🏈 Pat Dye: Auburn needs to move to SEC East

[TerryP]

The Championship game has never cost us a chance for a championship so I have no issue with it.

'08 and '94.

 

[252BAMA]

Yes, Roy Kramer exploited an old NCAA bylaw intended for Division II schools at the time and morphed into the "cash cow" known affectionally as the SECCG. But it has seldom given us much more than money. That's the part he got wrong. Because the two best teams seldom meet in Atlanta, it's usually about lopsided scores, much like this year, people feared the bodily harm done by Bama against their opponent as opposed to who would actually win the game.

We've gone from the bowl system to the BCS to the 4 team playoff in short fashion. If we now want a true de facto playoff elimination game in these conference championships to compliment what the playoffs are designed to do we need to keep reinventing the playoff wheel. Eliminating divisions and getting the two best teams in the conference is just as important as the 4 teams who eventually get it. The NCAA would have little difficulty making that happen if they so chose.

He had no choice. What part of the rule do you not understand? And yes, the NCAA would have great difficulty in making that happen. They bent the rule slightly for the Big 12, but they did not allow them to do what you are proposing. Which is what the Big 12 wanted to do . They wanted no divisions and no round robin schedule. They didn't get that and IMO they were stupid in not going to divisions.

 

[planomateo]

I hope they go to the East and Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky and UGA whoop their ass year after year.

 

[#80]

They can run but they can't hide.

 

[TUSKtimes]

He had no choice. What part of the rule do you not understand? And yes, the NCAA would have great difficulty in making that happen. They bent the rule slightly for the Big 12, but they did not allow them to do what you are proposing. Which is what the Big 12 wanted to do . They wanted no divisions and no round robin schedule. They didn't get that and IMO they were stupid in not going to divisions.

It's still an old formula that guarantees absolutely nothing for any of the 4 teams in the playoffs. How should SEC teams feel risking the conference championship against an opponent who comes in with a much worse record? Often not meeting even the 2nd or 3rd best record in the conference. We've had 2 teams in two different conferences playing for their championship with 6 losses. Great system.

Undefeated Alabama just played a 2-conference loss Florida team to decide who wins the SEC. You do the math. What Kramer was selling to the SEC in 1992 is the concept that making tons of money is better than guaranteeing that the team with the best conference record would be the rightful champ. Kramer has a lot of Barnum and Bailey in him and we bought it and have been well paid accordingly to forget the records.

The playoffs happened in spite of the incredible odds that it wouldn't happen. Suggesting that eliminating divisions would be so much more dramatic for the NCAA to accomplish is just being shortsighted or stubborn.

 

[OldPlayer]

You do the math off the top of your head? :devil: It didn't strike you a little odd that the one player everyone is talking about with Auburn isn't from the states he mentioned? Did me.

On a different note ... over a couple of beers the other day I had a few UGA fans mention they remembered Auburn as being a team they (SEC Admin) were thinking of putting in the East back in '91. I vaguely remember conversations about how the divisions were going to be split, but didn't recall that specifically.

Somewhere there was some negotiating to move East or West. How does Auburn go West and Vandy go East?

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Somewhere there was some negotiating to move East or West. How does Auburn go West and Vandy go East?

Vandy was the team to be named later.

 

[alagator]

What Kramer was selling to the SEC in 1992 is the concept that making tons of money is better than guaranteeing that the team with the best conference record would be the rightful champ.

Without it, we'd be back to having a three way tie for the SEC.

 

[TUSKtimes]

Without it, we'd be back to having a three way tie for the SEC.

So eliminate divisions, just in case they all reside in the West.

Otherwise, you aren't any closer to making that happen as you were before 1992.

 

[UAgrad93]

Dye claiming that "they would have it tougher in the East schedule wise as opposed to what they currently have in the West" is absolutely absurd!! UGA is a 4 loss team but they do have the Barns number, UF that is a predominantly 3 loss team, and the Viles who are defending Life Champions. It would be a cakewalk for them to ATL. The Iron Bowl would have to be moved to earlier in the season.

 

[Destiny's Child]

'08 and '94.

I will give you 94 even though we weren't a dominant team. If I remember we squeaked by Tulane, Southern miss & Mississippi State. We lost by 1 to the gators.

In 2008, Florida was the better team, was favored and won. If we would have not had conferences and we would have played.. they would still have been favorites and would have won. I was thinking more of being a dominant team and getting tripped up by an inferior team somehow.. ya know

 

[TerryP]

I will give you 94 even though we weren't a dominant team. If I remember we squeaked by Tulane, Southern miss & Mississippi State. We lost by 1 to the gators.

Beat Tulane by 10, and can't remember the Southern Miss score (do remember the game as being a touchdown or so,) and Mississippi State was less than that--four point win, maybe? It was truly Stallings ball that season. If I were to guess, the average margin of victory that season was eight, maybe nine. I know the Tide only average around three touchdowns (21-24 points on the season, per game.)

Southern Miss was fielding some good teams back then and that MSU game was three or four games we'd seen the Tide actually show some offense outside of UTC ...at least I think Bama opened with them. Or did Bama open with Tulane in '94 and UTC in '93? Gosh, I'd have to look it up.

I do recall thinking with a win over UF Bama was looking at Penn State (undefeated that season as well) in the Sugar Bowl...and I really was hoping I'd get a chance to see that matchup! I didn't want to see Nebraska--that's for damn sure. At the worst, a win over PSU and Stallings was looking at his second NC--shared, of course.

 

[252BAMA]

It's still an old formula that guarantees absolutely nothing for any of the 4 teams in the playoffs. How should SEC teams feel risking the conference championship against an opponent who comes in with a much worse record? Often not meeting even the 2nd or 3rd best record in the conference. We've had 2 teams in two different conferences playing for their championship with 6 losses. Great system.

Undefeated Alabama just played a 2-conference loss Florida team to decide who wins the SEC. You do the math. What Kramer was selling to the SEC in 1992 is the concept that making tons of money is better than guaranteeing that the team with the best conference record would be the rightful champ. Kramer has a lot of Barnum and Bailey in him and we bought it and have been well paid accordingly to forget the records.

The playoffs happened in spite of the incredible odds that it wouldn't happen. Suggesting that eliminating divisions would be so much more dramatic for the NCAA to accomplish is just being shortsighted or stubborn.

So , if I am understanding you correctly, you are saying it was wrong to expand and install a CG. If so, then you and I are closer to the same page than I thought because I am saying it is wrong for the Big 12 to install a CG.

Easy fix! Convince all 14 members of the SEC that it would be more lucrative to have 7 stadiums full watching all 14 members play a ninth conference game than it is having one stadium full watching two members play a ninth conference game. Just do away with the damn divisions and the damn CG.

 

[TUSKtimes]

So , if I am understanding you correctly, you are saying it was wrong to expand and install a CG. If so, then you and I are closer to the same page than I thought because I am saying it is wrong for the Big 12 to install a CG.

Easy fix! Convince all 14 members of the SEC that it would be more lucrative to have 7 stadiums full watching all 14 members play a ninth conference game than it is having one stadium full watching two members play a ninth conference game. Just do away with the damn divisions and the damn CG.

Most would probably guess I've never been a fan of the CCG, the way it's set up. With the formula, you suggest, if the NCAA wants to expand to 8 or more teams in the playoff were still at 15 total games. That seems like plenty of attrition to see who's the best.

 

[OldPlayer]

The CCG is a money-maker for the conference and all the schools. Adding another conference game doesn't bring in significantly more money (somebody has to be the away team) and whoever is the home team has the added expense. With the TV money, even the last place team makes money.

 

[BAMAneck]

It's the same as when LSU wanted to drop the Florida series while Meyer was there . Auburn getting handled as of late and having to live under that dominance is just more than they can bare .

 

[bama alum]

Just curious...When Wingnut was holding his six fingers up, was Pat Dye calling for the same?

 

[alagator]

Just curious...When Wingnut was holding his six fingers up, was Pat Dye calling for the same?

Not that I recall and I think I'd remember something like that.

What strikes me as funny is seeing all their fans talk about how little Mississippi State and Ole Miss means to them. It's the only reason they've had wins a few seasons as of late.

 

[Kevin Scarbinsky |]

The Auburn legend would rather see the Tigers move to the SEC East than play Alabama every year? Seriously? The Iron Bowl helped make Dye's career.

It's nice to know Pat Dye hasn't lost his unique ability to say what he wants when he wants no matter what anyone thinks about it.

As the coach who enabled Auburn to look Alabama in the eye in the 1980s for the first time in decades, the coach who wrestled the Iron Bowl out of Legion Field and took it to campus, he's earned that right.

In his long history of candid remarks, Dye has veered from making perfect down-home sense to putting his boot in his mouth, with the occasional invention of a new and colorful phrase.

Like 50-50 hindsight.

This time, though, by suggesting that it wouldn't be a bad thing if Auburn didn't play Alabama every year, Dye's gone too far.

It's one thing to state a strong preference that Auburn should be playing in the SEC East, not the SEC West. When Dye said that recently, he was expressing the sentiment of what appears to be a not insignificant portion of the Auburn family.

Veteran Auburn fans have fond memories of annual series against Florida and Tennessee that vanished when the 1992 divisional split put the Tigers in the West.

Dye doubled down on that Auburn-to-the-East sentiment on his radio show.

Former Auburn coach: "I'm fixing to make a statement that won't be a popular statement, I guarantee you. I'd rather see Auburn in the East than us play Alabama every year."

"I'm fixing to make a statement that won't be a popular statement, I guarantee you," Dye said. "I'd rather see Auburn in the East than us play Alabama every year. I know the Iron Bowl, (and) I'm not the least bit afraid of Auburn playing Alabama. We can play them on a rotating basis like everyone else."

Dye was right when he said, "We don't need to let Alabama dictate what we do at Auburn," but Alabama isn't "like everyone else" to Auburn - and vice versa. Recognizing the historical significance of the Alabama game is a far cry from taking dictation from Tuscaloosa. Dye's logic doesn't square with the importance of the Iron Bowl to his own career. More on that in a moment.

Jay Jacobs is a Dye guy, but the Auburn AD offered a little more common sense on the subject Thursday night in Mobile.

"The Auburn-Alabama game right now, it just means too much to too many people to give that up," Jacobs said. "I think there are other ways that we could possibly change (divisions) without having to give that rivalry up."

Second that.
Why did Dye fight so hard against powerful forces to move the Iron Bowl from Birmingham to Auburn? He knew the value of that game to his program, his campus and this state. He fought to move it, not end it.

By winning it six times in 12 tries - he really should've been 8-4 - Dye took the game to another level. He made it both a fair fight and must-see TV. He alerted Alabama and the world that Auburn wasn't going to roll over any longer as it had done during much of Bear Bryant's reign.

Not until Nick Saban came along would another Alabama coach seize the rivalry by the throat.

It's fair to say Dye couldn't have accomplished all that he did at Auburn without Alabama. So it seems strange all these years later to hear that he would be OK with ending the rivalry as an annual game.

All I know is, after Bo went the wrong way and Auburn gagged away the 1984 Iron Bowl, Dye broke out in hives. Told me so himself. Don't think he ever suffered quite the same after a loss to Florida or Tennessee.

The more it hurts, the more it means. Everyone from Dye to Saban can vouch for that. The Iron Bowl, to borrow a phrase from the SEC, just means more.





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