MR.CFB/Why does the SEC have a "Cupcake Saturday?" Because it works!
Ah, we are headed to Cupcake Saturday in the SEC. It is the week where every pundit, fan, friend and foe from sea to shining sea waxes poetically and critically about how awful it is that the SEC has a dearth of impact games on its schedule for this particular Saturday in November.
Now let me say up front that I agree, there IS a dearth of impact games on the SEC football schedule for Nov. 17. In fact, there are NO impact games on the SEC schedule because the match-up for the conference championship game on Dec. 1 (Alabama vs. Georgia) is already set. So the only impact games would be if Georgia loses to UMass or Alabama loses to The Citadel. And that would be some life-changing impact. Ain’t gonna happen.
On Saturday the SEC will have three conference games and two others involving very respectable teams from Conference USA in UAB (9-1) and Middle Tennessee (7-3).
The other six SEC teams are involved in light scrimmages against FCS “powerhouses” The Citadel (4-5), Idaho (4-6), UMass (4-7), Liberty (4-5), and Chattanooga (6-4). There is also Conference USA cellar-dweller Rice (1-10). All will pick up substantial checks for their participation.
For the fans, you just hope the weather is nice.
So folks, I’m not disputing the facts. The schedule ain’t good.
What interests me is how/why people get so torqued out about this.
Because here’s the deal: Unlike the NFL, college football is not league run by a governing body with a commissioner. It is an association directed by the conference commissioners.
Every conference has its own scheduling philosophy. Some conferences (Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12) CHOOSE to play nine conference games. That is what works for them.
The ACC and the SEC CHOOSE to play an eight-game conference schedule. And that is perfectly fine.
Some conferences like to front load all of their non-conference games and then play nothing but conference games in October and November. Again, that’s their decision.
The SEC gives many of its members the opportunity to make November more manageable. Again, nothing wrong with that.
Example: If No. 1 Alabama had a tough conference game—let’s say Texas A&M– this Saturday instead of a walkover with The Citadel, Alabama’s November schedule would be: LSU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, and Auburn FOLLOWED by the SEC Championship game with Georgia. Pretty tough.
If Georgia had another conference game—let’s say South Carolina—on Saturday instead of UMass, then Georgia’s November schedule would be: Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia Tech followed by the SEC championship game.
Now do I like it the fact that six SEC schools are not playing competitive games on the third Saturday in November? Not particularly.
But to hear folks talk this week, the SEC’s scheduling philosophy for this one Saturday out of 14 is just KILLING the entire sport of college football and holding back its growth.
No, it’s just a week of bad press which the SEC has chosen to absorb for the greater good of the conference After the games are played this Saturday the page gets quickly turned to Alabama-Auburn, Georgia-Georgia Tech, South Carolina-Clemson, and the rest. Cupcake Saturday will not be mentioned again until the Saturday before Thanksgiving, 2019. It will have no effect on the playoffs. College football will survive.
There is a very simple reason why the SEC goes against the court of public opinion in its November scheduling model.
“It works for us,” said someone very close to the SEC schedule-making process.
Yes it does.
Consider this: Since the 2006 season there have been 12 national championship games—8 in the BCS and 4 in the College Football Playoff. The SEC has had a team in 11 of those games and won nine of them. In 2011 and 2017 the SEC had BOTH teams in the national championship game.
Now if you really want to blame somebody for Cupcake Saturday, blame the Alabama-Auburn game.
In 1993 Alabama and Auburn mutually agreed to move their game to the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving instead of the Saturday AFTER Thanksgiving. That removed it from the holiday weekend and, if one of the two teams was in the SEC championship game (which started in 1992), that team would have a week off before the game.
This was not a popular move at Florida, which had its big state rival, Florida State, on the Saturday AFTER Thanksgiving. So three times—1993, 1994, and 1996– Florida had to play Alabama in the SEC championship game after the Crimson Tide had had the previous Saturday off and the Gators did not.
“That, as you can imagine, caused quite a bit of discussion,” said former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer (1990-2002).
Florida won all three of those games but in 1999 it fixed the problem by moving the Florida State game to the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
In 2004 Auburn completed its regular season against Alabama on Nov. 20. Auburn had Nov. 27 off while Tennessee, its opponent in the SEC championship game on Dec. 4, had to play Kentucky. Auburn beat Tennessee 38-28 for the SEC championship.
Everything changed in 2006 when college football expanded its regular season to a 12th game. The SEC put a new policy into effect that would require each conference team to play its traditional season-ending rivalry game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That would keep any team from having a competitive advantage in the SEC championship game.
The coaches, as you might imagine, were not crazy about the idea. So the trade-off to keep some of them happy was giving them a non-conference game in November while creating enough match-ups to keep the TV partners reasonably happy.
“This is really nothing new,” said Kramer.
So when all of us are fussing about the SEC schedule this Saturday, keep this in mind: If No. 1 Alabama (The Citadel, Auburn) and No. 5 Georgia (UMass, Georgia Tech) take care of business the next two Saturdays, they will meet on Dec. 1 for the SEC Championship and a berth in the College Football Playoffs. A win in the CFP semifinals would put an SEC team into the national championship game for the 12th time in the past 13 years.
“Yes it does work for the conference,” said Kramer, who led the SEC to expand and go to divisional play in 1992 and was considered to be the godfather of the BCS, which began in 1998. “If I’m a coach I want some flexibility in scheduling.
“But I will say this. Down the road this could change because the television partners want more quality games throughout the season.”
Stay tuned.