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New SEC divisions and pods thread (Page 30 starts recent discussion)


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I wonder if the 6 in a 3/6 would actually change every year or every 2 years.  In original flavor Big 12, we'd play the same 3 north teams home and away in back to back years and then swap to the the other 3 for the next 2 years.  I think I'd like that better.

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42 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

Tell you what steve - I’ll give this another try and the more polite manner. everyone else can ignore the long cat.  I applaud your attempt at a no true Scotsman by continually trying to link me to Aggy, but let’s return to the main point.  A few posts above your post someone said that Florida and Auburn could not be rivals because they didn’t play as many games as (I forget who the hell they said)

You followed up with a comment that many of these rivalries, including SEC rivalries, should not actually be considered rivalries.   You do realize that you followed up and confirmed that “ the SEC has too many rivals that aren’t rivals“ in your second post, right?  I get you had your hackles up because of my post. 

I’ll try to be as quick as I can.

1) Florida, and Auburn started playing in 1912, and we’re both charter members of the SEC

2) about half of our games in our rivalry were decided  by a touchdown or less

3) those assholes did not lose a game at home to us until 1973. I can’t even describe how painful that was and how it produced a hate fest rivalry

4) even with the away game suckage, our overall Series record is 43-39 (favor lesser tigers)

5) late in the fourth quarter in 1966 Spurrier kicked the winning field goal. SOS was not our kicker - but our kicker was dicey and Spur-dog said “fuck it, I’ll try it coach!”. That positive press was the reason he won the Heisman Trophy that year.  UF’s first.  Against the hated Tigers. 

6) 1985 was one of our greatest game; we held Bo Jackson to 40 something yards and beat Auburn.  The next week we had the first number one ranking in Florida’s history. Again against Auburn.  Auburn hated that.

7) we consider one of the greatest plays in Florida football history to be the 1987 win over Auburn.   Behind 17-0, our quarterback, Kerwin Bell kept fighting back, despite being demolished by Auburn’s defensive line. In Bell’s last drive he was limping significantly, and because he had no mobility, he kept getting clobbered. Somehow we scored to make it 16-17 with 34 seconds left. We lined up for a two point conversion to win the game. We tried to pass, but Bell was quickly chased out of the pocket. He ran for the end zone at a speed that made Case McCoy look like Usain Bolt and barely scored to win 18-17.

8 ) those toothless shits also beat us several times when we are highly ranked (and even number one).  It got worse. The hated Bobby Bowden’s drunk dwarf kid was their coach. 

The reason I bored you with this is because I assume, naturally, you neither knew nor or cared about our history. So my small but snarky point was that if you were not a gator or an Auburn tiger, you have no standing to declare what the rivalry means to us, or tell us that our history and reasons aren’t sufficient.

I have to say, it’s a bit rare for anyone on Surly to protest the normal surly tone.  But it’s cool, as I’m sitting here with a 101 temperature wondering what the fuck that is.  Was I snarkier  than my normal?  Dunno Steve.   I’m sure the first Texas-Florida game will have a kick-ass tailgate party, and I look forward to buying you a drink or seven. 

Thanks for the reply! I really enjoyed the history lesson on UF vs. Auburn. I love college football history.

My post wasn't referring to Florida vs. Auburn and I don't even remember the post you're referring to. My original post was nothing more than what I stated. My main point was I think the 16 team format is going to be much better than any other format we've had in college football. It will preserve the main rivalry games and produce a bunch of big games against a bunch of different teams while maintaining a fair and balanced SOS. I think right now that schedules are very unbalanced  and unfair. Some teams play tough schedules while other don't, even within the same conferences. Any rivalry that is not protected will still be played twice every four years. Some will agree with my take, some won't.

My second post was just feeding off your reply. I went overboard., my apologies, but my original post was mainly just about the 16-team format so you confused me with your reply. I did like your sense of humor though. That's why I gave you rep! With that said, I do think the SEC tends to overvalue rivalries.  That's not directed at Florida or even Florida vs Auburn. If that is one of your main rivals, then it should be treated as such. I'm not in position to even comment on your history. My point is we tend to hate change, but change is the only way to grow and improve. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be some rivalry games. I would never approve of any changes in the Texas vs. OU rivalry. 

Fuck Auburn. My dad's family lived there for a year in the 1950's and got back to Texas ASAP. Their entire history is built on cheating and immoral conduct. There stadium was smaller than a Texas high school back in those days. UF has always been my favorite SEC team. Florida is very similar to Texas IMO. Good public university in a big recruiting state that deals with a whole bunch of cheating from their competition. The NCAA's lack of balls has hurt both Texas and UF athletics. I feel like Texas, Michigan and UF have a lot in common.

First beer's on me. 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Sandbagging Steve said:

Thanks for the reply! I really enjoyed the history lesson on UF vs. Auburn. I love college football history.

My post wasn't referring to Florida vs. Auburn and I don't even remember the post you're referring to. My original post was nothing more than what I stated. My main point was I think the 16 team format is going to be much better than any other format we've had in college football. It will preserve the main rivalry games and produce a bunch of big games against a bunch of different teams while maintaining a fair and balanced SOS. I think right now that schedules are very unbalanced  and unfair. Some teams play tough schedules while other don't, even within the same conferences. Any rivalry that is not protected will still be played twice every four years. Some will agree with my take, some won't.

My second post was just feeding off your reply. I went overboard., my apologies, but my original post was mainly just about the 16-team format so you confused me with your reply. I did like your sense of humor though. That's why I gave you rep! With that said, I do think the SEC tends to overvalue rivalries.  That's not directed at Florida or even Florida vs Auburn. If that is one of your main rivals, then it should be treated as such. I'm not in position to even comment on your history. My point is we tend to hate change, but change is the only way to grow and improve. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be some rivalry games. I would never approve of any changes in the Texas vs. OU rivalry. 

Fuck Auburn. My dad's family lived there for a year in the 1950's and got back to Texas ASAP. Their entire history is built on cheating and immoral conduct. There stadium was smaller than a Texas high school back in those days. UF has always been my favorite SEC team. Florida is very similar to Texas IMO. Good public university in a big recruiting state that deals with a whole bunch of cheating from their competition. The NCAA's lack of balls has hurt both Texas and UF athletics. I feel like Texas, Michigan and UF have a lot in common.

First beer's on me. 

 

 

*their

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1 hour ago, HtownHorn said:

Pods/divisions don't make a shit. It's likely going to be a 16-team conference, where the top 2 teams play for the championship.

Nahh.  Needs to be a East and West still and the top from each side plays for the Championship.  Atleast for our chances of playing in the title game more often that idea sounds better..  Sooo the 3 rivals each season, a 3 team rotation from your division each year and 3 teams from the other division each year.  I mean how many time has aggy played Georgia in the last ten years anyway?  Won’t happen but it sounds good to me. Lol

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Reading between the lines, there will be no divisions. There will be no pods. The decision has been made, and the 3+6 alignment has already been determined. At this point, details are being ironed out, ruffled feathers are being smoothed, and one or two schools that didn’t get their way are being given a chance to get in line. Just because we only just got the announcement that Texas and OU were joining in 2024 does not mean that this has not been in the planning stage for a very long time. 

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21 hours ago, Hook1997 said:

Anyone that says we won’t be in a pod with or playing aggy every year is delusional as they are, it’s not happening.  

I'm not saying we won't, but it wouldn't shock me if aggy is incessant enough in complaining about it that the SEC throws them a bone to pipe down.

19 hours ago, n64ra said:

Oklahoma deserves Texas, Alabama, Georgia every year.

I don't know, can you name two states that deserve one another more than Oklahoma and Florida?

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10 hours ago, Sandbagging Steve said:

Thanks for the reply! I really enjoyed the history lesson on UF vs. Auburn. I love college football history.

My post wasn't referring to Florida vs. Auburn and I don't even remember the post you're referring to. My original post was nothing more than what I stated. My main point was I think the 16 team format is going to be much better than any other format we've had in college football. It will preserve the main rivalry games and produce a bunch of big games against a bunch of different teams while maintaining a fair and balanced SOS. I think right now that schedules are very unbalanced  and unfair. Some teams play tough schedules while other don't, even within the same conferences. Any rivalry that is not protected will still be played twice every four years. Some will agree with my take, some won't.

My second post was just feeding off your reply. I went overboard., my apologies, but my original post was mainly just about the 16-team format so you confused me with your reply. I did like your sense of humor though. That's why I gave you rep! With that said, I do think the SEC tends to overvalue rivalries.  That's not directed at Florida or even Florida vs Auburn. If that is one of your main rivals, then it should be treated as such. I'm not in position to even comment on your history. My point is we tend to hate change, but change is the only way to grow and improve. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be some rivalry games. I would never approve of any changes in the Texas vs. OU rivalry. 

Fuck Auburn. My dad's family lived there for a year in the 1950's and got back to Texas ASAP. Their entire history is built on cheating and immoral conduct. There stadium was smaller than a Texas high school back in those days. UF has always been my favorite SEC team. Florida is very similar to Texas IMO. Good public university in a big recruiting state that deals with a whole bunch of cheating from their competition. The NCAA's lack of balls has hurt both Texas and UF athletics. I feel like Texas, Michigan and UF have a lot in common.

First beer's on me. 

 

 

I can’t wait for the first Texas vs Florida game hopefully at DKR.    UF has always been my fav in the SEC too.    

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13 hours ago, WBT said:

I wonder if the 6 in a 3/6 would actually change every year or every 2 years.  In original flavor Big 12, we'd play the same 3 north teams home and away in back to back years and then swap to the the other 3 for the next 2 years.  I think I'd like that better.

Yes, I think they'd likely set it up as a home-and-home, so 2 years on, 2 years off.  That's the most logical way to do it.  

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I've been pondering future trips to away games, I didn't realize that most of the cities were so small. I've been to Baton Rouge, Knoxville, Nashville, and Lexington for work. Passed through Gainesville while moving back to Texas. College Station a handful of times. 

The airports are acceptable, but a lot of times it looks like hotels are going to be 30-50 miles away. Not a deal killer, but most likely would cause you land at Columbus,Ga or Montgomery for an Auburn game. Or Memphis for an Ole' Miss game. 

Looked at Knoxville as an example of one of the bigger SEC towns but even they have limited hotel space. If you look at their downtown Hyatt Place for their game against Aggy, it's asking $1100/night.

I have friends that will fly in for the game and fly out right after, but I've gotten to the point of wanting to be a bit more relaxed about the weekend.

Oxford, Knoxville, and Gainesville are high on my list. Maybe Nashville, Tuscaloosa, Columbia, SC and Auburn just a step behind.

 

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9 minutes ago, 927 E. 41st said:

I've been pondering future trips to away games, I didn't realize that most of the cities were so small. I've been to Baton Rouge, Knoxville, Nashville, and Lexington for work. Passed through Gainesville while moving back to Texas. College Station a handful of times. 

The airports are acceptable, but a lot of times it looks like hotels are going to be 30-50 miles away. Not a deal killer, but most likely would cause you land at Columbus,Ga or Montgomery for an Auburn game. Or Memphis for an Ole' Miss game. 

Looked at Knoxville as an example of one of the bigger SEC towns but even they have limited hotel space. If you look at their downtown Hyatt Place for their game against Aggy, it's asking $1100/night.

I have friends that will fly in for the game and fly out right after, but I've gotten to the point of wanting to be a bit more relaxed about the weekend.

Oxford, Knoxville, and Gainesville are high on my list. Maybe Nashville, Tuscaloosa, Columbia, SC and Auburn just a step behind.

 

Knoxville is a good town, I have been there a bunch for work. Tennessee has a really nice campus in the middle of "downtown" with some good restaurants and bars near. You can pretty easily find hotel space on the cheap if you are willing to drive 10 minutes, but it will be all 3 star places. I have always wanted to take a trip to Tuscaloosa and Oxford, and maybe Gainsville since I have always liked Florida. The rest will be a step down, but still a shit ton better than Manhattan or Morgantown to travel to. 

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3 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Knoxville is a good town, I have been there a bunch for work. Tennessee has a really nice campus in the middle of "downtown" with some good restaurants and bars near. You can pretty easily find hotel space on the cheap if you are willing to drive 10 minutes, but it will be all 3 star places. I have always wanted to take a trip to Tuscaloosa and Oxford, and maybe Gainsville since I have always liked Florida. The rest will be a step down, but still a shit ton better than Manhattan or Morgantown to travel to. 

Yeah, never had any desire to go to Manhattan or Morgantown. Never really cared for Lubbock, never even went to a Baylor game that wasn't at DKR.

 

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4 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Knoxville is a good town, I have been there a bunch for work. Tennessee has a really nice campus in the middle of "downtown" with some good restaurants and bars near. You can pretty easily find hotel space on the cheap if you are willing to drive 10 minutes, but it will be all 3 star places. I have always wanted to take a trip to Tuscaloosa and Oxford, and maybe Gainsville since I have always liked Florida. The rest will be a step down, but still a shit ton better than Manhattan or Morgantown to travel to. 

Yep, Knoxville pleasantly surprised me. On the downside, you get real winters up there (compared to Georgia).

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19 minutes ago, 927 E. 41st said:

I've been pondering future trips to away games, I didn't realize that most of the cities were so small. I've been to Baton Rouge, Knoxville, Nashville, and Lexington for work. Passed through Gainesville while moving back to Texas. College Station a handful of times. 

The airports are acceptable, but a lot of times it looks like hotels are going to be 30-50 miles away. Not a deal killer, but most likely would cause you land at Columbus,Ga or Montgomery for an Auburn game. Or Memphis for an Ole' Miss game. 

Looked at Knoxville as an example of one of the bigger SEC towns but even they have limited hotel space. If you look at their downtown Hyatt Place for their game against Aggy, it's asking $1100/night.

I have friends that will fly in for the game and fly out right after, but I've gotten to the point of wanting to be a bit more relaxed about the weekend.

Oxford, Knoxville, and Gainesville are high on my list. Maybe Nashville, Tuscaloosa, Columbia, SC and Auburn just a step behind.

 

Tuscaloosa  game weekend hotel prices make Knoxville look like a bargain.  Aggy friends of mine always stay in Birmingham. 

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2 hours ago, Vertigo said:

Knoxville is a good town, I have been there a bunch for work. Tennessee has a really nice campus in the middle of "downtown" with some good restaurants and bars near. You can pretty easily find hotel space on the cheap if you are willing to drive 10 minutes, but it will be all 3 star places. I have always wanted to take a trip to Tuscaloosa and Oxford, and maybe Gainsville since I have always liked Florida. The rest will be a step down, but still a shit ton better than Manhattan or Morgantown to travel to. 

"downtown"???

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17 hours ago, Sandbagging Steve said:

I never mentioned a single game you should or shouldn't protect. Greg Sankey and the conference will do that for you, Gator. If you wanna cry in the Santa Fe, go back to the Gator boards.

If everyone is a rival then it is just a normal game. Rivalries aren't supposed to be normal games. They're special. Too many fans in the SEC think nearly half the teams in the old SEC are their rivals. If nearly half the teams in your old conference are your rivals then you don't have a rival. It would just be an average big game. You don't play a main rival every other week of the year.

You won't find Texas or any other team in any other conference in America that thinks nearly half the teams they play are main rivals. Texas isn't going to whine whether Arkansas is on the schedule or not. 

You will play your real rivals every year.

You will play everyone at least twice every four years.

If you can't live with that, you should go play with yourself.

I guess you could just tell Mr. Sankey how this is all gonna work, Gator? Inventing rivalries, stomping your feet and whining like a baby and creating fake traditions is all supposed to be reserved for ATM.

You don't understand what makes the SEC special.  Georgia hates Auburn, Georgia Tech and Florida the way we hate OU.  South Carolina and Tennessee are pretty fierce too.  When they play Clemson, its somewhere between the top 3 and S. Carolina and Tennessee.  Back in the SWC days we had OU at the top and UH, aggy and pig at a lower level.  Now its just OU with Baylor/Tech/TCU all well below how Georgia views Tennessee.

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2 hours ago, 927 E. 41st said:

I've been pondering future trips to away games, I didn't realize that most of the cities were so small. I've been to Baton Rouge, Knoxville, Nashville, and Lexington for work. Passed through Gainesville while moving back to Texas. College Station a handful of times. 

The airports are acceptable, but a lot of times it looks like hotels are going to be 30-50 miles away. Not a deal killer, but most likely would cause you land at Columbus,Ga or Montgomery for an Auburn game. Or Memphis for an Ole' Miss game. 

Looked at Knoxville as an example of one of the bigger SEC towns but even they have limited hotel space. If you look at their downtown Hyatt Place for their game against Aggy, it's asking $1100/night.

I have friends that will fly in for the game and fly out right after, but I've gotten to the point of wanting to be a bit more relaxed about the weekend.

Oxford, Knoxville, and Gainesville are high on my list. Maybe Nashville, Tuscaloosa, Columbia, SC and Auburn just a step behind.

 

My son goes to Auburn.  aggy was playing at Auburn the day after a parent's night.  We decided about 3 weeks before to go to parent's night.  The closest hotel we could find was in the Atlanta suburbs!  if you are going to an Auburn game, plan well ahead.

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42 minutes ago, bullet said:

My son goes to Auburn.  aggy was playing at Auburn the day after a parent's night.  We decided about 3 weeks before to go to parent's night.  The closest hotel we could find was in the Atlanta suburbs!  if you are going to an Auburn game, plan well ahead.

Oh I'm a believer in that. It's easier to plan the home games, I have 4 different hotels that have become my "go to" spots. But even in Austin I try to have all my hotels booked and plans made. Some restaurants only go out a couple of months, so that gets a bit sketchy and hopefully we won't see a home game overlap with F1 weekend again.

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All I know is for a decade aggy has ran it's mouth about tu being scared to play aggy, blah, blah, blah..

But if you go to any social media post or sports site discussing this threads topic, and you will have no issue telling the difference between aggy comments and UT/OU comments.   

Aggy wants to be in a pod with Alabama, Auburn, and (insert name). The ones that realize Alabama isn't the place for them, have Florida as the replacement cock they want to suck. Good luck finding ann aggy wanting to be with tu (and don't waste your time looking for an aggy post wanting to and OU, I haven't seen an aggy comment even mention OU)...

Now the UT and OU comments heavily favor UT/OU/aggy/pig--insert name--

10 years of chest thumping of how they would own us, but now that there's a chance to do it, in true aggy form, they'd rather let their pussy lips show than to nut up...

I never cared to play those fucks again, but since we are going to be in the same conference again? Fuck Yeah, I want aggy misery for Thanksgiving yearly!  If they hadn't spent the last decade being insufferable cunts, I would care less wether we play them regularly or not, but now? I hope we make them beg the the Big 12 to take them back within a few years. 

 

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22 hours ago, Sandbagging Steve said:

I think "rivalries" is an overused word. There are very few true rivalries worth protecting.

I disagree.

Rivalries are one of the cornerstones of sports. For me and I would imagine most, it starts in high school. There is the 'hated' rival that you get up for each time you play.

That bleeds over to college as well. The regional rival that has been played time and again. Once we start chipping away at that, we lose something tangible.

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4 hours ago, bullet said:

My son goes to Auburn.  aggy was playing at Auburn the day after a parent's night.  We decided about 3 weeks before to go to parent's night.  The closest hotel we could find was in the Atlanta suburbs!  if you are going to an Auburn game, plan well ahead.

This problem accounts for the large armadas of RVs that many SEC fans take to opposing venues.   They can get liquored up at the game and stagger back to their RV for leftover tailgate food and a place to sleep it off.

 

 

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I hope we play A&M every year.  It increases my odds of more happiness in the sunset of my life.

Many of my best sports memories are about watching that fucking cult turn turtle as their team fails once again to beat big brother.  If I get another 20 years of that, I'm good.

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1 hour ago, redswingline said:

I disagree.

Rivalries are one of the cornerstones of sports. For me and I would imagine most, it starts in high school. There is the 'hated' rival that you get up for each time you play.

That bleeds over to college as well. The regional rival that has been played time and again. Once we start chipping away at that, we lose something tangible.

This is a good point, but you must protect what is good, eliminate what is not so good and continue to push forward, grow and make things better.  Finding a good balance is essential.

If everyone we've ever played for a long time is a rival that should be played every year, there would never be any change and that's not good.  If a second-tier rivalry is not competitive or has a small fan base, should we really play them every year? What about all the noncompetitive games in the B1G between rivals? Do fans really enjoy watching 30-point blowouts that can be predicted beforehand? Or even close games with programs that don't carry their own weight?

What if the SEC never expanded from the original members,? Would their geographic footprint allow the conference to thrive? Would the SEC still exist?

Television only encourages moves that help their bottom line, which means the suggested moves are the moves that the fan bases are asking for in the first place.

I want to see big-time rivalries. I want to see college football protect those games but also create new rivals between like-minded athletic programs. I want to see competitive football. There are way too many cupcake games and blowouts in the college game. It's been heading in this new direction for nearly five decades, just at a snail's pace.

The fact that Texas hasn't played the SEC teams all that much doesn't mean it shouldn't happen moving forward. Do you prefer playing TCU and Tech or Alabama and LSU? I can tell you which games will create more buzz, more viewership, and more long-term history moving forward. We are a geographical and athletic fit in the SEC and probably should have been playing in that conference for a long time. I think the cheating factor, along with politics, has been the main dilemma over the past few decades. Just because in the past state politicians forced Texas to remain with a bunch of Texas schools doesn't mean we should keep playing them instead of regional border schools with more like-minded athletic programs. Without political pressure, many of these rivalry games may have never existed in the first place. At the very least, they would have ended many decades ago.

LSU, I believe, is our first or second most-played game outside of conference affiliation not named OU. I believe there are five or six SEC teams in our top 10 most played games OOC not named OU. I believe Texas/OU would have a much richer tradition with some of the current SEC teams if politics wasn't in play.

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3 hours ago, Gaffords said:

All I know is for a decade aggy has ran it's mouth about tu being scared to play aggy, blah, blah, blah..

But if you go to any social media post or sports site discussing this threads topic, and you will have no issue telling the difference between aggy comments and UT/OU comments.   

Aggy wants to be in a pod with Alabama, Auburn, and (insert name). The ones that realize Alabama isn't the place for them, have Florida as the replacement cock they want to suck. Good luck finding ann aggy wanting to be with tu (and don't waste your time looking for an aggy post wanting to and OU, I haven't seen an aggy comment even mention OU)...

Now the UT and OU comments heavily favor UT/OU/aggy/pig--insert name--

10 years of chest thumping of how they would own us, but now that there's a chance to do it, in true aggy form, they'd rather let their pussy lips show than to nut up...

I never cared to play those fucks again, but since we are going to be in the same conference again? Fuck Yeah, I want aggy misery for Thanksgiving yearly!  If they hadn't spent the last decade being insufferable cunts, I would care less wether we play them regularly or not, but now? I hope we make them beg the the Big 12 to take them back within a few years. 

 

So they also have idiots that don't realize pods aren't happening?

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1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

I hope we play A&M every year.  It increases my odds of more happiness in the sunset of my life.

Many of my best sports memories are about watching that fucking cult turn turtle as their team fails once again to beat big brother.  If I get another 20 years of that, I'm good.

24. Need to get to 100 wins. Fuck those fuckers. 

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1 hour ago, Sandbagging Steve said:

This is a good point, but you must protect what is good, eliminate what is not so good and continue to push forward, grow and make things better.  Finding a good balance is essential.

If everyone we've ever played for a long time is a rival that should be played every year, there would never be any change and that's not good.  If a second-tier rivalry is not competitive or has a small fan base, should we really play them every year? What about all the noncompetitive games in the B1G between rivals? Do fans really enjoy watching 30-point blowouts that can be predicted beforehand? Or even close games with programs that don't carry their own weight?

What if the SEC never expanded from the original members,? Would their geographic footprint allow the conference to thrive? Would the SEC still exist?

Television only encourages moves that help their bottom line, which means the suggested moves are the moves that the fan bases are asking for in the first place.

I want to see big-time rivalries. I want to see college football protect those games but also create new rivals between like-minded athletic programs. I want to see competitive football. There are way too many cupcake games and blowouts in the college game. It's been heading in this new direction for nearly five decades, just at a snail's pace.

The fact that Texas hasn't played the SEC teams all that much doesn't mean it shouldn't happen moving forward. Do you prefer playing TCU and Tech or Alabama and LSU? I can tell you which games will create more buzz, more viewership, and more long-term history moving forward. We are a geographical and athletic fit in the SEC and probably should have been playing in that conference for a long time. I think the cheating factor, along with politics, has been the main dilemma over the past few decades. Just because in the past state politicians forced Texas to remain with a bunch of Texas schools doesn't mean we should keep playing them instead of regional border schools with more like-minded athletic programs. Without political pressure, many of these rivalry games may have never existed in the first place. At the very least, they would have ended many decades ago.

LSU, I believe, is our first or second most-played game outside of conference affiliation not named OU. I believe there are five or six SEC teams in our top 10 most played games OOC not named OU. I believe Texas/OU would have a much richer tradition with some of the current SEC teams if politics wasn't in play.

how can we keep those rivalries already in the SEC and incorporate Texas/Ou and the new age of 16 team superconferences. How can you keep the competitive balance with schedules for so many teams? I believe its the 1+7 system. 1 main rival for every team and you play every team in the conference every 2 years, every 4 years home/away.

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the 2nd best option for competitive balance is the East/West option, clear, simple, easy. Only rivalries lost would be Lsu/Florida, Lsu/Bama, Lsu/Auburn. not a single other one. 

 

the 3rd option for competitive balance is the 3+6 model. Most of the time Bama, UGA, Texas, Ou, Lsu, Florida will be competitive/top 25 caliber historically, over teams like Kentucky, Mizzou, South Carolina, etc. 3 permanent rivals is a lot. 9 game SEC schedule also. 

SEC36.thumb.png.cc6ad3c174b3e82f27e5f601f841fadf.png

Realignment isnt over so whatever model we choose might change in 10 years. 

 

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11 hours ago, 927 E. 41st said:

Yeah, never had any desire to go to Manhattan or Morgantown. Never really cared for Lubbock, never even went to a Baylor game that wasn't at DKR.

 

Morgantown was a great rrip for me, since I avoided Morgantown (except for the game).  Flew into Pittsburgh and stayed there too.  Not a real college feel, but I got to skip the part of WV that I didn't appreciate - you know, the WV part.

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4 hours ago, Sandbagging Steve said:

LSU, I believe, is our first or second most-played game outside of conference affiliation not named OU. I believe there are five or six SEC teams in our top 10 most played games OOC not named OU. I believe Texas/OU would have a much richer tradition with some of the current SEC teams if politics wasn't in play.

I haven't followed this thread closely, mostly because I don't care what the scheduling in the SEC ends up being, and also because I tend to ignore threads when I see they have devolved into a pissing contest between posters.  Which means I end up ignoring most threads after the first couple of pages.

However, the above statement caught my attention.  I was curious if the assertion about LSU is correct, so I went to the Texas page on Winsipedia to see.

image.thumb.png.fdbd729db31b7045f3ede9295f72ed97.png

Not counting the schools in black that Texas played back in the 19th century or during WWII...I guess LSU is the second most played team behind Tulane that has never been a conference game.  Or 3rd most played if you count the majority of OU games that were OOC before the formation of the Big XII.

I don't know about the 5 or 6 SEC teams claim on your part, though.  That would take more research than I want to undertake right now.  You maybe right.  Or not.  I am going to go out on a limb and say you are either right or wrong about that.

Edited by ScottS
Grammar. And OU sucks.
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1 hour ago, TheContractor said:

how can we keep those rivalries already in the SEC and incorporate Texas/Ou and the new age of 16 team superconferences. How can you keep the competitive balance with schedules for so many teams? I believe its the 1+7 system. 1 main rival for every team and you play every team in the conference every 2 years, every 4 years home/away.

ScreenShot2023-02-11at9_23_59PM.thumb.png.c5092e3f78c642e63c11da27ca0890f0.png

the 2nd best option for competitive balance is the East/West option, clear, simple, easy. Only rivalries lost would be Lsu/Florida, Lsu/Bama, Lsu/Auburn. not a single other one. 

 

the 3rd option for competitive balance is the 3+6 model. Most of the time Bama, UGA, Texas, Ou, Lsu, Florida will be competitive/top 25 caliber historically, over teams like Kentucky, Mizzou, South Carolina, etc. 3 permanent rivals is a lot. 9 game SEC schedule also. 

SEC36.thumb.png.cc6ad3c174b3e82f27e5f601f841fadf.png

Realignment isnt over so whatever model we choose might change in 10 years. 

 

They’ve already said East/West split is (like pods) not happening.

It 3-6-6 9 game model or 1-7-7 8 game model. 9 game seems like the only true option.

Your rivalries are also woefully unbalanced and incomplete.

You have 8 power teams in the new SEC that all have a title in the BCS/CFP era: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, and even though they don’t have a title you have to include aggy for 9.

No team will have 3 permanent rivalries from this group, and all these will play 2 from this group, and those not in this group will play at least 1 from this group.

Alabama - Auburn/Tennessee
Auburn - Alabama/Georgia 
Georgia - Auburn/Florida
Texas - Oklahoma/aggy
aggy - Texas/LSU
Florida - Georgia/ ???? (TN/LSU/OU)
Tennessee - Alabama/ ???? (UF/LSU/OU)
LSU - aggy/ ???? (UF/OU/TN)
Oklahoma - Texas/ ???? (LSU/TN/UF)

then you fill in the third rival for the teams above from the remaining

Alabama - Mississippi St
Auburn -  Mississippi St
Georgia - Kentucky
Texas - Arkansas
aggy - Arkansas
Florida - South Carolina
Tennessee - Vandy
LSU - Ole Miss
Oklahoma - Mizzou

then mix in what’s left

OleMiss/Mississippi St
OleMiss/Vandy
Mizzou/Arkansas
Mizzou/Kentucky
Kentucky/South Carolina
Vandy/South Carolina
 

Again I’m not saying this will be the schedule 100% (fairly confident it won’t be this) but something like this will be laid out so that everyone has at least 1 big time rival and you don’t have teams like UK/Mizzou/MSU with no rivals in the top group of schools.

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2 hours ago, TheContractor said:

how can we keep those rivalries already in the SEC and incorporate Texas/Ou and the new age of 16 team superconferences. How can you keep the competitive balance with schedules for so many teams? I believe its the 1+7 system. 1 main rival for every team and you play every team in the conference every 2 years, every 4 years home/away.

ScreenShot2023-02-11at9_23_59PM.thumb.png.c5092e3f78c642e63c11da27ca0890f0.png

the 2nd best option for competitive balance is the East/West option, clear, simple, easy. Only rivalries lost would be Lsu/Florida, Lsu/Bama, Lsu/Auburn. not a single other one. 

 

the 3rd option for competitive balance is the 3+6 model. Most of the time Bama, UGA, Texas, Ou, Lsu, Florida will be competitive/top 25 caliber historically, over teams like Kentucky, Mizzou, South Carolina, etc. 3 permanent rivals is a lot. 9 game SEC schedule also. 

SEC36.thumb.png.cc6ad3c174b3e82f27e5f601f841fadf.png

Realignment isnt over so whatever model we choose might change in 10 years. 

 

If you have 15 other teams and only play 9 others and don't play divisions and talk about competitive balance, you are a liberal arts major.  You have no concept of math.

The Big 10 was pretty random when they had 1 or 2 every year rivals and played 8 out of the other 10 after PSU joined.  Some mediocre team would get lucky on the schedule and win or compete for the title.  When you miss 6 out of 15, there is no competitive balance.

So you schedule 2 rivals with 8 games and 3 with 9.  With one rival, you end Alabama-Tennessee, which was both schools biggest game for decades.  Auburn-Alabama has only overtaken it in recent decades.  And you end Auburn-Georgia, the most played rivalry in the SEC and 2nd most in FBS.  Georgia leads 63-56-8 after winning the last 6.   It just makes no sense.

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20 minutes ago, ScottS said:

I haven't followed this thread closely, mostly because I don't care what the scheduling in the SEC ends up being, and also because I tend to ignore threads when I see they have devolved into a pissing contest between posters.  Which means I end up ignoring most threads after the first couple of pages.

However, the above statement caught my attention.  I was curious if the assertion about LSU is correct, so I went to the Texas page on Winsipedia to see.

image.thumb.png.fdbd729db31b7045f3ede9295f72ed97.png

Not counting the schools in black that Texas played back in the 19th century or during WWII...I guess LSU is the second most played team behind Tulane that has never been a conference game.  Or 3rd most played if you count the majority of OU games that were OOC before the formation of the Big XII.

I don't know about the 5 or 6 SEC teams claim on your part, though.  That would take more research than I want to undertake right now.  You maybe right.  Or not.  I am going to go out on a limb and say you are either right or wrong about that.

First 10 were all SWC members at some point.

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31 minutes ago, ScottS said:

I haven't followed this thread closely, mostly because I don't care what the scheduling in the SEC ends up being, and also because I tend to ignore threads when I see they have devolved into a pissing contest between posters.  Which means I end up ignoring most threads after the first couple of pages.

However, the above statement caught my attention.  I was curious if the assertion about LSU is correct, so I went to the Texas page on Winsipedia to see.

image.thumb.png.fdbd729db31b7045f3ede9295f72ed97.png

Not counting the schools in black that Texas played back in the 19th century or during WWII...I guess LSU is the second most played team behind Tulane that has never been a conference game.  Or 3rd most played if you count the majority of OU games that were OOC before the formation of the Big XII.

I don't know about the 5 or 6 SEC teams claim on your part, though.  That would take more research than I want to undertake right now.  You maybe right.  Or not.  I am going to go out on a limb and say you are either right or wrong about that.

Texas, LSU, and Tulane were in the SIAA together. 

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43 minutes ago, ScottS said:

I haven't followed this thread closely, mostly because I don't care what the scheduling in the SEC ends up being, and also because I tend to ignore threads when I see they have devolved into a pissing contest between posters.  Which means I end up ignoring most threads after the first couple of pages.

However, the above statement caught my attention.  I was curious if the assertion about LSU is correct, so I went to the Texas page on Winsipedia to see.

image.thumb.png.fdbd729db31b7045f3ede9295f72ed97.png

Not counting the schools in black that Texas played back in the 19th century or during WWII...I guess LSU is the second most played team behind Tulane that has never been a conference game.  Or 3rd most played if you count the majority of OU games that were OOC before the formation of the Big XII.

I don't know about the 5 or 6 SEC teams claim on your part, though.  That would take more research than I want to undertake right now.  You maybe right.  Or not.  I am going to go out on a limb and say you are either right or wrong about that.

I did the research last year. I forgot about the old SIAA Huck mentioned though. 

The active Power 5 teams Texas has faced the most out of conference in the history of the program:

1. Oklahoma: 85 games

2. LSU: 18 games

3(t). Vanderbilt: 12 games

3(t). Notre Dame: 12 games

5(t). Alabama: 9 games

5(t). North Carolina: 9 games

7. Ole Miss: 8 games

8. Auburn: 8 games

9(t). USC: 7 games

9(t). UCLA: 7 games

9(t). Cal: 7 games

- Six of the top 8 most played OOC games will be in the SEC plus conference mates A&M and Arkansas.

- #5 North Carolina could be a future SEC member.

- We've also played Georgia 5 times and MSU 4 times.

- Kind of surprising we've only played Tennessee 3 times.

 

 

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  • immamac changed the title to New SEC divisions and pods thread (Page 30 starts recent discussion)

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