How do you feel about the current makeup of the SEC?

#26
#26
superdave1984 said:
The only new school that is farther north than Knoxville is Mizzou. But I get where you are coming from.
I look at it like this. If you were working at a company and felt like it wasn't maximizing your talents and earnings potential, you would look for a new company. Same thing if your company goes under, you would look for another job and go after the best pay and benefits. I am not a big fan of the huge conferences, but it is the most sustainable way to go right now.
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Your business analogy is just fine. I don't even disagree with it. However, the thread's title is: How do you feel about the current makeup of the SEC?
So my response is an opinion, which is what it asked for. Which I remain steadfast about. Cause I know, no matter what I think, the SEC's evolution is and will be what it is. Ah,is, amu uh Souther. Bonned an' bread. Uh Souther ah'll be til ah is am dun and ded.
 
#27
#27
The SEC should RETRACT back to the original 10 before '92 expansion. Why not keep most of the $$ for the schools that actually CREATED the brand? Arkansas, SC, Missouri, OU, UTejas, aTm... they can go back and form their own conference. They bring what to the conference? TV viewing is a thing of the past. More people stream entertainment now than ever and it's not going back to cable! Those schools need the SEC WAY more than we need them. Does anyone really think that the original 10 still wouldn't dominate the college sports landscape? Cmon. Tejas will end up RUINING this league just like they did their previous 3. The REAL problem is within the leadership of the SEC. They've got it all backwards. Instead of continual expansion, less will end up being best. Mark my words.
 
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#28
#28
jeff1vol said:
The SEC should RETRACT back to the original 10 before '92 expansion. Why not keep most of the $$ for the schools that actually CREATED the brand? Arkansas, SC, Missouri, OU, UTejas, aTm... they can go back and form their own conference. They bring what to the conference? TV viewing is a thing of the past. More people stream entertainment now than ever and it's not going back to cable! Those schools need the SEC WAY more than we need them. Does anyone really think that the original 10 still wouldn't dominate the college sports landscape? Cmon. Tejas will end up RUINING this league just like they did their previous 3. The REAL problem is within the leadership of the SEC. They've got it all backwards. Instead of continual expansion, less will end up being best. Mark my words.
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Silly post
 
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#29
#29
I'm with Bernard and Probably: love the growth. Because it's smart growth, not some B10 antic adding teams from the left coast.

A&M, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, they all fit. Geographically, culturally, contiguously, they just fit.

Mizzou a little less so. Because primarily of St Louis, they have the feel of a Midwest team. Should probably have joined the B10. But there are PARTS of the state of Missouri that work just fine with the SEC. And they are contiguous. So I give them a 5 or 6 out of 10.

The other newcomers, they're all 8 of 10 or better.

Go Vols!
 
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#30
#30
"You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time," ... the feels like longing for the old days ... we look back with adoration on those days ... and see the things we liked. However, we have misplaced all the things we hated about those days.
Fast forward from your reverie ... my humble suggestion is to live in the moment. 'Living in the past' is like living in a fantasy world ... it won't help you deal with current reality. Tell those you care about, that you love 'em. Today is not an opportunity to be missed.
By the way, I sincerely doubt that the SEC is done growing. My "crystal ball" sees 4 more in the future. jmho
 
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#31
#31
SN-A-C Orange said:
"You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time," ... the feels like longing for the old days ... we look back with adoration on those days ... and see the things we liked. However, we have misplaced all the things we hated about those days.
Fast forward from your reverie ... my humble suggestion is to live in the moment. 'Living in the past' is like living in a fantasy world ... it won't help you deal with current reality. Tell those you care about, that you love 'em. Today is not an opportunity to be missed.
By the way, I sincerely doubt that the SEC is done growing. My "crystal ball" sees 4 more in the future. jmho
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Nice pull from The American President
 
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#32
#32
I'm glad the 2 divisions are gone. It made schedules boringly the same every year and limited the times you played the teams in the other division unless they were designated as a permanent rival. Teams like AU, Miss, Miss St, LSU just became other teams in a league we rarely played.

As for the expansion, not a big fan of it but the tv $ are the life of CFB and you have to expand your tv market a big as you can or someone else will take it and you fall behind. Going back to the old SEC of 10 teams is just not sustainable in today's CFB world.
 
#34
#34
SN-A-C Orange said:
"You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time," ... the feels like longing for the old days ... we look back with adoration on those days ... and see the things we liked. However, we have misplaced all the things we hated about those days.
Fast forward from your reverie ... my humble suggestion is to live in the moment. 'Living in the past' is like living in a fantasy world ... it won't help you deal with current reality. Tell those you care about, that you love 'em. Today is not an opportunity to be missed.
By the way, I sincerely doubt that the SEC is done growing. My "crystal ball" sees 4 more in the future. jmho
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Lamenting the fact that money has taken this conference behind the woodshed is not “living in the past”. But you’re right, nothing we do or say can change the fact that the SEC we used to know and love is dead and it’s not done changing for the worse yet.

I always dreamed of this team making a comeback in a big way and it just sucks so bad to have to watch it happen in such a ****** era of the SEC where I’m forced to watch the Vols play teams that we’ve never cared about.
 
#35
#35
OrangeBeachVol said:
I'm glad the 2 divisions are gone. It made schedules boringly the same every year and limited the times you played the teams in the other division unless they were designated as a permanent rival. Teams like AU, Miss, Miss St, LSU just became other teams in a league we rarely played.

As for the expansion, not a big fan of it but the tv $ are the life of CFB and you have to expand your tv market a big as you can or someone else will take it and you fall behind. Going back to the old SEC of 10 teams is just not sustainable in today's CFB world.
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If we could go back to 14 teams even and just have eliminated the divisions, that would be better than what we have now. This conference has sold its soul to the suits and there’s no going back now.

Texas will run this conference to the ground just like they’ve done every time. They’ll whine, bitch and complain until they get their way and the people in charge will bow down to them because of the money.
 
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#36
#36
25vol said:
If we could go back to 14 teams even and just have eliminated the divisions, that would be better than what we have now. This conference has sold its soul to the suits and there’s no going back now.

Texas will run this conference to the ground just like they’ve done every time. They’ll whine, bitch and complain until they get their way and the people in charge will bow down to them because of the money.
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Don't disagree with you and I'm sure TX and their fans are planning to do what you predict but its going to be a lot harder in the SEC. We have much more powerful programs than the Big12 to try to bully. I think the Longhorn NW will be disbanded when they officially enter the SEC to.
 
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#37
#37
Probably_in_Class said:
I guess I'll be the odd one out. I think the current setup is awesome. We are the strongest conference in the country, and the only one not covering an absolutely ridiculous distance. Texas and Oklahoma feel like southern states to me even if they're traditionally more southwest. Travel is more difficult for the students, but it's way better for Alums. College Station, Austin, and Norman are top tier college football destinations. We now will regularly have premier matchups scheduled against teams we don't see that often through every season without needing to rely on an interesting OOC opponent. I hate expansion like everyone else, but things could be way worse.
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Not a bad take, but have you ever been to College Station? I’m not a big fan of it. Overrated in my opinion. Austin is a cool place. But honestly I think we would be the strongest conference even without Texas and Oklahoma. If those teams would’ve gone for the B10, we’d still have that argument. Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, LSU there is no competition with a conference that has these teams in it.
 
#39
#39
For me it just boils down to the fact that Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas are not in the south eastern United States. It was more fun when the rivals were regional and that feeling is gone.

But then, there's a lot of things about the United States that are gone now, some for the better, some for the worse, so I reckon it's par for the course.

I'll still watch my Vols as long as I can, no matter who they're playing.

Let's go Tennessee!
 
#40
#40
25vol said:
Texas will run this conference to the ground just like they’ve done every time. They’ll whine, bitch and complain until they get their way and the people in charge will bow down to them because of the money.
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Texas is in a different game now.

Back when it was the Big 8 and the SWC, or the B12, Texas was the big, brash fella who looked around and couldn't see anyone bigger than him. To his conference mates, he was the Texas Ranger, declaring independence from Mexico, setting up his own Republic, and then culturally riding herd over all the states around him.

But this is the Southeast. We remember Texas' childhood--because we're the ones who raised him. From our perspective, he didn't win independence from Mexico; we gifted that to him. He didn't invent himself: we did, by sending some of our best, fellas like Sam Houston and Davy Crockett (both great Tennesseans before they went down to help Texas emerge).

In short, all those B8 / SWC schools were Texas' little brothers. We're his daddy.

Texas ain't riding roughshod over no one, not here. This is the South.

Go Vols!
 
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#41
#41
VFL-82-JP said:
I'm with Bernard and Probably: love the growth. Because it's smart growth, not some B10 antic adding teams from the left coast.

A&M, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, they all fit. Geographically, culturally, contiguously, they just fit.

Mizzou a little less so. Because primarily of St Louis, they have the feel of a Midwest team. Should probably have joined the B10. But there are PARTS of the state of Missouri that work just fine with the SEC. And they are contiguous. So I give them a 5 or 6 out of 10.

The other newcomers, they're all 8 of 10 or better.

Go Vols!
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I guess technically Mizzou is a border state for Tennessee. They do have some good BBQ though. I do agree they seem more like they should be a big 10 school. I would have preferred Va Tech, North Carolina, or FSU, but nobody wanted my vote.
 
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#42
#42
AlsaceFreak said:
I absolutely HATE the money play by expanding into new TV viewing markets. I look at the student experience FIRST. When I was at UT the SEC was a true Southeastern conference and you could get in your car on a Friday after class and drive to the away games. Not to mention get a FREE student ticket to an away game. Now a student has to pay for a ticket, then somehow pay for a freaking flight to College Station or to Missouri and then on top of all that pay for lodging plus food and beverage. How is that possible for a student????? It's not unless you are getting those funds from the parents.

The students are NO longer getting the same experience in college because of this. I don't care how bad the FSU fans are or how much many us hate Dabo Swinney, I still would have preferred to have those schools for their geographic locations to the original SEC universities. Not too mention that both us those schools have rabid Football fanbases similar to SEC schools.
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Missouri isn't that far from Knoxville, but I understand your point. It just has never felt like they belong in the SEC.
 
#43
#43
Another stupid post about "feelings". Missouri and A&M belong every bit as much as Arkansas, Kentucky, Vandy, or So Car.

I dislike the organization of it less than the programs. I would like to see 4 divisions. Those 3 games would qualify a team for a 4 team playoff for the conference championship at the end of the year. Each team should be required to play two teams from each of the other divisions for a total of 10 conference games. Teams could schedule a "rival" game outside of their division and it wouldn't penalize them. The winner of the SEC would get an automatic bid to the national playoff. The others would compete for at large.
 
#47
#47
sjt18 said:
Another stupid post about "feelings". Missouri and A&M belong every bit as much as Arkansas, Kentucky, Vandy, or So Car.

I dislike the organization of it less than the programs. I would like to see 4 divisions. Those 3 games would qualify a team for a 4 team playoff for the conference championship at the end of the year. Each team should be required to play two teams from each of the other divisions for a total of 10 conference games. Teams could schedule a "rival" game outside of their division and it wouldn't penalize them. The winner of the SEC would get an automatic bid to the national playoff. The others would compete for at large.
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Your wish (or at least some of it) will be granted ... in due time. Much to the chagrin of most of the posters in this thread.
 
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#49
#49
I wish there were 8 conferences of 10 teams each For football Only.
Thats 80 schools that have a “legitimate“ shot at a national title in football.
the playoffs should be the 8 winners of their conferences.
 
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