If the SEC asked, would/should Georgia Tech say yes?
Not long after the conference expansion issue really started to heat up, I found myself in a charity golf foursome with a couple of Georgia Tech guys. We were waiting to hit, so I just asked them point blank:
“If Georgia Tech got an invitation to leave the ACC and join the SEC, would you vote to go?”
Response No. 1: “In a New York minute.”
Response No. 2: “Can we go today?”
Now look, Georgia Tech has had a very good football home in the ACC since 1983. It is the defending ACC champions. And the situation got a lot better on Monday when the ACC landed a very good television deal with ABC/ESPN that will pay the league $155 million per year. In this economy, the ACC essentially doubled their money from the previous contract and that is quite an accomplishment. A number of people (this writer included) thought that the numbers might be lower so give the ACC kudos for getting that deal done.
Having said all that, there are two questions we will ponder today:
How/Why does Georgia Tech get on the SEC’s radar?
Why would/should Georgia Tech even consider leaving the ACC?
First, some history: Georgia Tech was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference in 1933 and remained in the league through the 1963 season, when the school withdrew and became a Southern Independent. We won’t debate the reasons why or the wisdom of Georgia Tech’s move. The fact is that Tech was a member of the SEC for 31 years.
People of a certain age will remember going to Grant Field and watching Georgia Tech, as a member of the SEC, play in some of the best rivalries in all of college football. The Georgia rivalry you know about, but did you know:
That Georgia Tech and Auburn have played 92 times? Tech first played Auburn in 1892 and from 1904 to 1987 the schools met every year but two (1905, 1943).
That even after it left the SEC, Georgia Tech also kept playing Tennessee? Between 1964 and 1987 Georgia Tech and Tennessee met every year but three (1974, 1975, 1978).
That there was no fiercer rivalry in the 1960s than the one between Alabama and Georgia Tech? Bear Bryant and Bobby Dodd were friends until the 1961 game, when Tech’s Chick Graning received a blow to the head from Alabama’s Darwin Holt. It broke Graning’s jaw and nose and put him in the hospital. The episode touched off a war of words between newspapers in the two states and drove a wedge between Bryant and Dodd. A year later Alabama came to Grant Field with an 8-0 record and ranked No. 1. Georgia Tech handed Alabama its only loss that season, 7-6. After the 1964 game the two teams did not play again until 1979. They played six straight years until 1984 and have not played since. They were scheduled for a two-game series in 2013 and 2014 but those games have now been postponed.
The point is that Georgia Tech has a lot of history with the current members of the SEC.
Here is how Georgia Tech could get an invitation from the SEC: If the Big Ten expands to 16 teams and exponentially increases its revenue (now at about $22 million per team), the SEC, which pays about $17 million per team, will have a decision to make. If the SEC decides that it must expand as well, some teams from the ACC could come into play if the SEC wants to strengthen its Southeastern footprint.
Whether or not the SEC would extend an invitation to Georgia Tech is a matter of some debate. The argument could be made that with the University of Georgia, the SEC already controls the state’s market place. But the same argument could be made about Clemson (because of South Carolina) and Florida State (because of Florida).
Why Georgia Tech would say yes:
1) More money. Georgia Tech needs it. Even with the ACC’s new contract, there will be about a $4 million gap in shared revenue per team. If the SEC expands, that gap could grow.
2) Easier scheduling. If Georgia becomes a conference game, then Tech has another non-conference game to play with. That would guarantee at least seven home games a season. That is also more money.
3) Better attendance: Bobby Dodd Stadium holds 55,000. With Paul Johnson in place, attendance is picking up as over 50,000 turned out for five of six games last season. The year before (2008) only one game drew over 50,000 (Florida State). But what if Georgia Tech were placed in an SEC division that included Clemson, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Miami, South Carolina and Tennessee? How great would the demand for tickets be? How much more would people pay just for the right to buy them? More money.
Why Georgia Tech would say no:
1) The school has 27 years invested in the ACC. It has become a good fit for the Institute, both philosophically and academically.
2) Winning the ACC football championship is hard. Winning the SEC is harder. That’s just a fact. Writer Rick Bragg once said that every SEC game “is like a knife fight in a ditch.”
3) You can’t go back. As much as the old guard romanticizes about good old days the fact remains that it’s been 47 years since Tech left the SEC and the world has really changed.
So if you’re a Georgia Tech fan and you got a vote, would you vote to go back to the SEC if the invitation came? Or do you think the ACC is still the best place for the Yellow Jackets?
If you’re an SEC fan, would you like to see Georgia Tech come back?
The floor is yours.
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661 comments Add your comment
George O'Leary
May 18th, 2010
2:44 pm
Tech people might be good with calculators but they can’t read resumes’
POAD
May 18th, 2010
2:44 pm
Stevie: When did Tech leave the SEC? Blind and Stupid is no way to go through life! Tech left in 63. 65 Gator Bowl Tech 31 Texas Tech 21. So, you are WRONG. Stevie you are not WHITE! You should like many of the women at TECH. We have women from all over the world and of NON-White Heritage. They are plenty of very good looking women at TECH. Open your eyes! Sorry use your hands a little better(like Mettenburger) and you would find many beautiful women at Tech.
uga99
May 18th, 2010
2:44 pm
“Never” you only claim to be about education when your team sux. Well, I guess that’s most of the time, huh.
'92 Dawg
May 18th, 2010
2:45 pm
The real reason they left the ACC is the same reason they won’t come back, ….. they couldn’t sell out a 50,000 seat crackerbox!!! It’s all about the $$$$$, and they don’t bring anything to the SEC.
Leader of the Taliban
May 18th, 2010
2:46 pm
POad, you denegrate my women!!!!
Dan
May 18th, 2010
2:47 pm
Good one, uga99!!!
POADS Woman
May 18th, 2010
2:47 pm
I glad he couldn’t see when he groped me.
uga99
May 18th, 2010
2:47 pm
POAD, I thought you were serious about pretty women at Tech.Then, I realized it was a joke. Good one, you almost had me.
Chiquita
May 18th, 2010
2:47 pm
Have you noticed that almost everyone who has a “uga” or “dawg” in their ID is a moron?
BILLY JACK
May 18th, 2010
2:48 pm
Techies check post 218 that is typical nerd reaction-We were better than Georgia just not on the night of the game.That is why Tech will never be in the SEC not ever.I just wish we had our best player AJ GREENE we would have stomped you even worse.As my LSU friend said recently I can see why you hate Tech so badly after the Peach Bowl Massacare.I am sure if I knew anyone from Iowa they would also chime in after Techs disgraceful Orange Bowl embarrasment.Tech is better than everyone else ,except on game day.
Dan
May 18th, 2010
2:49 pm
Chiquita, usually the way they do it is to have a location followed by “dawg.”
kgator79
May 18th, 2010
2:49 pm
43 Points…yeah your right teams like the Alabama have never seen an offense so versatile and unstoppable that they score a combined 17 points in two bowl games. 3 against LSU, 14 against Iowa. Its kind of the same junk we hear from FSU fans and their great offenses the last two years. Funny thing happens when they go outside the ACC and play a defense like Florida’s they end up averaging only about 10 points a game.
POAD
May 18th, 2010
2:50 pm
Stevie you are stupid. UGA beat Tech and USC beat Clemson, but GT and Clemson still had better records. UGA and USC would be behind Tech and Clemson. Clemson 6-2 & 9-5 overall. Tech 7-1 & 11-3 overall. Uga 4-4 & 8-5 overall. Usc 3-5 & 7-6 overall. So, how do Uga & Usc finish ahead of Tech and Clemson?
aubieone
May 18th, 2010
2:51 pm
As much as I HATE Bama and curse their women and children, there ain’t NO WAY IN HAYULL that GT would come into Bryant-Denny and put a lickin’ on the gumps.
Last time I saw the Jackets play an SEC team they got stomped by 300+ rushing yards!
p.s. – Reggie Ball can BITE me.
POADS Woman
May 18th, 2010
2:51 pm
Poad dumba@@ you had a better record because you played in the ACC!
Gator Bull
May 18th, 2010
2:52 pm
Chiquita, I love your bananas.
POADS Woman
May 18th, 2010
2:52 pm
Is a man
Hey Dogtards
May 18th, 2010
2:53 pm
GT was undoubtedly the better team. Winning a single game over a team does not make you the better team. The better team doesn’t always win (see last time GT played Auburn, GT beat AU, who beat uga, who beat GT – clearly the best team could not have won each time).
The results of the season show that GT was the better team.
GTs best win (over AP/Coaches #10 VT) was a much better win than uga’s best (over AP/Coaches #13 GT).
If Georgia was the better team, why didn’t the AP OR the coaches poll rank uga?
Uga has a ton of mediocre wins (Tennessee Tech, Arkansas, USCeast, Arizona State, Texas A&M). In fact, the only ranked team uga beat was GT. The only other decent win was beating Auburn, an “also receiving votes” team in the final AP poll.
GT has a lot of mediocre wins as well (Wake, MSU, Vandy, Duke, Jax St, Virginia). But GT had many more substantial wins – twice beating Clemson (#24 AP / received more coaches votes than uga or auburn in final coaches poll); beating VT; beating UNC (ranked in penultimate AP poll); beating FSU on the road (received votes in both the final AP and Coaches polls).
Comparing the losses favors GT too. Aside from UGA, GT only lost to Miami (#19 in both) and Iowa (#7 in both). Georgia lost to three times that weren’t / were hardly ranked: Oklahoma St. (received votes in AP / 25 in coaches), Kentucky (nothing), Tennessee (nothing). Georgia also lost to a team (LSU, 17 in both), who wasn’t ranked as high as GT, Iowa, or VT.
Maybe the rankings or bad. But uga also lost to two teams (UK and Tenn) that lost to two teams (Clem and VT) that GT beat three times.
I think its pretty clear GT was the better team.
uga99
May 18th, 2010
2:53 pm
No Chiquita. But I have noticed that anyone named Chiquita is 1. a hooker 2. a crack head or 3. a hooker or crack head who like bananas.
Dan
May 18th, 2010
2:54 pm
Reggie Ball beat y’all twice Aubieone. And no one likes a biter.
Notetaker
May 18th, 2010
2:54 pm
Flash code in one part: THE RED QUEEN’S RACE.
Encrypt pad 36-J
Activate at 00:01:00 Universal Time.
GWJ
May 18th, 2010
2:54 pm
NEVER gonna happen. Tech screwed up 47 years ago.
POAD
May 18th, 2010
2:54 pm
UGA99 how do you know UGA women are pretty? Most I know spent their Uga years Drunk, A$$ Up, and Biting my Pillow. I never saw their face and when I did her makeup was all over her face with rugburns on her knees.
Tech Fan
May 18th, 2010
2:54 pm
kgator79
May 18th, 2010
2:49 pm
43 Points…yeah your right teams like the Alabama have never seen an offense so versatile and unstoppable that they score a combined 17 points in two bowl games. 3 against LSU, 14 against Iowa. Its kind of the same junk we hear from FSU fans and their great offenses the last two years. Funny thing happens when they go outside the ACC and play a defense like Florida’s they end up averaging only about 10 points a game.
Hey swampy. You’re means you are and your is possessive.
Jacques Rickerson
May 18th, 2010
2:56 pm
POAD
May 18th, 2010
2:54 pm
UGA99 how do you know UGA women are pretty? Most I know spent their Uga years Drunk, A$$ Up, and Biting my Pillow. I never saw their face and when I did her makeup was all over her face with rugburns on her knees.
You sound like my kind of guy. You want to hang out when I make bail? I’ll show you my rings I got while I was at UF.
John Smithson
May 18th, 2010
2:58 pm
Why would Tech want to join a league full of cheaters with no academic standards (my apologies to Vandy)? At least in the ACC, everyone is competing on an even playing field.
POAD
May 18th, 2010
2:59 pm
Sorry JR I am waiting to hang with Zack Mett when he decides on a school/Bar.
Ogre
May 18th, 2010
2:59 pm
I’d love for the nerds to join the SEC. Would give UGA an automatic conference win every year.
Nope, sorry
May 18th, 2010
2:59 pm
it’s about $$$ and the SEC won’t gain a dime by adding Tech. UGA already owns the ATL market and the whole state. Tech adds nothing, plus the UGA folks wont let it happen. Believe it.
GT
May 18th, 2010
3:00 pm
If we are a shopping center, Tech is in Lenox Sq. and the SEC is a chain of convenience stores off some country highway, yet the convenience store is going to merge with Lenox Sq. and call the shots. I guess before it is all over Georgia will be telling Tech to move out of Atlanta and take Georgia’s place in Athens so more Georgia fans can get to the game. Fact is if you put Tech in Athens and Georgia in Atlanta, Athens would be bigger than Atlanta in 10 years, with far less red necks.
Dodging Stray Bullets on North Ave
May 18th, 2010
3:01 pm
NEWS FLASH
JOSH NESBITY JUST WON THE HEISMAN AND TECH WON THE NC!!!!
BLAH HA HA HA HA HA AH AHA HA AH AHA AHAH AHA HAHAA AHA AH
WHAT A BUNCH OF LOSERS IS TALL TELLS A REQUIRMENT AT TECH
uga99
May 18th, 2010
3:02 pm
POAD….another joke, huh? I can tell from your big talk that you are still a virgin. Go back to your nerd games.
Biting a pillow…yeah right. You’re a funny little fellow!
POAD
May 18th, 2010
3:03 pm
Is RUSS going to become VIII and still get his Butt painted?
UGA79
May 18th, 2010
3:06 pm
poad, are you ever going to kiss a girl. That’s the bigger question
POAD
May 18th, 2010
3:07 pm
uga99 don’t get mad that you married a well Frat traveled uga hotdawg hallway. Be proud you are a “honey canyon yodeler”! Your wife learned so much at uga she didn’t have to go to class for.
kgator79
May 18th, 2010
3:08 pm
Looking at ESPN final ap rankings since 2002 (thats as far back as ESPN will show you) the ACC’s highest final ranking from ‘02 to now is #7 Virginia Tech in 2005. Look at how that compares to other conferences who have had higher ranked teams than that in the same period.
Big East (6): #2 Miami (’02) #5 Miami (’03), #6 Louisville (’04) #5 West Virginia (’05), #6 Louisville (’06), #6 West Virginia (’07)
Mountain West (3): #4 Utah (’04), #2 Utah (’08), #6 TCU (’09)
WAC (2): #5 Boise State (’06), #4 Boise State (’09)
Not going to even get into Big 10, SEC, Pac 10 and Big 12. How sad is it when the WAC and MWC have had more higher ranked final teams in the last 8 years than that so called BCS conference the ACC?
kgator79
May 18th, 2010
3:09 pm
Tech Fan….did that make you feel better typing that?
GT #1 FAN
May 18th, 2010
3:10 pm
I said this on another blog, but, I’ll say it here as well. If we join the SEC we can forget about ever competing for a NC. I hate to admit it folks, but just take an honest look at the numbers. UGA has gotten slaughtered over the recent past to UF. We are 2-8 against UGA over the past 10 years. We’ve only beaten them 12 times over the last 45 years so it’s not like we’ve experienced success anytime in the recent past. The only thing we’ve got going for us now is that we play in a different conference than UGA. If we joined the SEC we would lose the recruiting battle every year and get demolished by UGA, UF, Alabama, UT, and even south Carolina. Think about it.
POAD
May 18th, 2010
3:10 pm
uga79 I never kiss the paying ladies. It is unprofessional! She should save the for the fool uga grad that thinks he is satisflying his wife as she spends his Waffle House paycheck.
Dan
May 18th, 2010
3:12 pm
Thanks GT #1 Fan for the info. But I think we’ll roll the dice.
DawgFan
May 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
The SEC doesnt need Tech. If the SEC needs to expand and theoretically loses Arkansas to the Big XII (no big loss), the SEC should go after Clemson first. It seems like the Big 10 will probably land Missouri, which will set in motion a chain reaction in which Arkansas bolts to its traditional rivals in the Big XII. Clemson is a much more SEC-style school than GT. SC is already here and UGA and Clemson are old rivals. If Kentucky were to bolt to the ACC (probably a better fit for them) then I would put FSU and GT in a tie. Yes, GT was a member of the SEC for years, but they left on their own volition. GT should be courting the SEC, not the other way around.
uga99
May 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
NicePOAD. If that was true, I’d still be better off than a 30 something year old living in his parent’s basement whose only action was the night kiss from mommy. Hide those spankerchiefs, I think she coming.
Dan
May 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
Great posting at 3:07, POAD. Generally I’d oppose going after another dude’s wife, but in this case not only do they deserve it but it’s probably accurate.
GT #1 FAN
May 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
Mistake, mistake, mistake!!!
Tony
May 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
Tech should jump if invited. They will not be invited. Expansion is being driven by new TV markets. Tech does not bring the SEC a new TV market. Texas and North Carolina do.
Boodawg
May 18th, 2010
3:14 pm
No, their cheerleaders are homely, nerdy and smell funny (I’m told)… and their mascot is a larvae buzzing around an old car.
Tech Fan
May 18th, 2010
3:15 pm
kgator79 , now that Urban Legend and the Gator nation have lost your savior (and numerous other players that will soon be kicked out of the NFL) I will assure that you Coach Paul Johnson would do what Coach Helen Hunt and UGay can’t do…march into the Swamp (or Jacksonville) and bring back a victory.
Josh Nesbitt > John Brantley
Lest you forget GT won the SEC and national championship in 1952 and there’s no looking back since!
I do appreciate you guys kicking the fleabags’ in the glutes every October!
UGA79
May 18th, 2010
3:16 pm
POAD,
Oh I see. Not a fan of the ladies. You must enjoy the company of the fellows. That’s cool, you go boy!
HugoStiglitz
May 18th, 2010
3:17 pm
Tony, the SEC has zero chance of getting Texas or North Carolina. SEC fans should really drop any hopes of that coming true.
Otto
May 18th, 2010
3:17 pm
Otto: Yes GT won the last 2 over Auburn but in the 70s and 80s it was all Auburn.
POAD: Otto Auburn 42 Tech 41 3 ties. That is on par with the Auburn/UGA record. Auburn 49 UGA 50 6 ties.
Notice I said 70s and 80s. Beginning in ‘69 GT lost 7 in a row, then won 3, and lost the 9 in row before the series ended. Auburn has won 16 of the last 21 over GT which is about on par with UGA. UGA and Auburn have continued to be very close.