šŸˆ Moore persuades SEC ADs on schedule issue

Along that line, I would like Alabama to think a little outside the box for next season - if it is not too late.

For the game the week prior to Auburn we will most likely play some school that makes a directional school look like a power program. I would bet we play a D1AA (or that stupid FCS tag) - and not even a good one at that. And I will bet Auburn is not told by the SEC office to schedule a game that same Saturday. Thus The Barn will have an open date and we will again work on a short week.

So, we should move the game against our sacrificial lamb to Thursday night and shoot for an ESPN2 or even ESPNU telecast.

Yes, we would be working on a short-short week for the D1AA team, but most likely they will play a game the prior Saturday also. So everything is evened up there. And, would it really matter if they do not?

We would then get two extra days to recover and prepare for the Auburn game the following Friday. The end result is we would actually have one extra day from a normal week - thus mostly negating the two weeks they would have to prepare.

I know this is in opposition to our long-standing desire to avoid the Thursday night warm-up game (especially when playing at home). And it would cause some problems with classes and parking, but if other SEC teams can pull it off (South Carolina and Auburn have experience handling similar size crowds on school and work days), I have confidence our people can work things out.

And we would get a national audience on one of the ESPN platforms for a game we in which we would surely look dominant.

Georgia State is scheduled the week prior to Auburn. Your idea to play them on Thursday night is certainly worthy of consideration. Would be better, IMO, than the inevitable Saturday morning kickoff to accomodate a split broadcast on the SEC TV network.
 
If this year's Tennessee game proved anything, it showed us that our bye week is the most important bye week. Our week off probably came a week too late. Even Saban admitted that the team was gassed. The same applies to next season. We don't get a week off until after UT. I'm pretty confident that the coaching staff realizes this and will take measures that we've got enough in the tank to handle Tennessee.

The 2010 trap game? October 16 versus Ole Miss. Just a hunch.
 
Upon further review of this issue, the SEC can very easily give Bama some relief in 2010. Ark @ SC can be rescheduled to 10/2(SC's off week before Bama, both are off), UK @MSU can be moved to 11/6(MSU's off week before Bama, both are off), and UGA @ Aub can be moved to 11/20 (Aub's off week before Bama, both are off).

Bama @ LSU could also be moved to 10/30(Bama's and LSU's off week before their game). But I don't see that happening unless they just want to slap Bama in the face for their troubles.

http://sec12.com/2010secfootballschedule.html
 
Upon further review of this issue, the SEC can very easily give Bama some relief in 2010. Ark @ SC can be rescheduled to 10/2(SC's off week before Bama, both are off), UK @MSU can be moved to 11/6(MSU's off week before Bama, both are off), and UGA @ Aub can be moved to 11/20 (Aub's off week before Bama, both are off).

Bama @ LSU could also be moved to 10/30(Bama's and LSU's off week before their game). But I don't see that happening unless they just want to slap Bama in the face for their troubles.

http://sec12.com/2010secfootballschedule.html

Very good detective work.

Now, check to see if any of those moves violate the two other parameters of 1) no team having to play more than five consecutive SEC games (which is really more a guideline than a rule as Florida played SEC games on six consecutive Saturdays this season) and 2) no team having to play more than two consecutive SEC road games.

Unless these two parameters are broken, then I fully expect to see all three of your findings implemented. Well, 'expect' may be too optimistic a word. More like 'will be curious to learn why not if not.'

I would love to hear the howls of protest from The Barners if they were forced to move the UGa game back a week (thus losing their eight day advantage) AND we take my suggestion and move our rough scrimmage game up two days to a Thursday night. The schedule would flip from them having an eight day advantage to a two day disadvantage - and against a much tougher prior opponent at that. The cries of 'SEC conspiracy' would resonate from the top of every cow pie in Lee County.
 
I would highly doubt UA would ever move to a Thurs night game on campus.

I remember us playing Southern Miss on a Thursday night back in 2001. The game was moved because it had originally been set for the Saturday after 9/11.It was a very cold and rainy night, absolutely miserable weather for watching football.Other than versus the barn on Thanksgiving day that's the only time I remember us playing a Thursday game.
 
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I remember us playing Southern Miss on a Thursday night back in 2001. The game was moved because it had originally been set for the Saturday after 9/11.It was a very cold and rainy night, absolutely miserable weather for watching football.Other than versus the barn on Thanksgiving day that's the only time I remember us playing a Thursday game.

Had to pick really the first available date. And it was played in Birmingham and not on campus.

I mostly agree with Koz in that UA will resist moving any on-campus game to a Thursday night. But if it gives us a competitive advantage we should not balk simply 'Because we are Alabama' or because parking might be a problem.

It would not be too difficult a sell to our ticket holders if it was demonstrated that by playing D1AA Tech on a Thursday night it gave us two extra days to prepare for an Auburn team with a two-week break before our game. Any ticket holder balking too loudly would only come off as selfish and self-absorbed - not willing to 'be a champion fan' for the betterment of the program.
 
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