Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images.
By Charles Hanagriff
Let me start by congratulating the SEC for going to nine games. It should have happened a long time ago.
The league schedule hasn’t been anything resembling fair since they went to 12 teams. It wasn’t fair before that either, but let’s keep it somewhat current.
Who should be LSU’s three permanent opponents?
Before I answer the question, while I believe the decision to go to nine games is great, the reasoning for holding each team to three permanent opponents is once again biased. There are exactly FOUR games that HAVE to be played in the SEC each year. FOUR. That’s it.
- Alabama-Auburn
- Ole Miss-Miss St
- Texas-Oklahoma
- Florida-Georgia
The world is not going to tilt off its axis if Auburn and Georgia don’t play. Same thing with Alabama and Tennessee. I would have included Texas and A&M, but the college football world functioned just fine without them playing for a decade.
I think every team in the league should play ONE permanent opponent every year. ONE. ONE. ONE. (Go watch Bridge of Spies, it’s a really good movie.)
In addition to the above, we’ll add:
- Tennessee-Vanderbilt
- Missouri-Arkansas
- LSU-A&M
- South Carolina-Kentucky (sorry guys, you both have non-conference, in state opponents at the end of the schedule, you’re going to have to live with this one)
Everybody rotates the other eight games. That’s FAIR (I recognize the advantage for Tennessee, but no schedule is perfect).
Absolutely SICK of the league having certain teams (cough, cough) manipulate the schedule to benefit themselves at the ticket window and the loss column.
ONE permanent opponent. ONE. ONE. ONE.
All that said, if LSU is going to have three permanent opponents, A&M, Miss St or Ole Miss, and Alabama or Auburn seems about right.
More LSU Sports
