Beth Hall, USA TODAY SPORTS
The always entertaining Les Miles, head coach of the LSU Tigers, spoke at the Southeastern Conference Media Days on Thursday in Hoover, Ala. Miles, as college football fans know, can be very eccentric, and almost odd at times. However, Miles made a point on Thursday that, despite his theatrics, made a lot of sense.
Miles has openly complained about the SEC’s unbalanced schedule over the past couple of years. Namely, how that unbalanced schedule applies to his team and his SEC Western Division rivals, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
For example, last season, LSU had to face the Florida Gators and the South Carolina Gamecocks from the SEC East. Both of those teams were ranked in the Top 10 nationally at the time they faced LSU. On the other hand, Alabama faced the Tennessee Volunteers and the Missouri Tigers as their Eastern Division opponents. Neither of those teams qualified for the postseason last year.
In 2013, LSU will once again face Florida, its permanent rival from the East. The Tigers will add the Georgia Bulldogs, perhaps the favorite to win the East this season. Alabama faces Tennessee, its permanent rival from the East, and the Crimson Tide add the Kentucky Wildcats, who figure to struggle in the conference, much as they did last year.
Clearly, LSU has been at a disadvantage for the last two seasons, due to scheduling. Miles thinks he knows why it happens that way.
“I’d have to say there’s a repeated scheduling advantage and disadvantage for certain teams in this conference based on tradition and traditional matchups,” Miles said on Thursday.
He went one step further, saying “a key piece to every conference is that we’d be able to describe the path to a championship in an equal and direct manner.” And by saying that, he implied that the SEC is currently doing no such thing.
The scheduling issue will continue to be on the front burner for the SEC, especially as a nine-game schedule could be looming in the near future. Miles hopes that the conference can figure out a way to make the schedule more balanced in the future. He just said it in a Les Miles kind of way.
