Big 12 Basketball is Taking the Heat that SEC Football Deserves
College basketball is in full swing, but that doesn’t mean college football isn’t on my mind. To be completely honest with you, I am not really much of a college basketball fan. Sure, I tune in during March Madness, but I am not going to pretend that I watch during the regular season. I will leave the basketball to the experts here on our staff.
However, as I was scrolling through social media last week, a video caught my attention. Many folks agree that the Big 12 is the best basketball conference in the country, but Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell had some comments about that. He is convinced the Big 12 has figured out how to manipulate the NCAA NET rankings.
“They’re playing 300-level teams and winning by 40 and 50 points to increase their offensive and defensive efficiency numbers, which is a big part of the NET tool.”
Brad is saying that the Big 12 is scheduling cupcakes in the non-conference to boost its ratings. He even went as far as pointing out two schools that he thinks are guilty of that (Cincinnati and Iowa State).
His comments spread like wildfire, and even ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt talked about it as his one big thing the other night.
Normally, I wouldn’t care if an ESPN talking head commented on this, but Scott doesn’t fall into that description. I actually enjoy SVP, which probably surprises many of you, considering that he works for ESPN. Anyway, I say all this to bring up one point: Why doesn’t anyone bring this up during football season when the SEC is scheduling cupcake games?
I mean, they literally have a dedicated weekend in November known as “Cupcake Saturday.” They claim to do it to give their guys a “break” before rivalry weekend.
The excuse would be valid if the SEC hadn’t already had two garbage cans on the schedule earlier in the year. How bad is it? Well, I did a little research.
There are 14 teams in the SEC (until 2024). They each play 12 regular-season games. Florida and South Carolina were the only two teams in the SEC that didn’t play more than two non-power five opponents. Every other team played at least three non-P5 teams last season.
Take Auburn’s 2023 schedule for example. The Tigers played UMass, Samford, and New Mexico State. Funny enough, they ended up losing to New Mexico State, yet they still made a bowl game by going 6-6. The fact that some of these schools play two FCS teams a year is disgusting, and don’t even get me started as to why the SEC is only playing eight conference games when everyone else has to play nine.
It’s a complete joke. Instead of feasting on cupcakes in November, just add a freaking conference game and play nine like everyone else.
You’re probably asking yourself, “Why is he on a soapbox about this? Does it even matter?”
Yes, it matters. It helps more SEC teams become bowl-eligible.
As it turns out, when 25% of your schedule is topped with whipped buttercream icing, it’s a lot easier to make a bowl game. It also helps boost SEC teams in the minds of the College Football Playoff committee and the media. When you look at a middling SEC team whose only losses are to Alabama and Georgia, it’s easy to say, “Well, they must be good if they’re 7-2 with those losses.” Then you see their wins have come over teams like UAB, Charlotte, Rice, and Vanderbilt and quickly realize they are total frauds.
These teams play a bunch of nobody’s in the non-conference, so you can’t tell how good they actually are. Then, when they start losing to each other, they turn into “quality losses.” Unless you are losing to the Tide or Bulldogs, is it really a quality loss? They magically get all these teams in the Top 25 despite having three or, in some cases, four losses, and when you beat them, it counts as a Top 25 to boost that resume for the playoff committee.
The scheduling matrix helps the SEC, and with the expanded playoff looming, it will certainly come in handy for them. While I respect the Clemson coach for speaking his mind, I wish someone from the college football world would step up and say the same thing about the mighty SEC.
