Pat Dye thinks the conference is full of pussies because coaches won’t take on another conference opponent.
“If you can’t win three games in the conference playing nine games, you don’t deserve to go to a bowl game,” Dye said. “The other three games can be somebody you can beat, hopefully. If you can’t win three of those kind, if you’re in the Southeastern Conference, you don’t deserve to go.”
Whatever danger there was of more potential losses would be offset by ticket sales, Dye said. SEC teams typically play a patsy — often an FCS school — in their fourth non-conference game, which has led to plenty of no-shows in the stands.
“Your fans would love it,” Dye said. “They would much rather see you play an LSU or Tennessee or Florida or somebody in the Southeastern Conference than they had see you play Louisiana-Monroe. … If you played another conference game, it would increase the ticket sales. Nobody wants to come to those other four games. They just come because they’re in the habit of coming. You can talk about Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, LSU … they’ve all got empty seats in the stadium when they play those teams. They are sellouts because they sell all the season tickets.”
Pfft. Fans. Since when did they matter?
He’s right, but since they sell out the games anyway, what motivation do schools have for improving the schedule?
Get The Picture 
One thing not considered here is whether the Auburn/Alabama game would have to be moved on the schedule to avoid a rematch the following week. That may have been the scenario in both 2010 and 2013 if Auburn were in the east.
Not that an October Iron Bowl with Alabama/LSU playing the last week would be a bad thing, but it’s another thing that would have to be worked out.
Since we’d have to have two permanent cross division games in such a scenario, who would we draw? Ole Miss and who else?
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I soooo agree with this!! As a long time season ticket holder, I’d rather sit in that stadium and watch the Dawgs LOSE to a REAL team like maybe Florida State or Michigan, etc., than watch them demolish a cupcake like Coastal Carolina! This season’s home schedule is RIDICULOUS!! Full of cupcakes! I really see it as unfair to us season ticket holders who MUST make large donations in order to retain the right to purchase these tickets or risk losing them forever! Yes, Appalachian State usually has a good football program, but really!? Yes, we plan to be there and, like all other Dawg fans, can hardly wait for this home opener, but if this had been a game against a much more appealing opponent, the the excitement level would be MUCH higher. Maybe that’s just ME!
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Agree 100%. Dye nails it, and fans should demand it as well. We might can fix the ND issue we discussed the other day as well, just require all of the playoff teams to have played nine conference games. If the SEC and ND want to participate, play a man-size schedule. We all get better games added to the season, and every conference champ will have trouble dodging quality opponents during the season. Not doable because the SEC would squirm and whine but all CFB fans would benefit.
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Dye makes some good points, but the ticket sales thing might be a little over the top. What fan wouldn’t rather see another SEC game? One problem would be an increase in the number of “L”s on the SEC’s resume, and we know that there will be those in the sports media that will exploit that to degrade the conference’s image.
But it’s an idea that scalpers have to love. And how much would ticket costs increase?
But mostly, I like the idea.
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If we are afraid of Ls because we have to play nine conference games, we should get out of the SEC. Not being able to beat other SEC programs means you don’t deserve a spot in the playoffs anyway. For those that live or die off of MNCs, drop down to 1AA. Frankly, the fans deserve the weak schedules they tolerate from our ADs. Other conferences manage to play nine, or 10, conference games and the fans get more exciting matchups. We get noon yawners and still watch the playoffs.
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Amen to that, Brother Mac.
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The only way Auburn moves to the East is with the addition of a 9th conference game or a return to 5-2-1 with 8 games. Staying at 8 keeps the cupcakes in the oven. Going to 9 probably keeps the league from filling its bowl slots. When all else fails, follow the money. We’re likely staying at 8 unless the networks entice the conference during the next round of broadcast rights negotiations.
I don’t mind 2 less than high profile OOC games, but I would rather have 2 games required against P5 opponents if the conference stays at 8.
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Always have to remind folks that the nine game schedule really hurts the dawgs because o,aging at Fla every year. We would always play 4 home and 5 away.
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we already do that every other year anyway. 3 home, 5 away.
But that October golf trip or whatever.
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Do SEC team pay other SEC teams when they come to town? If not an extra SEC game would save the $1M schools pay to play the patsies. You know McGarity’s ears perk up at that prospect.
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Finally, a real suggestion of a good reason to get’erdone. Let the AD loose!
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Keep it at 8, boot Mizzou and Miss St…. :).
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If we’re kicking teams off the island, I vote South Carolina
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If we’re kicking teams off the island I vote that we DO go to a 9 game conference schedule, kick Arky, South Carolina, Mizzou and aTm out of the conference and go to a round robin schedule where every team plays every other team each year. The NCAA has apparently said it is OK to have a conference championship game with fewer than 12 teams and that was the raison d’etra for expanding the SEC to 12–now 14–teams. Since that reason no longer exists lets go back to where we were at 10 teams and still have the SECCG.
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Georgia’s 1980 schedule Non Conference TCU, Texas A&M, Clemson, South Carolina, Tech. Conference Ole Miss, Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, Vandy, UK.
11 Major Opponents. No cupcake is site. It has been done. It can be done. And this was hardly the exception to the rule. Schools played major non conference opponents regularly. Some, like Alabama played more nationally disperse schedules. Some, like Georgia played regionally close majors like Clemson, Carolina and Tech.
We don’t have to go back to that completely since everyone likes a cupcake once in a great while. The networks could help here. Coaches don’t want to make their job tougher, which is understandable. But they should not get a vote. The home schedule this year is disgusting.
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TCU was awful in 1980. They won 1 game vs Texas Tech. They may have been in the SWC, but they were a doormat at that time. TCU didn’t sniff respectability until Gary Patterson came along.
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The pussy schedule is a product of FU’s march to stardom by their AD and Assistant AD. The Assist AD imported it to UGA so that we may follow the same path to stardom. Then B-M embarked on replicating all things ‘Bama.
Could we just stand on our old UGA legs and invite everyone to take a shot at not getting bitten too badly by the Bulldawg? Hells yes. I remember when Dooley stuck the Dawgs lower chin out further than anyone, especially when Michigan and UCLA were on our schedule in the same year.
Sorry, I want stiff competition above NCs for our Dawgs. Playing the toughest schedule should be a lure for recruits to join us, then you would see the toughness return that Kirby thinks has gone away. That toughness can only be measured by quality of the opponents we face. And the cacophony to be heard from the fans would drown out the poor feelings of losing to a lesser opponent year after year because there wouldn’t be the lesser opponent’s pay-for-play scenario any more.
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Only way Auburn joins the east is if Texas and/or Oklahoma join our little conference…
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Personally I prefer that Georgia (and all the other SEC schools) play another Power 5 team rather than going to a 9 game conference schedule.The current 8 game conference schedule works as a balanced schedule for most teams with 4 home games and 4 away games each year (of course Georgia and Florida have the WLOCP game so in alternating years each only gets 3 SEC games played on their home field). The problem would be when there was a conference scheduling issue and the Dawgs (or in fairness Florida) might have to play 3 home games and 5 away games plus the WLOCP game at the “neutral” site of Jacksonville. Tell me honestly, how good would Georgia’s chances be to win the East in a year when the Dawgs only had 3 conference games in Sanford Stadium? To those of you that say that would never happen, I say look at how the Dawgs had to play Auburn at Auburn in back to back years “to make the schedule work” for the rest of the conference a couple of years ago. You can take it to the bank that there would be a year when “to make the schedule work” for the rest of the conference the Dawgs would only have 3 games “‘tween the hedges” and 6 games played away from the beloved hedges. Why is this important? Georgia has a decided home field advantage at Sanford from a winning percentage standpoint. Georgia would be at a disadvantage under such an arrangement.
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Agreed. Make the OOC games substantial in upping the competition..
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Seems like this would only increase TV Revenues with the additional SEC Matchups. This is where Spurrier says the 9th game addition should be on Thursday nights.
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Please never a game in Sanford on Thursday night. You would have to get on 316 on Monday to make it in time for kickoff.
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As stated above, fans pay for the cupcakes and that is what they get. Only way that will change is empty stadiums.
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I have no problem with playing a 9 game SEC schedule I d0 disagree.
with the theory that leaves 3 cupcake games. What about the Dawgs Vs.
Tech; USCe Vs. Clemson; & UF Vs. FSU? Cup cake games ?
I also still believe that the Dawgs need some easier games & some
open dates to recuperate from the rest of their schedule.
Also, wins add up in determining bowl game scenarios & Championship games.
Kirby needs to win more than the 10 wins that Richt averaged.
As to the season ticket holders, learn to live with it.
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