Hurt: Rivalries a thing of the past?

[Coach Hank Crisp]

Click here for link

Who knew the Southeastern Conference would have its own version of Charlie's Angels?

That is the impression you might get from hearing Mike Slive, the SEC Commissioner, talk on Tuesday's joint SEC-Texas A&M media conference. There was a lot of friendly talk - even a patented "howdy" - from Texas A&M president Dr. R. Bowen Loftin - but it was Slive's comments that held the most interest for SEC football fans. And those comments weren't exactly reassuring on the issue of rivalries.

Specifically, the question was whether Slive felt "confident" that "existing rivalries" in the league could be protected in future football schedules. For many SEC fans, the only palatable answer would be a resounding "yes." Even a conditional "yes" would have been reassuring. But that is not what Slive had to offer.

"I'll tell you that I don't want to preempt the work of the transition team," Slive said. "There are people on the transition team who have spent their lives scheduling games and are as good as anybody in the country. We're going to let them do their work and then present some of their thinking to our athletic directors."

[SUPERCOACH]

Click here for link

Who knew the Southeastern Conference would have its own version of Charlie's Angels?

That is the impression you might get from hearing Mike Slive, the SEC Commissioner, talk on Tuesday's joint SEC-Texas A&M media conference. There was a lot of friendly talk - even a patented "howdy" - from Texas A&M president Dr. R. Bowen Loftin - but it was Slive's comments that held the most interest for SEC football fans. And those comments weren't exactly reassuring on the issue of rivalries.

Specifically, the question was whether Slive felt "confident" that "existing rivalries" in the league could be protected in future football schedules. For many SEC fans, the only palatable answer would be a resounding "yes." Even a conditional "yes" would have been reassuring. But that is not what Slive had to offer.

"I'll tell you that I don't want to preempt the work of the transition team," Slive said. "There are people on the transition team who have spent their lives scheduling games and are as good as anybody in the country. We're going to let them do their work and then present some of their thinking to our athletic directors."

Thats not very reassuring considering these same people are responsible for the opposition always having a bye week before they play Bama.

[BAMAWV]

Click here for link

Who knew the Southeastern Conference would have its own version of Charlie's Angels?

That is the impression you might get from hearing Mike Slive, the SEC Commissioner, talk on Tuesday's joint SEC-Texas A&M media conference. There was a lot of friendly talk - even a patented "howdy" - from Texas A&M president Dr. R. Bowen Loftin - but it was Slive's comments that held the most interest for SEC football fans. And those comments weren't exactly reassuring on the issue of rivalries.

Specifically, the question was whether Slive felt "confident" that "existing rivalries" in the league could be protected in future football schedules. For many SEC fans, the only palatable answer would be a resounding "yes." Even a conditional "yes" would have been reassuring. But that is not what Slive had to offer.

"I'll tell you that I don't want to preempt the work of the transition team," Slive said. "There are people on the transition team who have spent their lives scheduling games and are as good as anybody in the country. We're going to let them do their work and then present some of their thinking to our athletic directors."

Thats not very reassuring considering these same people are responsible for the opposition always having a bye week before they play Bama.

The SEC lays out the conference schedule only. They have no control over where teams schedule their non-conference games and bye weeks. This until Bama raised the issue a couple of seasons ago.

[SUPERCOACH]

Yes, but they have full control over wether they have to play a conference game the week before Alabama.  And yet none of those bye week teams had a conference game before Alabama.

[ricky023]

I hope the scheduling doesn't mess up the Iron Bowl or Tenn. rivalry. Fla hit and miss ok but these 2 need to stay forever. RTR!

[BAMAWV]

Yes, but they have full control over wether they have to play a conference game the week before Alabama.  And yet none of those bye week teams had a conference game before Alabama.

You have me thinking. My initial thought WAS that the SEC presents to members a 8 game schedule over 3 months. Then the members simply fill in the blanks. This is too simple an explanation. First, a team must have some control in whether or not they start the conference season on the 2nd week or, say the 4th week as we did this year. Then, consideration has to be given to rivalry games. Lastly, and to your point, the teams must have some control over open weeks before playing certains teams, and then have to fill in the blanks, as to whether they have a bye or non-conference game. Scheduling must be a nightmare.

[SeniorTSM]

So by adding Texas A&M, it would seem easy to just drop one non conf game, like GA southern or Kent State for Bama.

Auburn will want to keep the homeless shelter of Flordia (or aka Fl Inter.) on their schedule so how does T A&M make it on thier schedule?

[Catch Prothro]

So by adding Texas A&M, it would seem easy to just drop one non conf game, like GA southern or Kent State for Bama.

Auburn will want to keep the homeless shelter of Flordia (or aka Fl Inter.) on their schedule so how does T A&M make it on thier schedule?

It actually gets complicated with uneven divisions.  There is simply no way, mathematically, for all SEC teams to play the same number of SEC games and also for each division to play all SEC teams within their division.  The math doesn't work.

[McBaman]

Rivalries are part of the fabric of college football.  If games like Bama-Tenn on 3rd Sat in Oct are lost, it just won't be quite the same.  And Slive's legacy could be tarnished.  He better think about that.

But really, Texas started all this with their greed around the Longhorn network.  Beware the law of unintended consequences.

[BAMAWV]

So by adding Texas A&M, it would seem easy to just drop one non conf game, like GA southern or Kent State for Bama.

Auburn will want to keep the homeless shelter of Flordia (or aka Fl Inter.) on their schedule so how does T A&M make it on thier schedule?

I think everyone is on the same page in that the number of conference games will remain at 8.

[bamaphil]

Rivalries are part of the fabric of college football.  If games like Bama-Tenn on 3rd Sat in Oct are lost, it just won't be quite the same.  And Slive's legacy could be tarnished.  He better think about that.

But really, Texas started all this with their greed around the Longhorn network.  Beware the law of unintended consequences.

There's no way that we come out of this still playing Tennessee and Auburn every year.  We'll lose one of those games.

[Coach Hank Crisp]

Coach Bryant always scheduled and played and extra SEC game. All other SEC schools played 8 SEC games. Under Coach Bryant, Alabama played 9 SEC schools. Bryant and Alabama beat all 9 of their butts most of the time!

[Guest]

Username:
Password:
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

There aren't any users online.

Loading Tweet...