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
The Facts
April 18th, 2012
11:46 pm
Tdawg
April 18th, 2012
11:09 pm
Got a unique idea for ya The Facts. Stop your biotching and win your conference games and you want have a reason to cry.
Having said that. I totally agree with the ole ball coach and if you know me at all, you would then know that wasn’t easy for me to say. I have been asking that same question sense the SEC split into two conferences. Why should a loss to a Western Conference team count against a team in the East and visa versa? Personally I’d like to see at least one more team added to each conference and do away with the East vs West conference games all together. Rival games such as Auburn vs Georgia and Tennessee vs Alabama would continue, but these game would not count as a conference game. Steve Spurrier and I don’t agree on much, but this one thing. I 100% agree with him
First of all, no one asked me what my team was. A hint: Two BCS titles in 3 years.
Lamar
April 19th, 2012
12:38 am
Is this the Spurrier that cried last year, ” We beat GA and they got in the championship game over us”? I think it is the same person but somebody please tell him that if GA had not turned the ball over 4 times for 21 points, THEN GA WINS HANDS DOWN!! ALSO, REMIND HIM THEY LOST TO AUBURN AT HOME, A TEAM GA BEAT 45-7, JUST SAYING, WIN SPURRIER, AND YOU ARE IN! Old Spurrier, is winning A LITTLE at SC and all of a sudden, they are the best thing going in the EAST. Bet you his DREAMS WILL BE CRUSHED THIS YEAR WHEN GA BEATS THEM DOWN! GO DAWGS!
Dogs > usc
April 19th, 2012
1:55 am
mark this down–the dogs will upset sc in columbia and win the sec east—spurrier needs to get the excuses ready. The dogs are going to rule the east.
Palmetto
April 19th, 2012
3:22 am
Ahem, Jeff Schultz. South Carolina opens the season August 30th @ Vanderbilt, not with ECU and UAB. Just saying.
Sloppy Track Slogger
April 19th, 2012
3:24 am
Steve Spurrier is much more respected than CMR. Multiple coaches, GM’s, coordinators and football people go to Spurrier and his programs than UGA and CMR for ideas and football information.
No matter how much you UGA people want to hate SS, the real truth is that ( borrowing one of the favorite phrases used by Georgia bull puppies fans) Steve Spurrier has owned UGA through multiple coaches while at UF and USC. His record against UGA over the years speaks for itself. He is a real winner at College football and his National Championship ring speaks for itself while CMR is still on the sidelines waiting for his and will continue to wait for his many many more years.
Looks like SS is putting some great players in the NFL early as per ESPN:
Here are the 12 SEC players who have invites to this year’s draft:
•Mark Barron, Alabama
•Michael Brockers, LSU
•Morris Claiborne, LSU
•Fletcher Cox, Mississippi State
•Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina
•Cordy Glenn, Georgia
•Dont’a Hightower, Alabama
•Melvin Ingram, South Carolina
•Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama
•Rueben Randle, LSU
•Trent Richardson, Alabama
•Courtney Upshaw, Alabama
From ESPN.com The Evolution of Steve Spurrier..
Still, Spurrier has proven over the past couple of seasons that he’s not too stubborn (or too programmed) to adjust to his personnel.
When you have Marcus Lattimore sitting back there in the backfield, it’s an adjustment that comes pretty naturally.
“You can only call so many pass plays,” Spurrier said. “Two years ago, when we were playing Georgia, I think that’s when it hit me. We were up 14-3, and to start the fourth quarter, [Stephen] Garcia got sacked and fumbled, but we recovered it.
“There was about nine minutes left, and I told the guys up top, ‘We’re not going to throw it again. We’re going to keep giving it to Marcus until they stop him.’ When your defense is playing well, you just keep running it. And if we don’t make it, we’re not going to give them anything.”
He has had UGA’s number of late and those of sloppy track facts.
What is UGA’s record against top 25 teams the past 5 years? Sub 500 and those are hard facts for UGA fans to swallow.
Sloppy Track Slogger
April 19th, 2012
3:29 am
Dogs > usc
April 19th, 2012
1:55 am
mark this down–the dogs will upset sc in columbia and win the sec east—spurrier needs to get the excuses ready. The dogs are going to rule the east.
How is it an upset with UGA ranked in the top 12 for the upcoming season?
Ruling the East is sort of like saying ruling the SUN BELT or Conference USA….not much to that side of the league.
Sloppy Track Slogger
April 19th, 2012
3:42 am
Just wondering what UGA fans will say if UT beats UGA and or USC beats UGA again or if Muschamp rights the ship at UF and beats UGA in Jacksonville…..all of those things are possible as well as Missouri beating a depleted UGA squad in Columbia.
since when does Spurrier care about Tennessee & Florida
April 19th, 2012
5:43 am
So a 9-3 team with no division losses
will beat out an 11-1 team with one division loss.
All because the evil genius wants fairness.
Great sos
April 19th, 2012
6:07 am
Talk about sos,champ,cmr,dooley…anybody but little nick! I honestly want nothing but “PAIN” for that guy, any way he can get it! That does NOT go for the univ of Ala. Just their coach. The little pig in Ark dropped, now its time for this guy, One day little nick, one day!
dmr
April 19th, 2012
6:19 am
I’m a Georgia fan, but you just have to love Spurrier. If nothing else, he’s highly entertaining.
BBQ MAN
April 19th, 2012
7:07 am
no spurrier fan here and he fo sure has an ulterior motive, but there is merit. exactly what good does divisions make? seems to me if All SEC games count, then why not do away with divisions and open the schedule up with the top two conference records playing one another,
Game Changer
April 19th, 2012
7:16 am
SS record vs GA as a Head Coach
Florida: 11 and 1 with some of the worse blowouts ever in the history of GA, one in Athens
South Carolina: 3 and 4 ( GA escapes on two of the wins ) SS owns GA and yet GA fans talk smack. My fellow GA alums are delusional, it has been time for top to bottom changes but NO LEADERSHIP EXIST. 2012 will be the last year GA has a chance to win the SEC for many years,
regardless of what many claim about recruiting, all teams have had banner years recruiting in the SEC and it takes top notch coaches to win, something GA is short on
Buckeye
April 19th, 2012
7:26 am
SEC Least! SEC Least! SEC Least!
East Repeat
April 19th, 2012
7:32 am
Spurrier will beat UGA for 3rd year in row. No doubt, he is a great coach. CSS has made sotuhcarolina relevant in the SEC and nationally. I hope when he leaves we can get a great, young coach to continue this momentum, while UGA keeps CMR or maybe promote Bobo to HC, ha-ha!
Joe
April 19th, 2012
7:33 am
Wow….pretty funny nobody seemed to care when UGA played both Bama and LSU the same year….no it’s an issue……..guess its like the “you cant go to the National Championship game if you cant win your own conference” BS a few years ago……..now its all of a sudden ok…….
Joe
April 19th, 2012
7:35 am
Hey game Changer……if you’re gonna talk smack….lets go back all they way- not just to 91……UGA has laid plenty more blowouts on the gators steps than UF EVER has to UGA….try 72-0…..44-0……like I said, football did not start in 91……if your gonna talk smack….then get the facts straight….
BobDawg
April 19th, 2012
7:37 am
I think the Ole Ball Coach said it best. “I enjoyed playing a depleted UGA the 2nd game of the season”…. He won’t enjoy the 6th game this year.. Full strength again, baby….
sportzfan
April 19th, 2012
7:41 am
@Lamar, If a team turns the ball over four times it usually means the other team is playing pretty good defense. Also UGA kept getting the ball back to rack up more offense every time USC scored on defense and special teams. So the UGA offensive stats aren’t as great as you want people to believe. Last time I checked touchdowns count 6 points regardless how they’re scored.
Don’t count on a cake walk in Columbia this year……S.C. or Missouri.
Joe
April 19th, 2012
7:45 am
Well lets see….when your QB hands the other team 21 points and special teams gives them 7…..it doesnt take much to figure outeam will probably win……good news for SC….Murray is still our QB…..nff said
Gator Mike
April 19th, 2012
7:47 am
I agree with all of the DAWGS on this one. Spurrier made his own bed when he left UF; crashed and burned in D.C.; and now he is a gamechicken. SoCar was irrelevant before him, and they will be mediocre when he departs. His ego is his driving mechanism, and he wants only to win an SEC Title at another school. It is not about Carolina. It is only about SOS. I am a GATOR who will be pulling for UGA to clobbber the gamechickens this year.
Columbus Dawg
April 19th, 2012
7:54 am
Bill Stanfill made Spurrier hate UGA more than any other team back in Stevie’s playing days. That has a lot to do with his digs at Georgia. I am in agreement that he will dislike UGA even more after that fateful day in October.
I read where Bobo and Richt sat down with Gruden to pick his brain on offensive issues. I hope to goodness Bobo took some serious notes in that meeting!
Here’s hoping that the Vols play well to open season so that the Dawgs will not be looking ahead to the game with the Chickens. Tennessee game makes me nervous.
Murray will be much better this season, just wait. Dawg defense will be stout, Grantham wants offense to match defensive intensity, if they accomplish this, the sky is the limit!
Mako
April 19th, 2012
8:02 am
Dang…..old Motor Mouth is starting to whine like a little baby……he never brought this crap up when he was pulling it out of his butt in Florida by winning the East cause UT lost to someone in the West….I guess he figures he’s got maybe 2 or 3 years left so he do anything now
Danza
April 19th, 2012
8:10 am
Missouri 42, Leg-Humpers 10
lamecock
April 19th, 2012
8:12 am
a crybaby PUNK. always has been. thats his mo,getting mad and slinging hats.
Game Changer
April 19th, 2012
8:13 am
Joe,stop living in the past, it is not that rosey an overall picture and it blinds you when we need change to compete in todays arena. Glad to see you realize that as long as Aaron Murray is QB we will never win a big game.
Columbus Dawg: the reason SS wants to beat GA so bad is not from his lost to GA as a player, it is the fact that he BEGGED to be the UGA Head Coach when Dooley retired and because of a lawyer in macon and his misguided lust to make a name for himself pushing Goof on everyone. It is still unclear in GA football history how Goof was given the GA job by Pres. Davidson, Dooley has been quoted as knowing Goof is one of the dumbest people alive and in no way was he for the decision.
Also, keep voting the Republicans into the GA governors office, Republicans Regents and other crooks as they continue to raise the cost of GA college to us all. This group of politicians today are the biggest ” THIEVES EVER IN GEORGIA HISTORY “, I am surprised that the GA student body allows these increases to occur with no respose outwardly, not to mention that the interest rate on student loans will double to 7% from 3.5% if the Republicans have their way in Washington.
The GA Athletic Program is nothing more than an open checkbook to Michael Adams, GA Board of Regents, Republican Governor and a same choosen few thieves.
14 Titles
April 19th, 2012
8:53 am
It doesn’t matter who wins the weak sec east. Alabama will blow out georgia or south carolina for another SEC title. Nick has another #1 recruiting class, looking for title #15. RTR!
Kingdaddy
April 19th, 2012
8:55 am
I know where Stephen Garcia went, Rex. Ryan ate him.LOL ” Git en muh belly”!
J Bo
April 19th, 2012
9:34 am
It’s called the luck of the draw, or schedule. A case could be made year in and year out against the winner in the National Championship game because of the schedule, IE a rematch between Alabama and LSU or not giving Bosie State a shot year after year. Who knows maybe this will be our lucky year.
Kingdaddy
April 19th, 2012
9:41 am
OK Lame-crocks
Tell me what happens when GA., Tennessee, FL, S.C.,and Missouri. all become dominant and the east becomes the best division in the country again??? Do you remember when the west was down? Of course you don’t, because you think everyone is stupid like you. What happens when playing FL or Tennessee is a very scary game again like it will be again? Everything goes in cycles and Alabama and LSU will have down years again. Then Spurrier will want all SEC games to count. Face it, the ol car-salesman has lost touch with reality. “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!!! “
Spurgeon the Crab
April 19th, 2012
9:44 am
Glorious South Carolina Football History
.506 all time record (sub .500 before Spurrier)
5-12 in bowls, and Spurrier has taken them to 35% of the ones they’ve been to
1 conference championship – ACC when Nixon was President
16-46-2 against UGA and 40-65-4 against Clemson
Worst record than the powerhouse South Dakota Jackrabbits
Steve will be retiring soon and it will be back to business (losing, being everyone’s homecoming game) as usual
Thanks again for the laughs South Carolina
Spurgeon the Crab
April 19th, 2012
9:52 am
I meant worse record than South Dakota, or the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, another football force to be reckoned with.
Kingdaddy
April 19th, 2012
10:00 am
At least Coach Richt doesn’t try to manipulate the rules to win a football game. Spurrier has to do these kind of things just to try to stay relevant. I don’t hear any S.C. fans questioning this move. ” For every action, there’s a reaction.” Do all of you lame-crocks follow blindly like a Jim Jones Cultist, without questioning your masters actions. It’s very strange that none of you can think for yourselves. Very strange indeed …
Swarles Barkley
April 19th, 2012
10:01 am
Can anyone actually shoe me where UGA “lobbied” to move the SoCar game back or to drop Bama from the schedule? My understanding was that the league had to do some shuffling to fit Mizzou and aTm in the schedule. Georgia does not pick it’s conference schedule. Anyone saying UGA is “scared” to play certain teams is just whining about the schedule not favoring their own team this year. Nobody has control over it. Just win your games.
Swarles Barkley
April 19th, 2012
10:01 am
*show me
Kingdaddy
April 19th, 2012
10:30 am
This is just a lame-crocks attempt at circumventing the rules. The old-car-salesman is really worried about Tennessee and Florida. LOL …
StuDawg
April 19th, 2012
11:08 am
SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE LOSER SPURRIER!
Old Dawg
April 19th, 2012
11:43 am
Several people have rightly stated that the SEC schedule is not selected by individual schools and that the schedule rotates throughout the conference. Some times teams catch a break with the schedule and some times they don’t. That’s just part of the game.
In the 90s, the SEC East was the more difficult division and now it’s the West. During that decade, a lot of people wanted Florida to move over to the West and Alabama, which was on a down cycle, move to the East.
I very seriously doubt the SEC will do anything to change a system that attracts nationally broadcast games throughout the season and has led to an unprecedented number of consecutive national championship teams.
Even though I’m a Georgia fan, I’d have the same attitude if South Carolina had won the East last year. It’s a proven system of success, so why change it.
Kingdaddy
April 19th, 2012
12:17 pm
Lame-crocks , your H.C. is embarrassing your program …
Errrrrr
April 19th, 2012
2:12 pm
Why does Steve wear a visor?
Errrrrr
April 19th, 2012
2:14 pm
To cover the circumcision scars!
Errrrrr
April 19th, 2012
2:16 pm
I’ll be here all week.
Spurgeon the Crab
April 19th, 2012
2:21 pm
Nice Picture
Look at those two crusty stool samples
Notice that Rex is looking down at the feet
WDE
April 19th, 2012
3:00 pm
Well this is a shock I thought Spurrier was dead , seems like he is just old and sniveling.
bug spray
April 19th, 2012
3:07 pm
Who cares!!
Brainiac(Dawg For Life) / (CMR fan for life)
April 19th, 2012
10:14 pm
@ The Facts:
One more fact for your diatribe.
Contrary to some’s belief UGA DOESN’T make the schedules so just borrow one of the Head Chicken’s (aka Steve Spurrier) hankies and cry me a river!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brainiac(Dawg For Life) / (CMR fan for life)
April 19th, 2012
10:40 pm
@ Game Changer:
There are lots of GOOD things in this world and one of them is you have ZERO control over anything UGA Sports related.
You are simply a loudmouth know-it-all when in reality you couldn’t. find your a$$ with both hands in your hip pockets. A single digit IQ rating for you would be a little generous…………..and learn to spell!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!
Cmdawg99
April 20th, 2012
12:42 am
Yawn……Face it, usce had it to win last year. U lost to aweburn a team that we spanked silly. Be sure to watch where you are driving, not where you have been. Go Dawgs!!
Old Dog
April 20th, 2012
7:16 am
Even though steve has had a great record against UGA He still fears them. Wonder why?
Personally
April 20th, 2012
7:43 am
I think the rules should be simple. If you finish in the season in the top 25, your out of conference games the next season should be against other teams that finished in the top 25 with you.
Johnny Vaught
April 20th, 2012
7:49 am
Ole Miss – not Mississippi. His idea is about as stupid as most of your writings.