It’s an old coach’s saying in sports that all any team can do is win the games that appear on the schedule.
But if the games on that schedule are consistently harder than those played by an opponent, should the coach say something?
Les Miles did.
The LSU coach addressed the inequalities of the Southeastern Conference’s cross-division scheduling process when he spoke on Thursday at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala. He started with a backhanded shot at the schedule makers to close out his opening statement.
“We look forward to lining up against the best in the east and the best in the west,” Miles said.
Miles was later asked about the discrepancy. Specifically, he was asked about the difference between LSU’s Eastern Division opponents — Florida and Georgia — who went a combined 14-2 in conference last season, and Alabama’s cross-division foes — Tennessee and Kentucky — whose combined record was 1-15 in the SEC.
“I’d have to say there’s a repeated scheduling advantage and disadvantage for certain teams in this conference based on tradition and traditional matchups,” Miles said Thursday.
This season will be the seventh time LSU plays both Florida and Georgia in the regular season since the SEC instituted divisional play in 1992. In comparison, Alabama hasn’t been scheduled to play the Gators and Bulldogs in the same season since 1991.
Along with divisional play, the SEC also began playing a Conference Championship game in 1992. Florida and Georgia have combined to represent the Eastern Division in 15 of those 21 championship games.
Florida has a conference-high 10 of those appearances and has won the SEC Championship Game seven times — more than any other school. As part of the traditional matchups Miles mentioned, the Tigers and Gators meet every season.
Alabama’s yearly cross-divisional opponent is Tennessee. The Volunteers have appeared in five SEC Championship Games — the same number as Georgia and LSU.
Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Missouri are the only SEC East teams who have never appeared in the conference title game. Since 1992, LSU and Alabama have each played a combined 21 games against those three teams.
In those seasons, Alabama has played more cross-division games against Vanderbilt than any other opponent besides Tennessee. Vanderbilt has a record of 79-164 during that stretch — good for a .325 winning percentage, the worst in the SEC.
After this season, LSU and Alabama will have each played 64 cross-divisional games. LSU will have played 22 against Florida, 15 against Kentucky, eight against Tennessee, seven against Georgia and six against Vanderbilt and South Carolina.
In comparison, Alabama will have played 22 against Tennessee, 14 against Vanderbilt, eight against South Carolina, seven against Kentucky, six against Florida, six against Georgia and one against Missouri.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said the conference is going to review the football scheduling process when he gave his opening statement at the SEC Media Day on Tuesday. He said the conference is considering switching from its current eight-game conference format to a nine-game format in order to better balance the schedule.
However, he also said the proposed changes would not go into effect until the 2016 season.