Here’s what other conferences usually do during the SEC’s cupcake weekend

I know you think the SEC is dastardly for fortifying the schedules of its teams by not playing a ninth conference game. They’ve replaced the week preceding rivalry week with nearly the entire conference feasting on punching bags from the FCS or the Group of 5. The only intra conference matchups are Arkansas-Mississippi State, Missouri-Tennessee, and Ole Miss-Vanderbilt.

We affectionately refer to that around here as the SEC-SoCon challenge, whether the opponents are in the SoCon or not.

Having brand names not play in marquee matchups during Week 12 is known as a pretty SEC-specific thing, but are other conferences scheduling lots of marquee games during this weekend from year to year?

If any league comes close to the FCS-apalooza in Week 12, it’s the ACC.

The ACC schedules its marquee game of the year for early November (Florida State-Clemson), just like the SEC does with Alabama-LSU. Besides being the biggest name brands, the Tigers and the Noles also have high profile out-of-conference rivalry games on Thanksgiving weekend.

Since the Tigers returned to prominence nationally in 2012, they’ve played The Citadel twice, Georgia State once, and Wake Forest twice during Week 12. The Deacs have ranked 88th and 60th in S&P+ ranking each time. In 2018, they’re playing a Duke that’s a little bit better than predicted.

Florida State has in the last five years played Delaware State, Chattanooga, and Idaho on Week 12. The Boston College team they got in 2014 was at least top-50. The 2016 version of the Eagles they got was not (86th).

In 2018, things are friendly for most of the preseason favorites, at least in terms of how things looked when the schedule was assembled. Michigan gets Indiana, Ohio State gets Maryland, Wisconsin gets Purdue, and Penn State gets Rutgers.

But the B1G has actually been pretty good about rotating attractive matchups on the Week 12 schedule. Michigan’s played Penn State and Wisconsin right before Ohio State in two of the last four years. The other two, they’ve gotten ... Indiana.

The Buckeyes get Illinois in 2018, but given what comparable programs in the ACC and SEC deal with, Ohio State has grounds for some sort of grievance. They’ve drawn Michigan State and Michigan in back-to-back games in 2015 and 2016. In 2019, they get Penn State before playing the Wolverines.

The Big 12 bucks some trends because Bedlam is now no longer at the end of the season, and Texas no longer plays Texas A&M on Black Friday.

So there’s no rivalry game worth protecting anymore there, but the league rotation schedules Kansas for Oklahoma some years and either TCU, Kansas State, or Baylor before Bedlam in others.

In 2018, league favorite OU happens to play Kansas during the SEC’s Cupcake Weekend.

The Pac-12 lucks out here due to Notre Dame’s rotation with Stanford and USC. USC-UCLA and/or Cal-Stanford have popped up on Week 12 in recent years, meaning the Pac-12 often puts one of its biggest rivalries up against Mercer-Bama or whatever.

It’s worth noting league favorite Washington hosts last-place Oregon State a week before the latest in a run of very important Apple Cups.

The SEC still deserves the far majority of the mockery, though.