What does the SEC need to do to regain supremacy in college football? Here’s what I think.
Courtesy: Rant Sports
The Southeastern Conference had its annual meetings in Destin, FL last week. But, truth be told, the meetings weren’t that productive.
Why? The conference failed to acknowledge that major actions need to be taken in football … and needs to be taken now.
It’s no secret that SEC football has been in decline the past couple of years. Consider this. During the 2016 bowl season the once unassailable conference went an abysmal 6-6. Yowza!
Other Power Five conferences are on the rise. That circumstance coincides with the SEC’s decline. What does the SEC need to do to regain supremacy? Here’s what I think.
Move Mizzou to the SEC West, Auburn to the SEC East
When Missouri and Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2013 the conference assigned the Tigers to the East and the Aggies to the West for football. The move made sense because College Station is farther west than Columbia.
But the decision created a geographic anomaly: the Tigers are in the East despite being just one of three SEC teams west of the Mississippi River.
Courtesy: SEC
I think Missouri belongs in the West, where it would join A&M and rival Arkansas. Auburn, which is located just minutes away from the Georgia border, needs to migrate east.
Auburn is full-on with the possibility. “We touch Florida, Georgia and Tennessee,” the legendary Pat Dye said on The Paul Finebaum Show (May 15). “We need to be in the East and Missouri needs to be in the West.”
But SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey doesn’t agree.
“It’s not an agenda item,” Sankey told reporters last Tuesday during the SEC meetings.
What a minute! The swap would not only cut down travel costs, it would strengthen competition between the divisions. Mizzou could use a boast; the Tigers have trended downward in the post-Pinkel era. Meanwhile, Auburn would benefit from competiting in the weaker SEC East.
But, just like many other things in life, one thing is connected to another. And that brings me to my second point.
Expand To a Nine-Game Conference Schedule
To accommodate the swap, the SEC will need to move to a 9-game conference schedule. One reason–to preserve Alabama’s annual rivalries with Auburn and Tennessee.
It reduces–by one–the number of cupcakes on the non-conference slate.
It’s a competitive move. The Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12 have all gone to 9-game schedules. That reduces by one game the number of cupcakes on the non-conference schedule.
The SEC should follow suit. Kentucky’s 2016 non-conference schedule is a case in point.
Outside of a tough road contest at rival Louisville, UK played a woeful non-conference schedule, going up against Southern Miss, New Mexico State, and Austin Peay. For starters, nothing was gained by playing either the 3-9 Aggies or APU, owners of a 27-game losing streak. UK lost to USM. Yikes!
The SEC needs to bulk up its non-conference slate.
Eliminate Neutral-Site Rivalries
No slight to the City of Jacksonville, but “The World’s Largest Cocktail Party” (Florida-Georgia) needs to be move from northern Florida to alternating campus sites.
Courtesy: flgajax.com06
Why play this game annually at a neutral site? Each team boasts a tough environment–“The Swamp” and “Between the Hedges”–but the game hasn’t been played at either site in over twenty years.
And this game isn’t a minor contest, either. It often decides who will be the SEC East champ.
The same recommendation applies to the Texas A&M and Arkansas game, “The Southwest Classic.” The one-time Southwest Conference rivals used to play alternating games in Fayetteville and College Station.
While it’s great that the rivalry has been renewed (starting in 2009), it’s now played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. That’s unfair to Arkansas, which must travel to Texas each and every year.
Scrapping neutral sites isn’t uncommon. Alabama and Auburn used to play “The Iron Bowl” at Legion Field in Birmingham. That arrangement ended nearly twenty years ago and the rivalry is as strong–perhaps even stronger–as ever. Raucous crowds at Bryant-Denny and Jordan-Hare, respectively, are a reason why.
*********************
It’s tough for SEC fans to swallow what’s widely recognized as fact: the conference is no longer at the top of the college football world.
Step up, Commisioner Sankey! Do what needs to be done to reposition the SEC as the King of College Football.
