SEC Roommate Switch – 8 game schedule

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The Roommate Switch versions are all consolidated on one main page now.  Please go to:

www.TheRoommateSwitch.wordpress.com.

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The SEC appears set to adopt a 6-1-1 schedule format for football.  This would be a rare, big misstep by the leaders of the nation’s best conference.   Under 6-1-1, many of your best potential matchups are benched for 5 of 6 years.  You only host some of your conference mates once every 12 years (that’s barely a conference!).  Some schools get frequent exposure in recruit-rich major media markets Texas and Florida, while others only once every 12 years.  And a 6-2 format would snuff out some of the SEC’s bedrock traditional rivalries.  There’s got to be a better way…

I’VE GOT IT !!!! 

SEC fans, what would you say about a format that has all the following features:

• Preserves the SEC’s major historic rivalries.
• Play everyone at least once every TWO years (instead of every six years per 6-1-1).
• Host every SEC school at least once every FOUR years (instead of every twelve years per 6-1-1).  This gives every student/recruiting class a chance to complete a home-and-home with every conference school during their enrollment.  That is important for players, students and fans.
  
• Offers more compelling match-ups for TV and fans, with games involving two marquee brands more often.
• Round-robin division play is maintained for SEC championship game purposes.
• Works with an 8 game schedule (or 9 games if/when needed).
• Fosters more conference cohesion, familiarity and history between the schools and fans across time.
• Strength of schedule is reasonably balanced (at least as well as 6-1-1).
  
• The SEC would continue its tradition of pioneering new avenues of competition and excitement for fans and viewers.

THAT would be a far superior plan to 6-1-1 (or 6-2).  So without further ado, I present…

The SEC Roommate Switch

This will seem complicated at first but it’s not, read all the way to the end for the payoff. The bottom line:  Everyone has 3 permanents and rotates the other 10 teams at 5 per year, with two round-robin divisions each year accomplished via a simple, recurring Even-Years Schedule and Odd-Years Schedule.  How is this done?

• 1.  The Pods.
• 2.  The Divisions.
• 3.  The Formula.
• 4.  The Football Schedules.

Note – it’s not really necessary for fans to memorize steps 1, 2 or 3.  Most will just want to know their school’s schedule each year (they can skip to step 4).  But for the rest of us who are interested in what’s under the hood:

Step 1.  The Pods

The conference is grouped into four pods.  I think the groupings below work best overall once you see how the schedules are made, but that’s up for debate.  The balance-of-power within each pod is not critical because that is balanced out in the schedule/pod pairings (it’s the divisions that ultimately matter, not the pods):

Step 2.  Divisions… and The Switch. 

The pods are paired up to make two 7 team divisions (which I’m calling the X’s and O’s for even years, and the Y’s and Z’s for odd years).

• In Even-numbered years the divisions are A+C and B+D.
• In Odd-numbered years the divisions are A+D and B+C.

These divisions are the basis for the SEC Championship Game each year.  The schedules (step 4) have full round-robin play within each division each year.

Step 3.  The Schedule Formula.

Everyone has 3 permanent opponents, and rotates through the other 10 teams at 5 per year.  It looks complicated at first, but it really boils down to a simple recurring Even-Years schedule and an Odd-Years schedule:

• SMALL PODS
  • Permanent opponents:
    • Both of your podmates. (2 games)
    • One permanent from the other Small Pod.  (1 game)
  • Rotating opponents:
    • Non-permanents from the other small pod. (1 game)
    • All of the teams from one of the large pods (alternating which large pod in even/odd years).  (4 games)

• LARGE PODS
  • Permanent opponents:
    • All three of your podmates. (3 games)

    Rotating opponents:

    • All the teams from one of the small pods (alternating which small pod in even/odd years). (3 games)
    • Half the teams from the other large pod. (2 games)

4.  The Football Schedules.

Now feel free to forget all the above if you want.  What’s important is below – the resulting football schedule for each school, for Even and Odd years:  (Permanent opponents are in plain type, rotating opponents are in italics).  There is full round-robin play within the divisions each year.

“The perfect plan.”

Under this format 14 is not “unruly”, it’s awesome.

Come on SEC, it’s not to late to hit another home run!

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UPDATE:  Here is the Roommate Switch applied to a 9-game conference schedule.

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