Fansided

Les Miles calls SEC scheduling biased and fundamentally unfair

By Patrick Schmidt

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Apr 5, 2014; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Les Miles during the 2014 spring game at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2014; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Les Miles during the 2014 spring game at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /

The SEC announced their plans for future scheduling on Sunday that will keep the conference schedule at its current eight-game format but make it mandatory to schedule one game a season against the other power conferences, but LSU has a problem with the format and Tigers head coach Les Miles said the leaders didn’t give great thought to fairness.

LSU’s permanent cross-division rival is the Florida Gators and the two have played every year since 1971 and compared to their SEC west rival Alabama who gets to continue playing a Tennessee team who has fallen on hard times doesn’t seem unbiased or fair to Miles.

"“We play the toughest schedule in America in our conference, and then we have the biased of the permanent partner,” Miles told The Advocate on Monday while speaking at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center. “We’re now also being mandated to take a BCS team. The biased of the schedule continues to be disproportionate. Fundamentally fair is not something they’ve given great thought to.”"

Miles’ comments piggy-back on what LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said last night when he told The Advocate he was very disappointed in the league’s decision and questioned its fairness.

"“I am very disappointed that the leaders of the SEC disregard the competitive advantage that permanent partners award to certain schools. It is definitely an advantage that should not exist in such a great league,” Alleva told The Advocate on Sunday night. “We share all the revenue and expenses yet we cannot have a balanced, fair, equitable schedule,” he continued. “LSU has played Florida and Georgia 19 times since 2000, and Bama has played them eight times. Is that fair?”"

It may not be fair that Alabama plays Tennessee while LSU plays a perennial power like Florida, but there is something to be said for tradition and preserving rivalries such as Alabama and Tennessee and Auburn and Georgia.

Do you think Miles and LSU have a legit reason to be upset here or is this a case of sour grapes?

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