Amid all the chatter over the SEC finally eliminating its unbalanced two-division format, another less positive development from the conference's coaches meetings has largely flown under the radar.
The SEC intends to enlist a committee of four coaches and four athletic directors to look at scheduling plans going forward. They'll investigate the pros and cons of scrapping the league's current 16-game conference schedule in favor of either 18 league games or even worse 22.
Granted a 22-game schedule would allow for a true double round robin scheduling format similar to what the Pac-10 had prior to expanding, but the negatives of an expanded league slate far outweigh the positives.
An extra six league games — or even an extra two for that matter — means the SEC cannot improve its power ratings numbers as a whole during that stretch since the conference by definition can only go .500. By contrast, the SEC can collectively boost its RPI in non-league play by scheduling smart and winning more games than it loses.
Perhaps the league will eventually come to this conclusion since it was finally wise enough to get rid of the two-division format. The SEC coaches voted 11-1 in favor of that move with Mississippi State's Rick Stansbury believed to be the only dissenter.
The coaches determined a such change was needed after because an Eastern Division headlined by Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt and Tennessee has recently been far stronger than the West.
Teams from the East went 27-9 against the West in the 2009-10 regular season, yet Ole Miss and Mississippi State received two of the four first-round conference tournament byes for finishing first and second in the West at 9-7. This past season, all five of the SEC's NCAA tournament bids came from the East and the West was so weak that Alabama didn't make it despite finishing 12-4 in conference play.
Kate Groombridge Dania Ramirez Lucy Liu LeAnn Rimes Adrianne Curry
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