Would Rebels Benefit by 9th SEC Conference Game?

Ole Miss Football Coach Hugh Freeze joined the majority of conference coaches to vote against adding a ninth conference game to the season schedule. / Photo Courtesy of Ole Miss Communications

Last week the SEC coaches voted 13-1 against adding a ninth conference football game on the schedule, which would have eliminated one non-conference game. The lone vote for the additional game came from Nick Saban at Alabama.

The vote certainly says a lot about where a majority of the SEC coaches fall in terms of overall quality scheduling versus record-building. So much of it relates to bowl eligibility and ranking potential. Alabama is currently playing with championship “house-money” and can afford to push the scheduling envelope because of the depth of their program at the moment. They also don’t have an annual in-state non-conference opponent like South Carolina (Clemson), Florida (Florida State), and Georgia (Georgia Tech).

If you put yourself in Coach Hugh Freeze’s seat for a moment, you will understand why he would vote against the ninth game. Ole Miss fans will remember more that the Rebels became bowl eligible after defeating Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. What they may conveniently forget is that had we not beaten Central Missouri, UTEP and Tulane, the magic of the bowl game in Birmingham would have never happened. We were also 0-2 versus SEC East opponents in 2012, and that ninth game would have come from a pool of Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri and Kentucky. I personally think Ole Miss would have beaten the later three opponents, but drawing the Gators and Gamecocks in 2012 would not have been fun.

From a marketing perspective, winning at Ole Miss, regardless who you play, is of utmost importance right now. Would our fans rather see the aforementioned SEC East teams? Probably. Is it more fun to celebrate a win in The Grove and see the program gaining momentum each week? Absolutely. And that perspective may change over the next few years, but we have to be realistic where the program is at this time. Coach Freeze did a remarkable job turning around a program recently highlighted only by its pregame festivities. The young players Freeze really wants to fit into his system are just now arriving on campus.

From a revenue standpoint, in the years Ole Miss would have hosted five SEC games, the attendance and sponsorship dollars would have spiked up versus playing a non-conference opponent. But you have to weigh the potential of an SEC loss which can only depress the fan base, and hurt the school’s bowl eligibility (especially if you are competing for a BCS Bowl game where the real money is on the line).

Coach Nick Saban of Alabama was the lone vote in favor of adding a ninth conference game to the schedule. / Google Image

Taking a quick “assumption poll”, I believe the following seven SEC schools are in a similar situation to Ole Miss when it comes to this issue: Mississippi State, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Auburn, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt. So adding a ninth conference game was never going to pass anyway. I also believe that South Carolina, Florida and Georgia were never going to vote for it because of their quality annual non-conference opponents. Which leaves LSU and Texas A&M as the two that puzzle me a bit relative to their thinking. Of course, they haven’t won the BCS National Championship three out of the last four years like the one team that voted for the ninth conference game either.

In my opinion, voting against the ninth SEC Conference game was just another good decision made by Coach Freeze and the Ole Miss Athletic Department leadership. –– Scott Pederson, professor of journalism, Meek School of Journalism and New Media

Email Scott Pederson at scott_pederson@celebratepositive.com