On Friday, TCU head coach Sonny Dykes called out the SEC for their decision to schedule “layup games” in Week 10 of the college football season.
While many teams kick the season off against lesser-known schools or opponents to start off on the right foot, the SEC schedules teams like Chattanooga, Georgia State, and LA-Monroe right ahead of conference championship weekend.
Dykes spoke about the SEC’s continual “layup games” approach to the regular season, saying, “A layup is a really important thing in college football. That’s why the SEC, I don’t know if it’s the most competitive thing, but I tell you what, it’s the smartest thing. Because they play those layups in Week 10.”
In 2023, some of the best teams in the league played a Week 10 slate that included Chattanooga, LA-Monroe, Georgia State, and Abilene Christian. In those games, SEC teams won by a grand total of 195-37.
“That’s not by chance; that doesn’t just happen, and it didn’t just fall out of the sky; they are very smart about doing that,” Dykes continued. “They’re very smart about having eight conference games. They are twice as smart as anybody else when it comes to putting their teams in the best position to be successful.”
While the trend of SEC teams playing cupcake opponents near the end of their season is a tradition that has happened for many years now, with many in the media contributing to the idea of the SEC being untouchable on the football field, the Week 10 antics will likely continue.
Dykes finished his thoughts by saying, “That league is better than all the other leagues combined. Having said that, they get a layup in Week 10. We don’t. It’s just not the way the conference is built.”
Dykes and the Horned Frogs kick off the 2024 season on Friday, August 30th, vs. Stanford.
