As we enter week 4 of the season, I keep looking at opponent’s results and wondering how it came to be that Georgia would compete against a top ACC opponent and (at least a couple weeks ago) a SEC foe before Alabama, Ole Miss, or Tennessee even sniffed a competitive opponent.
Ole Miss continues to just play charmin soft opponents, and enters week 4 against Georgia Southern. Alabama has an off weekend, but Tennessee finally sees an SEC team, and the Bobby Hillbillies have been cackling loud about their otherworldly offense, which currently leads the league in…team rushing.
Nico isn’t far behind on that list, which leads me to believe that there’s a lot of running in garbage time that’s been had, but it’s not keeping them from crowing about their chances for the rest of the season.
This weekend should be a good first test for the Vols, but one thing is crystal clear…our defensive front needs to get healthy, and get there quickly, because there’s a healthy numbers of Alabama players on that list, as well. Dual threat quarterbacks, stable of running backs, and a thin defensive line doesn’t make for a good mix at all.
Scheduling Clemson is on us, but the SEC schedule is made by the conference. I wouldn’t be surprised if that office in Birmingham is staffed with a bunch of Bammers who saw an opportunity to stick it to us.
I agree with you. I am not one to complain about the schedule and think that having two tough games will be to our benefit next week, but Bama, Texas, Tennessee and Ole Miss (who I really hesitate to even include) have easier games even during the “tough” part of their schedule.
I don’t mind that much. Even if we lose 2 games, we are still in the playoffs, and depending on health, I like our chances to win it all.
I had a problem with the fact that we have to go to Tuscaloosa and Austin. We went to Bama in 2020 (I know, I know). We should have gotten one of those games at home.
Texas and Oklahoma should have been forced to run the gauntlet in their first 2 years in the conference.
As others said, Clemson was our choice.
Texass and flunky Oklahoma are going to ruin this league just as they did the SWC, Big 8 and Big 12. Past performance is an indicator of future results.
This completely unbalanced 8-game conference schedule brought about by the addition of UT and OU has made the SECCG meaningless. Teams with conference schedules like UGA and UF are competing with schools like Ole Miss and Missouri who have much easier draws. I get that it is random and will change over time, but this is a bogus way to identify the two “best” teams in the SEC who qualify for the SECCG each year. It is now just another money grab for the conference.
It wasn’t random … that’s the problem. No one cares about Ole Miss and Missouri. There were no games outside of the Egg Bowl and possibly the Magnolia Bowl (LSU) that either team plays that anyone cares about.
We were forced to play Alabama and go there for the second straight appearance after going there in 2020. Texas was clearly given a much easier draw than Oklahoma both for teams and locations (you know the Texas people lobbied for the Georgia game to be on F1 weekend to keep Georgia people away).
IIRC, Brooks has stated the Bobby Hill’s offense wants to run the ball. They spread your D so wide most of your DB’s are worthless in run support. Then it’s just numbers. If you commit an extra body to the box they throw. If you don’t the look to gash you with the run. We’ve been successful because we have the DB talent to man them up out wide then stuff the run.
When the SEC calls about scheduling, our collective asses start hurting.
my understanding is that we play the same SeC schedule next yr (but Home and Away will flip flop so tejas and bammers coming to the classic city in ‘25).
2026 will be the next chance that a nine game sec schedule is possible. as well as new cfp format?
I would also expect more re-alignment to happen by 2026.
I don’t think anything is changing about the CFP format in 2026 (or at least, that has been announced). The big thing is that the TV contract with Disney/ESPN is up for grabs.
Yes, the SEC schedule flips next year, but I’m not sold that the league moves to 9 games without additional revenue from ESPN in ‘26.