Texas A&M’s move to SEC evidence of NCAA’s lost mission

NCAA's Mark Emmert says all the right things but mission of college athletics continues to implode.

NCAA's Mark Emmert talks a good game, but mission of college athletics continues to implode.

A few days after NCAA president Mark Emmert reached for his talking points and attempted to assure the masses (suckers) that university presidents were “focused on what really counts, and that’s sustaining the collegiate model,” we must ask two questions:

What is that model and when did it mutate? Because all wonderful sound bites about integrity, academic standards and returning to the mission of college athletics notwithstanding, somebody just ran to the ATM again.

Texas A&M reportedly intends to leave the possibly crumbling Big 12 for the ivory towers of the SEC, with an announcement coming as soon as Monday, after banks open.

It’s understandable why A&M would want to escape Texas’ shadow in the Big 12 and come to the SEC, where member schools split a record $220 million in a revenue-sharing plan this fiscal year. I’m not quite as sure why the SEC wants A&M, because other than getting its toes into the state of Texas — assuming College Station counts — this is like a high-end mall expanding to add a Walgreens.

The bigger issue, however, is the continuing conflicting messages being disseminated by the hypocritical suits that run college athletics. They say it’s about academics, but they sign off on 12-game regular seasons, late-night kickoffs and “special edition” school-night games because, well, the checks cash. They say they’re about the big picture, but really they’re about only the picture that they’re in.

Tradition is gone. Perspective is gone. Any sense of tradition, doing what’s right or maintaining some semblance of the fabric of what has made college athletics so great and unique has been obliterated by the potential of the next TV deal.

There is no common good in college football, any more than there is in boxing. There are only independent contractors — college presidents, athletic directors, conference commissioners, bowl pooh-bahs — scrambling to fill their own pockets. Squint, and they all look like Don King.

University of California-Riverside chancellor Tim White, one of the NCAA’s chosen mouthpieces at last week’s presidents’ “retreat” in Indianapolis, referenced “the ecosystem of university life.”

It kind of makes sense. They’re just redefining “going green.”

White touched on “integrity” and “academic reform” and concluded, “We want to make sure that the entire ship is doing well, that the students are not being taken advantage of inappropriately, recognizing they’re student-athletes, not athlete-students.”

And then he jumped onto his unicorn and rode away through a field of towering yellow and purple flowers toward a rainbow.

Texas A&M’s move would be a significant domino to fall. That’s ironic considering the Aggies won their lone national championship in football in 1939 and have two bowl wins in the past 20 years (those in the Alamo and Galleryfurniture.com Bowls). Florida State, Clemson, Missouri, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech all are swirling in the SEC expansion rumor mill.

We’re on a path toward an Orwellian landscape. Three college football superstates: Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia (with Notre Dame as an independent).

College administrators say they embrace the ideal of the student-athlete. If that were true, they wouldn’t base every decision on the potential for a new indoor practice facility.

The gap between the ruling class and the commoners is wider than ever. How does it go over in the rest of the Big 12 when Texas and ESPN partner to form the Longhorn Network?

The NCAA dumps on kids for selling a jersey or an autograph or taking cash from an agent. But they won’t give the quarterback a share of his jersey sales in the campus bookstore?

Presidents talk tough about raising academic standards for bowl and NCAA tournament teams. To borrow from Penn State president Graham Spanier, “We are unanimous that we need to bring a higher level of integrity to the conduct of intercollegiate athletics.” But every move they make screams, “We’re here for the money! Which way to the next Fiesta Bowl golf junket?”

The SEC has refrained from commenting on expansion plans. But they see what expansion did for the Big Ten’s and Pac-12’s TV deals. They’ll welcome anybody that can help fill the coffers. It’s not about nurturing, improving and improving college athletics. It’s an arms race. The collegiate model isn’t being sustained. It has been detonated.

By Jeff Schultz

Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC; friend me at Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC

478 comments Add your comment

WHY A&M?

August 14th, 2011
12:48 am

Tech ticket sales for the Orange Bowl weren’t good either, but that was a weeknight following the long Christmas break. Pathetic excuse in my book, but those are the facts. Sure didn’t have any problem filling the Orange Bowl in 1966.

WHY A&M?

August 14th, 2011
12:53 am

You know, you have to wonder back in the 20s and 30s when the LOFTY Rose Bowl creeps included southeastern teams in their list of invites, how on earth did fans from this part of the country has the time or money to get out there. It’s not like today, when at least conceivably they can fly out one day and back the next.

BYRDDAWG

August 14th, 2011
12:54 am

Sorry WHY but I believe tech’s student body has changed alot since ‘66…..There’s a whole lot more India than America on N Avenue!!!

WHY A&M?

August 14th, 2011
12:55 am

BYRDDAWG, I’m not talking about the students; I’m talking about the alums and other fans. Even in Tech’s glory days, students only comprised a small part of the fan base.

Chris

August 14th, 2011
12:58 am

I understand that Clemson doesn’t add anything market wise and footprint wise, but as a Georgia fan I have to admit, the gameday experience at Clemson is hard to beat. It is not better than Athens and between the hedges, but Clemson’s tailgating, rabid fanbase yet good sports, the rock, the entrance of running down the hill, the paw, the websters definition of a small college town, but still a big school with a big stadium has SEC written all over it. Maybe the SEC could take care of market and television sets with Tex AM and balance with Clemson to stay true to SEC culture, brand and proximity.

Thucydides

August 14th, 2011
1:00 am

I have sworn off Division 1 football beginning this year. I will be riding down to Valdosta this fall to have my occasional heart to heart with my VSU student over a steak at Austins coincide with Blazer home games. It gets even better next year when Mercer begins their division III program. I will be a charter season ticket holder. The Bears probably won’t be able to beat a good high school team, but I will at least know the coaches and players will be giving it their best college try, plus the players will be legit college students. Just my way of thumbing my nose at those elite hypocrites behind the glass at Sanford Stadium. After all, they have been trying to ban “the common folks” from the UGA campus for years now.

WHY A&M?

August 14th, 2011
1:01 am

I thought the whole parking / tailgating thing at Clemson was the best organized I have seen anywhere. Notre Dame is good too, and as hard as it was to admit it, the Notre Dame fans were the classiest I have seen anywhere.

BYRDDAWG

August 14th, 2011
1:02 am

WHY explain to me the reason they don’t sell out little old 50,000 seat Grant Field?

WHY A&M?

August 14th, 2011
1:03 am

Thucydides, and isn’t that what it should all be about anyway—what you described about VSU. It’s at schools like that where football is still a sport, and not a business.

WHY A&M?

August 14th, 2011
1:09 am

BYRDDAWG, I can give you two opinions that I have on that matter. FIRST, back in the 70s (hell, maybe even earlier than that), the Tech AA did what Thucydides just described about Athens—they more-or-less turned on the common fan and treated them like dirt. For example, “no, we don’t have any more tickets; the game is sold out.” But when you got to the game, there were PLENTY of unsold seats. I don’t know who they were saving them for, but if you didn’t have season tickets, your chances of getting in were next to none. And you could actually get that same message at whatever ticket booths might actually have been open prior to the game. SECOND, unfortunately for Tech, other than FSU and VT (and SOMETIMES Clemson), there just isn’t much interest in seeing ACC opponents. The FSU and VT games, and SOMETIMES the Clemson game (but not always) are usually sellouts. Also (3rd point, I guess), when DRAD put in the got-to-make-a-contribution-first policy, it turned off a LOT of fans. Attendance noticeably dropped the first year of that policy. Never mind that he was just doing what every other school in the country does, the Tech fans didn’t like it, and apparently still don’t.

BYRDDAWG

August 14th, 2011
1:13 am

Thanks WHY!!! Lights out for me bro…..

heartofdarkness

August 14th, 2011
1:15 am

If I was Tim Geithner, I would see about arranging a little lending facility with the SEC, just in case the economy takes the ole Double Dip. We might even get a backstop for all the federal paper that will be issued in the next few years.
There is real opportunity for college football ahead, what with the NFL stuck with an inconvenient collective bargaining agreement. Should you expand the graduate school programs, and lengthen the eligibility to, say, seven or eight years, the semi-pros could control these players for most of their productive athletic careers. Removing the labor cost component from any enterprise will create marvelous profit margins. With a well advertised derivative exchange tied to the fortunes of the good ole U and their players, the NCAA could replace the bookmaking industry. Its a brave new world.

WHY A&M?

August 14th, 2011
1:22 am

I’m outta here too, guys.

Swampie

August 14th, 2011
2:10 am

Hey dude where you been? You just coming to the realization that college football is all about the Benjamins? It’s been 100% that way since they started the conference championship games. That’s about 20 years now, welcome to the party.

Ramblin Man

August 14th, 2011
2:10 am

BYRDDAWG,
WHY A&M gave several good reasons and I will give a few more. As a dawg fan you know that UGA is pushed hard in the state of Ga (just go looking for GT merchandise compared to UGA) so GT does not pick up to many undecided or uncommited fans if you will. Add that with all the things to do in Atlanta and the average person decides to spend that extra income on a Falcons game if in to sports or the aquarium or something of the like if just looking for something to do on a saturday. Most GT graduates do not stay in Ga. let alone Atlanta so the fan base gets spread pretty thin. Now we could and should travel better and I have never fully understood why some don’t support the team more. If you ever watch a home game when VT, U, FSU, or Clemson come to town it’s a pretty good turn out but with other schools it can be a ghost town. One thing I will give SEC fans is they travel and most of those stadiums are pretty evenly split on game day. If CPJ can build a competitive team year in and year out and stay away from seasons like last year I think attendence will pick up.

Mike Smith

August 14th, 2011
2:20 am

Jeff, A&M will mix in every bit as well as Arkansas has or better in the SEC. This is far from settling for a “Walgreens” program. Give A&M the shot to recruit in Texas with the SEC logo, and I bet you’ll see a team competing for the West title in no time.

College football is headed for Super Conferences whether anyone likes it or not. It is the only way to keep out of a playoff scenario and keep the BCS going. If 4-5 super conferences are formed, then a plus one format makes even more sense and will likely happen. These conferences will be stronger than their former selves, and would go further to validate their champion participating in a plus one format. The way I see it, the Big east and Big 12 are doomed. Its only a matter of time before the PAC12 and Big 10 and possibly ACC pick them apart. The SEC sees this and is getting the jump on things.

I think the SEC should stop at 14 however…A&M and someone for the East. Then they could go to a nine game conference schedule, everyone plays 6 division games, a cross division rival, and two rotating games. Basically the current division format would stay intact which has worked like a charm.

tennessee tom

August 14th, 2011
4:50 am

The college universities are getting more and more like big goverment,there will never be enough money.The more money they make,the more they spend,and tution keeps going up every semester for the no student athlete.Is the college deal turning into wall street (To Big to Fail)They added another game to the regular season a few yrs back,and all the teams added a red headed step child to the schedule.and most teams have to pay a big payout to get N.Dakota State or TN Chattoonoga for what.Rather see a 10 game regular season then a playoff,then it wouldn’t matter how big the conference is they would all be involved.The more teams in a conference your teams percentage of winning the thing goes way down.Bigger isn’t always better.

Stinger2

August 14th, 2011
5:52 am

Schultz: As far as getting responses or hits, this article
produced results for you.

Here are a few of my comments:
.Anyone who says that adding VT to the SEC would bring in the Washington DC market, needs to study geography. It would be Maryland not VT that would bring in that market.
Also, your comment about Walgreen`s shows you do not know much about the retail drug industry. I worked in the Atlanta area for many years as a pharmacist with several chain stores. Back in the late 60`s, Walgreen`s was not a factor and left the Atlanta market. In recent years they have reentered and are now one of the top tier chain outlets in Atlanta. Also, the have remained one of the largest drug retailers in the U.S. over many years.

Class of 93

August 14th, 2011
6:20 am

Damn. I spent a lot of time and money going to every SEC stadium in the east and west division besides the swamp just to say I had. Not sure I will travel to the new additions. How will this affect our western division schedule?

Dawg Tired

August 14th, 2011
6:34 am

The NFL is a more honest game. At least it makes no pretentions of what it is all about: Money.

College football tries hard to make its fans believe it is about student athletes, school spirit, tradition, education, blah, blah, blah… when it all about the same thing as the pros.

Mitch (the one in Rome)

August 14th, 2011
6:46 am

Jeff, I agree its all about what gets the check. But the model almost has to have that now. In a strange way it is about the student athlete and making better for them. The reason? That football program pays for a kid to go to school on a diving scholarship, swimming scholarship, an equestrian scholarship and a load of other programs that get funded by that massive golden calf of a football program.

If it were not for football there would be many other students who never get the chance to go to school and grow their sport.

Not that it should be like that, but it has sort of morphed into that. If the football does not fund more, they have to cut, and that would be PR failure leading to other bad things.

Got to feed the machine now.

collegeballfan

August 14th, 2011
7:26 am

MIssouri would make a lot of sense for the SEC. Not only football but academics. Missouri is a member of the Association of American Universities. In the SEC only Florida and Vanderbilt are members.

Scott from Fairburn

August 14th, 2011
7:27 am

Stinger2 – I think Jeff’s point is that Walgreens will not be invited to open a location at Phipps Plaza…

Ted

August 14th, 2011
7:39 am

UGA bug killer…I cited a source. You spouted off and you have no source because you’re the one who’s ignorant and uninformed and don’t know what you’re talking about. Oh, and another thing..learn how to spell!

yellow britches

August 14th, 2011
7:56 am

When TCU jumped to the Big East!! for the money and the BCS bid, well, I just thought, it is all over. Sad. Why didn’t the Big 12, this rump of a conference go after TCU? Was TCU not interested?

Some of you may remember the old Southwest Conference. The NCAA blew that conference up when they gave, perhaps deserved, SMU the only death penalty ever meted out. Rice and Texas in the same conference. Sounds like Vandy and Alabama doesn’t it. Just sad.

Ozzy

August 14th, 2011
7:59 am

Interesting discussion on this topic, and not too many trolls just trying to be A holes on this one.

I went to Mizzou, and now have a couple of kids at Tech. Columbia, Mo. is a ten hour drive from Atlanta. That’s getting to the edge of geographic desireability for a weekend trip. I’m not sure how good a fit Mizzou is, I wish they would have gotten invited to the Big 10 with Nebraska.

As for Tech, I wish they were still in the SEC, but I don’t think Tech can compete at the highest level in the SEC. It’s just not a 30,000 undergrads, liberal arts based school. If you look at it objectively (instead of with the snide glance of the typical UGA fan), it has 13,500 or so undergrads. 60% of them are Engineering students, many from outside the US. I can tell you that the argument that Tech grads don’t usually stay in Atlanta or Georgia is true, at least from our experience. One of my kids graduates in the spring and already has several nice offers, none of them in Georgia. We go to Tech games and it is a pretty good game day experience all things considered. It’s clear the alumna love their school.

I’ve been to plenty of UGA game days too, and it’s defintely a bigger party in Athens, but I think the draw of SEC schools rather than ACC schools would be a much more compelling draw for Tech fans, and the remaining tickets would sell to the opponents a lot easier.

yellow britches

August 14th, 2011
8:02 am

Ooo Jeff. One other thought. If the colleges started paying or compensating star players, i.e. the ones who bring in the dough, the move might put an end to some of this Title IX crap. I mean, right now men’s football and to a lesser extent, men’s basketball subsidizes all these other sports. Academe just loves socialism and the college presidents look tall and righteous when they take from the share cropper in the football program and give to the girls in the saddles in the equestrian programs. If money actually went to the people who produced it, who earned it, there might be less for the freeloaders. We might actually see a return of men’s wrestling and gymnastics. What a concept.

ToccoaBird

August 14th, 2011
8:04 am

When reporters asked Spurrier about the rumors of clemson join the SEC he said he welcomed Clemson so their game would mean more. lol

jackyldo

August 14th, 2011
8:05 am

Jeff brings the argument to the table that revenue and tv are driving this, and everyone decides which teams will be best in slots 14-15-16.

College Football and to some extent College Basketball have become the minor leagues for their pro counterparts.

Missouri joining the SEC (it touches Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois). makes no more sense than it will to send the baseball, softball, field hockey and women’s basketball teams there for conference games. 125 miles from St. Louis and Kansas City I am sure it’s a great town, but it’s in the middle of no where and brings the number 21 and 31 tv markets,,..

Football and it’s stadiums, bowls and such can support whole athletic programs because of our hunger to “see it live” on TV… but it’s 873 miles from Columbia, South Carolina to Columbia, Missouri. 954 miles from Gainesville, Florida to College Station, Texas. quite a stretch from the Southeast.

[...] Schultz of the AJC writes: “The bigger issue, however, is the continuing conflicting messages being disseminated by the hypocritical suits that run college athlet…. They say it’s about academics, but they sign off on 12-game regular seasons, late-night [...]

Dawg Fan

August 14th, 2011
8:08 am

Ahhhhhh Maroon and White and Cowbells will take over the SEC West See Now Slive will pull the limits on ringing cowbells everywhere, You want the take care of the new kid on the block. LOL Go Dawgs, Go Aggies, Mo Cowbell

UGA '01 = Sad Yech fan

August 14th, 2011
8:12 am

As though this was a mystery to anyone…..

TheItalianDawg

August 14th, 2011
8:13 am

UGA ‘01- if you believe in ranking UGA is ranked 58 so you can still say UGA is a top 50 school and have good athletics. However, why people think that including Jeff Schultz: good academics and good athletics cannot coexist. either great academics and bad athletics or bad academics and great athletics.
I think the gap is shrinking, am I wrong?

GT

August 14th, 2011
8:16 am

College football has no connection to the campus it is played on. Television has ruin it. You will have a migration from the game by the many areas of the country that are not competitive. The south needs the wealthier parts of the country in this game or it will turn into a minor league baseball model with little interest from mass America.

legionaire

August 14th, 2011
8:23 am

The NCAA should be abolished and let the top 50 colleges form a format that teams could (1) pay a reasonable stipend to players for pocket money. (2) allow players to have part time jobs and summer work (3) fain control of tv scheduling so that games start at reasonable times both day or night (4) have a playoff system that is workable.

Ozzy

August 14th, 2011
8:23 am

GT, I’m pretty sure the SEC is the dominant force in college football. The South doesn’t need the North or any other region. I think the other regions need the SEC (with the possible exception of the PAC 14 or whatever they are these days.)

Joey

August 14th, 2011
8:24 am

So . . . . what DO you like about the NCAA, Jeff?

Buckeye

August 14th, 2011
8:33 am

Hey SECville, I hear from my main man Gee that Little Sisters of the Poor is looking to join the SEC. I suspect they’d prefer to plan in the Least division with the dogs.

bad brad

August 14th, 2011
8:41 am

I say bring back Tech as the 14th SEC team; an easy conference win every year would be good for the Dawgs!

Beatle Bailey

August 14th, 2011
8:57 am

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over our heads.

Taco

August 14th, 2011
8:58 am

Let’s all join the SEC! Beat the rush. Texas AM? Seriously why bother? Vandy didn’t have a sister?

CFB is king

August 14th, 2011
9:09 am

OK here’s the deal. If we start paying Student-athletes then all we will have is a bunch of professional attitudes and agents around. No. don’t pay them an extra dime for playing sports. They already get 40k in education and other expenses. I do agree you raise that amount to cover the cost of nightlife and laundry etc… but nothing written individually. If individual contract or monies are given the CFB as we know it will be dead forever and that will surely make this a totally different sport with a different feel and people like me given much less to my school. I’ve written about it before and I’ll tell you agian. Take away your Cam Newton’s and such and the real alumni will still sellout the stadiums. they will support their schools first. But as soon as you start paying players you ruin the game forever. I see what the NCAA is trying to do and I see what they mean by trying to keep the student-athlete.

Jeff you have failed to mention several things in this article. You uber negative and for someone your age that’s surprising seeing how you should understand the real love for the college game. The TV money is totally different than the money that is given by alumni/boosters for the schools. The TV money is split separately by the conference and the NCAA and much of it is put right back into these schools. OK, so lets start paying the athlete 20 years ago…. You don’t have as nice as campuses, no TV contract deal for conferences it would go more to schools individually because of the players they recruit or get. Like someone said in this Blog above (make a super-conference and go against NCAA)…oh yeah lets do that!!! That way we can have all the failing students who have the criminal backgrounds get into certain schools and just have a good ole time!!!…that’s what would be the crime! Don’t you see this?

College football is fading fast. The money outside, not by NCAA and conferences, is what is going to kill it as we know it. It’s just gonna be another pro sport one day because all the media sports writer types keep aging on the criminal type(outside of the game) to make noise about something they don’t care about. Oh how I wish the late Mr. Lewis Grizzard could help me make you understand.

Please help save the game.

Scary

August 14th, 2011
9:09 am

Want to know what AnM provides the SEC? Check out Bill Byrne’s haircut-are you sure you want to do this?

Sunday morning buffet | Get The Picture

August 14th, 2011
9:09 am

[...] a little overstated, Jeff Schultz makes a fair point about hypocritical financial priorities in a world of NCAA amateurism standards [...]

UGABugKiller

August 14th, 2011
9:15 am

No, Ted, you were spouting off about “out of control” football budgets and laughable thing that have nothing to do with Title IX.

Title IX is a federal law that proclaims women athletes must have the same opportunities and must be treated the same as male athletes.

Then, school must take that federal law and make them FIT into the real world.

In the real world, the only two sports that make money are football and men’s basketball (unless you’re UConn and Tenn, where women’s basketball turns a profit).

So, the profits from football especially, is the reason why money-losers like ALL the women’s sports and other men’s sports exist…. NOT the reason why men’s sports like wrestling have been dropped.

The ACTUAL reason men’s sports like wrestling have been dropped has to do with the fact that there is no equal in women’s sports to the 85 scholarships offered in football. So, to “even the playing field,” schools must take on 4 or 5 money-losers like field hockey or women’s soccer or equestrian sports (again, payrolled by the FOOTBALL TEAM), meaning there are LESS opportunities for money-loser men’s sports like wrestling to be in the budget.

Your source seems to have an ideological axe to grind if you and it are blaming “out of control football budgets” when football is the only reason money-losing sports, which at most schools are ALL the women’s sports, even exist.

My source for MY information is the Social Problems class (SOCI 2600) I just made an “A” in during summer semester, of which there was a whole section regarding gender equality, and Title IX in particular.

So again, you couldn’t more wrong, more ignorant, and more uninformed than if you tried to be so.

SEC about to make a boo boo

August 14th, 2011
9:16 am

East Carolina offers an undergraduate degree in Special Education…just what the slightly educated conference needs.

Bull Meacham

August 14th, 2011
9:18 am

Agree with UGA 01 and Panhandle. Big time and long time UGA fan. No more money being spent by me on this NCAA garbage. Only thing that might re-excite me is UGA move to ACC.

Thomas Brown

August 14th, 2011
9:21 am

JEFF SCHULTZ

is right on one point.

Texas A&M who has only once the last 11 AP Polls finished ranked at all and that once only # 19 and the same year lost to every SEC team they played (two), and who has a 39 percent winning percentage all-time vs The SEC, is located in a city of 94,000 two full hours from Houston and with Houston traffic, more like 3 hours away normally or more is in the State of Texas. Texas with a population of 25 million. Texas where The SEC out-recruits Texas A&M already every single year. Dallas Texas is well over 3 hours no matter what the traffic. College Station is in the middle of nowhere. TV sets ? None tuned in to watch TAMU not even be able to compete vs the Big XII, and no where in The SEC can TAMU compete. Not in TV ratings, and not in recruiting where they are already out-recruited by The SEC, and not in winning games vs The SEC.

So what if Texas wants to be in The SEC ?

This is enough for us to want to vote for it today ? That we then replace Vandie with Alabama in The SEC East to face both Alabama and Florida every year ? This is a the reason to vote for Texas A&M just beause they want out because they cannot compete even in the lousy stinking Big XII – now defunct ?

We have 16 excruitating losses these last 10 years of Mark Richt’s “coaching staff” that defy all logic of we are the better team with the better talent and yet were CLOCKED by really sorry teams.

Like 4-win Vandie beating us or they are 3-win Vandie that year 2006

Like 7-loss Colorado beating us or they are 8-loss Colorado that year 2010

Like 6-loss vols or they are 7-loss vols beating us that year 2009

Like 6-Loss Kentucky or they are 7-loss Kentucky beating us that year 2009

Like 6-Loss South Carolina 2007 not even in a bowl game who beat us

Like 5-Loss Florida 2002 or they are 6-loss Florida 2002 beating us 2002

And, our games vs the teams finishing in the AP Poll Top 10 at 3-9.

For all these reasons that we cannot compete NOW, why change out Vandie for Alabama ? I mean if Mark Richt is so bloody great and this is what we have to settle for here for the # 11 team all-time in 1-A wins with 6 previous NC in football 1-A, we have to vote TAMU into The SEC today so that we can prove we are men playing Nick Saban’s Alabama every year, too ? We might start out by proving we are men against the teams we do play.

Just vote NO to TAMU.

Rex Bibendi

August 14th, 2011
9:26 am

Texas A(lways) & M(ediocre) will work out fine in the SEC. And I don’t mean that as a complement. Enjoy being the conference back marker, farmers.

SEC1

August 14th, 2011
9:29 am

RE: The exploitation of athletes under the pretense of “academics”

Old news, Jeff.

Thanks for keeping it on the “front page” though. It’s so hypocritical it stinks…