It’s hard to decide how much of this article to take seriously, especially when it’s coupled with this piece, but given the suggestion made in the conclusion of the latter (“It wouldn’t hurt one bit for LSU to do a little saber-rattling to get the SEC’s attention, to give greater voice to its concerns.”), I’m sort of intrigued by something suggested in the former. Namely, it sounds like LSU is prepared to take up the banner again of what it perceives as unfair conference scheduling at next year’s SEC meetings.
LSU lobbied at the SEC Spring Meeting in May to eliminate permanent opponents but was soundly defeated. The school will push again at the next meeting in May. Failing that, LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva proposes that the SEC adopt the Pac-12 model, which allows those schools that want permanent opponents to have them and those that do not to rotate.
That, of course, would let LSU out of its yearly meeting with Florida. Too bad for most SEC fans who see that game as one of the conference’s best offerings year-in and year-out. (And CBS, for that matter.)
What I really like is the sneering dismissal of conference rivalries.
The biggest continuing flaw in SEC football scheduling is the concept of permanent, opposite-division opponents. Permanent opponents are the SEC’s hide-bound attempt to cling to traditional rivalries that would otherwise be disrupted by East and West divisions, primarily Alabama/Tennessee and Auburn/Georgia.
One can argue those are rivalries worth preserving…
Gee, thanks for that.
It’s all about having the path greased to the BCS now. Maybe they ought to let LSU pick it’s cross-division opponents each year. And while they’re at it, they could wait a month into the season to choose them, so Alleva could really get a handle on which schools will pose the least challenging threat to the Tigers’ chances.
I can’t see Alleva actually threatening to leave the conference – the money’s too good and if he’s upset about Alabama’s pull, just wait ’til he gets a load of Texas’ power in the Big 12 – but the scheduling whining will be interesting to follow, especially since Georgia won’t be a target on that front in 2013.
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Cheez! Spurrier and now Miles? Gimme a break from these impatient aholes who can’t wait for their easy schedule to roll around and from assuming that their cross-division matchup will always be the strenth of that division.
Let’s lobby to be LSU’s cross-division rival. And keep Auburn as well.
I have never viewed LSU through ESPN’s eyes and never will, but it looks like the grass-eating Hat has has a rather stilted view of his team that doesn’t show in game results. Screw him. We should give him something to cry about. He will never recognize that half of a horse shoe sticking out of his anus.
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Lost in the negative reaction to the whining is the fact that there is a legitimate point at the bottom of this. Scheduling should not be the deciding factor about who wins the East or West divisions and, ultimately, the SEC Championship. UGA has been victimized by this is the past, too. Only we didn’t whine about it. I keep getting back to the round-robin schedule and how every team should have to play every other team each season. That is the only way to determine a true conference champion. That is possible with a 12 game schedule and a 10 team conference (See: Big 12). As long as the SEC is more about money (See: SECCG) than true sportsmanship and competition unfortunately that will be impossible.
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We don’t disagree on the 12- game scheduling except it may prevent us from playing the cupcake GT game.
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In fairness, it does seem to me that there are only 4 out of 14 SEC schools that really want to keep their rivalry games. Why is the Pac-12 model such a bad thing? Seems the most fair to me keep all parties happy.
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So, will this revive the idea that you move Bama and Auburn to the east and Vandy and Mizzou to the west? Or is the LSU-Bama or LSU-AU game too important?
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Stoop, the East would then become top-heavy and the West would be a weak sister. Who would you move from East to West to make room for Bama and Auburn? Vandy? Missouri? The only way this would become workable would be if the SEC added 2 more teams and the teams were really top-notch–like Okie plus Okie State or Texas. The other idea would be to move UGA and UT to the West but that presents the same problem in reverse. Can you envision a division that has Bama, Auburn, Georgia, UT (when the Vols start being the Vols again), LSU and Texas A&M in it? You wouldn’t want to be Ole Miss or Missy State would you?
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I don’t know, Steve Spurrier keeps telling me that Arkansas is really, really good.
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Oh the Top 5 reasons to stay in the SEC is priceless. What a douche. “SEC is by no means a perfect fit but…” What is a perfect fit then?
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Very disappointing article about LSU and their fans/administrators’ feelings about trying to manipulate soft schedules as a way to get a ticket to the faux title game. (Agains supports having a legit playoff.) It is sad to see so many whine about not getting it done on the field, first Spurrier, now the LSU brass. Lobby instead for more conference games, but don’t take away the few good games we have every season.
LSU hasn’t always been a top dog in the SEC, and neither has Florida, but the “Big 6” of UGA, TN, and Forida in the East with mandated annual rivalry games with the best from the West, Alabama, Auburn, and LSU was designed to give some balance to every team’s schedules. There are years, or periods of years, where that doesn’t work out so when TN and Auburn is down like they were this year, it is no reason for schools to get on their drums and beat it loudly. I feel the SEC did a good job in selecting the designated rivalry games on a macro basis, but there are some fluctuations every year as teams vary in strength. Suck it up Tigahs, whining doesn’t become you, you are better than that. I always had LSU as my favorite team from the West but with Miles playing Jefferson last year, and this new entitlement attitude, I think A&M (whom I have always respected) has passed you by. And don’t be complaining about not getting the breaks, the refs handed you the victory in Athens the last time you visited, and you had better be damned glad TN got not one, but 3 miracle wins in 2007 to save your ass from an SECCG beatdown from the Dawgs.
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1st complain about Bama running the SEC? Try going to the BigXII and bargaining with Texas. Ask Nebraska, and A&M how that works.
Next why was Tennessee in the East and Auburn in the west? Auburn didn’t play LSU regularly before the divisions. Auburn’s rivals were Bama, UGA, and Florida. Suppose they didn’t want UT/Vandy to be a cross division game.
UT had gaps between UGA, and Florida games.
Bama/UT and Auburn/UGA are the big cross division games. The Big XII had one that was lost, OU/Nebraska. Ultimately it hurt the conference.
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I agree with you about Tenn and Auburn.
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John Jenkins ineligible.
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Tim Jennings, Rivals 2 star recruit, selected for Pro Bowl.
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Geno Atkins, Tim Jennings, Blair Walsh and Champ Bailey make Pro Bowl.
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The most secure I ever felt about Donnan’s firing was watching a Pro Bowl. I noticed Seymour and Stroud were anchoring the starting AFC defensive line just before Champ Bailey broke up a long pass attempt. Later on, Hines Ward made a TD catch. All I could think was, “We’re fielding the f’ing AFC Pro Bowl team and we only had one 10-win season?”
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As I said (I think, or at least meant to), when SOS was whining about us playing Ole Miss when they had to play Arkansas (supposedly one of the “Big 3” in the West), everything in cyclical. Towards the beginning of the season, the morons at ESPN did a piece on how the West was supreme over the East. Of course, they neglect to mention that the East generally dominated the West in the late 90s/early 2000s. Even individual teams have down cycles (does anyone remember Bama, circa the mid-2000s???). At some point, Florida will be down, LSU will beat them 8 out of 10 times, and LSU will (almost certainly) stop their bitching, and Florida will probably start it…
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