Dumping Georgia-Auburn rivalry would be bad for college football
As I’m sure you’ve seen, UGA athletic director Greg McGarity talked with reporters Wednesday about the possibility of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry between Georgia and Auburn falling victim to the revised schedule the expanded SEC is likely to undertake after this coming season.
Basically, what it comes down to is this: The permanent cross-divisional rivalries could easily be maintained if the SEC went to a nine-game conference schedule as other conferences, including the ACC, are doing. But SEC athletic directors prefer to stick with eight conference games in order to maintain more scheduling flexibility (meaning they can schedule the occasional nonconference BCS game and still feast on at least two cupcakes per season).
That’s an even bigger factor for teams like Georgia, Florida and South Carolina that have BCS in-state rivals permanently locked in on their schedule.
The future of the Georgia-Auburn rivalry is endangered because, with that game and Alabama-Tennessee being the only east-west permanent rivalries that historically mean a whole lot to the schools involved, there’s little incentive for the athletic directors of the remaining 10 SEC schools to maintain them.
This is one instance in which what the fans clearly would prefer runs completely counter to what the business-minded athletic directors desire. There’s no question fans would rather give up a cupcake game than a traditional yearly rivalry.
But the fans and athletic directors are on separate pages here.
McGarity admitted as much when he told the Macon Telegraph that he opposed going to nine conference games because, in UGA’s case, with Georgia Tech “that makes 10 games. If you ever wanted to schedule Clemson or Ohio State, like we have, then that only leaves one guarantee game. That’s a pretty tough schedule. Fans would love it. But I don’t know if your coaches or players [would]. That’s strapping it up 11 of 12 weeks there. You have to have some time where some players play who never get a chance to be on the field. That’s why you schedule some of the I-AAs, and some of the other games, to let some of those kids grow, let those kids get their experience.”
OK, first of all, most of us know that those cupcake games really are primarily scheduled for financial reasons, not to give the kids riding the bench a chance at playing time.
But even if you accept the athletic directors’ argument for not going to nine conference games, asking fans at Georgia, Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee to accept the loss of a traditional rivalry game with a storied history in exchange for a glorified scrimmage against a 1-AA team or some nobody school with a directional name is simply not in the best interests of college football.
That may be old-fashioned thinking, I know, but if the SEC starts throwing away those longstanding traditions that have engendered the fanatical fan support that has provided the foundation of its success, what you end up with is just a feeder league for the NFL.
Got something on your mind concerning UGA athletics or a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
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300 comments Add your comment
Big Crimson 75
February 9th, 2012
12:16 pm
Common —- with no Bama or Auburn in the West — LSU would make a joke of the division.
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
February 9th, 2012
12:18 pm
You should have two cross league perm rivals and rotate the rest. At Bama I don’t care if we ever play Vandy,KY, or USCe but twice every 15 years nor any of the others. That is why we have the East and West play in the SECCG. The AD’s will not play 9 games!!! Money rules and those 4 NC games pay the bills for all the other sports that drain the AD checkbook. Are you folks stupid? Never mind.
GTBob
February 9th, 2012
12:18 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR thank you for last night. You were amazing! Can’t wait to play tickle game again with you this weekend. By the way, you left your purse over here.
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
12:19 pm
Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina should tell the SEC to go to hell and then join the ACC. That would be awesome for regional rivalries.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 9th, 2012
12:24 pm
Jacket99 I will take the So Carolina and Florida better for Football and Basketball. UGA isn’t ACC educational material just yet and no basketball to offer. LOL
dawgs
February 9th, 2012
12:25 pm
I know GM would never do this since he was just quoted as saying cupcakes are better than tough OOC games, but would there be any rule against UGA and AU scheduling each other as an OOC game every season they weren’t lined up to play and not have that count towards SEC standings?
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 9th, 2012
12:32 pm
dwags…….GM would never do that and no UGA or Auburn coach would ever agree to that.
Mike
February 9th, 2012
12:34 pm
This is what happens when you expand…old rivalries are difficult to keep. New ones form. They trashed a bunch just forming the 12 team league. Clemson/UGA, Miami/Florida, Auburn/Florida, Auburn/UT, Alabama/Penn St. among others were lost as annual games. But like I said, new ones form:
UT/UF, UT/UGA, LSU/Auburn, Auburn/Arkansas, South Carolina/UF, LSU/Arkansas, etc.
As great as the old rivalries are, these new ones have been excellent as well. Auburn/UGA rivalry will continue, just not every year. I do think its silly to hold an entire conference hostage for one or two games.
DF
February 9th, 2012
12:35 pm
Enter your comments here
Big Crimson 75
February 9th, 2012
12:36 pm
The almighty $ will win every time.
TDF
February 9th, 2012
12:36 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 9th, 2012
12:10 pm
you should know all about playing against high school teams being a tech fan (And the fact that you team might as well be a HS squad)
DF
February 9th, 2012
12:38 pm
Simple move Auburn to the east and Missouri to the west (makes more since for them to be over there anyway), case closed.
Ace
February 9th, 2012
12:38 pm
Just stop playing weak div II teams, plenty of game to be had, that goes for GT as well.
Mike
February 9th, 2012
12:38 pm
They still managed to keep a bunch of the old rivalries intact…UGA/UF, UGA/South Carolina, UT/Vandy, UT/UK, Ole Miss/Miss St., Miss St./LSU, LSU/Bama, Bama/Auburn, Miss St./Bama, Ole Miss/LSU…
Add to that Arkansas/A&M will renew as an annual rivalry.
TDF
February 9th, 2012
12:39 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 9th, 2012
12:13 pm
Many proposals have been thrown out there already and they have all been shot down by the other side.
They tried home and homes
Home and home in the prof. stadiums (Jax and GA Dome)
Even tried doing a 4 year alternate where you go to both college and pro stadiums, rotating annually
Unfortunately it most likely will never change
Mike
February 9th, 2012
12:39 pm
@DF – they wont do that because of the Iron Bowl. If they are getting rid of the cross division rivalries, the Iron Bowl trumps UGA/Auburn on any scale, national or otherwise.
GTBob
February 9th, 2012
12:40 pm
So does rivalry these days mean two teams who have played a lot? Because I have never met a UGA fan or an Auburn fan who really cared that much about the UGA/Auburn game. Let it go.
TDF
February 9th, 2012
12:41 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 9th, 2012
12:24 pm
ahhahaha funny….. even though the gap between UGA and GT education is almost completely gone. But keep thinking its not.
Avg UGA fresman scores are slightly, very slightly below GTs. Heck GCSU is even catching up with both schools.
Mike
February 9th, 2012
12:42 pm
Personally, I think they should go to nine conference games whether they have a cross division rival or not. That way you will play teams from the other division more often. Thats how the Big 12 did their 12 team model. They never had cross division rivalries for the same reason the SEC is talking about getting rid of theirs. OU/Nebraska would have been the only one really worth keeping.
GTBob
February 9th, 2012
12:43 pm
Avg UGA fresman scores are slightly, very slightly below GTs. Heck GCSU is even catching up with both schools.
You really judge the quality of an educational institution by the high school test scores of it’s incoming students?
TDF
February 9th, 2012
12:43 pm
dawgs
February 9th, 2012
12:25 pm
Highly doubfut it could count as OOC, unless they got the NCAA board to sign off on it. But even then we might as well switch to 9 SEC games a year.
It wouldnt be a smart move for us either, bc no one else would do that and we would be stuck playing 10 BCS opponents every year.
Logan Walker
February 9th, 2012
12:44 pm
Amen.
Mike
February 9th, 2012
12:45 pm
@GTBob – it most definitely is a rivalry, but its based more on respect than hatred. Although, they have definitely had their heated moments through the years. UGA fans care more about UF because they haven’t had as much recent success. If Auburn goes on a winning streak against UGA, you better believe it will become a hot topic among UGA fans.
TDF
February 9th, 2012
12:45 pm
Ace
February 9th, 2012
12:38 pm
No one in the SEC does that. Every team already gets beat up playing 8 SEC games a year. The OOC games gives each team a chance to get some players healthy
RobbbyD
February 9th, 2012
12:46 pm
Those I-AA schools need the money…D-I players need the break…
TDF
February 9th, 2012
12:46 pm
GTBob
February 9th, 2012
12:40 pm
This comment shows how very little you know.
Huge rivalry
TDF
February 9th, 2012
12:49 pm
GTBob
February 9th, 2012
12:43 pm
If you have to have around a 1300 (not including writing portion) to get into a school then yes. It proves your students arent any smarter than ours. UGA has many a program in the top 10 of its field. How many does tech have??? 1 for engineering??????
Dont act like GT doent have some jooke majors and joke classes that the althetes take. They had to figure something out after the Hewitt cheating ring got busted (Having other students take tests for the players)
TDF
February 9th, 2012
12:51 pm
GTBob
February 9th, 2012
12:43 pm
And for a fact in my field (Financial Planning) Tech is spec on the map, while UGA built a top 10 program in under 10 years.
I miss my little techie interns from last semester, and none were good enough to get hired this semester.
Columbus Dawg
February 9th, 2012
12:52 pm
Jacket99, real football players want to compete in the SEC, not the craphouse ACC. Teams would not be willing to give up top recruits to move to that joke conference.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 9th, 2012
12:57 pm
If the SEC Commissioners, Presidents, and AD’s were Hindu I swear they would have the Sacred Cow on the Grill before sundown.
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
12:57 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 9th, 2012
12:24 pm
Jacket99 I will take the So Carolina and Florida better for Football and Basketball. UGA isn’t ACC educational material just yet and no basketball to offer. LOL
—————————————————————————-
UGA isn’t but FSU is? I understand the joke, but imagine for a moment how the college football and basketball landscape would change if the ACC wrapped up the states of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
1:01 pm
Columbus Dawg
February 9th, 2012
12:52 pm
Jacket99, real football players want to compete in the SEC, not the craphouse ACC. Teams would not be willing to give up top recruits to move to that joke conference.
————————————————————————————————-
Are you saying that playing in the SEC is all Georgia has to offer recruits? I don’t think so. Where do FSU and Virginia Tech get their top recruits? By joining the ACC, all three schools would have everything to gain and nothing to lose, except some of their fans may miss chanting “S.E.C.” during a game.
TDF
February 9th, 2012
1:05 pm
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
12:57 pm
It will never happen. You ppl might think UGA is dumb and all but we sure as he11 arent dumb enough to move out of the SEC……… unlike another team….
Dawg 39
February 9th, 2012
1:11 pm
It WOULD be bad for CFB & the SEC. I agree..
I favor the 9 game schedule
.How about moving Alabama & Auburn to the East & put the 2 new teams & Vandy OR Kentucky In the West ?.
On a personal preference note & despite the obvious, the only game I would hate to lose is UF. Losing Auburn or even GTU would be bad for CFB & the SEC, but not for me personally & I go back to when the big 3 rivals were GTU, Auburn, & the Gators.
DunwoodyDawg
February 9th, 2012
1:12 pm
College football is going to hades in a hand basket. Some calls it hell, I calls it hades. Umm hummm…
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
1:12 pm
TDF
February 9th, 2012
1:05 pm
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
12:57 pm
It will never happen. You ppl might think UGA is dumb and all but we sure as he11 arent dumb enough to move out of the SEC……… unlike another team….
—————————————————————————————–
How would it be dumb, TDF? If UGA was to negotiate a better deal for the school, be able to play more traditional rivalries, and separate itself from the special ed schools to the west, how would that be dumb? The SEC is presumably on top now, but a defection of three SEC schools to the ACC would create a new superconference, dominant in more than one sport.
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
1:13 pm
DunwoodyDawg
February 9th, 2012
1:12 pm
College football is going to hades in a hand basket. Some calls it hell, I calls it hades. Umm hummm…
——————————————-
I like the way you talk. Umm hummm.
The Genius
February 9th, 2012
1:25 pm
We used to play 10 games and I’m 100% certain there was loud and strong opposition to moving to 11 and 12. I say increase the scholarship level to 90 and add a 13th game. Solves most of the problems. While I DO NOT like driving 6 hours to Athens to see Arkansas AM&N State University, I understand the need for them. Also move the SEC championship game further into December. There’s too long a wait between season end and major bowl games anyway.. Let me know what other problems I can solve.
dawgster7
February 9th, 2012
1:26 pm
Drop Tech, keep Auburn!
chilidawg
February 9th, 2012
1:26 pm
you just a boy, you shouldn’t be talkin’ thataway. ummm hummmm.
Albert
February 9th, 2012
1:28 pm
I see GTBob is still on here messing around with the college guys. Will you ever grow up?
TDF
February 9th, 2012
1:29 pm
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
1:12 pm
BC every other conf right now is playing catchup to the SEC. Why would would take ourself out of the top conf to go to another conf that in all reality is the 4- 5th best conf??? the 3 teams wouldnt jump the ACC to the top, bc the bottom of the ACC might as well be in the big east.
Plus Clemson and FSU most likely will be out of the ACC and in the big 12 very soon. Which would make VT the only good team that is currently in the ACC
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
1:35 pm
TDF
February 9th, 2012
1:29 pm
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
1:12 pm
BC every other conf right now is playing catchup to the SEC. Why would would take ourself out of the top conf to go to another conf that in all reality is the 4- 5th best conf??? the 3 teams wouldnt jump the ACC to the top, bc the bottom of the ACC might as well be in the big east.
Plus Clemson and FSU most likely will be out of the ACC and in the big 12 very soon. Which would make VT the only good team that is currently in the ACC
——————————————————————————–
Clemson and FSU to the Big 12? Where did you hear that? Maybe you’re right. Makes about as much sense as Boise St. and Air Force to the Big East.
But think about it. The Georgia-Florida game would stay intact. Georgia could play both Clemson and South Carolina. Auburn could be scheduled as an OOC game. Who would be in Georgia’s way of going to the Orange Bowl or the BCS title game? My guess is it would be competitve between UGA, UF, Clemson, VPI, GT, and FSU.
Would you rather win a conference championship or have what happened in the dome against LSU?
sUGAr Falling
February 9th, 2012
1:35 pm
Not only do we want to get rid of these “glorified scrimmages,” but I do not think you can find anyone who wants to trade Auburn for either Clemson or Ohio State. 9 conference games is the correct move.
VA DAWG
February 9th, 2012
1:46 pm
I agree that losing Ga/Au and Ala/Tenn would be a disgrace for the SEC. But look around college football today, No more Oklahoma/Nebraska, Texas/Texas A&M, Kansas/Missouri, WVa/Pitt and probably more to come. The SEC has held on longer than most. I hope they can figure out a way to keep these storied rivalries. But I am not hopeful. The Almighty Buck rules college football now and the fans are the Biggest Losers!
Jborodawg
February 9th, 2012
1:46 pm
“…Gordon,Feb 9th @11:47 am. eliminate divisions…”
I agree. That accomplishes both goals of keeping rivalries and staying at the eight-game SEC schedule. We do NOT want a nine-game SEC schedule…we beat up on each other enough as it is, being “the toughest conference in the country”. Nine games would just about guarantee fewer SEC teams in the polls; possibly even eliminate an SEC team from being #1 or #2.
They did away with divisions in BB. It’d be a by-product of expansion. Yep, it rears its ugly head.
No, we do not want to lose the UGA-AU game! It’ll be a sad day if we do. It’s a great tradition; and college football stays vibrant because of tradition.
TDF
February 9th, 2012
1:51 pm
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
1:35 pm
Id rather be in the best conf playing against the best personally. Im not looking for an easier route to the championship. I get it would keep all rivalries entact and that would be huge espcially getting the UGA clemson rivalry going again, but it just will never happen. No team will move out of the SEC.
What happened in the dome, I dont see as bad as most do. I saw a def man handle LSU for a solid 30 mins. And really most of the game (They only had I believe one long drive, where they started on their side of the field and scored)
Our offense just wasnt ready for their D. And when I say our offense I mean Bobo, and frankly our WRs with those costly dropped balls that would have been TDs.
Jacket99
February 9th, 2012
2:00 pm
TDF…I understand your points, especially if the SEC is deemed top conference now and for the foreseeable future. I would just think some in the SEC would get tired of cowtowing to Alabama and the almighty Saban. Let’s put Mizzoo in the east so the Iron Bowl won’t be threatened. The Bammers and the Barners get to keep their tradition, but to hell with everyone else.
From my perspective, I see UGA, UF, and USC helping to create a superconference with the ACC moreso than joining an inferior conference.
Let me ask the question a different way, because I really want to read your opinion on this. If UGA, UF, and USC left the SEC, would the SEC still be the top football conference?
mmraines01
February 9th, 2012
2:03 pm
If the game is that important, keep it on the schedule along with the GT game as a permanent rivalry.
UGA FRIEND
February 9th, 2012
2:09 pm
GTBob is a disgrace to all GT fans. He has now implied that he is intimate with Still@the Koolaid Bar. See his 12:18 post. GTBob please drop GT from your tag.