It’s Scarbinsky, I know, but, still, there’s a certain truth that resonates at the core of this:
Spurrier still clings to his fondness for the old days, as witnessed by his recent comment pointing out that Nick Saban has three national titles at Alabama but only two SEC championships. Only the Ball Coach could make that sound like a bad thing.
No doubt there are some sour grapes involved, too. For all of his Hall of Fame credentials, despite dominating the SEC in the 1990s, Spurrier has won only a single national championship, way back in the Stone Age in 1996.
Gene Chizik can match that, and Urban Meyer won twice as many at Florida between 2006 and 2008.
If you haven’t won at least one national title as an SEC head coach these days – hello, Mark Richt – what have you really accomplished?
I’m among those still in the Spurrier camp, but our numbers are likely to dwindle as the playoffs slowly suck the oxygen out of the room.
Get The Picture 
Death by Scarbinsky as he trolls HBC, das Hat, CMR, Roy Kramer and the SECCG as a play-in quarterfinal f/k/a semi-final
LikeLike
Natty > conference. Don’t make something simple sound complicated.
LikeLike
Is it that simple? Are all natties valued similarly? Does the 2007 LSU title, won by a two-loss LSU team (who lost at Kentucky and vs Arkansas at home the week before the SECCG) that was ranked #7 and jumped to #2 after beating #14 Tennessee by a touchdown… does that title carry as much weight as one that is won by an undefeated team? How about the non-title that the 2004 Auburn team won? That has no value even though they didn’t lose and LSU lost twice?
BCS titles are so dependent on luck. They have required teams to win and/or lose in bizarre fashion for the right teams to get the opportunity. When UGA was in the position to get that unbelievable opportunity when both #1 and #2 lost on the last weekend of the season, they were leapfrogged by THREE teams and inexplicably dropped from #4 to #5… including Virginia Tech who lost to LSU 48-7 earlier in the year. The reasoning was that they didn’t win their conference. That UGA team would have whipped the asses of all four teams ranked above them, but were not deemed worthy by the powers that decide.
So, BCS titles were mostly dependent on variables outside of your team’s control like bias and ignorance. And, winning one of those is far superior to just winning the conference, which your team can control? If we are already accepting the devaluation of the conference title… it’s just a matter of time before December Madness is a thing.
LikeLike
^This
LikeLike
“And, winning one of those is far superior to just winning the conference, which your team can control?”
Typically (with VERY few exceptions), winning your conference is a pre-requisite to playing for the MNC so yes, winning the MNC is better.
” If we are already accepting the devaluation of the conference title…”
Slow down, man. You aren’t devaluing the conference championship by saying a national championship is better. My Toyota isn’t all the sudden worth less just because I admit that a Mercedes or BMW is better.
“Does the 2007 LSU title, won by a two-loss LSU team…carry as much weight as one that is won by an undefeated team”
IMHO, not quite but they are close. Both teams were the best team in the country in a given year. If you want to make the case that a MNC winner from one year was better than a MNC winner from another year then I see your argument, however.
“When UGA was in the position to get that unbelievable opportunity when both #1 and #2 lost on the last weekend of the season, they were leapfrogged…”
I feel your pain here, but honestly I agree with LSU going ahead of us. LSU jumped us AFTER beating the Tennessee team that absolutely humiliated us and put us out of the game before the first quarter was even over. Our other loss was to a South Carolina team that didn’t even make a bowl game that year. Their resume was better. Now, some of the other teams jumping us were indeed BS, but that didn’t have an impact on whether or not we played for the MNC.
Anyway, those are just my humble opinions. Happy Friday!
LikeLike
YOU MEAN….the 10-R-C game wherein the Vawls QB conducted a clinic on how to properly run a bootleg, and everyone in the stadium knew it, except Willie the Clown? ah, but yes, I do recall the pain.
LikeLike
The leapfrogging incident you describe was orchestrated by ESPN talking heads, all of whom had axes to grind against Georgia: Lou Holtz (who regularly got dusted by the Dawgs when he was HC at USCe), Jesse Palmer (former back-up QB at FU), Charles Davis (former DB at UT who no longer is at ESPN), Kirk Herbstreit (former QB at Ohio State who got the sh!t beat out of him in a bowl by the Dawgs) and Mark May (former OL at Pitt when Pitt and UGA were big rivals during the 70s and early 80s). Never in the history of CFB-before or since-has there been such a concerted and biased propaganda campaign against a team as this one was against the University of Georgia. ESPN corporate, by its acquiesence to that debacle, forever forfeited its right to be called a “sports journalism” organization again. As for the individual participants named above, well…………
LikeLike
“Never in the history of CFB-before or since-has there been such a concerted and biased propaganda campaign against a team as this one was against the University of Georgia.”
Why’s everybody always picking on us?
LikeLike
You can joke about it all you want DIF but that doesn’t change the fact that the propaganda campaign against the Dawgs DID happen and the perps all had axes to grind against Georgia. The big argument they made (“Georgia didn’t even win their conference championship”) wasn’t even mentioned by Herbstreit when he was lobbying for a rematch of Ohio State and Michigan in the BCSNCG the year before and completely disappeared when Bama was the opponent to LSU in the 2011 BCSNCG. these people are fundamentally dishonest–so don’t give them a pass.
LikeLike
+1. Also there have been two teams that have LOST their conference championship games and by a huge score and still played for the MYTHICAL NC. Mark Richt hasn’t won a NC, Yawn. What he really hasn’t done is won the SEC in a while.
LikeLike
This!……..
LikeLike
Good post, Trey.
~~~
LikeLike
I would also argue that an SECCG is harder to win than a NC, ie. UA vs UGA ’12 was a harder fought battle than against ND, who really looked overmatched bad
LikeLike
Yeah but you also have to admit that one of Munson’s greatest calls, “LOOK AT THE SUGAR FALLING FROM THE SKY!”, would never happen in today’s game. Winning the conference and going to the Sugar is still a big deal, but nobody’s gonna be bringing sugar packets to the SECCG, it’s just not as special as it used to be. Winning the conference was THE goal every year at one time. If you happened to get voted national champs by one of the polls, that was just gravy. Nowadays if you win the conference but don’t win a natty, the conference championship becomes an afterthought. It’s up to you individually to judge whether that’s a good thing or bad thing, but it’s a reality either way.
LikeLike
“Nowadays if you win the conference but don’t win a natty, the conference championship becomes an afterthought”
I think this line of thought is exclusive to the SEC/south. It’s hard to rejoice in an SEC championship today as much as we would have ten years ago because our conference rivals have won 7 (and almost 8!) national championships in a row. That kind of makes a conference championship seem pale in comparison.
LikeLike
Wasn’t the point of the post specifically related to the SEC/South? 🙂
LikeLike
Haha fair enough. Mea culpa.
LikeLike
I think Spurrier would have more than just one MNC had he remained at Florida.
LikeLike
I’ve wondered about that. I mean, he seemed burnt out on the college game at the time. Didn’t he even admit it an interview that he had “left the cupboards kinda bare” for Zook, or something along those lines. He wasn’t recruiting at the same level anymore, I think he needed that break from the college game at that time. Without that break, I’m not sure he’d have been able to revitalize himself. Had UF gone back and hired him again though instead of Urban, by no means is it a stretch to think Spurrier could have won big again there.
LikeLike
Senator I think you just may be trolling us about this playoff thing. C’mon… do Dawgs fans brag about the 1980 SEC championship or national champs?Best way to insure being in the playoffs is to win the SEC…same as it was before
LikeLike
Things Steve Spurrier has not accomplished: a perfect season; more than 2 consecutive seasons of perfection in the SEC; SEC championships in more than one decade. Hell, even Vince Dooley did those things.
LikeLike
I agree with Spurrier, the goal should always be an SEC Championship, as that is totally within the program’s control. I do think however, that if UGA were to go undefeated and win the SEC that is an automatic invitation to the playoff. (unless it’s a year where the SEC is just terrible which I don’t foresee happening).
On a tangent, I really, really get tired of the meme that Georgia’s lack of championships is due to outside forces. We’re not unlucky, the media doesn’t have have it out for us, there is no coulda, woulda, shoulda, played/won a NC in 02, 07, 12. We haven’t won an SEC Championship closing in on a decade. We have managed a one loss season ONCE in Richt’s tenure. We have NEVER gone undefeated against the SEC or the SEC East in that time span either, all of these things are squarely in our control. I’m not advocating firing anybody but we’ll never be among the elite programs in the nation until the administration from the top down gets their head out of their butt.
LikeLike
This!!
Now we just wait until someone else comes along whining some BS about how we do things the “right way” and that’s why we underachieve
LikeLike
Do you seriously not understand the difference between facts and “BS”? I am not whining, I like the way we do things and feel we can still accomplish our goals. Fact is, we have so it isn’t impossible at all. But the differences are real and it doesnt take much understanding of CFB to catch onto that. We operate at a disadvantage, and that is not even debateable. You can argue where we might have been on a level playing field but it not being level is not worth arguing about. Your statement should be embarrassing to you, a real live example of needing an edit feature.
I don’t suggest we change, the other schools are the ones in an indefensible position.
LikeLike
“I don’t suggest we change, the other schools are the ones in an indefensible position.”
We do things the “right way” and that’s why we underachieve because the other teams won’t get with our program. That’s HUNH indefensible. They need to jump on in, follow our program and come in for the B1G underachieve win. It’s not that we can’t win it, it’s that we won’t win it. All I’ve ever asked of my league is that the other teams obey my orders as they would the word of God. We are here to help the other teams because inside every renegade rogue program there is a Georgia trying to get out. It’s a hardball world son and we’ve got to keep our heads until this championship craze blows over.
LikeLike
“The Georgia way” isn’t why we are closing in on ten years since our last conference championship. That’s all.
LikeLike
And I’m curious, Mac, why did you feel like my post was directed toward you?
(I didn’t have a specific commenter in mind when I said it, by the way)
LikeLike
Allow me to take a stab at it: Mac’s a sensitive kind of guy. He likes campfires and sing-a-longs. He likes the Eagles and Alpa Chino. He does not like union thugs and/or thugs. Sometimes he hears things. He likes doing random acts of kindness. Sometimes those random acts may or may not involve thread confusion but even if the threads have been crossed, he still goes out of his way to help people by educating them in the method and manner in which they should be educated. And although he would never admit it because it involves colors, his favorite colors are red and black.
LikeLike
I never thought you meant me specifically, or anyone of a large group who feels our policies/standards puts us at a disadvantage to those who continue to play the players we suspend or reject. I simply take issue with that as “BS”, or “whining”. But it is factual and cannot be denied that we are swimming upstream when we “give up” players that others put on the field against us. There can be discussion about whether we change our policies to match theirs but not using all your ammunition will contribute to a loss or two most seasons. We had under 70 scholarship players on the field against Alabama in 2012, that is rather significant. I don’t even have to mention how many times we start the first 2-3 games each season with a few starters on the sideline. I like our playing it straight, but it does make it more difficult to win titles.
LikeLike
Yes or no: Do you think “the Georgia way” is 100% responsible for why it’s been close to a decade since our last conference championship? I don’t.
Bonus question: Can you support, with imperical evidence and/or logic, that suspending a player and publicly raking their name through the mud after a screw up helps them “learn a lesson” moreso than handling the punishment internally without publicity? My guess is that you can’t, and therefore a big part (though not 100%) of our “moral superiority” is BS.
LikeLike
Answer to #1 is yes, I do, and it has been 8 years. We will win more with the same disadvantages, but it is harder.
As to number 2, both your question and answer is a damned good example of this BS stuff you referred to. You know very well that type wording is more like a politician running for office than a serious discussion point. If “moral superiority” means not compromising your character/integrity, I plead guilty. I saw the internal discipline shit at State Penn, Ohio, Auburn, etc. you can have it.
LikeLike
“If “moral superiority” means not compromising your character/integrity, I plead guilty. I saw the internal discipline shit at State Penn, Ohio, Auburn, etc. you can have it.”
This is what I like to call a false dichotomy. I expected this, which is why I CLEARLY stated “handled internally” as opposed to “ignored and not handled at all.” Why don’t you take a stab at that question again for me 😉
LikeLike
Good post, Charlotte.
Let’s see how the transformation we’re currently undergoing plays out. The SEC Title is still the #1 goal, IMO, for the reason you stated. There’s still luck and subjective opinion (even of people who don’t know or really understand the game) involved in getting to the playoffs.
And we don’t ever seem to have a lot of that kind of luck, just the other kind. But it’s going to be tough to keep the SEC Champion out of it. Or at least should be.
~~~
LikeLike
I bet ol’ Spurrier doesn’t miss the old, old days too much. He’s likely a fan of the BCS, though. Can you imagine if the BCS had been in place in the 90’s when he was at Florida? He would have won a few more national championships, that’s for sure, because he’d get into that game A LOT. Of course, those Florida teams would have landed in quite a few four-way playoffs, too.
LikeLike
If we could just go back to the year 2000 and hired (fill in the blank) then we would have won a MNC even in the face of some of the greatest teams, coaches and players in SEC history being our competition. It’s our pre-ordained right that has simply gone unfulfilled. I often wonder if good ol’ (fitb) is still available today to bring us that guaranteed MNC. Sadly at my age I just seem to remember the name of coach (fitb)…can somebody help me out?
LikeLike
Allow me to take stab at it: HBC, das Hat, Roy Kramer, Nick, Irwin, Chiznik, Jimbo Fisher and/or anyone else Jay Jacobs would have hired?
LikeLike
None of those seem Smart.
LikeLike
I knew I would forget to get somebody
LikeLike