*I'm not in anyway trying to say the SEC isn't really that great. I acknowledge their greatness. They are the best conference in college football. End of story.

Now....looking at UT's schedule this coming year...how much more difficult is it than what they faced last year?



Playing national champs Michigan in non-conf is no doubt impressive....but they would have played them if they had stayed in the B12.

Now beyond that....they get the extra non-con cupcake since the SEC has 4 non-con games. So there is one advantage they get in their schedule that they wouldn't get in the B12.

Here are last year's records of the teams they will face in the SEC this year:

Miss St 5-7 (1-7 SEC)
OU 10-3 (7-2 B12)
Georgia 13-1 (8-0 SEC)
Vandy 2-10 (0-8 SEC)
Florida 5-7 (3-5 SEC)
Arky 4-8 (1-7 SEC)
UK 7-6 (3-5 SEC)
Aggy 7-6 (4-4 SEC)

So they will face one team that had a winning record in SEC conference play. Obviously facing Georgia is a hell of a challenge and there isn't a team like them in the B12. The other team they play with a winning conference record is OU who they obviously would have faced in the B12 had they both stayed.

So having to face Georgia is a nightmare they wouldn't get in the B12. Beyond that....is it a huge difference looking at the schedule they got in their first SEC year?

I see 4 games they could lose and 6 total that will be legit challenges. I see a possibility for 3 losses. If that happens while their golden boy QB spends another season behind his slower, less athletic, less agile and less accurate doughboy starter the fallout from mega donors and the student body will be entertaining.

FWIW I can't wait to see them play Aggie because as a nonpartisan fan that rivalry had always been a bloodbath. Good rivalry games are fun even if you're not affiliated.

boognish_bear said:

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So they will face one team that had a winning record in SEC conference play. Obviously facing Georgia is a hell of a challenge and there isn't a team like them in the B12.

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Don't ever forget that UGA is one sub-exceptional hire away from what they endured from the mid 80's through the early 00's. Just like younger folks have no knowledge about what Bama was like post-Bear Bryant and pre-Saban. A stretch of a quarter of a century from 82'-07' of a hair above average football on average at best. I'm hopeful the teams that have been in the top 7-8 year in-year-out for the last decade get really humbled sooner rather than later.

https://georgiadogs.com/news/2015/11/21/Bulldogs_Use_Overtime_To_Defeat_Eagles

They have a aggy like / SEC like schedule that includes 8 home games, 3 sure win cupcake non-con games, and only 8 total conference games. If they show up for all 12 they're almost guaranteed to go at least 7-5.

Johnny Bear said:

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They have a aggy like / SEC like schedule that includes 8 home games, 3 sure win cupcake non-con games, and only 8 total conference games. If they show up for all 12 they're almost guaranteed to go at least 7-5.

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A 7-5 UT season would be delightful !!!

More losses than wins please. They've already lost their two top running backs so off to a good start. And Sarks in divorce proceedings.

UTSA will not be an easy matchup.... I could see losses to Michigan, UTSA, Georgia, ATM and OU easy...Arkansas might catch them as well - - might be the start of the Manning Era,....

SEC has a super high ceiling (UGA, Bama) but the rest ain't all that. Very mid actually.

Arkansas, Florida, Vandy, Kentucky, USC, MSU, Tenn, Auburn, Ole Piss, Aggie, and Mizzou blow. They wouldn't be any better in the Big12

HarryMehre said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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SEC has a super high ceiling (UGA, Bama) but the rest ain't all that. Very mid actually.

Arkansas, Florida, Vandy, Kentucky, USC, MSU, Tenn, Auburn, Ole Piss, Aggie, and Mizzou blow. They wouldn't be any better in the Big12

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I see where you have skipped watching college football the last couple of years.

You might check where Missouri and Ole Miss are ranked this year and how they did last year. I mean both won NY6 bowl games. Tennessee is getting better. I see that you didn't mention LSU.

Kentucky, Auburn and the Aggies have chances to be solid teams this year.

I suspect that Texas, LSU, Missouri and Ole Miss would all be picked to win the Big 12 if they were in the conference.

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Sorry maybe you didn't understand what I said, the SEC has a high ceiling with 1-2 teams every year that are by far the best in sport, those interchange with Bama, Georgia, maybe LSU (now add UT into the mix?)

But my statement stands. Who cares if Mizzou or Ole Miss won a NY6 bowl? Do Big12 teams not win NY6 bowls? Baylor, Kstate, TCU, and OSU have all won or competed in NY6 bowls in the last 3 years. Now you can add Utah into the mix.

BigGameBaylorBear said:

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HarryMehre said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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SEC has a super high ceiling (UGA, Bama) but the rest ain't all that. Very mid actually.

Arkansas, Florida, Vandy, Kentucky, USC, MSU, Tenn, Auburn, Ole Piss, Aggie, and Mizzou blow. They wouldn't be any better in the Big12

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I see where you have skipped watching college football the last couple of years.

You might check where Missouri and Ole Miss are ranked this year and how they did last year. I mean both won NY6 bowl games. Tennessee is getting better. I see that you didn't mention LSU.

Kentucky, Auburn and the Aggies have chances to be solid teams this year.

I suspect that Texas, LSU, Missouri and Ole Miss would all be picked to win the Big 12 if they were in the conference.

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Sorry maybe you didn't understand what I said, the SEC has a high ceiling with 1-2 teams every year that are by far the best in sport, those interchange with Bama, Georgia, maybe LSU (now add UT into the mix?)

But my statement stands. Who cares if Mizzou or Ole Miss won a NY6 bowl? Do Big12 teams not win NY6 bowls? Baylor, Kstate, TCU, and OSU have all won or competed in NY6 bowls in the last 3 years. Now you can add Utah into the mix.

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Moving forward and controlling for future changes, the top 1/3 of the SEC will probably be a tier above the top 1/3 of the Big 12 on the football field and that should not be too controversial. To that end, no one is going to reasonably argue that 2024 Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Utah, and Arizona are comparable to 2024 Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma (plus possibly 3-4 others) on the field.

I agree, that's what I'm saying. The top of the SEC has always been super elite, those 1-2 elite teams will grow to maybe 2-3 now.

I just can't stand the narrative that the sec is a stacked top to bottom with elite teams, it's not true. If you take away the top outliers, the conference isn't all that. Especially since they are playing cupcake teams in late November to inflate their records.

Outside of their 1-2 teams, the sec is average.

The SEC deliberately changed the game to their advantage. They came up with a plan and executed it. Have to give them respect for that.

What I mean by deliberate is prior to the BCS, the 'best' teams rotated around different conferences. P12, B10, B12/SWC/B8, ACC, SEC etc. No one conference dominated for large stretches. It was that way for +80 years.So, all of the sudden the sec is the best? I don't think so. That cycle was interrupted by the sec with deliberate tactics.

BCS created with SEC commissioner running it
They manipulate the scheduling. 4 OOC games, usually 4 cream puffs, inflating records
8 conference games, inflating conference records
SEC bowl games are almost always near sec fan bases
Cupcake in November
Riding coattails of Alabama and now Georgia, so the 'entire' secsecsec must be great
Publicity, TV contracts and running the constant narrative secsecsec was the best
Paying players under the table (I do realize a LOT of programs did this that were not in the secsecsec)

Problem now is Alabama was good for so long that there is more truth to the sec being the best than fiction, whereas from 1996-2013 it was more fiction than truth.

The final nail in the coffin is the disparity in TV revenue. Outside of the B10, no other conference can compete with the secsecsec. So the cycle that was CFB champions is gone and probably will never happen again. Especially with all of the conference realignment.

Ok ut & ou are gone. If you want to debate their teams then go to their website. May they rot in mediocrity of the sec forever.

BigGameBaylorBear said:

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I agree, that's what I'm saying. The top of the SEC has always been super elite, those 1-2 elite teams will grow to maybe 2-3 now.

I just can't stand the narrative that the sec is a stacked top to bottom with elite teams, it's not true. If you take away the top outliers, the conference isn't all that. Especially since they are playing cupcake teams in late November to inflate their records.

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This is just cope. SEC has a lot of good teams this year. Bama, UGA, Texas, OU, MIzz, Ole MIss, LSU, Tenn, Aggy and Auburn will all be ranked. Thats a lot of good teams. Even Kentucky and Florida will probably be fair to decent. Arkansas, Miss St and Carolina will be like 5 win teams and Vandy will be its usual. Who cares whether they play the cupcakes at the beginning or end of the year. I get why you would want to play wofford before you play a big game against say Auburn or Bama. UGA opens with Clemson so they can play GA southern or whoever before they play Mizz or Tenn.

UT better make a run this year cuz it's the easiest schedule in the SEC ( I believe) and will only get tougher

muddybrazos said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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I agree, that's what I'm saying. The top of the SEC has always been super elite, those 1-2 elite teams will grow to maybe 2-3 now.

I just can't stand the narrative that the sec is a stacked top to bottom with elite teams, it's not true. If you take away the top outliers, the conference isn't all that. Especially since they are playing cupcake teams in late November to inflate their records.

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This is just cope. SEC has a lot of good teams this year. Bama, UGA, Texas, OU, MIzz, Ole MIss, LSU, Tenn, Aggy and Auburn will all be ranked. Thats a lot of good teams. Even Kentucky and Florida will probably be fair to decent. Arkansas, Miss St and Carolina will be like 5 win teams and Vandy will be its usual. Who cares whether they play the cupcakes at the beginning or end of the year. I get why you would want to play wofford before you play a big game against say Auburn or Bama. UGA opens with Clemson so they can play GA southern or whoever before they play Mizz or Tenn.

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OU, Mizz, Ole Miss, LSU, Tenn, Aggy, Auburn, Kentucky, and Florida are mid teams. They have good seasons here and there but so do Baylor, OSU, TCU, Kstate, WVU, Kansas, Utah, and Arizona.

Give Big12 teams a cupcake game in November and we'd have a lot more teams in bowl games. Sonny Dykes said it best a couple years ago, SEC is playing a high school team in week 10 while they were stuck with Texas

BigGameBaylorBear said:

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muddybrazos said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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I agree, that's what I'm saying. The top of the SEC has always been super elite, those 1-2 elite teams will grow to maybe 2-3 now.

I just can't stand the narrative that the sec is a stacked top to bottom with elite teams, it's not true. If you take away the top outliers, the conference isn't all that. Especially since they are playing cupcake teams in late November to inflate their records.

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This is just cope. SEC has a lot of good teams this year. Bama, UGA, Texas, OU, MIzz, Ole MIss, LSU, Tenn, Aggy and Auburn will all be ranked. Thats a lot of good teams. Even Kentucky and Florida will probably be fair to decent. Arkansas, Miss St and Carolina will be like 5 win teams and Vandy will be its usual. Who cares whether they play the cupcakes at the beginning or end of the year. I get why you would want to play wofford before you play a big game against say Auburn or Bama. UGA opens with Clemson so they can play GA southern or whoever before they play Mizz or Tenn.

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OU, Mizz, Ole Miss, LSU, Tenn, Aggy, Auburn, Kentucky, and Florida are mid teams. They have good seasons here and there but so do Baylor, OSU, TCU, Kstate, WVU, Kansas, Utah, and Arizona.

Give Big12 teams a cupcake game in November and we'd have a lot more teams in bowl games. Sonny Dykes said it best a couple years ago, SEC is playing a high school team in week 10 while they were stuck with Texas

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Why? If we opened with Tcu instead of Tarleton and isntead played Tarleton in October how exactly would that help us make a bowl?

Also, OU has been a consistent b12 winner over the past 2 decades. LSU, Ole MIss and Tenn have been consistently 8-10 win teams lately. K state almost beat mizzoo last year but they still lost. FLorida has sucked under Napier and they split with UTAH in a home and home.

muddybrazos said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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muddybrazos said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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I agree, that's what I'm saying. The top of the SEC has always been super elite, those 1-2 elite teams will grow to maybe 2-3 now.

I just can't stand the narrative that the sec is a stacked top to bottom with elite teams, it's not true. If you take away the top outliers, the conference isn't all that. Especially since they are playing cupcake teams in late November to inflate their records.

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This is just cope. SEC has a lot of good teams this year. Bama, UGA, Texas, OU, MIzz, Ole MIss, LSU, Tenn, Aggy and Auburn will all be ranked. Thats a lot of good teams. Even Kentucky and Florida will probably be fair to decent. Arkansas, Miss St and Carolina will be like 5 win teams and Vandy will be its usual. Who cares whether they play the cupcakes at the beginning or end of the year. I get why you would want to play wofford before you play a big game against say Auburn or Bama. UGA opens with Clemson so they can play GA southern or whoever before they play Mizz or Tenn.

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OU, Mizz, Ole Miss, LSU, Tenn, Aggy, Auburn, Kentucky, and Florida are mid teams. They have good seasons here and there but so do Baylor, OSU, TCU, Kstate, WVU, Kansas, Utah, and Arizona.

Give Big12 teams a cupcake game in November and we'd have a lot more teams in bowl games. Sonny Dykes said it best a couple years ago, SEC is playing a high school team in week 10 while they were stuck with Texas

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Why? If we opened with Tcu instead of Tarleton and isntead played Tarleton in October how exactly would that help us make a bowl?

Also, OU has been a consistent b12 winner over the past 2 decades. LSU, Ole MIss and Tenn have been consistently 8-10 win teams lately. K state almost beat mizzoo last year but they still lost. FLorida has sucked under Napier and they split with UTAH in a home and home.

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Because our out-of-conference schedule is Tarleton, Utah, and Air Force. 1 great team, 1 decent g5, and 1 bad team.

Auburns out of conference is Alabama A&M, Cal, ULM, and New Mexico State. Oh… they also have Vandy on their schedule. That should be 5 free wins for a mighty SEC team, that means they need to squeak out one more win to become bowl eligible.

The almighty Ole Miss is playing Furman, Middle Tenn, Wake Forest, and GA Southern.

SEC is superior to B12 football is every way imaginable. That league is 10x more difficult than the B12 which is bordering on G5 level.
The fact that iits even a discussion is hilarious

I think a lot of you are missing the OP's point that UT's schedule THIS YEAR is not harder or a lot harder than a B12 schedule.

I'd say this is correct depending on how much weight you give the UGA game, which is much harder than any game the B12 could offer, and the extra cream puff NC game.

If they did have to play all of UGA, Bama, Ole Miss, LSU, Mizzou, Tenn -- then sure. But they don't.

They play the defending champs in the non con… as well as GA who by all accounts is a current dynasty. That alone makes their schedule more difficult than anything a B12 team will play. They also play a good OU team. Their schedule isn't that bad. Much more difficult than the Bears schedule

IowaBear said:

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They play the defending champs in the non con… as well as GA who by all accounts is a current dynasty. That alone makes their schedule more difficult than anything a B12 team will play. They also play a good OU team. Their schedule isn't that bad. Much more difficult than the Bears schedule

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The only one of those games that was added by joining the SEC is UGA,

Miss St is good. Kentucky is solid. Remind me again, which Big 12 team is playing a marquee non con game? Other than WV who's going to get their asses handed to them by PSU. Yall are dogging on Texas for their schedule which is hilarious and let's just be honest here.. hypocritical.
Guess I just don't see the point in dogging their schedule when the new B12 is a JV league compared to the SEC conference

I am not dogging them for their schedule. They are playing a very tough NC game at Mich and, as I noted, a very tough UGA game that is harder than any matchup in the B12.

The OP's point, which you seem to not want to understand but throw insults instead, is that is their SEC schedule in not tougher than a B12 schedule.

Here are the games they added by joining the SEC:

Co State
MS State
UGA
Vandy
Florida
Arky
Kentucky
A&M

Here is who they played in B12 last year (not including OU who they still play).
@ Baylor
vs. Kansas
@ Houston
vs. BYU
vs. Kansas State
@ TCU
@ Iowa State
vs. Texas Tech

If you want to play this game, you will need to compare these teams, not other teams.

IowaBear said:

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They play the defending champs in the non con… as well as GA who by all accounts is a current dynasty. That alone makes their schedule more difficult than anything a B12 team will play. They also play a good OU team. Their schedule isn't that bad. Much more difficult than the Bears schedule

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If you go back and look at my OP you will see I accounted for those things and started the post off by crediting the SEC as being hands down the best conference.

Michigan is a damn good non-con game and credit to UT for scheduling them. UT has had a great track record of scheduling an elite team in their non-con for several years. But...if UT had stayed in the B12 they still would have faced Michigan.

In my hypothetical I said that if OU/UT didn't leave then UT obviously would have also had OU on their schedule in the B12 also.

Georgia is a killer and there is nothing in the B12 on that level. That is a test UT would not get in the B12.

Beyond Georgia the teams that they have on their schedule this year look like mostly middle of the pack...and a couple even below average. So for their first year in the SEC they seemed to have pulled a relatively easier schedule than I thought they would have.

The SEC has gotten rid of the East and West conferences for now. I'm not sure how they will rotate these matchups. I'm sure very soon UT will end up with more of the higher end teams on their schedule like Bama, LSU, Tenn, Ole Miss.

IowaBear said:

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Miss St is good. Kentucky is solid. Remind me again, which Big 12 team is playing a marquee non con game? Other than WV who's going to get their asses handed to them by PSU. Yall are dogging on Texas for their schedule which is hilarious and let's just be honest here.. hypocritical.
Guess I just don't see the point in dogging their schedule when the new B12 is a JV league compared to the SEC conference

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This. Posters are acting like going 10-2 in the Big 12 is the same as going 10-2 in the SEC while, for example, 2023 Oklahoma State got blown out at home by South Alabama but likely would have won the Big 12 but for Texas being a member. See if a loss of that nature would have happened to the top 2/3rds of the SEC.

Come on.

Bingo. Anyone who seriously thinks these 2 leagues are anywhere near the same stratosphere is just being a homer.

You mean like Auburn losing at home to New Mexico State by 21 points?

GoodOleBaylorLine said:

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You mean like Auburn losing at home to New Mexico State by 21 points?

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Did Auburn make the SEC title game? Heck, did Auburn have a winning record? Oklahoma State checked both of those boxes last season.

I don't disagree with you Boog. But the big difference is the middle of the pack SEC teams they play would be at the top of the B12. Kentucky/Miss St would finish in the top 4 in the B12 easily. That's my whole point.

IowaBear said:

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I don't disagree with you Boog. But the big difference is the middle of the pack SEC teams they play would be at the top of the B12. Kentucky/Miss St would finish in the top 4 in the B12 easily. That's my whole point.

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I'm not so sure about Miss St after Leach passed away. Last year Miss St went 1-7 in conference play with their one conference win over 4-8 Arkansas.

Now they've got Lebby as their HC this year. It'll be interesting to see how they look with him in year 1 with Shapen at QB.

Aberzombie1892 said:

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IowaBear said:

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Miss St is good. Kentucky is solid. Remind me again, which Big 12 team is playing a marquee non con game? Other than WV who's going to get their asses handed to them by PSU. Yall are dogging on Texas for their schedule which is hilarious and let's just be honest here.. hypocritical.
Guess I just don't see the point in dogging their schedule when the new B12 is a JV league compared to the SEC conference

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This. Posters are acting like going 10-2 in the Big 12 is the same as going 10-2 in the SEC while, for example, 2023 Oklahoma State got blown out at home by South Alabama but likely would have won the Big 12 but for Texas being a member. See if a loss of that nature would have happened to the top 2/3rds of the SEC.

Come on.

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A 10-2 SEC team will have 3 freebies from high school teams. But what about when a 11-2 Baylor team bodied a 10-2 Ole Miss team? I remember when a 10-1 TCU beat a 9-2 Ole Miss 42-3 in 2014.

Since 2020, the Big12 is 7-3 against the SEC when you take out Alabama & Georgia (because we agreed they are outliers) and Texas & Oklahoma (because they are technically SEC now). That leaves the middle of the pack Big 12 against the middle of the pack SEC.

Quit spewing garbage on the Baylor board. There's a spot for you on TexAgs

BigGameBaylorBear said:

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Aberzombie1892 said:

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IowaBear said:

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Miss St is good. Kentucky is solid. Remind me again, which Big 12 team is playing a marquee non con game? Other than WV who's going to get their asses handed to them by PSU. Yall are dogging on Texas for their schedule which is hilarious and let's just be honest here.. hypocritical.
Guess I just don't see the point in dogging their schedule when the new B12 is a JV league compared to the SEC conference

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This. Posters are acting like going 10-2 in the Big 12 is the same as going 10-2 in the SEC while, for example, 2023 Oklahoma State got blown out at home by South Alabama but likely would have won the Big 12 but for Texas being a member. See if a loss of that nature would have happened to the top 2/3rds of the SEC.

Come on.

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A 10-2 SEC team will have 3 freebies from high school teams. But what about when a 11-2 Baylor team bodied a 10-2 Ole Miss team? I remember when a 10-1 TCU beat a 9-2 Ole Miss 42-3 in 2014.

Since 2020, the Big12 is 7-3 against the SEC when you take out Alabama & Georgia (because we agreed they are outliers) and Texas & Oklahoma (because they are technically SEC now). That leaves the middle of the pack Big 12 against the middle of the pack SEC.

Quit spewing garbage on the Baylor board. There's a spot for you on TexAgs

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Thoughts for you to marinate on:
1. How many AP national titles has the SEC won since the last time a current member of the Big 12 won one?
2. How many different go forward SEC teams have won an AP national title since the last time a current member of the go forward Big 12 won one?
3. How many different go forward SEC teams played in the four team CFP?
4. How many different go forward Big 12 teams played in the four team CFP?
5. Since the beginning of the CFP, how many go-forward SEC conference title game participants lost to a G5 in the regular season?
6. Since the beginning of the CFP, how many go-forward Big conference title game participants lost to a G5 in the regular season?
7. When was the last time a go-forward Big 12 defeated Alabama, Georgia, LSU or Tennessee?
The list goes on.