5.28.23 Football Articles

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stltoday.com

 

Eight or nine games? SEC spring meetings should decide SEC football schedule format

Dave Matter

6–8 minutes

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COLUMBIA, Mo. — A clear picture on future football schedules should finally emerge this week when coaches, athletics directors and campus leaders gather in Destin, Florida, for the annual Southeastern Conference spring meetings. With Oklahoma and Texas set to join the SEC in the fall of 2024, conference members have spent more than a year debating various scheduling models under both eight- and nine-game formats.

SEC teams have played eight conference games dating back to 1992 when the league expanded to 12 teams and split into Eastern and Western divisions. The SEC stuck with the eight-game format in 2012 when Missouri and Texas A&M joined the league, but with the Sooners and Longhorns scheduled to arrive next year — their campus leaders will attend this week’s meetings in Destin — the SEC has explored adding a ninth conference game and dissolving the current two division format. The Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 all play nine-game conference schedules.

 

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Should the SEC move to a nine-game schedule, the league favors a 3-6 model where each team will play three permanent rivals each season then six rotating opponents. Under the proposed 3-6 model, schedules will have more variety from year to year compared to the current format where teams play their six division peers every season, one permanent cross-division opponent and one rotating opponent from the other division. Under the current format, teams can go more than a decade between visiting SEC cities in the other division. Last fall, in Missouri’s 11th season in the SEC, the Tigers played their first game at Auburn. Under the 3-6 proposal, a team will visit every other SEC city at least once every four years.

But there’s no guarantee the SEC moves from eight to nine conference games. There’s opposition to nine within the league. Some schools are concerned about how much more added TV revenue is at stake with an extra conference game. If the SEC sticks with the eight-game schedule — at least four schools reportedly favor eight over nine — then teams will play one permanent rival opponent and seven rotating opponents.

Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State and South Carolina oppose the nine-game format, according to a report Friday by 247Sports.com. Alabama coach Nick Saban, for years the SEC’s leading advocate for a nine-game schedule, also opposes the nine-game model, per the report, because of Alabama’s proposed three permanent opponents: Auburn, LSU and Tennessee.

What’s this mean for Mizzou? Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz is fully in favor of a nine-game schedule. Should the league adopt the 3-6 model, MU is expected to have Arkansas and Oklahoma as two of its permanent opponents. The school requested Vanderbilt as the third, multiple sources have confirmed.

“I’m Team Nine,” Drinkwitz said last month. “I think the more permanent (opponents) you can have, I think it allows you the ability to measure yourself every year on where your program’s at. And I think it reduces the amount of variables. The least amount of change possible in a schedule allows you to build. If you catch a team on a good cycle or a bad cycle, it could really be a struggle for you. I think as long as we have three permanents and then you have your six rotating that’s the format I’m for.”

Scheduled to attend the SEC meetings for Mizzou are Drinkwitz, basketball coaches Dennis Gates and Robin Pingeton, athletics director Desiree Reed-Francois, senior associate AD Rachel Blunt, UM system president Mun Choi and other athletics department staffers as well as Mizzou diver Jude Dierker, one of four SEC athletes invited to the meetings as members of the SEC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Under the nine-game format, the SEC is widely expected to keep the Missouri-Arkansas series intact. The two programs have played each other as cross-division opponents every season since 2014 with MU winning seven of the nine meetings, including all five in Columbia. This fall, the teams will again play the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, in Fayetteville on CBS.

Missouri and Oklahoma have a long history from their days in the Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12, first meeting in 1902. The teams played each other every season for nine straight decades — except when the 1918 season was wiped out due to World War I and the influenza breakout. Once the Big 12 was formed in 1996, the Tigers and Sooners were placed in opposite divisions and played only twice every four years. Oklahoma has mostly dominated the series, going 67-24-5 against the Tigers while winning 20 of the last 22 matchups, including Big 12 championship games in 2007 and 2008.

Should Vanderbilt become Mizzou’s other permanent opponent, their annual series would continue uninterrupted. The Tigers and Commodores have met every year since MU joined the SEC with Mizzou winning eight of 11 matchups.

If the SEC adopts the nine-game format, Mizzou will have to take a wrecking ball to nearly a decade’s worth of upcoming schedules to get down from four to three nonconference games. The Tigers currently have all four nonconference opponents under contract for every season from 2024-2031, three opponents set for 2032-33 and two for 2034-35, including games against Power Five conference teams Boston College (2024), Illinois (2026-29, 2032-35), Kansas (2025-26, 2031-32), Colorado (2030-31) and Brigham Young (2035).

Other topics to be explored in Destin are student-athlete mental health, the NCAA transfer portal and athlete compensation for name, image and likeness, including multiple federal legislative pieces being crafted in Congress to address NIL standards.

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Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz and newly hired offensive coordinator Kirby Moore on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, discuss what Kirby's role will be and what he brings to the team. Video by Mizzou Network, used with permission of Mizzou Athletics.

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si.com

 

Auburn football just outside of top 25 in latest SP+ rankings

Lance Dawe

2–3 minutes

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Auburn football has revamped its roster and on paper looks ready to compete in the SEC.

Hugh Freeze went out and landed the No. 2 transfer portal class in the country, which includes projected starting quarterback Payton Thorne (Michigan State), several offensive linemen, four high-profile receivers, defensive linemen at just about every position, linebackers, and an All-American kick returner to boot.

The Tigers are going to look a little different this season.

Bill Connelly of ESPN is the creator of their SP+ rankings, "a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and along those same lines, these projections aren't intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year." Simply "early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date."

Connelly recently updated his rankings to account for all of the moving and shaking through the transfer portal this offseason. Auburn comes in at No. 27 in the rankings.

Above the Tigers in the SEC are Arkansas (No. 26), Mississippi State (No. 25), Kentucky (No. 22), Florida (No. 21), Ole Miss (No. 18), Texas A&M (No. 16), Tennessee (No. 6), LSU (No. 5), Alabama (No. 4), and Georgia (No. 1).

Connelly also has the Tigers ranked No. 8 in terms of potential impact their 2023 class has on their season.

You can check out the entire SP+ rankings here.

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247sports.com

 

PMARSHONAU Sunday reflections from Auburn and beyond

Phillip Marshall

5–6 minutes

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Taking a look around on the last Sunday in May.

The reality of high expectations

Expectations play an oversized role in college football. That is nothing new, and it is why coaches try to keep those expectations under control. Some first-year coaches exceed them. Some fall short. Neither is necessarily a good predictor of what is to come.

By the time the 1981 season arrived, first-year coach Pat Dye had convinced Auburn people better days were coming. But after beating TCU in Dye’s first game, the Tigers lost to Wake Forest as the result of a fumbled kickoff, fumbled at the goal-line at Tennessee and lost 17-3 at Nebraska. They went on to finish 5-6.

Tommy Tuberville, the pitch man that he was, never claimed his first season would not be difficult. But expectations grew anyway. In his first game, the Tigers had to score in the final minutes to be Appalachian State, which was an FCS program and did not resemble the Appalachian State of today. His first team went 5-6. Both, of course, went on to much better days.

There are opposite examples, too. Terry Bowden went 11-0 in his first season. Gus Malzahn went 12-2.

But this season is quite different. With almost two dozen transfers, it’s difficult to hazard a guess on what Hugh Freeze’s first Auburn team will look like. Could it be like Dye’s and Tuberville’s first teams and have a similar record. Sure it could. Could it be like Terry Bowden’s first Auburn team and go unbeaten or like Malzahn’s first team that won the SEC championship and played in the BCS Championship Game? Highly unlikely.

Reality will probably be somewhere between those extremes as Freeze begins his Auburn football journey.

Decision day on baseball regionals

Eight SEC teams have valid claims that they should be chosen as baseball regional hosts. How many will the committee take and what will be the criteria? My feeling is that Auburn will be chosen, but it’s only a feeling. We’ll find out tonight.

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Conference tournaments are unpredictable

You never know what is going to happen in conference tournaments. Teams seeded No. 10 made it to the championship games in SEC baseball and softball. It’s not so much a matter of suddenly becoming a better team. Other than those at the very bottom, anybody can get hot. Texas A&M’s ERA was over 7 in regular-season SEC games. And it is pitching that has carried the Aggies to the championship game.

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Surprises on trip to Clemson

I was surprised by a few things on my trip to Clemson for the softball regional. The facilities are outstanding, and the program just started in 2020. There were probably 8-10 people covering the tournament for Clemson outlets and at least that many photographers. Clemson started its program in 2020, yet the administration and the fans are clearly all-in.

Clemson’s facilities are impressive in most sports. It’s an interesting town, smaller than Auburn and not all that close to any metropolitan area. But Clemson folks are passionate and committed.

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Home runs dominate in SEC

SEC baseball is becoming more dominated by home runs. Before this season, only two freshmen had hit 20 home runs in a season. Four have done it this season. That has led some to believe the balls are juiced. More than 30 have left the yard at the Hoover Met this week, with more probably coming today when Vanderbilt and Texas A&M match worn-down pitching staffs.

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How about series instead of regionals?

Baseball is not made for multi-team tournaments. I was surprised to hear there has been serious discussion about starting the NCAA Tournament a week earlier and playing only series – 32 the first week, 16 the second week and eight the third week. It’s apparently not going to happen any time soon, but maybe one day.

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Oklahoma softball team keeps streak alive

Oklahoma’s softball team is not unbeatable. In the seventh inning, Clemson was twice one strike away from taking the Sooners down. On the other hand, the Sooners have now won a national record 48 consecutive games. It will be a shock if they don’t win their third straight national championship.

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When you watch players celebrate at the SEC Tournament and see the creative props they use, you see the difference between the professional game and the college game. The young men playing the college game are not "free labor." Some are still teen-agers and a handful are closing in on their mid-20s, but all of them are playing the game they love and have been playing since they were little boys. It is refreshing.

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si.com

 

BYU Making a Late Push for JUCO Defensive Back Chancellor Anthony

Casey Lundquist

3–4 minutes

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With less than 100 days until the start of the season, BYU and its coaching staff are filling out the last scholarships on the 2023 roster. On Thursday, BYU extended an offer to Tyler Junior College defensive back Chancellor Anthony. Tyler Junior College, which is located in Tyler, Texas, is coached by former BYU defensive back Tanner Jacobson. 

Anthony is a qualifier, meaning he is eligible to transfer to his school of choice in time for the 2023 season. Prior to receiving an offer from BYU, Chancellor held competing offers from the likes of Louisiana Monroe, Old Dominion, Sam Houston State, and North Dakota State among others. On Thursday, he received his first Power Five offer from BYU and on Friday, Auburn followed suit by extending him an offer to play in the SEC.

Anthony was recruited to Tyler JC as a cornerback, but he primarily played safety last season and he has trained at nickel. BYU is recruiting him as a safety. 

In an interview with Cougs Daily, Tyler Junior College head coach Tanner Jacobson described Anthony as a gifted leader with all the physical tools to be a productive defensive back at the FBS level.  

"Chance is a guy that has tremendous leadership qualities - he received twice as many Spring captain votes as anyone on our team," Jacobson said. "He's a very cerebral player, he understands calls and checks against different offenses. He has tremendous ball tracking and takeaway capabilities. He has a feel for where the ball is going to end up. He possesses speed, intelligence, and he understands the big picture of the whole defense. If quarterbacks put the ball in the air, he's going to go get it."

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During Spring camp, Anthony ran the fastest 40 time on his team with a 4.51. Anthony has always been fast. In high school, he ran a 10.7 in the 100 meter dash. Anthony is from Arlington, Texas and he was lightly recruited coming out of high school, perhaps due to his weight. After a year at Tyler JC in their strength and conditioning program, he is up to 176 pounds with room to add more weight.

BYU is making a late push to add Anthony to its 2023 recruiting class. Now that the Cougars have extended an offer, they will have to compete against Auburn to land Anthony's services. With so little time before Fall camps kick off around the country, Anthony will make his college decision in the next month or so. The BYU coaching staff was diligent in the evaluation process and spent a lot of time getting to know Anthony before extending an offer. Now they hope their relationship with him will be enough to get him to Provo.

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