SEC Bye Week – Smart or Safe Powder Puff

SEC Bye week.   Not really all of the SEC teams are playing this weekend.  Six of the 14 SEC teams are playing other SEC teams this week.  The rest of the teams are playing such power house teams like: The Citadel, Idaho, Middle Tennessee, UMass, Liberty, Rice, Chattanooga and then one that might actually be able to win. Texas A&M is playing a 9 – 1 UAB team.

This is nothing new.  The SEC has been doing this for years.   Most conferences schedule their cream puff teams early in the year before conference play starts.  Then they play all their conference games.  At least most teams do.  The SEC has traditionally used the weekend before their big rivalry games as a Saturday practice.

They pick some team to practice against.  Pay them a boat load of cash to get destroyed.  Of course the teams that agree to do this know what they are getting into.  I don’t have a problem that those teams will more than likely lose by 20, 30 or 40 points.  They are getting the big pay day to do this.   I don’t agree with the people that say you should not run up the score in these types of games.  For some of the players that get in this will be their only opportunity to play.  You can’t then tell them to hold back.   They should go out and play their best.   If you leave the starters in then that would be an issues.  It would also be pretty stupid.  You would not risk injury after you practiced all the things that you wanted to practice.

The question I have with this is when the game is played.  Can scheduling a glorified practice hurt you at this point in the season?  The question is uncertain.   It did not help Alabama last year.  Last year they played Mercer on this weekend.  They won 56 – 0.  The next week in the Iron Bowl they lost to Auburn 26 – 14.  Of course that did not matter since they were selected for the playoff again and won the two games they needed to in order to win the Championship.

If you look at it from Auburns perspective it worked.   They played Louisiana-Monroe won 42 – 14 then went on to beat Alabama.  Of course then Auburn went on to lose to Georgia in the SEC championship game 28 – 7.  They then also lost their Bowl Game to UCF.  Probably the game against Louisiana-Monroe had nothing to do with those losses.

The SEC is not going to change this.  What I say or think about it will not change anything.   I don’t really hear any complaints about it.  When other conferences schedule the cream puff games all you hear is about how weak their schedule it.  The SEC schedules a glorified practice and it is a genius move.   Personally I would rather that they added another SEC game at this point.  I know that is not going to happen.

What do you think?