. It’s a huge benefit to FBS schools, but it’s still bad football.

Here’s how I’d prefer to see the scheduling template for Power-5 schools.

• Nine conference games
• One Power-5 opponent
• One FCS opponent
• One FBS opponent

That gives us more competitive football games, which is great for everyone.

Not to get too off topic, but as a result of this, the playoff picture will likely be even muddier. I’d recommend expanding to an eight team playoff with the first round of games going down the week before Christmas, with a week off after conference championship games. There’s too much of a lull before bowl games.

Step Two

The NCAA should allow the conferences autonomy on how their conference championships are awarded. In the case of the SEC, I think their permanent cross division rival games should count as a non-conference game.

Step Three

So now we have to establish the process for scheduling the extra conference game. We know one game will be the permanent cross division rival and will not count towards conference standings. The second game should be each program’s continued rotating opponent. The third opponent should be a program’s respective counterpart in the standings from the season before. Last year, Tennessee finished second in the SEC East. Auburn finished second in the SEC West. They would play each other in 2017.

Obviously there’s opportunity for some overlap here. If Tennessee’s rotating partner finished in the same position in the standings, then there would have to be some shuffling. I’m sure someone that’s a lot better at math than me would be able to create an algorithm to solve this issue.

Step Four

Move Ole Miss to the SEC East and Missouri to the SEC West. This just seems logical. There’s no reason, logistically, that Missouri should be in the SEC East.

Auburn would be a candidate to move to the SEC East, but then you’re in a pickle with Alabama’s two biggest rivals being in the SEC East. That just isn’t going to work. Ole Miss makes sense because they can maintain their rivalry with Mississippi State. This would also allow for a new cross division rival for Vanderbilt.

Step Five

And that brings us to those cross division rivalries. Here’s how those would line up.

• Alabama vs Tennessee
• Auburn vs Georgia
• LSU vs Florida
• Mississippi State vs Ole Miss
• Missouri vs Vanderbilt
• Arkansas vs Kentucky
• Texas A&M vs South Carolina

Obviously this isn’t perfect, but I think it’s in the best interest for the conference.

In case you’re wondering, here’s how Tennessee’s schedule would look this season.

• vs Georgia Tech
• vs Indiana State
• @ Florida
• vs Auburn
• vs Georgia
• vs South Carolina
• @ Alabama
• @ Kentucky
• vs Southern Mississippi
• @ Ole Miss
• vs LSU
• vs Vanderbilt

As you can see, there’s still opportunity for a tough schedule, but that’s just life in the SEC. There could be years where it shakes out in Tennessee’s favor as well.

Next: Vols 2017 Game By Game Predictions

But I think, overall,  you get more meaningful football games this way. Which is a win-win for everyone. And expanding the playoff to eight teams would allow two losses to not completely eliminate you from playing for the championship.