Alabama and Tennessee starting playing every year because they were the two dominant SEC teams in the 1930s. The series just seems like a joke nowadays because Alabama is at their all time peak, while Tennessee is going through their longest and worst down period. Alabama lead the series by a competitive 44-37-8 margin before they began their current 15 game winning streak over Tennessee in 2007.

(09-03-2022 11:52 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-03-2022 11:48 AM)Hootyhoo Wrote:  Georgia also needs south Carolina.

Do they? Or does South Carolina need Georgia? That's not the same thing.

Maybe I'm overrating it's importance to Georgia fans. I grew up in Augusta right on the border so it was definetly a big game for people there. It wasn't that long ago that it was a competitive game with spurrier at sc.

(09-03-2022 01:57 PM)Renandpat Wrote:  Is not big or even a rivalry to me since they've only played 21 times since 1972. The SEC doesn't schedule it and and the SEC didn't have a set number of league games (6) until 1982.

SIX conference games? And I thought the SEC were wimps for playing 8 now.

(09-03-2022 12:57 PM)Just Joe Wrote:  Auburn and Tennessee are the ancient annual rivalries (even though we went 50 years or so without playing Auburn). That doesn’t change even though Tennessee has been one sided for most of the last 30 years (first in Tennessee’s favor but now Bama’s). So Alabama’s top two are already set.

Georgia’s been a fun rivalry but familiarity breeds contempt and even with the postseason games, not playing every year loses something. Plus, until the title game last year, it was a one sided rivalry. Nick owned Kirby and Richt before that. Hard to build up the passion of the LSU rivalry when that’s the case. Beyond that, just me personally, I like Kirby and he runs a good program. I still want to beat him like a drum every time but it’s not the kind of visceral reaction that I feel when we play LSU or Jimbo and the Aggies.

That's an interesting way to put it. I'm a TN fan, and my hate for Florida for instance is different than for Georgia. I liked Mark Richt and we always played them well. But Florida always brought out the worst in us. So I hate Florida and have grudging respect for Georgia.

(09-03-2022 02:49 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(09-03-2022 02:33 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(09-03-2022 12:19 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Well, for one, there's too many programs with potential and significant resources in the SEC for them all to play every year. There's too much ebb and flow...too many teams that can good at any given time.

Alabama and Tennessee still play every season and one of the reasons for that is they used to battle it out for the conference title on a regular basis. Actually, Bama and Georgia used to play all the time although that fizzled out in the 70s and 80s. As the 90s approached, we were put in different divisions.

Auburn and Georgia is one of the biggest rivalries in the league, that won't be replaced.

Anyway, I agree that there's some tweaks that need to be made to the scheduling format, but they'll be doing that sooner than later. 9 games and the 3 + 6/6 model. However, adding Texas and Oklahoma will create some new dynamics too.

Not sure if UGA goes for this, but OU-UGA could be a fun rivalry game. texas won't want that, as they'll already be getting hammered by OU and A&M every year, but I could see OU going for it.

It's indeed possible, given that we have a small rivalry with Mizzou, even though they have not been in the conference long. Truth be told though, I would rather the Dawgs play your Aggies more, because the two schools are more alike than what it may look like at first glance. We don't have a Corps of Cadets, but we do have some strong ROTC programs that could give A&M a run for its money. And both of us have instate rivals that we truly despise: Texas for A&M, Tech for the Dawgs.

I would love to have UGA as rivals, but we are really intense about tu and LSU, so we only have 1 spot left. Not sure who your 3rd is, so...maybe?

I love that we're in the SEC. I love the rivalries, the atmosphere in the stadiums, the fan enthusiasm, I even love the drunk frat boys from Ole Miss talking **** after Manziel just stuck a dagger in their hearts. But we really need to play East teams more than once a decade. 3-6/6 can't get here fast enough for me.

(09-03-2022 03:29 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-03-2022 01:57 PM)Renandpat Wrote:  Is not big or even a rivalry to me since they've only played 21 times since 1972. The SEC doesn't schedule it and and the SEC didn't have a set number of league games (6) until 1982.

SIX conference games? And I thought the SEC were wimps for playing 8 now.

yep - I always thought it was weird to have only 6 conference games and 5 nonconference (only 11 games back in the day - well, in MY salad days, 70's and 80's) and not sure why it wasn't a few more - back when there were only 10 teams, heck, play the round-robin and have 2 OOC games... easier said than done, I reckon...

(09-03-2022 03:29 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-03-2022 01:57 PM)Renandpat Wrote:  Is not big or even a rivalry to me since they've only played 21 times since 1972. The SEC doesn't schedule it and and the SEC didn't have a set number of league games (6) until 1982.

SIX conference games? And I thought the SEC were wimps for playing 8 now.

Auburn decided that playing 8 SEC games + PSU would be easier than 9 SEC games.

If Bama has Auburn and UT every year in a 3/6/6 format I doubt they'd want UGA for their third. Same for UGA if they have AU and Florida.

1. Most of you are too young to have a frame of reference. SEC schools played a minimum of 5 conference games in the 60's with some schools playing as many as 7 and most of it had to do with travel, and other local rivalries with LSU opting to keep playing Tulane when they left and Auburn continuing to play Georgia Tech which was our oldest rival, Georgia being the second oldest and Alabama being the 3rd rival. Tennessee was an annual back then as was Florida.

2. There were only 10 games played in the regular season for most of that time span before #11 was added. If you actually look at the old schedules, you'll see familiar P schools which weren't in top conferences included in the mix, and in those days Southern Miss was anything but a given while FSU was the pushover. And TV money was controlled by the NCAA and only a fraction of the gate and concessions in total revenue so each schedule had 8 games you could alternate home and away (better schools) and 2 buy games so each school had 6 home games to sell.

3. Georgia always played a more eastern schedule and Alabama always played a more western one.

4. There were no playoffs, no conference championship game, and no divisions. Schedules were made for the only prize there was, a New Year's Day bowl.

5. Don't respond to a troll thread about Southern schools when it is started by a Big 10 fan.

6. When the Big 10 wins a championship in football I'll pay attention to "wimp" remarks. Until then I'll be content with championships, harsh West Division play, and Northern futility. Mighty Iowa 7 S. Dakota State 3.