SEC SQUAD - The SEC is getting BULLIED by the Big 10!? How it affects LSU

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SEC being dictated to by the Big Ten.

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You're talking ball with the SEC squad. From Alabama to Tennessee, from Georgia to Oklahoma, from Auburn to Texas, it's the local experts of the Locked On Podcast Network bringing you scoops, breakdowns and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming SEC weekend. It's the SEC Squad and we have a seat for you. Hurt feelings and thin skin are prohibited. Square Squad up. You're part of the SEC squad.

1:00

And what's up everybody? Welcome into the SEC squad. Sit back, grab your favorite beverage and join us as we get you ready for another week talking all things sec. This week on the squad we've got Corey Burton from Locked on Vandy, Stephen Willis Locked on Ole Miss, John Miller from Locked on Mizzou, and hey John Williams Locked On Sooners. Joining us, I'm Chris Gordy, host of Locked on sec. And fellas, tons of topics this week around the SEC with spring meetings going on down in Destin. And on Tuesday we heard the SEC athletic directors voted at spring meetings to quote end cupcake Weekend playing non conference games against inferior opponents in late November. Now set the table here for this topic. The Big Ten pushed for years for the SEC to move to a nine game conference slate. They did it. The Big Ten's been pushing for a 2014 playoff. They want the SEC to get on board. They may get that. And one of the biggest complaints we always heard from Big Ten fans is why does the SEC play cupcakes in November? Well, they're not going to do that anymore. So guys, I posed the question, is the SEC being bullied by the Big Ten on some of these big decisions?

1:30

It's hard not to say yes to that question because Greg Sankey has kind of given in to every one of the Big Ten's demands or bigger talking points. And the Coaches have kind of gone along with it. The only thing he's held out on is the 2014 playoff. But everybody else in the SEC, the coaches, the administrators, the presidents, they're all ready to move that way, save for maybe two or three holdouts. Man, it. It's kind of crazy to see how quickly the power has shifted from the SEC being able to dictate and drive the future of college football to now. It seems like Tony Petiti and the Big Ten have all of the influence right now.

2:37

Yeah, I mean, I. There's two things I. I hate to say that. Yes, that is true and the Big Ten is right about the 2014 playoffs because I don't want to give the Big Ten credit, but they are right about the 2014 playoff. But I mean, the, the cupcake weekend thing was stupid. Who cares? When you play those games you're playing, you're playing your 9P4 games, you're playing your three cupcakes. It doesn't matter when you play them. The Big Ten is just whining about that and saying. He's like, okay, I'll do it.

3:17

Yeah. The crazy thing is the Big Ten figured out to where if you don't like something, you can force the SEC to act by just challenging their manhood for a little bit and they will give in 100 of the time. Oh, you don't go nine conference games. Oh my goodness. That is so weak. We played nine conference games in the Big Ten. The SEC is like, we can play non conference games. We could do that better than anybody else. And, and this cupcake thing. Yes. They figured out how to psychologically abuse basically the SEC office.

3:47

I agree that it is a silly thing to focus on this idea of cupcake week playing these FCS schools late in the season. I think. I think some of the Big Ten ads are jealous that they didn't think of it first, to be honest with you. But I'll also be brutally honest and say to other SEC fans, I actually do think this is better for the sport. I just would rather see these FCS games in week one than week ten. That's just me.

4:22

Well, while the Big Ten is playing cupcakes in week two, SEC is having conference games in week two.

4:48

So week two.

4:54

It's a silly thing to focus on. I agree. In terms of strength of schedule, it's meaningless. It's totally meaningless. But I do think that just as from a fan's perspective, I do find those games incredibly boring in November.

4:56

They are boring. But it's also a great Opportunity to rest your guys.

5:10

Yeah, no, it is. It's smart.

5:13

Which is what. Yeah, I mean, Indiana benefited from the fact that the Big Ten was a cupcake conference last season and their schedule was such. Yeah, they played their quote unquote cupcake non conference games in September, but a lot of their schedule was just that itself. And so they got an opportunity to rest those guys. You each other in the SEC for nine conference games. You know what, it's nice to play Mercer on Nov. 14 or whatever the date might be, just to have a little bit of a breather for some of those dudes that, hey, you don't need to play this week. It's okay. We'll gear up and we'll end the season on a high note.

5:14

Well, this just makes it even more brutal considering that now, this season and probably, I suppose, in the future, for instance, the last couple of seasons, Missouri and the rest of the SEC has had two bye weeks during the season. That's not the case in 2020. So like, to, to William's point there, you're almost trying to get a half of a bye weekend there. Objectively, that just makes the schedule that much harder.

5:49

Let me give you guys some of the. And the big reason why, I mean, yeah, the, the SEC was such a, is such a dog fight weekend and week out, you get beat up in the trenches. Trenches. I know that lsu, Alabama game. Every time they play, both teams come out completely banged up and always come out flat the next week because you're so banged up. The, the, the game against Mercer or whoever in November was an opportunity to catch your breath collectively and kind of say, all right, we can rest up. This guy's injured, this guy's injured, this guy's injured. Let's take a little bit of a breather. And I think it's almost. The Big Ten is mad that they didn't come up with that idea.

6:12

That's what I'm saying.

6:46

And I think part of it that's crazy to me, guys, is that the SEC is not struggling for content to sell. They've got great November matchups. It doesn't matter if you have a bye week in November or if you're playing a cupcake in November. There are still a ton of fantastic games for the conference to be able to sell to the network that this is again, an unforced error. They say that in tennis all the time. Unforced errors. Greg Sankey, to me, making another unforced error here.

6:47

Yeah, yeah.

7:17

I just don't understand the point. Why is Sankey giving and just the conference in general, why are they giving up this position? This just doesn't seem like it's the, that important of a thing. The nine game schedule I kind of get because that does, you know, it does sort of equal it out, I suppose. But this one, I, I don't know why you give this one up.

7:18

I think because nobody else does it. And so they were pressured by. It wasn't. I don't think it was just the Big Ten. I think it was all the other conferences too, saying, why do you guys do this? You should play a grind. But like the other thing is like, if the shoe were on the other foot, would we care? Like Indiana just look, they played North Texas, Howard and western Kentucky. Weeks 1, 2 and 3. The reigning national champs don't even get tested. Like, you know, it'd be great to have the reigning champs on a nationally televised game playing a Notre Dame or something. God, God forbid they actually try to challenge themselves. But they're November, they have a buy and they play usc, Washington, Purdue. Would anyone give a crap if they swapped Purdue and Howard and they played Howard in November and Purdue in week two? I mean, or.

7:37

What's the, or what's the difference between having a bye week and playing some FCS school in November? What's the difference? It's the same thing. You're, you're just forcing an issue that's not an issue. And if we're talking about wanting to have competition down the stretch, there's plenty of that that's happening. Got teams are playing incredible games in the month of November. Oklahoma had to play Tennessee and Alabama and LSU and Mizzou to end the season. Last year it would have been nice to, to play Illinois State in one of those games.

8:17

Yeah, you look at it. Ole Miss, whenever they were having this dream season, the close they closed with South Carolina, Florida and then Mississippi State. It was three conference games at the end of the year. Now, granted, they had a bye week before the Mississippi State game, but that's because they play that game on Friday, which by the way, if you play on Friday, you probably need a bye week or a cupcake that weekend. If you're going to have cupcake October in the Big Ten, you can at least make it to where if they play on Friday, there's going to be

8:50

something, and I'll play a little devil's advocate here, that perhaps this is a positioning thing. You play tougher games down the stretch. You don't give the committee a reason to knock you for Playing an FCS game.

9:18

I think the other part, too, is go ask SEC fans. They hate these games. I mean, they.

9:31

But the fans don't matter to Greg Sankey, Chris. Yeah, they don't care what the fans think.

9:36

These are the games. They sell those tickets. And particularly if you're out of the playoff hunt, like if your team's, I don't know, 6 and 4 by the time cupcake weeks gets there, nobody cares. Nobody's going.

9:42

So expand the playoff. That won't be true.

9:54

Well, within reason. But just. Just to remind Everybody. So week 13 this past year, we had Western Kentucky at LSU, Samford at a M, Charlotte at Georgia, Eastern Illinois at Bama, Mercer at Auburn, and Coastal Carolina at South Carolina. It was miserable. I mean, talking about those games, I had no. No takeaways other than I think Ashton Daniels got the start for Auburn because they wanted to. That was Deuce Night because they wanted to save Ashton Daniels his red shirt or whatever. But here we're just. I gotta read some of these quotes. This is what some of the tweeters said. One guy said, I love it. Let's see the SEC play some real football that weekend. Another guy said, oh, they finally grew up. Good for them. Come on. And then another tweeter said, the data was clear. Cupcake week created an uneven playing field. I. What was the uneven playing field?

9:58

So stupid.

10:47

Yeah, it's so, like, who care? Like, you play. You play them the first three weeks or you. You sprinkle it in. Sprinkle one in at the end and you bump a playoff, you bump a conference game up. You know what? What's the matter?

10:48

Listen, the big. The Big Ten in November, you know, you want the Northwestern Iowa game at noon on NBC. That's what you look forward to. That's what is necessary to happen. Nebraska vs. Michigan State at noon on, you know, the big noon kickoff and all of that. Yeah, that. I get it. I mean, you just can't pay for games like that to happen. And I mean, the SEC needs to step up and do that because playing games against the Wofford Terriers, I mean, that's not Rutgers on a Saturday morning. I mean, similar. Yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous.

11:01

I mean, the Big Ten should want it because people are going to be like, I ain't watching SEC football. I'm gonna go watch big new kickoff this week because Alabama's playing Mercer.

11:42

Well, think about it conversely, though, you know, Texas, LSU plays Clemson. Ole Miss goes and plays Louisville. You know, Texas is playing Ohio State.

11:50

No, don't don't play. Don't play cupcakes in November.

12:00

Well, I'm just saying like don't do it. Indiana conversely gets what we say. Howard, North Texas and Western Kentucky. They get three weeks to work in Josh Hoover, their new quarterback and their offense install their system, get guys their legs under them before they even get the conference place. I can make this some dumb same dumbass argument they're making about getting the respite late in the year. You get three tune ups to get yourself right to start the year.

12:03

Yeah, you get a true preseason.

12:26

Yeah, I mean I can't say too much. Vandy starts out with Austin P. So I can't really hammer on that too. Let's go P. Yeah, they get so so Vandy's got Austin P. Then they go Delaware, then they go NC State before they travel.

12:28

At least it's NC State better than anybody in the animal is.

12:42

Yeah, for sure.

12:45

Yeah, I do, I do like the power 4 requirement for the SEC. I hope that doesn't go away.

12:46

And that's going to be one of those that's necessary given the cross conference rivalries that you have between Clemson and South Carolina, Florida, Florida State, those things are going to have to stay. But as we've talked about in our group chat on a numerous occasion, the nine game conference schedule isn't necessary because of those P4 games that have to be built into these team schedules you still get regardless of what they do in the SEC.

12:52

Yeah, you still get nine P4 games. And John, is there a, is there a future where bedlam returns?

13:17

Man, I hope so. Like on the Oklahoma side of things, they want it back. Oklahoma State, you know, the new head coach over there is open to it coming back as well. He said spot the ball. I think it's one of those things that would be great for the sport to come back. But Oklahoma State's got a pretty stacked non conference schedule coming up down the road. I think Oklahoma is pretty well locked in, but there's some years, maybe like 29, 28, 29 where they have an opportunity to get it back. But I don't know, we'll see. It's going to take some, some time. What does it say? Time heals all wounds and I think with a little bit more time and maybe some, some more pressure economically that might be something that jumps back on the schedule.

13:24

Well plus we got Kansas and Missouri back so I guess anything can happen.

14:03

I mean Oregon, Oregon State, they just locked up a couple more, you know, matchups in their rivalry so it's Something that can happen, should happen, needs to happen. These interstate rivalries, regardless of the conference, that's what's part of the greatness of college football.

14:08

Well, I was going to say, I mean, plus you guys are busy playing home in a ways with Michigan while Indiana's playing Howard and North Texas.

14:23

Good for that peacock.

14:30

Yeah, John, schedule a real game.

14:32

Greg Sankey policing the sec. Should he be finding his coaches in house to keep things sane? We'll talk about that coming up next. But first, I want to remind you guys, workplace chaos, deadlines, stacking up your inbox, overflowing. That one position you have to fill still sitting up when when the pressure is on and you need to hire the right person. This is a job for Sponsored Jobs. Indeed. Sponsored Jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. The skills, experience, location, all of it. So you're not just hoping the right candidate is going to stumble across your post and the stat that says it all in the minute. We've been talking to you. Companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed. That's according to Indeed Data Worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing the candidates who check all your boxes. We're talking less stress, less time, more results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. The listeners of our Show Get a 75 sponsored job credit to help you get your job the premium status it deserves. All you got to do is head to indeed.com podcast indeed.com podcast support our show. Tell them you heard about it right here. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply if you need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

14:35

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15:55

All right, SEC Squad, roll along here. We added our buddy Chris Marler from Locked On Gamecocks. And fellas back from Summer House, right?

16:26

I did. We're trying. Why are we doing this during Bravo hours? Guys, what are we trying to do right now? We have the Summer House reunion on. You guys are making me make me come on this stupid show.

16:34

Conference finals.

16:45

Bravo.

16:46

That's what we're worried about.

16:47

One of the topics at SEC meetings, Craig Sankey was Asked if he's going to hand out fines to his coaches for taking shots at one another, he said he's had conversations with coaches about expectations and care from people in leadership positions. He said those people in leadership positions need to function like leaders in their conduct and commentary. He declined to say if any coaches will be fined or sanctioned. But pose the question to you guys, how important do you think that is? I. I almost. I want it. Where are the Steve Spurriers who are taking shots? Why are we. Why are we silencing that kind of stuff?

16:48

They need to pick on him for once. No, I don't.

17:21

Can you really call it silencing when Lane Kiffin is doing an interview on Ole Miss every single day for two weeks? I mean, is that really silencing?

17:24

Well, if he starts finding them, yeah.

17:33

I don't see this happening, number one. But, yeah, I'm with Gordy. I want more Steve Spurriers. I think they. Fewer Bill Belichicks. I think that people should be fine for. For being too boring and never saying anything. Talk them into the building. What are we doing here? This is supposed to be fun, right?

17:35

Fine line between Steve Spur, Bill Belichick and segregation talk in the off season in a national magazine has nothing to do with football. That's just my opinion. I. There's a lot of stuff going on. Also, I say, once again, underwater basket weaving sounds hard as blank, so I wouldn't hate on that either. I. I just. I think for me, it's like, I love the talk, and it felt like we had a ton. It. It felt like every single thing I saw today on social media was like, bars, bars, bars. Elko was on fire. A lot of other coaches, I thought, did a great job. But I do think also that it's kind of like a perfect microcosm of the entire sport itself because it's so chaotic and there's so many things that they don't have a handle on. Do I think that they're going to prioritize finding coaches for stuff they're saying in the off season? Honestly, there's so many bigger fish to fry at this point. Again, let's steer away from stuff in the civil rights era, but at the same time, like, let's. Like, there's so many other problems that I think some people need to fix in this sport before they start handing down meaningless fines that people can pay up with a. A few hours work.

17:53

Well, there's something to be said for conduct detrimental to the league. And you see that in professional sports at the same time the owners of those professional sports agree to the rules of engagement, right? We don't have any rules right now. So before he can start handing out fines, he's got to get the presidents and the ads on board to say, hey, guys, this is how we need to be conducting ourselves and talking about our league so that we can better profit from this league. We can't be dogging another school because that hurts our league, that hurts our profitability as a league.

19:00

There's only one good line to draw.

19:32

I think that's a really good point by, by both of you brought it up there. And I think if I'm Greg Sankey, honestly, I would just like to avoid all this. I would just pick up the phone, forget about this fine stuff, right? Pick up the phone, call Lane Kiff and go, hey, Lane, love the Twitter, Twitter trolling, love all that stuff. But to Chris Marler's point, to John's point, can we turn down the volume just a little bit? This is maybe detrimental to a brand of the league in general, to Ole Miss, I get there's some beef there, but that is a good point that I wasn't thinking of when I was making my pro wrestling related comments there at the top.

19:34

If you want to know how seriously, in my opinion, just my opinion, if you want to know how seriously the SEC is taking it, go look at the schedule from today. Because every other coach had 15 minutes and then at 5pm Lane Kiffin had 30. And it feels like if you're going to sit here and continue to put a microphone in front of this man, you know what he's capable of doing. Don't talk out the other side of your mouth and say, well, we should probably start finding him too. It's like, like you could have stuck him at the 10:45am Mark and instead you put him at 5:00 clock by himself after hours of a break with just him before Sankey spoke. And I thought that was wild.

20:10

You talk pro wrestling, Miller, and college football is the closest thing to pro wrestling that we have. The personalities that run the sport are incredible and they're willing to take pot shots at one another, whether it's Sark at Texas Tech or whoever. That's kind of what's great, is these coaches are great personalities. Like, I've actually kind of become a little bit of an Eli fan over the last couple years and I, I was surprised to see and feel myself doing that. But I just have enjoyed what he's had to say lately and that I think the personalities make it great and at the same time there's got to be a little bit of balance to it.

20:50

Plus Auburn can't win titles in that either. So it is pretty much the same thing.

21:23

Just let him cut promos every week, man. Yeah, just let them cut an old fashioned stone cold promo.

21:27

Yeah.

21:32

The flip side of it is I hate performative nonsense. And the stunt that Alex Gillesh put it pulled out today is absolutely performative nonsense. Yeah. Nobody in that room cares about what I think about the playoff. Of course not. You're not going to make it. But still, give us a number also.

21:33

You're the new guy.

21:49

Yeah.

21:51

Yeah. Come on.

21:51

Yeah, start a number. Clark Lee wouldn't throw out a number either. He's like, yeah, whatever, whatever makes sense for the league. But he's the AFCA president so I think he has to kind of toe that line.

21:52

Well, doesn't.

22:02

And John Sumrall today came out just guns ablazing.

22:02

Doesn't it feel like.

22:06

No, no, he didn't. Stephen. That was everybody.

22:07

Everybody in that middle tier in the SEC though are like, they're all going to be on board with the 24 team because that's their best chance to make the playoff. Everybody from Mizzou to. I mean I'll put Florida there right now. Like they're all going to be for this because yeah, it's. They, they know if they go nine and three, they have a chance to make the playoffs.

22:09

Yeah, it's all, it's all like whatever, self aggrandizing, whatever you want. The people that are not in favor of expanding are people that would be okay if it was a four team playoff. I mean that's where we are.

22:27

Yeah, I think Elkos was his comment. Like, I think what you're saying is right, Steven. And same with you, Gordy. I think what Elko said though is pretty illuminating too, which is like they're not. Why, why are we asking the coaches? They don't have a say in it. Like that's, that's been the worst part, I think about this offseason because I think maybe I'm just dumb enough till like this, this specific off season to think, yeah, maybe the coaches who are most impacted have the most experience. All this have been like, like directly surrounding the sport and surrounded by it for so long and know all the talking points of it. Maybe they should have a say. And it's like, why are you asking us? Like we're not going to make the decisions. The ads, they're going to write checks and and cash them as well. They're the ones making all decisions, not them.

22:39

Well, when we return, guys, there was another big topic that Kirby Smart brought up that has been a topic and that's branching out on our own. When we return, the SEC breaking away from college sports. We'll discuss that coming your way next here on the SEC Squad Show.

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23:57

SEC Squad roll along here. One of the other big topics at SEC spring meetings this week, Governance and no, not who your governor is. In your opinion, should the SEC explore breaking away from the NCAA creating their own thing? We heard Kirby Smart endorse this this week saying he is not afraid of the SEC breaking away from the college sports current structure in order to make their own rules. Anybody surprised Kirby had that take?

24:28

Not after hearing the president of the university say what he said. I mean that's kind of just the company line at Georgia right now. Now I agree. I mean it's one of those things. But if you're gonna, if you're going to do it and the first time you set a set of rules that puts the SEC behind the eight ball to where you can't get the five star player out of Tampa to come to your school and all of a sudden the Big Ten and the Big 12, they have the advantage. All of a sudden it's going to be blamed as well. You want it to break away. This is your fault and I don't know that anybody wants that. This is the problem that nobody just wants to be the bad guy. They're going to trying congress to get something done. It's not going to work because nothing ever works. And they're going to say hey well we tried so let's just continue the Wild west thing and while we're at it, let's just punish Ole Miss for something they did and it will be all right.

24:54

Well and I'm wondering here too, what does Breakaway actually mean, does that mean, hey, we're no longer a part of the ncaa, we're not going to participate in the College Football Playoff? Because if that's the case, the, then you're actually heading back to full circle where these conferences operate independently and then somebody else determines who's the national champion. Because then we're looking at the SEC creating their own little playoff and determining who the SEC champion is. And if they're not going to play anybody else after that, or they're maybe going to go to a bowl game and play in this invitational, maybe the Sugar bowl against another team from another conference, and that's the last game of the season. Who's to say we're not going back to pre BCS era football if we're going to start talking about conferences breaking away from what we have now?

25:49

John, I got it. We can call it the National Invitational Tournament because it'll have that kind of eyeballs on it as well.

26:30

Oh, God, kill me.

26:37

I just think that the, the thing that scares me the most outside of anything, with the geography of the Southeast breaking away from any other big entity, I, I think outside of that, the thing that, that worries me the most is like, it feels like that the idea that the SEC really has been somehow been doing the rest of college football a DisService by the eight game conference schedule and how they haven't done things fairly. Like, it's like that we have allowed like talking points in the Big Ten and some other conferences and gaslighting the rest of the country and thinking like, yeah, those are why all the problems happen. That's why they won for 20 years. It's only because of this. And it's like maybe it was because they were paying some players, I don't know. But also it's not the only reason you won. 17 of 20 national titles are played in 17 to 20 national titles. I mean that, that part to me is still so absurd.

26:38

Because they played cupcakes in November, right?

27:29

Like that whole part, like, and again, like, like, and I said this today on Twitter and somebody like, I know that social media is dumb enough to figure out a way around this, and especially the Big Ten fans, which is like I, I said, if they're gonna not play this cupcake game, and I can't believe Sanki said that out loud. The actual cupcake game part of it in his quote. But going into November versus playing that game in September and now you're going to say, what, what, what's left for S or Big Ten Weirdos to say like that the SEC is still doing wrong and the answer will be that now they're scared to go travel up north or out west or what the hell are like there will this will continue to move around and they will move the goalpost into another talking point that's still invalid and less real than the other arguments they've already made. But I, I still am like in shock that Kurt Signetti going up in front of a microphone to that other person that works in our organization saying, hey, would you take the SEC model? And it, it got so many legs. And people like, yeah, you tell them, Kurt. I mean that, that alone is like one of the biggest catalysts. This whole thing, it's just as wrong today and inaccurate today as it was then last July.

27:32

Chris, I, I just can't believe this. You obviously have never paid attention to Penn State versus Maryland on Novemb. Peacock at 9:30 at 11:00am, baby.

28:38

Well, if I can interject, I mean, let's follow the Big Ten model. I mean, you know the. That's not the right graphic. I want to pull up.

28:48

I was like, come on, Gordy, what is that?

28:55

The last three national champions for the

28:57

Big Ten, Big Ten squad.

29:00

Go look at their non cons. They played three cupcakes and that's it. And who gives a damn if it was September, November, October or whatever.

29:01

Like, well, technically the Big Ten plays cupcakes in October. All of the teams, right?

29:08

There you go. There's a.

29:15

Unless it's Ohio State talking about scheduling, I don't want to hear any other programs talking about. Penn State historically has not done this, especially over the last five years. Michigan didn't leave their state in the month of September from 2019 to 2024. And when they did it was against 4 and 8 Nebraska on September 30th, the effing last day of the month. Indiana doesn't have a power four non con in the next five years. Like, who? How did we get here to. People were like, yeah, you know what? They were right though. Kurt Signetti said it. He went 112 last year. Like, what the hell are we doing?

29:16

The thing is, it's not even about truth at this point because what the Big Ten has done and what they've done is very political and they've built a coalition. It's no longer just the Big Ten against the sec, right? The Big Ten now has Notre Dame on its side. It now has the ACC on its side. It now has the Big 12 on its side.

29:49

The alliance.

30:08

And I think Kirby Smart in particular was feeling like his back was against the wall and that he's being pushed against the corner a little bit. So now Kirby Smart, who I'll disagree a little bit on the ad thing. I actually think the head coaches are more powerful than the ads. We can argue about the semantics of negotiations here, but Kirby Smart's voice carries a lot farther than whoever the Georgia athletic directors. I don't even know who that person's name is. So the point here is that I think this is Kirby Smart saying, oh yeah, we're still Georgia, we're still the big bad sec, and if you're going to push us into a corner, we're going to do what we want. That was my reaction to his comments,

30:10

and I think you should do that.

30:48

Like, I agree to some extent he doesn't have to do it publicly, but at least behind the scenes, take, take

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back the upper hand. Say, you know what, the schedule, cupcakes, doesn't matter.

30:56

You could have forced everyone's hand. Like, this is, this is the most upsetting part about the Greg Sankey thing. And I need Gordy, you know, I need to mince my words so I don't get myself in trouble with the sec. But like, I will also say you had, you got backed into a corner from the scheduling thing and you did something. And I don't think he did it because he was bullied into it necessarily. I think that's part of it. But it's also because, all right, if we go to nine conference games, we're going to make a crap ton of money off this. And of course we're going to do that because that's what drives every decision in the sport now is, is how much money it can make. It has nothing to do with the consumers of the product or the coaches or any of the players, any kind of stuff. It's just how much money they can make off of it. But that being said, what he could have done was said, listen, we will go to nine conference games when everyone in Power 4 plays a 10th Power 4 opponent every year. And then that way you move to a universal scheduling that's at least a little bit parallel. There's still going to be some discrepancies and disparities between it. But like, at least you're, you have a solid, like, universal thing that you can go off of and say you're going to play 10 Power 4 opponents. What you do in the other two, whether it's G6 or another Power 4 FCS, whatever, but now we're on the same page. And instead he got backed into a corner to do nine conference games. And oh, by the way you got now you're the only league that has a mandate saying everyone's got to play a 10th conference, a powerful power four game.

30:59

That's, that's the graphic I was looking for. Michigan's non con in 23 when they want it all. ECU, UNLV and Bowling Green, Ohio State in 24, Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall. And last year Indiana, Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State. And oh by the way, Indiana's repeating it again with North Texas, Western Kentucky and Howard. Like there's clearly, it's clearly not hurting them, not playing a tough non conference. In fact, it's helping them in. Texas was hurt by playing Ohio State last year.

32:18

I even brought it up.

32:47

It's the best non conference schedule of those three. When just looking at it, I didn't see another team that could even compete with the Old Dominion on the other two schedules. I mean, and I think the first play of the game, like Indiana, there's a pick six to Old Dominion that they ran back in that game. And yeah, listen, they can make jokes. And you want to know how you stop all of this? You start beating them in the College Football Playoff. If you don't, everybody is going to gang up. You're going to see on social media all of the, the Twitter trolls and lemmings are going to pile on about the evil SEC and Disney and ESPN and all of that and just, just start winning the game. That, that's what you need to do. You need to focus on that instead of eliminating Wofford on November 20th.

32:48

The caveat I'll add though, Stephen, is win the games in the playoffs. I don't give a damn if South Carolina loses the Illinois in the whatever bowl. You know what I mean? Like, yet they're beating their chest over that crap because the SEC is playing these bowl games that nobody cares about. You're playing in the, the, I don't know, the JC bowl and you lose by two. Who gives a crap?

33:40

And they don't count. Like Ole Miss beat Tulane and they beat Georgia, but they don't count those because it wasn't against the Big Ten team. They, they, oh, you got beat by Miami. You know, the last play of the game. Well, they beat Georgia in the, in the Sugar Bowl. That, that, that was a, that was a big boy game with the starting quarterback, unlike what they had a year ago.

34:01

Right.

34:21

It, it's one of those things that everybody is going to try to diminish everything about it because you just have to do it. It's like the toxicity around the sport and what's going on. You have to diminish everything that is going on. And they put it all together. And I try to tell people it's like, listen, Ole Miss might be in the SEC. Ole Miss is not on board with playing a 12 team playoff in the future if 24 is an option. Ole Miss wants a 2014 playoff, obviously. And, but they just say, oh, the SEC is against this, the SEC is evil. And you know, ESPN and their overlords are going to, you know, try and take us into the seventh layer of hell.

34:21

It is an amazing job of delusion and gaslighting that this, this whole thing has happened in terms of like what Stephen said earlier. They play the FCS games in September, but the difference is you go a full, full month of October without playing a ranked opponent. It's, it's impossible in the SEC to get to November without playing a single, a single ranked opponent. Michigan did it in 2023. They didn't play one until Week 11 with Penn State. Indiana did it two years ago before they won the Natty when they were 100 and they played Ohio State in week 12. I mean, it's impossible to make it to almost Thanksgiving without playing a ranked opponent. And if you bring that up, which is a very logical and factual piece of information, the next comment out of their mouths would say, well, the rankings are all skewed though, because it's all SEC teams and you're like, jesus, how do I, you know what? You guys are the Amanda and West of the entire football world.

35:04

You guys get it, ranks them because they own the games, right?

35:58

It's, it is, it is a whack a mole of, of arguments that are so stupid and wrong. But they tell themselves enough that that's what's real. And if you tell yourself something enough, you will, you will start to believe it.

36:02

Yeah, I mean, the optics of this whole thing is really what, what bothers me. I mean, the nine games, the nine game SEC schedule, fine. If you want to go to a uniform schedule, say that. It's just the optics of. They complain. We do. They complain. We do.

36:14

And they figured out how to attack the sec psychologically. They honestly figured that out.

36:29

It looks bad.

36:34

Honestly. The whole thing of ESPN is kind of a 10, 20 year old take to me in today's market. The podcasting universe, the social media universe has a, is, has a greater impact than Whatever is being said on first take and pti in my opinion.

36:36

And as if Joel Klott doesn't sit there every week and kowtow to the big. To the Big Ten. And you know, it's ridiculous. Like he does everything you complain about's doing the exact same thing the other way to the Big Ten.

36:53

Listen, he knows who pays his bills.

37:08

Yeah, yeah. September 19th is going to be the biggest game in college football this year. Will Big Noon kickoff be there? No, they will be at Rutgers versus Iowa at 11 o' clock on Fox.

37:10

Hey, that's a, that's a marquee matchup. Steve, you better.

37:21

I do not think 7 to 6 ESPN should go to a Big 10 school for game day until Fox's big noon Sunday comes to an SEC program. If that is the biggest game, that's the one thing it's like, oh, game day is just ignoring the Big Ten. They're going to SEC schools all over the place. Big Ten is never. Or the Big Noon is never gone to anywhere else outside of their. What they pay for.

37:26

It's a really good point.

37:53

Yeah.

37:55

Well, I just want to point out Indiana's schedule I'm looking at right now. Their first four. They don't leave home until October. And their first road trip is at Rutgers.

37:55

Oh, 9:30 on Peacock. That is going to rock that Sunday morning.

38:07

Peacock.

38:12

Plus they're scheduled Western Kentucky, Northwestern, then at Rutgers. At Nebraska is their first even game that you could argue might be somewhat difficult. I mean, at Nebraska. Again, Nebraska ain't run.

38:12

Indiana by 40.

38:27

Yeah, Ohio State.

38:29

Okay. Finally we get good. Then they're at Michigan. Okay, good. But then the rest of their schedules. Minnesota, usc at Washington, home for Purdue.

38:31

I mean, I actually that's a pretty good schedule. It's just very much backloaded. It kind.

38:39

Yeah.

38:43

No offense, Miller. You know I love you and you know I love Mizzou. It kind of reminds me of Mizzou's schedule last year. The issue is not like Indiana playing a bad schedule. The issue is Indiana's coach playing that schedule the past few years while being so loud about other people not playing the schedule that that's what's it'd be. It would be like if Sharon Moore is like, I'm. I am so for fidelity and I don't like sharp knives. So as long as there's. That's not involved in my life, I'm a happy man. Then you're like, whoa, Sharon, put the knife down and just go play somebody on the road. They did play Oklahoma last year too.

38:44

You'll be happy to know Missouri has a backloaded schedule once again. Three out of four. Three out of four college football participants in the last last four.

39:18

I think there's there's off to a good start, though.

39:28

We'll see what happens.

39:31

There's a Mizzou angling for the Big Ten joke that's there to be made.

39:32

Oh no. Did what the Big Ten did. They would play all their cupcakes the first few weeks they Mizzou. Mizzou doesn't play November cupcakes.

39:36

I like that you're saying Kansas is a cupcake. That makes me happy. No, I. I'm. I'm happy. Genuinely. Thank you.

39:43

Let's leave it there, fellas. Remember to follow and subscribe to your favorite SEC shows. And of course you could become an everydayer if you want to subscribe to your favorite Locked on sec show lockdown podcast.com everydayer to learn more about our everyday or club. Of course we'll be covering covering you every day throughout the off season. Don't forget, I'll have you covered with the entire conference. Covering your team every day With Locked on sec, we are part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Covering your team every day.

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