[Austroturf]

Just for comparison's sake, the SEC's OOC opponents for September 14 (all SEC home games) are:

Colorado State
Kent State
Arkansas State
Northwestern State
Southeast Louisiana
Kansas State
Southeast Missouri State
UT-Chatanooga
Lamar

My biggest disappointment in the playoff committee, and the NY6 committee, so far, is that they have consistently rewarded the SEC for scheduling 5 byes each season.  The majority of the SEC starts the season with 4 wins in the bank and must win two league games to become bowl eligible.

Yes, and if you are Florida, you can finish 5-3 in the SEC and still be rated #10 in the nation and get a New Year's 6 bowl bid.

The math here is not mysterious: schedule easy prey in the OOC portion of the season and make sure these teams play on your turf.  You have home field advantage, no jet-lag and can easily handle the logistics of running onto the field, trouncing an overmatched opponent and preparing for the real schedule, which consists of 8 games.  

Then, by playing only eight games, the conference ensures that, by definition, there are fewer losses among its members than in conferences that schedule nine games.  If the SEC had scheduled 9 games, there would have been 7 more losses among its 14 teams.  That might have meant one more loss for the likes of Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi State and Texas A&M; and collectively the entire conference would have looked much worse and not been invited to a total of 4 NY6 bowls (Pac-12 got 1 bid).   Not surprising that Georgia and Alabama rarely meet during the regular season.  When Stanford went 12-2 in 2015, it had to play every top team in the Pac-12 that year and beat south champ USC twice.  The losses to Oregon and a good Northwestern team (OOC) kept us out of the CFP that year.

Read the article I provided the link for.  It is satire, but hits a very valid point.

[Austroturf]

Just for comparison's sake, the SEC's OOC opponents for September 14 (all SEC home games) are:

Colorado State
Kent State
Arkansas State
Northwestern State
Southeast Louisiana
Kansas State
Southeast Missouri State
UT-Chatanooga
Lamar

My biggest disappointment in the playoff committee, and the NY6 committee, so far, is that they have consistently rewarded the SEC for scheduling 5 byes each season.  The majority of the SEC starts the season with 4 wins in the bank and must win two league games to become bowl eligible.

Yes, and if you are Florida, you can finish 5-3 in the SEC and still be rated #10 in the nation and get a New Year's 6 bowl bid.

The math here is not mysterious: schedule easy prey in the OOC portion of the season and make sure these teams play on your turf.  You have home field advantage, no jet-lag and can easily handle the logistics of running onto the field, trouncing an overmatched opponent and preparing for the real schedule, which consists of 8 games.  

Then, by playing only eight games, the conference ensures that, by definition, there are fewer losses among its members than in conferences that schedule nine games.  If the SEC had scheduled 9 games, there would have been 7 more losses among its 14 teams.  That might have meant one more loss for the likes of Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi State and Texas A&M; and collectively the entire conference would have looked much worse and not been invited to a total of 4 NY6 bowls (Pac-12 got 1 bid).   Not surprising that Georgia and Alabama rarely meet during the regular season.  When Stanford went 12-2 in 2015, it had to play every top team in the Pac-12 that year and beat south champ USC twice.  The losses to Oregon and a good Northwestern team (OOC) kept us out of the CFP that year.

Read the article I provided the link for.  It is satire, but hits a very valid point.