The SEC’s rich tradition with cupcake games must be honored.

Once more, with feeling:

… Templeton reiterated that the 2012 SEC football schedule is a one-time model that was done “strictly to make it work” after A&M and MU joined in the fall and that the conference will start over in terms of putting together a long-term format.

About the only certainty going forward is that the number of conference games will be fixed at eight.

“We’re not going to nine,” he said. “The competitiveness in our league week-to-week is just too strong. It would be an easier scheduling format, but I don’t think it would be fair to our players or our coaches.”

A key question is whether the SEC will proceed with a permanent cross-divisional rival. For next year, anyway, that rival for Mizzou of the SEC East will be Texas A&M of the West.

But with six division games, having a cross-divisional rival means schools from different divisions might not see each other for more than a decade in football.

“That is a huge question that has not been answered … It will be an interesting debate,” said Templeton, adding, “I think anything else is on the table for discussion. We’re going to have to make some tough decisions. Are we going to stay with the permanent opponent, and then (if so) how are we going to rotate that one other game?”

And yet for basketball, they’ve decided to expand the conference schedule without much soul searching.

… As for the basketball setup, Templeton said the SEC will stay at 16 conference games next year but move to 18 in 2013-2014.

Just like that.  Is the SEC that uncompetitive in basketball?  Or are its basketball coaches not as whiny as the football coaches are?  Traditionally speaking, of course.

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Can you predict team success from recruiting rankings?

This post suggests that you can from defensive rankings, not so much from offensive ones.  Fascinating stuff, but it begs the question why that might be so.  Does scheme matter more on offense than on defense?  Or is it more about overall coaching (scheme, fundamentals, play calling, etc.) on that side of the ball?

And if that’s the case, does it make sense to pay good offensive coordinators less than defensive coordinators, assuming their recruiting skills are a wash?

What do you guys think?

Much ado about playoffs, a play in ten acts

For a self-described “pretty big egghead nerd”, Bill Connelly manages to touch all the bases in the playoff debate in an entertaining way.

It has come to my attention…

An Ohio State fan has sent an e-mail to Mark Emmert with a link to my post yesterday about Justin Taylor.  I expect to hear the thwop-thwop-thwop of black helicopters outside my window any time now.

Cutting edge ain’t always what it’s cracked up to be.

I’ve taken it as a matter of faith that the best college football team of the past two decades to win a national title was the 1995 Nebraska squad and that the weakest national title winner during that time was 2002 Ohio State.  Matt Melton runs some numbers which basically confirm my impressions, but what’s more interesting is that he finds a contender for that Ohio State team.

It’s Florida, 2006 edition.

Melton tracks 21 national championship teams in four statistical categories: scoring margin, scoring ratio (points scored against points allowed), dominant wins and road/neutral field scoring margin.  That Florida team finished next to last in three of the four and two slots from the bottom in the fourth.

Let’s not forget that ’06 Gator defense was pretty stout – it finished sixth nationally in scoring defense, yielding 13.5 points per game.  So what Matt’s numbers are telling you is that the Florida offense was unusually anemic for a national championship team.

But that was part of Urban Meyer’s plan, remember?

… If the spread works, why did it only score 21 points against SEC teams? Well, I think the answer is clear: it didn’t need to score more. How long should a man’s legs be? Answer: Long enough to touch the ground.

… Going into most conference games, Meyer knew that the other team couldn’t score against his defense, so why open things up? He played the percentages.

Funny how Corch quit playing the percentages two years later.  I wonder what came over him.

It’s a Cocktail Party, isn’t it?

Dial up this ESPN podcast to around the 36:25 mark to hear Ivan Maisel tell a Bill Stanfill story about the 51-0 pasting the Dawgs gave the Gators in ’68.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=7451007&s=espn

Michael Adams disapproves.

(h/t Mack Williams)