2012 SEC Schedule Announcement Delayed: What Does This Mean for the Georgia Bulldogs?
by T Kyle King on Dec 22, 2011 1:01 PM EST
in Georgia Bulldogs Football Scheduling
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PrintWe’ve been waiting all week for the expected release of the 2012 SEC schedule, but we now know that’s not going to happen. Here, briefly, is where we stand:
The SEC office is “[w]orking through [the] final stages of [the] 2012 #SEC football schedule,” which will be “release[d] once it's complete, but not before Christmas.” This has been reported widely as “not until after Christmas,” but that is not what the SEC announced, and I believe that semantic distinction may matter a great deal, for reasons I will clarify shortly.
Citing a “[h]igh ranking SEC source,” Pat Dooley reports that “we know for sure [that] Texas A&M's first SEC game [will be] vs. Florida at Kyle [Field].” If true, this indicates some reshuffling is occurring, not just with respect to the opponents a team will face, but also with respect to the order in which that team will face those opponents.
This would appear to lend credence to the widespread rumors that the Georgia Bulldogs will open their 2012 SEC schedule against the Missouri Tigers, causing the Red and Black’s date with the South Carolina Gamecocks to be pushed back to October. These persistent rumors might explain why South Carolina’s athletic director says some fans will be “upset” over the changes to the schedule, because Gamecock fans attach great significance to playing the Bulldogs early.
I find Kevin’s projected Georgia schedule more plausible than Paul Westerdawg’s version. If we know the Florida Gators’ slate is being rearranged to accommodate a conference opener against the Texas A&M Aggies, it seems sensible to suppose something similar could happen to the Classic City Canines, as well.
Regarding the replacement of one rotating interdivisional game with an extra divisional showdown, the logical solution is to drop the game against the opponent from the other division rotating onto a team’s schedule rather than to nix the back half of the home-and-home series with the squad that rotated on this year. In 2011, Georgia hosted the Mississippi St. Bulldogs to close out the two-game set that began in Starkville in 2010 while traveling to Oxford to open a two-game series with the Mississippi Rebels. I expect to see Ole Miss play in Athens this autumn, with the Bulldogs’ scheduled trek to Tuscaloosa to face the Alabama Crimson Tide being axed to make room for an extra SEC East outing against new division rival Mizzou.
Finally, regarding the choice of phrasing employed by a league office noted for its legalistic precision in matters of conference expansion, I question whether the phrase “not before Christmas” was accidental. One SEC athletic director already has indicated that fan ire will be aroused by the revised slate, and we know there are issues regarding the site at which the Arkansas Razorbacks will square off with the Aggies. When this news officially breaks, there are going to be some outraged partisans in the Southeastern Conference, and outrage around these parts tends to be good for merchants who deal in tar, feathers, torches, pitchforks, and, occasionally, herbicides.
Followers of politics and fans of “The West Wing” are familiar with the notion of “take out the trash day,” whereby the White House holds stories it doesn’t want covered extensively until Friday afternoon, when it dumps them en masse to limit the number of column inches devoted to, and the number of eyeballs that will peruse, those stories. Knowing fan reaction is apt to be forceful, is it possible the SEC plans to unveil the 2012 schedule on Christmas Day, in order to blunt the potential firestorm? Mike Slive is a pretty shrewd dude; I certainly wouldn’t put it past him.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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If we do open with Mizzou...
I think it’s pretty cool we’ll be a part of history, as the first SEC game played by Missouri. When’s it’s done, I truly hope we’ll also be Missouri’s historic first SEC loss.
GATA!
I think it would be cool to be a part of history, too...
… but given our recent history of providing a WAC Mountain West team and a Conference USA team with their first win against an SEC foe, we might be the answer to a trivia question for the wrong reason.
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by vineyarddawg on Dec 22, 2011 1:26 PM EST up reply actions
That is kind of cool.
We sort of welcomed Arkansas into the league, too, as the 1991 Independence Bowl was the Razorbacks’ final game before officially joining the SEC.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
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Apparently
breaking in new league members is a solemn duty imposed upon the University of Georgia by the SEC solons of Birmingham.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
It's a dirty job, . . .
. . . but somebody’s got to do it!
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by T Kyle King on Dec 22, 2011 10:01 PM EST up reply actions
Heh
I remember September 5, 1992 vividly. I hate admitting that, however, amidst all these young’uns. Grins
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
Oh don't worry.
My firstborn was not quite three weeks old and we listened to the game on the radio together.
And don’t mind admitting it!
Looking at PWD's projected schedule
Makes me cringe.
I doubt UGA would be too thrilled about sandwiching Bama between Florida and Auburn. I don’t care if it is a home game. Since I haven’t heard any rumblings from the UGA camp, I doubt this will take place.
As such, I believe we’ll be playing Ole Miss at home.
GATA!
Keeping Ole Miss instead of Alabama has the added advantage...
… of not breaking a series in the middle of the home-and-home rotation. We played in Oxford last year, but the Rebears have not yet returned the trip.
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by vineyarddawg on Dec 22, 2011 1:28 PM EST up reply actions
A one-and-done for rotating opponents could happen just to keep the schedule moving
ie: year 1 @Oxford, year 2 host Alabama, year 3 @LSU, year 4 host Arkansas, etc… Then flip the home/away line-up for the next cycle.
the rotating opponents seem to be the hardest to guess.
Because you can’t just say ok, I will host the team that was scheduled to come to my stadium, because with two new teams the math would get jumbled somewhere. But I have been hearing USC is still scheduled to go to LSU, which would probably mean the Miss Stat would go to Mizzou. So that could arrange for Ole Miss to come to UGA.
I actually hope it works out with Ole Miss coming to UGA. Just saying you can’t be too sure.
- FOW
by skandrewj62j on Dec 22, 2011 1:30 PM EST up reply actions
Competively... yeah. You're right. that would help my cause greatly!
But considering the rivalry between Georgia and Ole Miss, and not the one for most picturesque tailgating, I think it would be a great thing to have Ole Miss at UGA next year.
- FOW
by skandrewj62j on Dec 22, 2011 1:38 PM EST up reply actions
You're right, skandrewj62j.
I hadn’t thought it through all the way, but you make a good point, and I thank you for the correction.
Replacing the first game of the oncoming interdivisional rotation with the new member of the division would work for the twelve existing members of the league, but it would leave the two new members with only seven conference games (the other six members of their division, plus each other), so some will have to be reshuffled.
I stand corrected. Much obliged.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
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Well everyone is saying you'll play Ole Miss.
So looks like that shot ended up on the green anyways. Just keep on dancing.
- FOW
by skandrewj62j on Dec 22, 2011 7:34 PM EST up reply actions
Thanks, skandrewj62j.
In all sincerity, I appreciate South Carolina fans like you who are able to support your team fervently yet interact with rival fans reasonably. We try to be those sorts of Georgia fans around here, and I hope we succeed more often than not, and I genuinely am grateful to you for representing your school the way I honestly endeavor to represent mine.
Merry Christmas to you, and good luck to the Gamecocks in their bowl game.
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McGarrity
should have a big block of cheese day.
by Mark Mandingo on Dec 22, 2011 1:28 PM EST via mobile reply actions 2 recs
Scanning to see if someone has made the "big block of cheese joke...." scanning....
damn it.
Broadcasting live from a secure location underneath the Hell Gate Bridge
by The Quincy Carter of Accountants on Dec 22, 2011 3:33 PM EST up reply actions
Glenn Mason is the Mandy Hampton of UGA coaches
by Mark Mandingo on Dec 22, 2011 3:58 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
He inexplicably disappeared between the first and second seasons . . .
. . . in the middle of an assassination attempt, never to be mentioned again?
Wait, yeah, that’s actually not too far off, is it?
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Are they only releasing the 2012 schedule?
What about 2013, 2014, etc.?
In the past, we knew the rotations in advance (e.g. we’ve knew we were playing @Ole Miss in 2011 way before 2010).
GATA!
I don't know if those were released by
the SEC offices. It was always easy to figure out who and where we were playing based on home- away balance. One of your rotations would have one game left so you knew if it was home or away. The other would be the opposite. I could be wrong, but I think the conference schedule is always released year by year.
by Mark Mandingo on Dec 22, 2011 3:10 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
The SEC has stated that the 2012 schedule is a "transitional" schedule.
Since the two new members of the league are being brought in right away, there’s going to have to be some shifting on the fly, so the 2013 schedule, and beyond, may look different.
For instance, if, as seems likely, the Georgia-South Carolina game is moved to early October in 2012, it doesn’t mean it will be moved permanently from the second week of the season to early October. (Of course, the fact that the Tennessee game permanently moved from the second week of the season to early October beginning in 1996, and worked just fine, means such a move would be no big deal if it occurred, but that’s a separate conversation.)
If the SEC stays at 14 teams for some appreciable length of time (which I don’t believe it will), the conference probably will have to go to a nine-game conference schedule eventually, though I doubt if that will happen before current non-conference contracts have been fulfilled. However, upcoming schedules could, and probably will, look very different from the 2012 schedule, so, yeah, they’re only releasing the 2012 schedule to get us through the transition, with tweaking to follow in 2013, and thereafter. As of the release of the 2012 schedule, the 2013 schedule will not have been completed, nor will it be for some time.
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Arkansas-A&M
Someone might have to explain this to me, but why does it matter if Arkansas plays Texas A&M at Jerryworld? That doesn’t seem any different than us playing the Florida in Jacksonville.
Money for the home team. Same reason Athens business doesnt like the Jax game.
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by The Quincy Carter of Accountants on Dec 22, 2011 4:38 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I haven't read the contract, but I'm sure some provision was made for changed circumstances.
What would be interesting to see is whether conference expansion was included in that provision, and, if so, to what extent it matters that this is now a conference game. If anything, that would seem to mitigate in favor of keeping the game where it is for the balance of the existing contract before going to a home-and-home arrangement at the end of the ten-year period. Now that the Aggies no longer have a home-and-home series with the Longhorns, Texas A&M can schedule four non-conference home games every year, so it’s hard to see how the Aggies are disadvantaged by the neutral site series with the Razorbacks, to which, after all, they agreed.
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A tune-up
against Georgia Southern and their triple-option attack the week before we play Tech? This makes me smile.
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by DavetheDawg on Dec 22, 2011 5:11 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
When Greg McGarity did the exact same stuff at UF, it was perfectly ok and the media loved them.
We just need rings, year after year. They will say what they are going to say, but in reality, it’s no different than what was done with 3 years of Tebow.
Editor, "Dawgsports"
"The ball ain't heavy." Herschel Walker
by tankertoad on Dec 22, 2011 6:18 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I dont know...
It might be better to have that Tech game first to have a good tuneup for Georgia Southern.
by tcd13 on Dec 22, 2011 6:48 PM EST up reply actions 9 recs
Georgia Southern certainly got closer to a national title this year than Tech has in two decades.
The 984 Has Spoken!
by The984 on Dec 24, 2011 1:16 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I very much liked it when I heard we had set it up that way...
the only concern I have is if we make the SECCG again next year. Going from two straight weeks of practicing against the option to a game against pro-style LSU or Alabama (or, God forbid, Petrino’s offense) might present some unforseen challenges. Then again, maybe the focus and consistency you get used to playing against Tech actually helps you against any offense. We certainly didn’t have any problem making the transition to LSU’s offense this year (at least the beginning of the game). The corners and outside linebackers are the guys that see the biggest difference in the two styles, obviously.
I guess the question becomes one of how important it is not to lose to Georgia Tech. Losing to them is pretty awful, but giving yourself the best chance to win the SECCG is certainly a player in this discussion. Then again, the national title is the ultimate goal and a loss to Tech all but eliminates that one.
by FisheriesDawg on Dec 23, 2011 8:54 AM EST up reply actions
One further thought on this issue.
As I was watching Boise State cut through the Sun Devils like a hot Herschel through Bill Bates, it occurred to me that there might be more than one reason South Carolina fans might be upset about moving the Georgia game.
The Cocks’ schedule is already absurdly back-loaded, which accounts for their frequent late-season swoons. So it could be not only that they’re failing to get Georgia on the field early, but it could also be the case that the game against the Dawgs falls at a very inconvenient point in the schedule, too.
South Carolina is due to drop Auburn and pick up LSU in its normal team rotation, though that could be also amended to include Texas A&M, I assume. Since Florida is rumored to be filling aTm’s rotating Eastern Division spot, though, let’s assume LSU is coming into the Cocks’ docket next year.
If the Georgia/South Carolina game is moved to mid-October, as certain intertubes rumors say it will be, South Carolina could have a three-week stretch at LSU, then home against Georgia and Arkansas.
That would not be pleasant.
Editor, Dawg Sports.
Go Dawgs!
Georgia's 2012 schedule is apt to be pretty back-loaded, too.
In the final six weeks of the season, we’re liable to play Florida, Auburn, Georgia Tech, and either LSU or Alabama.
/seewhatididthere?
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In all seriousness, though, the "back-loaded schedule" argument made by South Carolina fans . . .
. . . annoys me to no end. They claim they only lose late because they play their toughest games late, then they claim Georgia fans are wrong to think the Bulldogs would have better success against the Gamecocks late because we haven’t fared as well against Florida and Tennessee the last 20 years. (We are 8-4 against the Volunteers in the last 12 years, by the way.)
If the Red and Black are so much weaker than Florida and Tennessee, then, why wouldn’t South Carolina fans rather play Georgia late, so as to provide them with a respite from all the tough teams they face? For all their griping that we look down on them, they sure like to sling around the baseless insults.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Dec 22, 2011 10:00 PM EST up reply actions
Actually, upon further reflection, I was wrong above.
South Carolina is due to drop Auburn and pick up LSU, which means the LSU game should be replaced by Missouri.
The Cocks’ are due a return trip from Miss. State, and Arkansas is their permanent Western Division opponent. Those should be the only two teams from the West they play next year.
Editor, Dawg Sports.
Go Dawgs!
by vineyarddawg on Dec 22, 2011 10:09 PM EST up reply actions
Thanks, but, as skandrewj62j noted above, . . .
. . . at least a couple of teams are going to have to trade out their regular rotations in order to make room for Missouri and Texas A&M. If every Eastern Division team gave up its incoming rotating opponent for a game with Missouri and every Western Division team gave up its incoming rotating opponent for a game with Texas A&M, that would give every current SEC team eight conference games (five pre-existing divisional games, permanent interdivisional game, second half of rotating interdivisional series that began last year, and Missouri or Texas A&M in place of the incoming rotating opponent), and it would give Missouri and Texas A&M six each (the six existing teams in their respective divisions).
The Tigers and the Aggies can play one another, giving each seven games. Who, then, is the eighth opponent? In order to resolve that issue, some teams are going to have to see their scheduled series shifted somewhat, in a manner different from that in which most of the other teams’ schedules are tweaked. It’s not preferential treatment; it’s just math, unless we want Missouri and Texas A&M to play twice, once in College Station and once in Columbia, which, honestly, would solve a lot of problems.
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by T Kyle King on Dec 22, 2011 10:20 PM EST up reply actions
Hadn't thought of that
as weird as it would be, that would be a reasonable short term solution IMO
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by Dawg in Beaumont on Dec 22, 2011 10:47 PM EST up reply actions
I don't think that's a completely bad argument
No doubt our success the past two years was partially due to the fact that Tennessee and Florida haven’t been as good. But in 2007 we played Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, Clemson over the last month (like every year), and our bye didn’t come until after Florida, our last SEC game. That’s a brutal end to a season. That aside, I honestly don’t really care when we play y’all, but I feel that our game over the past decade has become the premier early season SEC match up and I’d hate to see the spotlight get dimmed on that game by some of the other mid season clashes. It just seems to kick off the new season the right way.
Thanks, heymanne.
I’d go the other way, though: I think the luster is diminished by playing the game in the second week of the season. It was one thing in the mid-1990s for Florida and Tennessee to play one another early when everyone knew, year in and year out, that the other four teams in the East were mediocre at best; Florida and Tennessee won’t be down forever, or probably even for long, so it’s hard to get worked up for Georgia-South Carolina as the game in the East when it’s out of the way so soon.
Besides, since (as the argument goes, and as you repeated) Arkansas, Florida, and Tennessee make for such a brutal stretch run, why not move one of the Gamecocks’ “big three” conference games to the beginning of the season and move what I am told is a weaker Georgia squad into that spot, in order to give the Garnet and Black a much-needed break?
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by T Kyle King on Dec 22, 2011 11:09 PM EST up reply actions
I know this is late
I don’t follow your logic about how our game being early holds less significance than the Florida-Tennessee game (and I can make an argument that under certain circumstances, Tennessee will never return to the consistent powerhouse they once were). You still have to beat your opponents no matter when you play them. Georgia getting us later than usual isn’t going to have any different impact on the conference standings. The sloppiness of the early game is part of the reason the games have been so good recently.
As for your second point, I’m not the one saying Georgia is a mediocre team, so I don’t appreciate the sarcasm. In any case, best of luck to your team and I look forward to scholarly debate in the future.
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