SEC considering ditching permanent cross-division rivalries
This is, as they say, from the horse's mouth. Or, at least, the horse's #2 man.
Oh, never mind that sound coming from Auburn, Athens, Knoxville, Tuscaloosa, and even Oxford and Nashville, Mr. Bloom. That's just fans of most of the SEC's charter institutions getting their pitchforks ready.
5 months ago
vineyarddawg
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I don't support this at all...
I can’t imagine any Dawg fans liking this. If the SEC wants more rotational games, then they should add a 9th conference game. I’d rather anger schools like Buffalo or FAU.
GATA!
On second thought...
We’ll be fine.
In 2013 and 2014: we’ll play the Auburn Tigers.
In 2015 and 2016: we’ll play the Auburn War Eagles.
In 2017 and 2018: we’ll play the Auburn Plainsmen.
Rinse and Repeat.
GATA!
by Jman781 on Jan 11, 2012 1:03 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Was it the Tigers, War Eagles, or Plainsmen we played this year?
I will petition to keep a permanent rival against whichever it was.
by Swarles_Barkley on Jan 11, 2012 2:58 PM EST up reply actions
I think it was the Plainsmen
they were ordinary and average at best
DFA Heyward. I'm dead serious
by wpf3211 on Aug 6, 2011 9:11 PM EDT
I say the War Eagles...
… ’cause they sure did a lot of crashing into immovable objects on that day.
Editor, Dawg Sports.
Go Dawgs!
by vineyarddawg on Jan 11, 2012 4:53 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I believe it was...
…the Barners this year.
Well, it was nice having A&M and Missouri
in the SEC, but see ya. If you coming into my backyard messes up the traditions, the rivalries and the hate is get to release each year; go back to the big-12
I HATE ORANGE, and DGNBs
I take it for what it is
They dont know what they’re gonna do yet. If they stay at 8 then I would rather get rid of it too. Also this article says the aggies are thinking Fla is gonna be there eastern rival? Where’d they get that from?
by Mark Mandingo on Jan 11, 2012 1:34 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Maybe they just hated Florida enough to bring it up?
That’s a spirit we can all get behind.
by Dawg from Canton on Jan 11, 2012 2:33 PM EST up reply actions
Because we're starting from scratch
I read on the South Carolina SB blog, they are hearing LSU might become their permanent rival. Ouch.
http://sportsandgrits.com/
If that happens,
I’m sure it’s because McGarity pulled strings in Birmingham.
Editorial Staff, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
@NCThom
Go 'Dawgs!
by NCT on Jan 11, 2012 4:59 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Funny thing about that
Vanderbilt has the same West opponents we do (Auburn and Ole Miss), and has a better placement of SC and Mizzou. Yet no one cried about their weak schedule, which imo is by far the weakest in the SEC.
http://sportsandgrits.com/
As mentioned by vineyarddawg
when I made this point earlier, Vandy’s schedule is much more difficult due to a road game against the the likely preseason-top-ten Dawgs!
GATA!
by Jman781 on Jan 11, 2012 6:38 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Precisely!
People seem to forget that not having to face the ten-win defending division champions is a benefit to the teams that miss Georgia, as well.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
Go 'Dawgs!
Precisely
you should argue it was the Sabinator who got y’all dropped … not the other way ‘round. That’s how I’d argue it at least. It also possesses a certain veneer of plausibility, plus a good conspiracy theory always resonates better than “we absolutely had to complete a home-and-home with Ole Miss”.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
by tryptic67 on Jan 11, 2012 7:03 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Well, you know ...
Conspiracy between Bama and UGA is a conference tradition that goes back years and years. THAT’S A JOKE, SON!
Editorial Staff, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
@NCThom
Go 'Dawgs!
by NCT on Jan 12, 2012 11:53 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Good post.
Too bad you didn’t think to hold it ’til Saturday evening.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Jan 13, 2012 7:33 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I missed this comment earlier.
Nice one, NCT.
Editor, Dawg Sports.
Go Dawgs!
by vineyarddawg on Jan 13, 2012 9:41 AM EST up reply actions
I hate the idea of not playing Auburn . . .
. . . more than I hate Auburn.
Seriously, what was the point of putting Missouri in the East, if not to preserve the permanent interdivisional rivalries?
We’re about to start playing Missouri every year, and everyone has been (understandably) jazzed about playing LSU more often, but, if the price of conference expansion (and, dating back to the late ‘80s, conference schedule expansion, from six to seven, then eight, and, quite possibly, eventually to nine games) is that Georgia no longer plays Auburn and Clemson every year, well, we’re trading down in terms of Tigers, from a rivalry perspective.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Jan 11, 2012 2:06 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Good point...
Why place Mizzou in the East only to rip away the rivalries? They should re-do the divisions: UGA, Bama, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, and Vandy in the East. Just to tick South Carolina off…they’re in the West!
GATA!
by Jman781 on Jan 11, 2012 2:15 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Sorry, I have to save the Ole Miss - Vandy rivalry...
Miss. State to the East for Vandy.
New Divisions:
The Gamecocks Must Travel…A Bunch Division: LSU, aTm, Mizzou, Arky, Ole Miss, Vandy, and, of course, the Cocks.
The Let’s Keep the Rivalries…While Ticking of South Carolina, Too Division: UGA, Auburn, Bama, UT, Florida, Miss. State, and Kentucky.
GATA!
by Jman781 on Jan 11, 2012 2:19 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Thanks for at least not trading us back to the ACC
or did they already say no? :-)
“You are an embarrassment to the game of pool and should be glad I even let you play at my table.”
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
They've got experience with those kinds of things at Ole Miss.
by DocSkraynj on Jan 11, 2012 3:41 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 2 recs
It's only the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry.
No need to keep that kind of tradition going.
If this turns out to be true, I’m going to unleash hell when I get to Columbia, Missouri.
Witty phrase.
by The Ugas Departed on Jan 11, 2012 4:44 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
A serious question
what would be your reaction if the SEC abandoned permanent cross-division rivals except UGA-Auburn and Bama-UT?
In other words, the other eight members would play a 5-3 (or a 6-3 if we go to nine games as many advocate to allow for a full divisional round-robin), but Auburn, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee play at 5-2-1 (or 6-2-1).
This solution preserves the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry and the (Mostly) Third Saturday of October inviolate, while relieving the other clubs of the anchor of cross-division rivals who really aren’t true rivals. None of the other unbreakable rivalries (e.g., WLOCP, Iron Bowl, LSU-Miss) would be broken; the “new” (or emerging) rivalries since the last 1990 expansion would still be preserved.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
by tryptic67 on Jan 11, 2012 6:37 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I meant other "ten" members obviously
the question also hinges on would it be fair for everyone else to rotate 3 cross-division teams while y’all would only be rotating 2 cross-division teams). My initial gloss is that, over the long haul, these two rivalries (UGA-Aub, UT-Bama) are competitive enough to balance out, and the pros to the rest of the conference is that it knits in the newer members (not just TAMU and Mizzou, but South Carolina and Arkansas) further into the league.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
by tryptic67 on Jan 11, 2012 6:42 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I would be 100 per cent cool with that, tryptic67.
Those are the only two historic interdivisional rivalries, and, if the math works out to rotate the rest (I have no idea if it does), I’d be cool with rotating the rest, as long as those were preserved.
Frankly, there are only four teams I care about playing every year, two of which are non-conference opponents (and one of which we rarely play any longer); as long as we play Florida and Auburn every year, I don’t really care which other SEC opponents we play in any given year.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
Go 'Dawgs!
I know you're an adherent to reviving the UGA-Clemson series
and on behalf of the Palmetto State Poultry ( Ed – no, I don’t think it’s derogatory ) I would completely be OK with permanently moving UGA-USC to any point in the season, if we could find a way to always schedule the Classic City Canines to play the Country Gentlemen the Saturday before. Positively love the thought of you softening each other up.
Seriously, I think keeping UA, AU, UGA and UT on the 5-1-2/6-1-2 makes a helluva lot more sense than moving the two squads from the Yellowhammer State to the East.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
Fair enough.
Historically, Georgia frequently played Clemson and South Carolina back-to-back, for what it’s worth.
If we could make that rotation work, I’d be all for it. Thanks for the idea.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
Go 'Dawgs!
From your lips to McGarity's ear
to Uncle Mike’s pen. Voila. I will notify the actuaries. They can make anything work.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
by tryptic67 on Jan 11, 2012 7:27 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
It would be at this juncture that I would point out...
… that the Vandy-Ole Miss rivalry is the second-oldest and third-most-played cross-divisional contest, having started in 1894 and become an annual affair in 1945. It’s not exactly a marquee matchup, but there is enough history there that the wailing would be sincere in Nashville and Oxford were it to be axed.
Editor, Dawg Sports.
Go Dawgs!
by vineyarddawg on Jan 12, 2012 10:30 AM EST up reply actions
I personally am ok with more flexibility, as long as the South's Oldest Rivalry continues.
Not going to Oxford would kind of suck for the climate, but I am not as attached to the game.
Editor, "Dawgsports"
"The ball ain't heavy." Herschel Walker
But they do seem to develop rivalries...
we didn’t play Tennessee regularly until 92, but that’s become a much stronger rivalry thanks to yearly play. I’d say y’all and Arkansas has become a solid rivalry, same with Florida/LSU.
http://sportsandgrits.com/
Which is all the more evidence . . .
. . . that, if the deck were reshuffled again, whatever new rivalries emerged would be just as strong 20 years from now as the rivalries that were invented in 1992 are today. From dust they came, and to dust they shall return; only those that antedate the last round of SEC expansion (or, indeed, the SEC itself) are meaningful enough to survive. Losing Alabama-Tennessee would be significant; losing Georgia-Tennessee or Florida-Tennessee as an annual affray would seem as odd at first as playing the Vols annually seemed 20 years ago, but, rather quickly, we wouldn’t miss them at all.
Manager, Dawg Sports, SB Nation's Georgia Bulldogs weblog.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on Jan 11, 2012 10:21 PM EST up reply actions
There is zero heat to South Carolina-Arkansas
I think we’re tired of each other, to be blunt. We’ve got very little in common except that we both joined the league in ’90 and we have barnyard-denizens as mascots.
As I alluded to in another thread we were on once, South Carolina and Mississippi State had a fun thing going in the 1990s (during the 5-2-1 days), when the Magnolia State Bulldogs were our second permanent cross-division rival. All that momentum is long gone, though – and we lost the back-end of our home-and-home with MSU which we would have otherwise gotten in the normal rota in ’12.
But let’s look at the permanent x-division rivalries and rate them 1-10 for both passion and tradition, and how the game is trending:
Auburn-UGA. Passion 10. Tradition 11. Trending – steady.
Bama-UT. Passion 8. Tradition 10. Trending – down a bit.
Florida-LSU Passion 7. Tradition 7. Trending – down a bit.
Kentucky-MSU Passion 4. Tradition 5. Trending – DOA.
USC-Arkansas Passion 3. Tradition 2. Trending – nowhere-ville.
Vandy-Ole Miss. Passion 3. Tradition 7. Trending – mausoleaum-worthy.
Other than the first two rivalries, my best guess is that the others would consent to dump x-division permanent rivalries rather than get re-shuffled and pick up, e.g., LSU.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
by tryptic67 on Jan 11, 2012 11:45 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Very cool post tryptic67, especially since we go all the way to 11.
Pretty balanced take as well.
Editor, "Dawgsports"
"The ball ain't heavy." Herschel Walker
you're welcome and It's a pretty cool game.
i wish we played Auburn more. But I don’t want to move Auburn to the East, since we’d have to move Bama with them. Keep them separate, then Bama has to give up an annual Iron Bowl, or an annual UT game – both would do serious damage to the mos maiorum, so to speak.
I suppose UT could go to the West, and just set aside the “new” rivalries it developed with UF and UGA, returning more to its pre-1990 outlook. I’ve heard tell some Vols would be in favor of that, though it wouldn’t restore the Auburn game that some of them miss very much. I get the sense the majority of Dawg fans wouldn’t miss playing the Vols every year? Not that you want to duck them, but that it just doesn’t have the fire anymore.
Maybe the league should use I-20 as a (very) rough dividing line, with permanent x-division rivals per corresponding numbers. The only wild imbalance would be the # 6 rivalry:
North: 1. Mizzou; 2. Arkie, 3. Miss, 4. Bama, 5. UT, 6. Vandy 7. UK
South: 1. TAMU, 2. LSU, 3. MSU, 4. Auburn, 5. UGA, 6. UF, 7. SC
On that note, I’m done for the evening! night to all.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
by tryptic67 on Jan 12, 2012 1:55 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
If y'all get LSU as a permanent rival, ...
Hyman should be fired, tarred, and feathered.
http://sportsandgrits.com/
He's a numbers guy
more than a people guy. And, right now, we need him to get through our facilities upgrade that’s got us mortgaged to the hilt … we’re stretched so thin that we’re forced to break into undergrad’s dorms to look for loose change in the seat cushions. If we change horses now, the whole house of cards might tumble down. The lack of any ready cash is probably the reason why Darrin Horn will be retained even if he posts another losing SEC/overall season; fortunately, we seem to be holding steady in football, baseball and women’s hoops, so Hyman can continue to concentrate on the financial side.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
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