Sankey Understands Nine Games in Other Conferences Not Equal to SEC's Eight

Arkansas fans can only dream of slates as devoid of elite teams as those in other conferences

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Jul 20, 2023 5:49 PM EDT

In this story:

FRISCO, Texas – As SEC commissioner Greg Sankey navigated the waters between the decision to go with an eight game schedule following the SEC meetings in Florida and the announcement of opponents in mid-June, he caught an earful from all sides about how the conference should be ashamed it chose to stick with the eight game format instead of the nine games other conferences had moved toward in recent years.

However, Sankey knew something his detractors didn't appear to be able to grasp. Equal doesn't mean comparable. The idea that life isn't fair if the SEC doesn't play as many games as the Pac 12 or Big 12, would be flipped on its head as soon as 2024 conference opponents were released. And how right he was.

Following the 2024 schedule show, Sankey said he no longer heard people complaining about how much easier the SEC has it with only eight games. In fact, Oklahoma, long a member of one of the nation's noisiest detractors, the Big 12, never batted an eye over its nine conference games in its current situation. However, as soon as the eight SEC games popped up on the screen, there was an audible gasp from the Sooner state. A schedule that featured rivalry games with Texas and Oklahoma State, plus one with whichever other random non-traditional Big 12 power popped up that season was replaced with Texas, perennial power Alabama, a trip to LSU, and games against rising power Tennessee and a South Carolina team that closed last season by taking down No. 6 Tennessee and No. 13 Clemson.

That's a larger number of big games packed into eight conference games than the nine games on the Big 12 schedule. In addition, the Sooners still have to find two more teams to play, including a required Power 5 opponent. Oklahoma fans now know what Sankey already knew, equal isn't always fair.

Meanwhile, across the border in Arkansas, Razorback fans were celebrating a schedule that came to them as a relief after being locked into the powerful SEC West for the past 30 years. That doesn't mean Arkansas got a schedule that would be deemed weaker than a Big 12 or Pac 12 conference slate. It just meant the Hogs didn't have to play Alabama and Georgia in the same year.

To put in perspective how unbalanced things are for SEC teams in regard to teams in other conferences, look at the following numbers.

National Championships

Since 2005, the list of teams that won't be in the SEC in 2024 which have won a national championship includes Florida State, Clemson and Ohio State. Over that stretch, the SEC has claimed 14 national titles spread among six teams.

It should be noted that the addition of Texas and Oklahoma only brings one of those titles, the Vince Young led Texas championship in 2005. Over the past 17 seasons, here's how the national title scene shakes out:
SEC – 13
ACC – 3
Big Ten – 1
Pac 12 – 0
Big 12 – 0

National Championship Game Appearances

The rest of the conferences have struggled to even land teams in the national championship game despite having the numerical odds in their favor. Of the 18 teams to appear in the national title game under the college football playoff system, 10 are from the SEC. The SEC has appeared in all but one national title game, which happened to be the first ever. Since then, the other three Power Five conferences have only nabbed 37% of the possible spots in the national championship game. The SEC has occupied both national title game slots more times than other Power Five conferences not named ACC have made the championship game in total.

National title participation breaks down like this:
SEC – 10
ACC – 4
Big Ten – 2
Big 12 – 1
Pac 12 – 1

Arkansas has played the eventual national champion in five of the past eight seasons in Alabama, Georgia and LSU as part of the Razorbacks' SEC schedule. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has never played a conference game against a national champion during the College Football Playoff era. This past season was the first time the Sooners played a CFP finalist, much less a winner. Because the Sooners are the only other Big 12 school to make the playoffs, losing in the first round all four times, Oklahoma has only played one game against a team that has gone on to make the playoffs in its entire school history.

No one in the Pac-12 has ever played a team in conference play that went on to win the CFP championship game. Only once, that inaugural season in 2014, has a Pac-12 team even made the title game. To put things in perspective, the American Athletic Conference is one appearance away from having as many schools make the playoffs as the Pac-12, so their nine conference games out on the West Coast are light years from measuring up to an eight game SEC slate.

So, before some random guy sitting on a toilet in Oregon pops off on social media about Arkansas playing a weaker schedule in 2024 because the SEC only has eight conference games, he should take a minute to actually consider the quality of schedule. Then he will realize what Sankey already knows. Eight games in the SEC rates a full mountain higher than nine games in the Pac-12, especially once USC and UCLA head to financially greener pastures in the Big Ten.