The SEC Loves Home Cooking
And why shouldn’t they? Their rep as the best conference in the country lets them schedule non-conference games at home against cupcakes while using how they chew each other up in conference play as the main reason for keeping their position as the best conference in the BCS. They sure don’t stray too far from home for out of conference games. Since 1998, the SEC is 40-39 in nonconference road games. That mark drops to 24-31 at schools from BCS conferences. Thanks to the Wiz of Odds for the heads up.
Georgia heads out to Arizona St. later this month, and it blows their entire travel budget for the decade. The Bulldogs traveled exactly 358 miles over the last 10 years for non-conference games — most of that mileage to go to Atlanta every other year to play Georgia Tech.
So this year Tennessee loses at UCLA, and later this season, Arkansas plays here against Texas, Auburn is at West Virginia, and as mentioned, Georgia travels to Arizona State.
Don’t expect to see even this small selection of road games from the SEC any time soon after this season. The multi-million dollar contract with ESPN covers only home games for SEC teams, which means that they will be more than happy to schedule 3 or 4 non-conference games at home — even if that means getting more D-1AA (excuse me, Football Championshp Series teams) on the schedule.
September 3, 2008 at 4:51 pm
at least the strategy makes for plenty of good televisnzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
September 3, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I’m just hoping they lose every one of those listed games. Not likely, of course, but I also didn’t think even Fulmer could lose at UCLA.
September 3, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Fwiw,
Georgia has scheduled home/away with:
Oklahoma State (’07/’09)
Arizona State (’08/’09)
Louisville (’11/’12)
Clemson (’13/’14)
Oregon (’15/’16)
September 3, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I’m just hoping they lose every one of those listed games. Not likely, of course, but I also didn’t think even Fulmer could lose at UCLA
@Huckleberry:
I would have said the SEC goes 2-2 before the UCLA/UT game. Now I’d say 1-3.
UGA won’t lose to Arizona State. We may lose somewhere else, but we won’t lose to a team with that OL (more fat Hawaiians… been there, done that). The game won’t even be close.
September 3, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Kudos to Georgia for radically changing their schedules. They more than likely will be the Lone Ranger in the SEC when it comes to away non-conference games.
September 3, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Those UGA - ASU tickets are hard to get. Should be a good one.
September 3, 2008 at 5:47 pm
On top of that, Georgia plays 3 of its 4 nonconference games next season against BCS conference teams in 2009. @ Oklahoma State, vs. Arizona State and @ Georgia Tech. Show me a team from any conference in America who will have a nonconference schedule comparable to that.
September 3, 2008 at 5:50 pm
most of the future OOC schedules of the SEC powers are comparable to, or tougher than, Texas’
September 3, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Georgia will steamroll ASU by 20+.
September 4, 2008 at 4:45 am
I’d like Texas and Georgia to play a home and home. It looks like ‘17 and ‘18 would work.
September 4, 2008 at 4:56 am
‘17 and ‘18? Are we talking football or the Battle of Verdun?
September 4, 2008 at 5:17 am
Ha. They should be there at our game in Oxford in 2012.
September 4, 2008 at 5:20 am
LSU played at Arizona a few years back.
Bama went to OU (and lost w/ Fran)
Florida already has to play FSU, and this year Miami
Georgia Tech is no cupcake for Georgia (even if it isnt really a “road” game. This year they are going to ASU.
Auburn played at USC
Arkansas played at USC
Ole Miss, Miss State, Vandy, Kentucy, South Carolina havent played anybody of note that I remember.
Who has the Big 12 played? Aside from Colorado?
OU hasnt gone on the road (but did lose to TCU at home)
Texas has gone to Arkansas and Ohio State
A&M played at Miami and Virginia Tech (both losses)
ISU went all the way to Iowa
Ok State did go to Georgia, and also played at Troy (both losses)
Mizzou went all the way to St Louis
Nebraska went to USC and Wake Forest (both losses)
Baylor ????Tech????Kansas???
Point being, its a trend across the BCS conferences…not just the SEC.
September 4, 2008 at 5:41 am
well, KU finishes their home and home with USF this year… had SMU in ‘00, UCLA in ‘01, home/home with Northwestern ‘03/’04 (hey i think they were decent then…ish)…
um… UNLV? Wyoming? yah ok never mind…
bear in mind KU has been basking in mediocrity until last year. with the tough south swing next year too, i’m fine with the non-con on ‘09 (N. Colo, @ UTEP, Duke and S. Miss)… i would like to see a decent non-con from a BCS in ‘10 and ‘11 though.
September 4, 2008 at 5:48 am
Not to confuse your rant with facts or anything Joe but NU beat wake on their home turf last year.
September 4, 2008 at 5:51 am
Crazy Joe, One correction. OU travels quite a bit. At Bama, UCLA and Oregon (Gordon Riese debacle) in the last five years or so. At Washington this year and Miami next.
September 4, 2008 at 6:02 am
Last year we played Wake in winston-salem(a win) and USC (an embarrassing loss) in 06 it was USC in LA also a loss.
in 05 we had wake and pitt (both wins). In 04 we beat Pitt in Pittsburgh. This decade we have played home and away with Penn State, USC and Notre Dame and managed to find time to give Arizona state a pounding in Lincoln. The teams we play on next years schedule i am embarrassed about but I think most NU fans are and the person responsible for that is now doing his best to destroy Pitt football.
September 4, 2008 at 6:31 am
Ole Miss went to Columbia the year before last. Of course, we weren’t that good.
September 4, 2008 at 6:32 am
Also, last year, yes Mizzou went “all the way to St. Louis”, but Mizzou also went to Oxford to play Old Miss.
September 4, 2008 at 7:48 am
I miss the good old days. In 1976 Mizzou opened at USC (a 46-25 win and USC’s only loss of the year), came home to lose to a bad Illinois team 31-6 before turning around and going to Ohio State to beat them 22-21 (one of only two losses for the Buckeyes that year). Now we play one real non-conference game a year agaisnt Illinois and fill in with cupcakes. Times have changed.
September 4, 2008 at 11:14 am
Forgot about OU going to Oregon and Mizzou going to Ole Miss.
Man, I coulda sworn Nebraska lost to Wake.
September 4, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I support buying cupcake games, mostly because those games make up like 33% of those teams revenue for the year or something silly like that.
I’d also like to see at least one even game per year, per team.
September 4, 2008 at 4:01 pm
“Man, I coulda sworn Nebraska lost to Wake.”
It *is* surprising. Then again, Grobe was worn out from fighting with, and then against, the Mujahideen while editing Suetonius and working on his overthruster in his spare time.
September 4, 2008 at 7:12 pm
does anybody play a more patsy schedule than the big twelve, texas’s typical out of conference schedule is nothing to brag about and it happens to be one of the better ones in the conference, the sec is clearly heads and shoulders better than the big12 presently, not even close, the limiting factor for the big12 teams to even a caual observer is the obvious lack of athleticism on the defensive side of the ball, an indication that there just are not enough athletes to go around in the big12 region, at least not enough of them to even get within shouting distance of the sec,