Auburn to the SEC East? It’s a cushy move – for the moment
Howdy there, folks. Welcome back to the neighborhood. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Provided Kenneth Starr and Baylor don’t get litigious again, Missouri is expected to become the SEC’s 14th member at any moment. And with Missouri and Texas A&M arriving as Nos. 14 and 13, somebody from the current SEC West will have to move to the East for the sake of balance. Most folks expect the mover to be Auburn — although Alabama, being its selfish self, is making noises about preferring that its arch-enemy stay put — and how would Auburn feel about upping sticks?
Pretty darn good.
Auburn is based in the Central Time Zone by the grace of 25 miles. It’s almost as close to Atlanta’s southern suburbs as to the capital of Alabama. The Tigers’ greatest rival has always been the school in Tuscaloosa, duh, but for most of Auburn’s existence its next-biggest rivals were Georgia and Florida and Tennessee. (And don’t forget Georgia Tech, which is now out of reach in the ACC, which will require some realignment of its own. Auburn students would hold a Wreck Tech parade — I once covered it — before that annual game.)
Auburn-Georgia remains an annual fixture — it’s the Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South and, in my view, the best game of most every year — but Auburn-Tennessee and Auburn-Florida were lost to the realities of divisional scheduling. They’d return with Auburn’s move to the East, and the Tigers wouldn’t be displeased.
Back in September, both Auburn president Jay Gogue and AD Jay Jacobs said they’d have no problem with moving, and in saying “no problem” they sounded almost giddy. As Jacobs told Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News: “We have so many students come from Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, they come on campus and say, ‘Why aren’t we playing Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina?’ ”
What Gogue and Jacobs didn’t say was what seems rather blatant: As it stands, the SEC East would be easier to win than the West. (Arkansas, the third-best team in the six-team West, is ranked ninth in the BCS standings.) But here we need to say, “Whoa.”
When the SEC split into divisions, the East became Beverly Hills and remained so until Steve Spurrier left for the NFL and Tennessee began to wobble. Of the first 11 SEC championship games, the East won eight. Only after Nick Saban planted his flag at LSU did the West begin to rise, and only after Saban returned from his own NFL misfire to reconfigure Alabama did the West become the cutthroat division we see now.
Alabama and LSU are two of the three best teams in the country. Arkansas is nuzzling into the Top 10. Auburn won the 2010 BCS title. Mississippi State, which was either the fourth- or fifth-best team in the six-team division, was ranked No. 20 nationally in preseason. (That was before anybody realized the maroon Bulldogs couldn’t beat any of its Western brethren save Ole Miss.) The winner of the SEC West has won not just three of the past four SEC titles but three of the past four national championships. That said …
These things are, as things tend to be, cyclical. From 1994 through 2003, every SEC East winner — meaning Florida, Tennessee or Georgia — was ranked No. 6 or higher in the Associated Press poll entering the league championship game. Over that span, only two SEC West champs — Alabama in 1994 and LSU in 2003 — were ranked as high as No. 6.
But Florida is on its third coach since Spurrier and Tennessee on its second since Phillip Fulmer and South Carolina, which for a century stood as a case study in never-won-anything, took the SEC East last year with three conference losses. (And got beaten by 39 points by Auburn in the title game.) Georgia is scrambling to bleed out another division title to prove it’s still relevant. Add all that together, and … why wouldn’t the Tigers be thrilled at the prospects of relocation?
Just as Florida and Tennessee weren’t impervious to time and tide (pun intended), Alabama and LSU and Arkansas won’t be, either. What if Saban takes $10 million to go rescue Texas? What if Les Miles gets a similar offer from Ohio State? What if Derek Dooley loses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee looks to Bobby Petrino, ever-ready to relocate?
For all the homage we pay to college football’s traditions, the cold truth is that the sport’s greatest determinant is the head coach. Alabama won a national championship under Gene Stallings in the first season of SEC divisional play, but didn’t sniff another until Saban worked his dark magic. Florida ruled the SEC under Spurrier but became a punch line under Ron Zook; then it hired Urban Meyer, who won twice as many national titles as the Evil Genius.
So long as Saban and Miles and Petrino remain in the SEC West, any opponent would find the going softer anywhere else. But that’s the catch with coaches. Eventually they leave, and everything changes.
By Mark Bradley
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336 comments Add your comment
UGA Insider
October 19th, 2011
11:06 am
Mark, these things go in cycles. In a few years after Saban goes to Texas and Chris Peterson and Will Muschamp get their players the East will be strong again. It’s just a matter of time. I don’t know who USCe will get this year as their coach after Spurrier retires but I think it will be Charlie Strong or James Franklin. Basically the East will have a new look and that’s a good thing. UT will be back soon as well.
Bill
October 19th, 2011
11:06 am
97 you are wrong.Texas has far more money than Bama..They have a world wide fan base and are one of the top if not the top athletic programs in the country.
Bama cares about football more than anything else.So they can pool the resources they have to pay 10 million a year.UT could handle that expense easier
puppykiller
October 19th, 2011
11:07 am
Bradley totally misses the entire reason AU is more than willing to get out of the West.
richmondDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:08 am
I like this move, makes a lot more sense than Missouri, in any case. AU will get back their yearly games with FL and TN, which makes sense, and will make the alumni happy…AL TN will just have to figure something out, I guess
bitter SCAM NEWTON
October 19th, 2011
11:09 am
COOL———-MAKES SINCE————————keep your friends close and your loyal cash boosters
———————————————————CLOOSER——————————-hahahahah
NorthStarsDave
October 19th, 2011
11:11 am
Mark….come on….
Out of conference is one thing….a repeat game in the SEC Championship is another….not great for TV on a national scale….
Georgia-Auburn is the latest cross-divional game currently played in the SEC….three to four weeks BEFORE the SEC Championship….not the week before….
A natural West rival for UGA would be the Ole Miss Bears….half their students are from the Atlanta Metro area anyway….
Glenn
October 19th, 2011
11:11 am
Auburn should be in the east and Mizzou and aTm should be in the west …..and the conference should play 9 games instead of 8 . One annual rivalry game so Bama and Auburn can play every year. Then rotate the other two games amongst the six teams so everyone will be played every three years. It will stop the conference from being to watered down and then stop expansion . No need for 16 teams .
SSG Desert Dawg
October 19th, 2011
11:12 am
DC,
Touche, you got me on that one. I hope Auburn comes over to the East. I would love if the Auburn game decided who when to the SECC most years.
GeoffDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:13 am
If Auburn moves East, presumably, Georgia would pick up either Mizzou or A&M. Mizzou would probably figure to be an easier win but A&M would give more exposure to Texas recruiting.
Mark Bradley
October 19th, 2011
11:13 am
Make the Iron Bowl the third Saturday in October. Alabama would forget Tennessee ever existed.
joe
October 19th, 2011
11:13 am
Cyclical is right on…UF, UT and UGA won’t be down for long…by the time Auburn makes the move, they may find a tougher East than West, say the way it was back in the 90’s.
Triple Lindy
October 19th, 2011
11:18 am
Mark, the common element with the Thanksgiving weekend games for Florida, S. Carolina, and Georgia is they’re all in-state rivalries. That’s what’s special about that weekend and I see Bama holding firm on it. I’ve heard there’s a movement to put Vandy in the West and both Alabama teams come to the East, but it’s only a rumor. Also, I love the stir you caused amongst the Bama fans simply by wondering what if Texas hired Saban. It’s hypothetical, people! Get over yourselves.
GeoffDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:19 am
If you move the Iron Bowl to the third Saturday in October, they might forget there’s still four more games to be played.
GrannyCares
October 19th, 2011
11:20 am
Bet Mark Richt is swigging Maalox reading this! Grantham is probably slamming helmets — cussing — and practicing for another temper tantrum!
Gordon
October 19th, 2011
11:20 am
Alabama would be unhappy because they would have to give up their cross-divisonal game with Tennessee, since their new cross-divisional opponent would be Auburn. That’s why they don’t want Auburn going. Both Georgia and Tennessee will have new cross-divisional opponents in the west, presumably the 2 new teams.
Will the SEC go to 9 conference games? If not, the rotation is VERY slow.
NorthStarsDave
October 19th, 2011
11:21 am
Agreed…..then Alabama-LSU game during Thanksgiving Weekend!
But a problem exists with only seven teams
Wow
October 19th, 2011
11:21 am
“It’s almost as close to Atlanta’s southern suburbs as to the capital of Alabama.”
You do know Alabama’s capital is Montgomery right??
Captain Obvious
October 19th, 2011
11:22 am
I agree that everything’s cyclical in a day in the life of the SEC. It wasn’t long ago that the East was the top-heavy division and the West was merely a footnote on the way to capturing an SEC title. However, you leave out a few material aspects in your assessment.
First, since you’re a biased, blind UGA homer, I’ll provide a point that perhaps you haven’t considered in your argument and might want to consider before bashing other institutions. Auburn would love to get into the East so that it can make further in-roads to the fertile recruiting grounds of Florida and Georgia. This is why Jacobs is so giddy at the idea. And I don’t blame him nor do I blame Auburn fans. However, it’s going to be UGA that is hurt the most by this in terms of recruiting.
Second, your totally off point with your position towards Alabama. The primary reason that it does not want Missouri in the West is b/c it loses it’s oldest and longest standing rivalry with Tennessee. Ever heard of the Third Saturday in October? Nice comments which obviously show the level of disdain that you have towards Bama. That’s very professional, I might add. Almost as professional as the non-objectivity in which you write every article. Peace.
QUAGMIRE
October 19th, 2011
11:22 am
My cousin’s best friend’s brother, who is dating a girl that works in at Kinko’s in Athens that has really relible information concerning the SEC, told me, WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pat's Rockett
October 19th, 2011
11:23 am
What is so Southeast about Texas A & M and Missouri ? At least make schools in the south and east .
ARdawg
October 19th, 2011
11:24 am
Demmit Bradley, you are going to kick in the chest pounding of the SEC westerners who seemed to have conveniently forgotten their 2nd class citizen status of the first 15 years of the SECCG. I know because I live in the West that “these guys are good” but few of them seem to understand it wasn’t very long ago that the SEC East were the big boys. Ebb and flow boys, ebb and flow. Kinda like a menstral cycle
GeoffDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:24 am
It’s hard to imagine the SEC going to nine conference games even with the slower rotation of teams cross-division. It would make the schedule tougher and every other year, you’d lose the financial benefits of having a guaranteed home game.
Wells
October 19th, 2011
11:24 am
No way the state can deal with the thought of the Iron Bowl twice in two weeks…
GeoffDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:26 am
Captain Obvious, you’re the first non-tech fan I’ve ever seen that thinks Mark Bradley carries the water for Georgia. Maybe you missed his blog yesterday where he called for Georgia’s DC to be suspended for the Florida game.
RockyTop
October 19th, 2011
11:27 am
i don’t believe that Tennessee would EVER hire Bobby Palthetic from Arky. Gosh I should hope not because that would be the second coming of lane kiffin — ugh.
I’d rather be 7-6 under Dooley than 9-3 under Bobby P.
Go Vols!
NorthStarsDave
October 19th, 2011
11:28 am
The final weekend of the season could look like this…..
East:
UGA-AUB
UK-Louisville
USC-Clemson
FLA-FSU
TN-Vandy
West:
TAM-UT (Sorry TN fans…)
Mizzou-ARK
ALA-LSU
MSU-Ole Miss
This would be a GREAT way to end the season…..
CJ
October 19th, 2011
11:29 am
Do you really want the AU-Bama at the end of the year, and them have them play again in Atlanta?
NCDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:29 am
Well just damn… there is an impostor on this freaking board! I don’t know if I should be flattered or offended. NCDawg – no space – is the real deal… for anyone who cares. Incidentally… I don’t give a rat’s a$$ who is first. Gawd…LOL
GeoffDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:30 am
It would NorthStarsDave but you’d have to get tech to first agree to move their game with Georgia to sometime earlier in the season. Tough sell.
Bubba & Earl
October 19th, 2011
11:32 am
What about Vandy to the west and both Auburn and Alabama to the east? Vandy is geographically further west than Auburn. This would preserve the Auburn – Alabama and Alabama-Tennesse rivalries. LSU could become the permanent west opponent for either Auburn or Alabama. Vandy – Tennesse would be a permanent cross divisional match up. We’d lose either LSU-Auburn or LSU Alabama as an annual game.
GeoffDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:33 am
CJ, you couldn’t really expect that to happen very often and even if it did, would that really be a big deal?
ARdawg
October 19th, 2011
11:35 am
Geoffdawg
And there you go with an infusion of facts
NorthStarsDave
October 19th, 2011
11:36 am
How about UGA-Tech at the Dome the first game of the year???
ARdawg
October 19th, 2011
11:37 am
Who really believes Bama/AU playing back to back would actually be a reality, muchless a problem?
CJ
October 19th, 2011
11:38 am
I enjoy all the talk about Saban leaving. Meanwhile Bama Rolls toward their 14 Natl Championship title this year, and UGA is a shell of a program. Just go bully Vandy around you “hairy dawgs”. Maybe in another 20yrs you might win another SEC title. Maybe.
Florida Lizard
October 19th, 2011
11:39 am
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE,
Don’t let Auburn come to the East.
We don’t want to have a guaranteed one loss every year.
Hot Dawg
October 19th, 2011
11:40 am
Hey UGA Insider, thanks for your prophetic info! You seems to be right on the pulse of UGA football and the SEC East in general. Good to know we have a fine fellow like you manning the ship at the UGA nerve center. LOL!!
Mark Bradley
October 19th, 2011
11:40 am
Sometimes trying to schedule around a conference title matchup doesn’t pan out. Remember how the ACC had to separate Miami and Florida State so they could play in the title game? They haven’t met in one yet.
NorthStarsDave
October 19th, 2011
11:41 am
Besides, Georgia-Auburn is a better rivalary than Tech anyway….means more….what does Georgia-Tech mean anyway?
this is bad
October 19th, 2011
11:41 am
The divisions will not be balanced if this happens. I know the West is stronger right now but the East was stronger for years and it goes in cycles.
This would be putting 4 of the top 6 programs in the conference in one division. What sense does that make?
Rot In Hell AU
October 19th, 2011
11:41 am
I got news for you… Almost no one connected to the Unversity of Alabama wants the barn in the SECw. In fact, it would really make our day if you leg humpers could get them kicked completely and totally OUT of the SEC. Forever!!… I swear sometimes these newspaper reporters speak LIE as their primary language…
GeoffDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:43 am
Personally, I think playing Tech the first game of the year instead of the last would have a couple big benefits (1) it give you ample time to prep for the triple option and (2) it allows you to focus on the SEC race at the end of the year instead of risking a letdown by finishing out of conference. That being said, I think it’s a no-go. The Chick-Fil-A kickoff game tried to set that up a couple years ago and it fell apart pretty quickly.
shankit
October 19th, 2011
11:43 am
Stay Staus Quo. – Don’t need mizzou coming to our league.
They already snubbed the SEC when they got turned down
by the Big Ten, Eleven, Twelve, ???
Tech Guy
October 19th, 2011
11:46 am
Is UGA gonna accept that Big East invitation if this happens? Otherwise, they will be dawg meat.
LOL
October 19th, 2011
11:47 am
While the geography will be slightly screwed it makes more sense to put Missouri in the east. If they go to the east you simply make A & M there permanent western opponent and it keeps the scheduling much simpler.
NorthStarsDave
October 19th, 2011
11:47 am
The reason Miami-FSU was separated was because of the stupid way the ACC divisions were aligned….they should be in the same division….
Quick….without looking…who is in what division in the ACC?
GeoffDawg
October 19th, 2011
11:47 am
Tech Guy, your moobs are showing.
AU Rules!
October 19th, 2011
11:53 am
Auburn will upset alabama in the Iron Bowl—mark it down!
Mark Bradley
October 19th, 2011
11:54 am
If I marked down everything people told me to “mark down,” my name would be … Mark.
Chuck
October 19th, 2011
11:55 am
The solution might be to move Auburn and Alabama to the East and send Vandy to the West. Then, all rivalries could be preserved. Vandy’s permanent Eastern opponent would be Tennessee.