Florida President reveals scheduling decision

Les Miles is not going to get what he wants out of the SEC scheduling gods, conference President (and Florida Chancellor) Dr Bernie Machen has revealed in a press conference. Future SEC schedules would adopt a 6-1-1 schedule, that would see six divisional rivals, one rotating rival, and one permanent rival. The reason? Machen and his fellow Chancellors thought it was important to keep 100-year, cross-conference rivalries such as Alabama vs Tennessee and Georgia vs Auburn as well as the 41-year old rivalry of Florida and LSU. “I’m Florida. We think that cross-division rivalries are really important and we particularly cherish the LSU rivalry. I think it’s been really great for both of our schools. We would be in a

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Florida President reveals SEC play-off plan

The SEC will be pushing a four-team play-off plan to determine future National Champions, Florida’s Chancellor told a press conference at this year’s SEC Spring Meetings. Dr Bernie Machen of Florida – talking down the road from UF’s campus in Gainseville in Destin – said at a press conference: “We want a four-team play-off”. He added: “I would be amazed if it wasn’t a four-team play-off with semifinals in the bowl system and a final championship game bid out separately.” Machen added that the SEC would be pushing for the four best teams in college football to play each other – regardless of whether they’d won the conference championship or not. Last year that means even if Georgia HAD caught

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Schedule grumblings dominate SEC Spring Meetings talk

It’s as though everyone’s either on a schedule, or grumbling about them these days. And the SEC coaches are no different at the Spring Meetings in Destin, FL. A few points: There some seriousness in discussions of nine-game SEC schedule, with Nick Saban advocating it, according to Clay Travis.. “Clay Travis (@ClayTravisBGID: Biggest news on SEC football coaches meeting was seriousness of 9 game schedule. Told Saban advocated for 9.” Steve Spurrier wants divisions decided not by overall SEC record, but divisional record, and boy is he banging his drum about it. He’s still a little peeved that South Carolina didn’t get into its second straight SEC title game, even though it beat Georgia (in one of the games of the season, we

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Spring Meetings: SEC coaches vote in $300-per-game stipend

The SEC coaches might have just done something that could change the course of college football. This tweet came from Scott Hood at Gamecock Central: Scott Hood ‏@ScottHood63 In case you missed it, Steve Spurrier told me last night the SEC coaches unanimously approved giving FB players $300 per game for expenses. This isn’t just big news. This is massive news. This could mean that players are at least paid for playing – taking back some of the money that schools, clothing companies and other parties (yes, even college football blogs!) so happily take from them year in, year out. Hood played this down slightly, saying it probably wouldn’t get through the Athletic Directors and Presidents: Scott Hood ‏@ScottHood63: The key question, though,

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Tiger running scared? Miles not happy about Florida as permanent rival

The biggest news of the SEC Spring Meetings happened right at the end when news came out that LSU and Florida would be paired together for the forseeable future as ‘permanent’ SEC rivals as part of the new 6-1-1 scheduling. One coach was happy about this. One coach was not. LSU’s Les Miles was the one NOT wearing the smile. He said at his press conference in Destin (according to the Palm Beach Post): “This is all based on some vague tradition that is not considering that you’re adding teams to the conference. Tell me about the tradition of the conference when you add teams to it. He added: “I mean, Florida isn’t even a nearby state. This tradition of rivalry

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Tuesday Spring Meetings: Spurrier, the 6-1-1, and other stories

It’s been a busy first day at the SEC Spring Meetings with everybody getting to find out how they felt about a play-off. Everyone wants a four-team play-off, and in particular the four-best teams in the country. But Steve Spurrier said that actually, the winners of the East and West should be decided ONLY on their records in their divisions. He said: “We’ve lost seven games in the last two years, and five of them are to Auburn and Arkansas. We were pretty good against them other guys, I guess.” Nice way to talk about your divisional rivals, Steve. In that world, LSU would have played South Carolina in Atlanta for the SEC Championship, by the way. Mark Richt, Georgia’s

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Why the hate for Steve Spurrier?

Steve Spurrier made some non-needed headlines in the college football world this week when ESPN’s Mark Schlabach said that the South Carolina Gamecocks coach was ‘College Football’s Most Hated Coach (Of All Time)’. Said Schlabach in his article: “Rival fans hated Spurrier not only because he beat them so often while coaching at Florida, but more so because he loved to tell them about it afterward. From Spurrier’s famous jabs like “Free Shoes U.” and “Can’t Spell Citrus Without UT,” the Old Ball Coach gave rival fans myriad reasons to dislike him.” Also included in the list from 2-10 are: Ohio State’s Woody Hayes, Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer, Miami’s Jimmy Johnson, Tennessee and USC’s Lane Kiffin, Bobby Petrino, Ohio State head coach

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If College Football is Our Religion, the SEC is Our Church

To fans of the Southeastern Conference, the SEC isn’t a conference amongst numerous college football conferences. It’s a religion. Our religion stretches from the swamplands of Florida to the oil fields of East Texas, taking in the States of Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. We go to church, both on Saturday and on Sunday, and like to scream our lungs out at both. And we’ll always talk about one or the other all weekend long, sometimes with a cocktail in our hand, sometimes not. And everyone’s invited to the party, as long as you promise not to swear in front of the ladies. Our devotees are loyal, passionate, and when it comes to games

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