Best Rivalries in the SEC (Ohio, NCAA, Clemson, ACC)

[mouzon]

The conventional wisdom on SEC rivalries seems to have nothing to do with reality and nothing to do with which match ups are actually interesting to watch.

Underrated and under-appreciated:
South Carolina - Florida
LSU - Florida
Tennessee - Alabama
Auburn - Georgia
South Carolina - Georgia

Way over-rated:
Auburn - Alabama
Georgia - Florida
LSU - Arkansas (a made up rivarly if there ever was one)

[e_cuyler]

The best SEC rivalry Arkansas had going was with South Carolina during both teams' first few years in the SEC--they were both the new kids on the block and were both playing at around the same level.

One positive about Texas A&M joining is that it will renew their rivalry with Arkansas. There should be a natural rivalry with Missouri too.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by Mr. GE

Good idea

But i hate the "Greater" part of the name... Should just be the Southern Conference

Two divisions: SEC and SWC to pay homage to the previous conferences. Who's to say we couldnt call the divisions conferences? if ppl don't like that then just the Southeast and Southwest.

In addition. KY is more valuable to the conf than Texas Tech and Baylor combined. One of them has to go if not both (i say dump Texas Tech) but KY stays! Miss State can move to the SWC side.

This works too. I'd keep Tech for its football revenue over Baylor, although the Fighting Baptists are better in most other sports. Or just give TCU the nod over Baylor as it appears to continue to gain steam in fanbase and stadium population.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by e_cuyler

Allegedly, Texas pushed Arkansas into leaving the SWC, although I cannot find the exact details of how it happened, and don't remember it well enough. Anyway, it does not sound like there was much support behind Arkansas rejecting the SEC and trying to remain with the Texas schools. It's interesting that the SEC was looking at Arkansas, Texas, and Texas A&M from the SWC, but ended up picking Arkansas. Curious as to why, although if you were only going to pick one [and it sounds like they were only interested in one SWC school] Arkansas would make sense.

The SWC was obviously a sinking ship by the end of the 80s and turning down a chance to go to the SEC would have been foolish. Despite that, I remember at the time a lot of Arkansas people complained at first about how they never should have gone to the SEC because they had a rough time adjusting.

Arkansas left the SWC for two reasons - more money in the SEC and the widespread cheating in Texas.

Long 3 page story here about the breakup of the SWC and the formation of the Big 12:

What the Birth of the Big 12 Tells Us About Its Current Struggle | AthlonSports.com

Too bad, because they haven't won a football championship since.

[Mr. GE]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

This works too. I'd keep Tech for its football revenue over Baylor, although the Fighting Baptists are better in most other sports. Or just give TCU the nod over Baylor as it appears to continue to gain steam in fanbase and stadium population.

Yea... I'm with you there. TCU is probably the better move. Idk how viable they are in other sports but they are definitely worthy in football.

Which of the three is the most popular in the conf?

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by Mr. GE

Yea... I'm with you there. TCU is probably the better move. Idk how viable they are in other sports but they are definitely worthy in football.

Which of the three is the most popular in the conf?

I would definitely say Tech. Since the formation of the Big 12 it's definitely held its own against OU (won the conference 7x) spoiling the Sooners season(s) several times.

Baylor will always be considered the Little Guy. TCU comes in with a little more clout having won a BCS bowl. We'll see how the Horny Toads compete week in and week out against bigger/faster athletes.

[Mr. GE]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

I would definitely say Tech. Since the formation of the Big 12 it's definitely held its own against OU (won the conference 7x) spoiling the Sooners season(s) several times.

Baylor will always be considered the Little Guy. TCU comes in with a little more clout having won a BCS bowl. We'll see how the Horny Toads compete week in and week out against bigger/faster athletes.

gotcha... this side of the Mississippi we perceive Tech & Baylor as little guys. But sounds like Baylor is more like Vandy. And Tech is more like Kentucky maybe? Since neither of which have won a conference title but they have played spoiler.

I see that Tech has 32K students while TCU has 9K students. sounds like Tech should be in... they can always build a better program for our mock conference... as i would prefer a conference with big schools.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

I would definitely say Tech. Since the formation of the Big 12 it's definitely held its own against OU (won the conference 7x) spoiling the Sooners season(s) several times.

Baylor will always be considered the Little Guy. TCU comes in with a little more clout having won a BCS bowl. We'll see how the Horny Toads compete week in and week out against bigger/faster athletes.

Tell me about it.
The Pirate was pretty good at the occasional upset. Too bad Tech got a case of the stupids and fired him.

Agree about TCU too.

I'm still ticked about the 1961 Texas/TCU "cockroach" game.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by Mr. GE

gotcha... this side of the Mississippi we perceive Tech & Baylor as little guys. But sounds like Baylor is more like Vandy. And Tech is more like Kentucky maybe? Since neither of which have won a conference title but they have played spoiler.

I see that Tech has 32K students while TCU has 9K students. sounds like Tech should be in... they can always build a better program for our mock conference... as i would prefer a conference with big schools.

>>>>>
But sounds like Baylor is more like Vandy. And Tech is more like Kentucky maybe?
<<<<<

Yes.

Although Kentucky's storied basketball program gives it a whole other level of credibility that Tech does not have nationally obviously. In terms of football, Baylor = Vandy and Tech = Kentucky sounds about right.

[shoe01]

Originally Posted by Mr. GE

gotcha... this side of the Mississippi we perceive Tech & Baylor as little guys. But sounds like Baylor is more like Vandy. And Tech is more like Kentucky maybe? Since neither of which have won a conference title but they have played spoiler.

I see that Tech has 32K students while TCU has 9K students. sounds like Tech should be in... they can always build a better program for our mock conference... as i would prefer a conference with big schools.

Since you brought up Tech, I'll chime in. It has a very nice 60k-seat stadium that stacks up well with just about any in the country, outside of size and electronic toys (expect more in the latter department soon). The basketball arena also compares favorably. The other sports' facilities are largely top-notch.

The attendance for men's basketball might use improvement, but I'd challenge any program's fans (outside of certain states like North Carolina and Kansas) to still shell out dough in large numbers after a similar five-year run of mostly bad basketball. (One could easily give Coach BCG a pass for this year's record, trying to implement a completely new system with something like the fourth-youngest team in D-1.) The other programs do reasonably well in attracting fans. Football does okay, considering that most alumni live outside of West Texas and have to get hotel rooms, at least two of which have had rates higher than the Bellagio (one is asking for fairly close to Wynn-type money) for some dates this upcoming season.