The Alabama Crimson Tide doesn’t like their 2010 football schedule. Why? Six of their last seven opponents, all SEC teams, have an open date before playing Bama.
Those six games are South Carolina (away), Ole Miss (home), Tennessee (away), LSU (away), Mississippi State (home) and Auburn (home). The Tide does have an open date between Tennessee and LSU. Also, they play Georgia State the week prior to Auburn.
Let’s be honest here. Georgia State is playing it’s first football season ever. Technically, that’s an off week for Alabama.
Both Alabama and LSU are off the week prior to their meeting in Baton Rouge. So that’s a wash, leaving Bama with four opponents having off weeks.
While trying to alleviate this problem, the SEC has stated that future SEC schedules will limit the number of games a team will play after that opponent has an open date to three.
What does the Georgia-Auburn game have to do with this? It’s one of only two conference games that can be moved without creating havoc with the rest of the SEC football schedule. The other game is Arkansas-South Carolina on November 6 (Source – TideSports.com).
The Georgia-Auburn game, scheduled for November 13, could be moved to November 20 since they both have open dates that weekend. But the big problem here is that Georgia faces Georgia Tech and Auburn travels to Alabama on the weekend of the 27th. With such big in-state rivalry games, Georgia and Auburn are not likely to agree to the altering of their schedules.
For Alabama, I think it all boils down to how their rivalry games set up. Their three main rivals – Auburn, LSU and Tennessee – all have open weeks.
With all of the 2010 SEC schedules set, I think the conference should stand firm and not make any changes. They’ve already said that the new maximum of playing opponents who have open dates the preceding week is three. Is one more game that much of a difference? (Sure, I’m stretching that number with Georgia State being green and the LSU wash.)
What do you think? Should the SEC move the Georgia-Auburn game? Should the alter Alabama’s schedule or leave it alone? Discuss it in the comments below.
Related Links
- 2010 College Football Schedules – FBSchedules.com
View Comments (11)
No they should not.Bama should not be able to control other schools just because they are bama!Talk about an eletist aditude.That is so Saban to me.
I agree with what Rusty said. Bama has always gotten what bama wants. And they somehow think they should. Maybe NOT this time.
Forget the "is Bama a prima donna" argument, I would not just like, I would LOVE to move the Auburn game back. We have an excellent chance to win the East this year (probably should be considered the favorite at this point) so any conference game is of great importance. I don't care if we cancel the damn GT game, I am about winning SEC titles, not state championships. I would much prefer the open date before Auburn.
Tech weenied out of the SEC decades ago and have spiraled down since then. Huge mistake by Dodd, and they haven't recovered. One of the reasons they cannot sell out that bandbox they have for a stadium. GT is irrelevant and we give them legitimacy by playing them on national TV every Thanksgiving weekend. They need us, we don't need them.
I think bama should leave their schedule the way it is why should everybody change up theirs? Boo hoo bama
I have no interest in helping Bama but I actually think this move would actually help GEORGIA due to the fact that we play 11 straight games. That is a tough grind.
It's a good thing to have an extra week to prepare for the option but I don't think its absolutely necessary to win. Its GT after all.
I agree, I didn't look at it that way. Having an extra week to prepare for the triple-option would be nice, but getting the off-week before Auburn would be better due to us playing 11 straight.
I have no interest in helping Bama but I actually think this move would actually help GEORGIA due to the fact that we play 11 straight games. That is a tough grind.
It's a good thing to have an extra week to prepare for the option but I don't think its absolutely necessary to win. Its GT after all.
Who established the schedule for Alabama? Alabama! They chose to establish it the way it is, now they need to LIVE WITH IT! If they need an off week they can cancel a non-conference game. Prior planning prevents piss poor performance.
We play Idaho State the week before Auburn. That might as well be a bye week. Leave it as is.
Don't move the auburn/georgia game. that will probably give auburn extra motivation going into the iron bowl. but, alabama does have a problem. while the game is only against georgia state, it's still a game. auburn gets 2 weeks that equals either a full week's rest and then back to normal, or a half week's rest with a week and a half focusing on alabama. either way, that's an advantage for auburn. alabama has to focus on ga state, while auburn does nothing or focuses on alabama. not to mention, the iron bowl's on friday, so alabama will go into it coming off a short week while auburn goes into it coming off an extra week. i hope alabama can move the ga state game to thursday, giving us a few extra days to recover for the iron bowl.