Spurrier says only SEC division games should count (really?)
Neither Steve Spurrier nor Rex Ryan have been known as coaches who conform. That can be good or bad. (AP photo)
Let me preface this by saying that I actually like Steve Spurrier. He is a great coach, he changed the SEC with what he accomplished at Florida and he doesn’t cheat (although “suspending” former quarterback Stephen Garcia five times without forcing him to actually miss a game certainly set new standards for enabling and being disingenuous).
But Spurrier’s latest idea is beyond looney.
The South Carolina coach is about to make a wonderful self-serving proposal. He believes the SEC’s division champions — the participants in the conference championship game — should be determined not by the teams’ conference records but by just results within the division.
I’m sure the fact that the Gamecocks will play SEC West teams LSU and Arkansas in 2012 while Georgia plays only Auburn and Mississippi has nothing to do with this brainstorm.
It’s shocking, really, that Spurrier didn’t come up with this idea in 2008, when Georgia played Alabama and South Carolina played Mississippi.
Wait a minute . . .
Spurrier apparently will make this pitch at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, according to SI.com. He spun this as only getting the idea after taking pity on Tennessee and Florida last year.
“Last year, it wasn’t fair for Tennessee and Florida,” he told SI.com. “They both played LSU and Alabama. Us and Georgia didn’t. So, us or Georgia almost had to win the division simply because of the schedule.”
It’s not a completely baseless argument. Every SEC team doesn’t play each other. Therefore, there are going to be inequities every year.
The problem is that no other sport at any other level determines division standings by division-only results. (Division records comes into play in tiebreaker scenarios.) Further, even if such a rule was adopted, it wouldn’t prevent other inequities. For example, how do you weigh the fact that Georgia’s first SEC game in 2012 is at Missouri and is the Tigers’ first conference game (which will be kind of hyped), while South Carolina gets Missouri two weeks later at home (and following games against East Carolina and Alabama-Birmingham).
Also, I suspect that if a scheduling glitch after conference expansion hadn’t knocked Alabama off of Georgia’s schedule, Spurrier might not be making this pitch. Just saying.
By Jeff Schultz
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272 comments Add your comment
Eisendawg
April 18th, 2012
4:11 pm
Steve’s argument is about as silly as saying UGA should have been awarded the victory against South Carolina last year, because we outplayed them. We beat them every way, except the way that counted, on the scoreboard. Steve should be thankful that he’s in the weaker conference, at least for now. I guarantee you Steve would not be lobbying for this if he was in the Western conference. What we really should be lobbying for is that other conferences should have to play a conference championship. That extra game can be a real killer! That is, unless you’re Alabama.
reebok
April 18th, 2012
4:12 pm
Spurrier’s just being Spurrier, trying to get headlines and get in other people’s heads…’cause if they are thinking about him, they aren’t thinking about their programs. Pure gamesmanship, and pretty smart.
JB
April 18th, 2012
4:17 pm
Big talk for a school that has nothing but dust bunnies in their SEC trophy case.
Bright Idea
April 18th, 2012
4:19 pm
LSU is Florida’s permanent Western opponent. During the 90s LSU was mediocre at best. Did Spurrier whine then to not count games from the other division?
KingGator
April 18th, 2012
4:19 pm
hey, whether you love him or loathe him, he gets people talking, and that’s what college football needs. I mean come on, should Alabama really have been national champs after they couldn’t even win their conference championship? How ludicrous is that!! They have always gotten preferential treatment because of who they are. Like Spurrier said, if Saban wants to be known as a great coach, go to Vandy or Duke and win a couple titles. Spurrier’s biggest accomplishment isn’t winning at Florida, it’s winning the Conf. champ. at Duke!! I imagine any of us could win at Bama in football or Kentucky in Bball. Just plug and play
JB
April 18th, 2012
4:20 pm
What happened to his slogan over there from 5-6 years ago ” Why not Us”……….Maybe he finally figured out the answer.
To Tell The Truth
April 18th, 2012
4:24 pm
SC OWNS GA!!!!!LOL!!!
Florida or SC will win the East!!!!
dawgfan
April 18th, 2012
4:26 pm
This is amusing considering the favorable scheduling from which he benefitted while at Florida. Go look it up. He always had an off week before Georgia and some patsy before Tennessee. Back then those were the only two games that you needed to win to win the East. Florida never left the state of Florida to play an OOC game and rarely played Miami. How’s that for some favorable scheduling Steve?
Spurrier is a total clown.
JB
April 18th, 2012
4:28 pm
Like to see this years Dawg D hold them to about 10 points…..And they just might.
DawginLex
April 18th, 2012
4:29 pm
Don’t play your drunk QB against Auburn Stevie boy
Dawg Haus
April 18th, 2012
4:30 pm
Poor ol’ guy just keeps trying to pull that rabbit from his hat, doesn’t he?
PMC
April 18th, 2012
4:31 pm
Everyone realizes this entire discussion is silly right?
The rules in place work just fine. At the end of the year they calculate the wins and the team with more or the team that breaks the tie goes to the SEC championship.
There is really nothing to debate. Some years are harder than others. Some out of conference schedules are harder than others….some diciplinary programs are harder than others….
At the end of the year either they won the games or they didn’t.
It’s profess… I mean amature Football…. It’s THE SEC…
look up the strength of schedules
April 18th, 2012
4:31 pm
Its laughable to hear UGA fans say Uf has had all these easy schedules. Go back for the last 25 years and I guarantee you that you won’t find more than 5-6 seasons in which UGA has a MORE difficult OVERALL schedule than UF according to the Strength of Schedule rating.
And if you know ANYTHING about football AT ALL it’s that Spurrier has never cheated and DESPISES cheating. If you claim otherwise it’s flat SOUR GRAPES because he’s kicked your teams tails more than your sad little heart can take.
RTR22
April 18th, 2012
4:33 pm
Gambs we all know the win over Alabama in 2010 is the shinning point of SC fb lol….I get that Alabama has 32 Ten Win Seasons in their storied history and SC has one I believe, maybe 2.
sUGAr_daddy_DAWG
April 18th, 2012
4:37 pm
Looks like all that hen cackling got to the ole coach.
superDawg
April 18th, 2012
4:39 pm
UGA is going to spank the living sheet out of so.carolina and the DumbAss that coaches them!
dawgfan
April 18th, 2012
4:40 pm
Check out some of the heavyweights that Spurrier opened up the season with during his last 6 years at Florida:
1996
Louisiana-Lafayatte
Georgia Southern
1997
Southern Miss
Central Michigan
1998
Citadel
Louisiana-Monroe
1999
Western Michigan
Central Florida
2000
Ball State
Middle Tennessee State
2001
Marshall
Louisiana-Monroe
All within the comfy confines of the Swamp and all conveniently scheduled before what was arguably Florida’s biggest game of the season against Tennessee.
If I’m Nick Saban I’m saying to myself “Where in the hell does this guy get off saying its easy to win at Alabama? We don’t have the luxury of open weeks and creampuffs before all of our big games.”
Spurrier is a clown.
Worth Mentioning
April 18th, 2012
4:41 pm
FWIW, South Carolina is 6-0 in the last 2 years vs. UGA, UF & Tennessee. UGA won the SEC East last year due to scheduling glitch of not playing Bama, LSU or Arkansas. This year, thanks to Slive more of the same (no Bama) plus the Dawgs lobbied to push the USC game back to avoid playing Mizzou & USC back-to-back. SMH That’s a crying shame…the Dawgs are resorting to begging for ‘league gifts’ to win the SECE. SMH
DawginLex
April 18th, 2012
4:41 pm
Spurrier won 1 national title that he backed into with a mulligan
Yet he is someone that thinks he can change the rules just to benefit his school?
Get a grip stevie
jerry
April 18th, 2012
4:43 pm
That should work for UGA since they have losing records vs both ‘Bama and LSU and probably always will.
UGADawg83
April 18th, 2012
4:52 pm
Steve has suddenly become a whinner. The schedule is the schedule you play the schedule and let the chips fall. There have been years when even Alabama has been down and teams have benefited from having them on their schedule. Also there are teams that rise up and play better than anticipated. For example, no one really expected Auburn to be as good as they were in 2010. The truth is no one really knows how hard or soft a schedule is until teams play the games.
By the way Steve if you actually had any rules you might have some players suspended for the first couple of ball games.
1eyedJack
April 18th, 2012
4:55 pm
Well, if the west division games aren’t going to count then why play them and get your team beat up for nothing? Play some out of conference teams and at least get some national exposure for recruiting purposes.
evil empire
April 18th, 2012
4:56 pm
uga fans should really avoid any debates regarding strength of schedule…
Dirty Dawg
April 18th, 2012
4:56 pm
Georgia’s not whining about anything…we play the teams on our schedule and we win some and lose some. If the SEC decides to change the rules because The Ole Ball Coach and his golfing-buddies/SEC coaches wants it changed, so be it…and when we whip his team’s butt this year just maybe it’ll shut his pie-hole for a while. The thing you can count on from Steve is that if he wins a little it gets his smart-a$$ mouth going again. When he loses even he gets a little contrite…although to say contrite and Spurrier in the same sentence is a huge contradiction of terms.
Bottom-line Gamecocks you ain’t beat us as much as we’ve beat you and this year will add another ‘W’ to our column.
doug lite
April 18th, 2012
4:56 pm
BAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAA
Thanks for the laugh Steve… ya dumbass.
dawgfan
April 18th, 2012
4:57 pm
“UGA won the SEC East last year due to scheduling glitch of not playing Bama, LSU or Arkansas.”
South Carolina didn’t play Bama or LSU either so those two teams have absolutely nothing to do with this. Nice try though.
The Facts
April 18th, 2012
4:57 pm
Well it’s official
April 18th, 2012
3:37 pm
South Carolina lacks the tradition and winning history of other SEC programs so he always has to find something to complain about to keep SC relevant
We all KNOW that you are saying that UGA is a perenial power in the SEC are you? 1980!
DePort
April 18th, 2012
3:59 pm
If I hear one more person say that Arkansas is a BIG BOY or POWERHOUSE …. WHAT HAVE THEY EVER DONE! or WON!!???? Arkansas is like the South Carolina of the EAST .. have a good year here and there and all the sudden they are a contender. .. come on now
Well they won more games than UGA did the past 3 years….thats for starters…..ranked higher than UGA and have won more National Championships than UGA…keep going…
Leroy1970
April 18th, 2012
3:57 pm
The Facts is a dumbass.
LOL….What comment did you not like….the fact about UGA’s easy schedule, or the fact that More players are suspended for Drugs and Criminal activities than every other program in the conference..but CMR is a “likable” coach..who cares about likable….you dumb UGA fans need to be focused on winning BCS titles instead of being happy with a “good christian man”…
Hankie Aron
April 18th, 2012
3:31 pm
The Facts- And UGA created their conference schedule too right and they are getting away with it?
Did I write that ” UGA created their own schedule” ? No…I said they have been given a pass, this past year and this year….those are facts…
But the real FACT that eats you DUmb UGA fans up is that every top 10 or 15 team you have faced the past three years UGA has lost to. UGA lost to every final ranked team in the top 20 and still the UGA faithful think they are this dominant program. They have not been dominant at any level since 1980. Winning a couple of SEC championships and not playing the title game does not make you a dominant program. UGA finished second in the country a few years back, however they did not play in the BCS big game, they did not play in the SEC CG, and got beat badly by an average Tennessee team…..
UGA is average or below average in every category when compared to other top 20 teams…except for arrest or suspension…..
LET THE EXCUSES AND WHINING CONTINUE……..
evil empire
April 18th, 2012
4:57 pm
spurrier counts uga games as pre-season cupcakes…and he’s been correct more often than not…
evil empire
April 18th, 2012
4:59 pm
@ the facts…(4:57)
OUTSTANDING POST MY FRIEND!
The Facts
April 18th, 2012
5:01 pm
If the SEC was serious about scheduling the would line it up with all non conference games occuring at the beginning of the season, all cross division games next and all of your division opponents your last 6 weeks of the season. That will not happen because of ending the year playing your FSU, or GT’s etc by SEC teams….
michael
April 18th, 2012
5:01 pm
Spurrier at Duke was CO CHAMPION with Virginia….
Dawg Haus
April 18th, 2012
5:02 pm
Regarding the “weak schedule” and “lucking into the SECCG” last season:
The Bulldogs didn’t face a slate as tough as that navigated by the South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina, for instance, had to play such quality SEC teams as the Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, Mississippi St. Bulldogs, Tennessee Volunteers, and Vanderbilt Commodores, whereas Georgia was able to skate by with playing such mediocre SEC teams as the Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, Mississippi St. Bulldogs, Tennessee Volunteers, and Vanderbilt Commodores. The Gamecocks also had to play the Arkansas Razorbacks, who went 11-2 overall and 6-2 in SEC play, while the Bulldogs got away with playing the South Carolina Gamecocks, who went 11-2 overall and 6-2 in SEC play. This yawning chasm in schedule strength, rather than, say, the ability, vel non, to beat a mediocre Auburn team at home, accounts entirely for the way the Red and Black lucked into playing in Atlanta. The only break the Garnet and Black caught last year was in getting to play crummy Georgia.
-Taken from dawgsports.com (a good fan site if you haven’t been there)
1eyedJack
April 18th, 2012
5:03 pm
This will go over like a led zepplin. Just Stevie trying to keep the cocks in the news.
1eyedJack
April 18th, 2012
5:05 pm
This will go over like a led zepplin. Just Spurrier trying to keep his team and himself in the news.
typical uga homer
April 18th, 2012
5:07 pm
Spurrier don’t wanna talk about those beatings we put on him the last two seasons.
typical uga homer
April 18th, 2012
5:10 pm
I been hearin that Michigan State is still smartin from that first half beatdown we put on them down in Tampa. SEC! SEC! SEC!
Worth Mentioning
April 18th, 2012
5:11 pm
@dawgfan You neglected to mention “Arkansas” – - Reading Comprehension.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
April 18th, 2012
5:12 pm
The Facts-
So you want the best Conference in the nation to play 9 straight conference games after the first 3 weeks? Man the attrition rate would be through the roof. Injurys among your roster would amazing and then the SEC would rarely play for a MNC as other conferences would NEVER conform to that schedule as patsys in the middle of the year are essentially bye weeks. That post makes zero sense.
typical uga homer
April 18th, 2012
5:14 pm
Even if we played Bama, LSU, and Arkansas in three straight weeks, we’d still win the SEC. We are that good.
MattDawg
April 18th, 2012
5:17 pm
Sour Grapes there Stevo. Besides UGA got screwed outta the National title in 2007, but we Ain’t whining nearly as much as USC is about there scheduling. Just win and it ain’t a problem is it?
Class of '98
April 18th, 2012
5:17 pm
This is an absurd idea. It would render UGA-Auburn, Tennessee-Bama and LSU-Florida as exhibitions with regard to the conference title.
typical uga homer
April 18th, 2012
5:20 pm
another one with the “we got screwed in 2007″ bs…all you had to do is beat a pretty good tennessee squad (who ran you off the field) and a .500 SCe team…but you didn’t, so sthu…
Doggie in NC
April 18th, 2012
5:20 pm
THE FACTS are you are 150 pounds soaking wet, you wet the bed, you are 35 and live at home with your grandmother and you sneak around the neighborhood at night, peeking in windows. PERV!
Blog Cop
April 18th, 2012
5:22 pm
everything ok in here?
Gary Gremlin
April 18th, 2012
5:26 pm
Sounds like ole facts has a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Not alot of stress in that lifestyle. That stress will kill you.
Blog Cop
April 18th, 2012
5:31 pm
Guess i’ll move along. Call if you need me.
Tony Barnhardt Sez
April 18th, 2012
5:33 pm
Georgia won 7 straight SEC games after losing 45-42 against South Carolina in Athens, but those 7 teams had a combined conference record of 14-42. Auburn was 4-4 and the other six opponents had losing records in the SEC. Included in that group were 0-8 Ole Miss and 1-7 Tennessee. {Pathetic}
Steve Spurrier loves beating Georgia. He has won 15 of 19 meetings against the Bulldogs as a head coach
But in the SEC some schedules are tougher than others. For the second straight year Georgia will have a good team that gets a break on the schedule. And that’s a fact.
ed
April 18th, 2012
5:36 pm
hey steve, why we start figuring in what time of year teams play each other, was it a home game or away game, left factor in bye weeks also. who was hurt and did not play.
TampaGator
April 18th, 2012
5:36 pm
You could also say the same thing in reverse……if Georgia was playing both Bama and LSU this year…..
“yawzz Daaaawg fins wouddes bees are fer it……Oh sucks, now…..Don’ts ye goes ands denies it, yar heres.” Steve is da man! Cocks a doodle de do!!!!!
evil empire
April 18th, 2012
5:37 pm
@ Tony Barhardt sez…
how do we know, or how can we say georgia has a good team if they don’t beat good teams??? seems to me they are an average team with a favorable schedule…