3 Things That Worry Me About The SEC
Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images As we use this bye week to acquire and appropriate a thousand suns which will fuel the thousand suns sourcing our hate against Florida, I sit back and reflect on college football and the new world order. But it gives me a headache, so I bring it in a little closer to home. Thus here are 3 things that worry me about the SEC. This isn’t a thoroughly prepared dissertation, just a stream of consciousness thought piece as we near the 2/3rds mark of the season. 1. The Division Bell. The reasons behind eliminating divisions within the SEC are varied, yet mostly a response to expanding the conference. Greg Sankey decided that was enough for us to swallow without trying to digest (and vomit) changing Alabama and Auburn to the SEC East. So here we are, at least through the 2025 season. We are left with a wide-open race for teams to make the Conference Championship. And without divisions, you are much more subject to using the tie-breaker rules to determine representation. When one team has a serious beef with the 4th qualifier that keeps them from Atlanta, you will definitely hear the cries for divisions. The NFL has 16 teams in each conference, and they saw the wisdom in breaking it down into more fun-size packages for the masses. And that is surely the way forward, but probably only after more dust settles and litigation in the courts. 2. It’s corporate. College football has always been a big business, but it was still run for the student-athletes and fans, and management was, shall we say, as little more laissez-faire. Or you could say the control was a little more centralized and operations a little less transparent. Now there’s no pretense of that – it is to generate money and the machine has been built to keep pumping that out. And now we’re seeing a lot of conference rulings, an overlord stepping in on most every issue. Fines for rushing the field are one thing and have always been handled by the SEC office. But did I hear UGA is appealing the suspensions of Dan Jackson and Joel Aguero to the SEC? I sure thought the targeting penalty was an NCAA rule. Can the SEC override this? If so, it’s another indicator of consolidating power in Birmingham. And it might portend an even bigger power move, possibly with the blessing and cooperation of the B1G. And if you think we’re moving away from the amateur model now, you can only imagine what that next iteration will be. 3. We’re more SEC than you. In the interests of full disclosure, I’m not the “SEC! SEC! SEC!” guy. But I’m not the “I wish every team but Georgia to lose every single game” guy either. I will always root for the best interests of the University of Georgia. And within the college football universe, that means your opponents must be of a certain quality or standard, so I hope that the teams on the Bulldogs schedule are successful in that it serves the greater good in Athens. Now we’ve injected more orange and crimson into the equation, and these folks are having to reconcile their former jealousy and disdain for the SEC and now fly that same banner proudly. The Southeastern Conference is the path for your championship, your goals, your hopes and desires. You just have to conveniently forget or deny your previous denigration of it, even when presented with video and documented evidence. This is the bed you decided to make, so make it comfy as you lie down. Georgia’s roots in the SEC are deep, so we don’t have this problem. Our biggest issue is talking bad about the family from the other side of town, only to be informed of our daughter’s engagement to their first-born son. And as the nuptials concluded, we realize the Thanksgiving table has a couple more chairs and the conversation is a little more stilted and awkward. And before we can even get adjusted, Pappy hints that future holidays might require putting in the extra table leaf. Pass the wine, please. Call me crazy, just don’t call me late for dinner. Sound off in the comments below what worries you about… well, just about anything. And as always… GO ‘DAWGS!!!
As we use this bye week to acquire and appropriate a thousand suns which will fuel the thousand suns sourcing our hate against Florida, I sit back and reflect on college football and the new world order. But it gives me a headache, so I bring it in a little closer to home. Thus here are 3 things that worry me about the SEC. This isn’t a thoroughly prepared dissertation, just a stream of consciousness thought piece as we near the 2/3rds mark of the season.
1. The Division Bell. The reasons behind eliminating divisions within the SEC are varied, yet mostly a response to expanding the conference. Greg Sankey decided that was enough for us to swallow without trying to digest (and vomit) changing Alabama and Auburn to the SEC East. So here we are, at least through the 2025 season.
We are left with a wide-open race for teams to make the Conference Championship. And without divisions, you are much more subject to using the tie-breaker rules to determine representation. When one team has a serious beef with the 4th qualifier that keeps them from Atlanta, you will definitely hear the cries for divisions.
The NFL has 16 teams in each conference, and they saw the wisdom in breaking it down into more fun-size packages for the masses. And that is surely the way forward, but probably only after more dust settles and litigation in the courts.
2. It’s corporate. College football has always been a big business, but it was still run for the student-athletes and fans, and management was, shall we say, as little more laissez-faire. Or you could say the control was a little more centralized and operations a little less transparent. Now there’s no pretense of that – it is to generate money and the machine has been built to keep pumping that out.
And now we’re seeing a lot of conference rulings, an overlord stepping in on most every issue. Fines for rushing the field are one thing and have always been handled by the SEC office. But did I hear UGA is appealing the suspensions of Dan Jackson and Joel Aguero to the SEC? I sure thought the targeting penalty was an NCAA rule. Can the SEC override this? If so, it’s another indicator of consolidating power in Birmingham. And it might portend an even bigger power move, possibly with the blessing and cooperation of the B1G. And if you think we’re moving away from the amateur model now, you can only imagine what that next iteration will be.
3. We’re more SEC than you. In the interests of full disclosure, I’m not the “SEC! SEC! SEC!” guy. But I’m not the “I wish every team but Georgia to lose every single game” guy either. I will always root for the best interests of the University of Georgia. And within the college football universe, that means your opponents must be of a certain quality or standard, so I hope that the teams on the Bulldogs schedule are successful in that it serves the greater good in Athens.
Now we’ve injected more orange and crimson into the equation, and these folks are having to reconcile their former jealousy and disdain for the SEC and now fly that same banner proudly. The Southeastern Conference is the path for your championship, your goals, your hopes and desires. You just have to conveniently forget or deny your previous denigration of it, even when presented with video and documented evidence. This is the bed you decided to make, so make it comfy as you lie down.
Georgia’s roots in the SEC are deep, so we don’t have this problem. Our biggest issue is talking bad about the family from the other side of town, only to be informed of our daughter’s engagement to their first-born son. And as the nuptials concluded, we realize the Thanksgiving table has a couple more chairs and the conversation is a little more stilted and awkward. And before we can even get adjusted, Pappy hints that future holidays might require putting in the extra table leaf. Pass the wine, please.
Call me crazy, just don’t call me late for dinner. Sound off in the comments below what worries you about… well, just about anything. And as always…
GO ‘DAWGS!!!
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