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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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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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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