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I think I’m starting to understand what @MarkVols is talking about. Is this week Armageddon for you, boss?

Long post incoming, so spare me the snark or TLDR.

This doesn’t excuse what happened yesterday or in the Kentucky and LSU games but something I thought about last night and today.

It’s frustrating to play in the one league where the transfer portal and NIL have created the same parity and results you see in the NFL on a week to week basis and be competing against teams for 7 playoff spots in three other leagues where that level of competition doesn’t exist. I think that’s something Greg Sankey has to be thinking about in negotiations as to what the playoff structure looks like going forward, especially if the SEC goes to 9 league games.

Consider the league standings in the SEC and Big 10. Alabama and Ole Miss currently sit at 6 and 7. Opposite them in the B10 are Iowa and Washington. I have a hard time believing OM or Alabama would be 6/7 in the Big Ten with the benefit of playing Washington and Iowa’s schedules. Yet they are competing with teams for playoff spots in the B10 (and the other two leagues) who do get the benefit of playing schedules against teams whose NIL programs are minuscule to nonexistent.

Think about the NIL commitment in the middle to bottom tier of the SEC compared to the B10 other leagues. You don’t think Oklahoma, Auburn, and Kentucky have a collectively larger NIL war chest and more talented rosters than Wisconsin, Northwestern and Maryland? Don’t hear much about the NIL dollars flowing in College Park. That phenomenon has created the parity in the SEC that is currently working against it under the current playoff structure.

Maybe this is coping, but something has to change if the SEC is going to continue to cannibalize itself while teams like Indiana, Miami, and SMU can skate by in weaker leagues.

Game is ugly. Auburn’s got a shot…unless they need a kick to win.

Associated with not playing Bentley

Sold

Let's start with the ugly.

UGLY - You're never guaranteed this caliber of a team again, and we may have squandered our best chance at a title in quite some time. This one is going to sting for awhile, unless we duplicate results and get in soon.

GOOD - Simmons is a quality QB1 next season that you can build around. Some decent pieces on offense remain. Should have a quality offense, but duplicating that defense, particularly defensive line, will be difficult. I still believe in Golding, though. We still have a favorable schedule next season. Getting South Carolina, LSU, and Florida at home actually turns out to be solid.

BAD - Coaching has to be better. I worry that Kiffin's mental state will decline after that. I don't know what the deal with Bentley is with Smith, but it doesn't take some schematic genius to know starting Micah Davis and not giving him a snap is coaching malfeasance. I'm sorry, it is. It's unbelievable. You can have whatever opinion you'd like on Weis, but I don't think it's controversial to say that a new mind to the spread might be helpful to complement Kiffin.

Overall, no spin necessary, this sucks. However, I know how I felt after 2022 too, and I thought "the decline" was potentially happening after that year. Can rightfully wallow in it for awhile, but the last five years have proven we're going to make it sooner rather than later.

I am going

Brent Key made a critical error there. Why would you play for the second OT?

Which is best for Rebs? Clemson???

If I were Sankey I’d announce that 2025 scheduling is paused until we see how CFP committee regards strength of schedule.

This is completely assaine way to approach playoff rankings. A loss is a loss and should be penalized this. They have to figure out a better way to run this thing period. I am no way advocating for a team one way or another. Just this is stupid you lose it should affect your ranking.

Really poor clock management and poor use of timeouts.