Heading into this week’s SEC Meetings, it was well known that Steve Spurrier’s out-of-the-box proposal to not count cross-division games in the league’s standings would be the controversy of Destin.  Not because it’s likely to become a reality, but because a) it involves Spurrier who always finds a way to make these get-togethers interesting and b) it’s so far outside of the darn box.

Indeed, it was an issue that media folks kept querying coaches about yesterday.  Judging by the responses, battle lines have been drawn up already and one side seems to have more support than the other:

Spurrier:  “I was thinking about the most fair conference I was ever in, the ACC, ’87, ’88, ’89.  I think we only had eight teams and everybody played each other, so it was very simple. Whoever had the best record was the league champion and so forth. Now with the mega conferences, everybody can’t play everybody and sometimes scheduling might be the reason somebody wins the division or even the conference championship… (If cross-division games weren’t counted) Now, maybe winning a division is kind of like winning a conference championship.”

LSU’s Les Miles:  “I want it to be fair.  I don’t want to lock in an Eastern-Western Division opponent that historically has won the conference and that those games make a difference in how you fare in the East and in the West.  You have to find the SEC champion the best way you can.  You have to find the West and East division champions without regard to a crossover game.  The best team in the West should play for the championship.  The best team in the East should play for the championship.  I think there’s a view of a loss in a crossover game that it could be detrimental and not allow the best team to come into the championship game.”

Vanderbilt’s James Franklin (who wasn’t as committed to the idea yesterday as he’d sounded earlier):  “It’s something we need to at least look at. I want to hear everyone’s opinions on it.”

Alabama’s Nick Saban:  “You’re going to minimize the importance of these cross-division games if you say they don’t count toward the championship.  Then we’re really not an SEC.  We’re really just an East and a West, so why would we even play the games?”

Florida’s Will Muschamp:  “It’s hard for me to say that I could lose to an Eastern Division team and have that Eastern Division team lose to two Western Division teams and go play for the SEC title.  That doesn’t make any sense to me. An SEC game should count as an SEC game.”

Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen:  “I hate doing anything to devalue those league games because every game you play in this league is so critical and it’s such a competitive game against tough teams that you’d hate to devalue that game.”

Georgia’s Mark Richt:  “If it gets changed, then good for him I guess this year.  I don’t know if he’d feel that way every year.  This year he’d probably feel good about it.  I don’t think it’s going to change.  I’ve always said for me personally tell me what the rules are at the beginning of the year and let’s go play by them. I’m used to what we do.  My mind’s ingrained that every game counts.  The reality is in our league play if you lose to somebody head to head or if you beat somebody head to head you’ve basically got a two game lead on that team.  So there is an advantage to that still.  It’s not like there is no advantage or difference.”

Commissioner Mike Slive:  “I think that will be brought to the table for athletic directors to think about.  It’s hard for me to think about a conference game that doesn’t count.”

We continue to point to one practical reason Spurrier’s proposal is likely doomed — it won’t be easy for the SEC to sell CBS and ESPN on carrying meaningless games while simultaneously asking them for more money.

Will Muschamp isn’t moaning about the permanent cross-divisional rival he inherited when he arrived at Florida.  The second-year coach told The Orlando Sentinel that he enjoys squaring off will fellow juggernaut LSU on an annual basis:

“I like the every year playing LSU.  I think that’s good. I think that’s good for the league.  It’s two national programs with the recent success we’ve both had.  As far as how they rotate the other Western Division opponent, that’s up to (commissioner) Mike Slive and our athletic directors.  I’m just in favor of still playing eight as far as SEC games.”

No surprise on that last part.  Just as SEC coaches feared going from six SEC games to seven and then to eight and then adding a conference championship game 20 years ago, today’s coaches are in lockstep in their desire to avoid a nine-game league schedule.

“I think there’s enough good teams in our league right now,” Muschamp said. “It doesn’t really matter.  There’s going to be great matchups week in and week out in our league.”

Steve Spurrier and a group of South Carolina fans have found a friend outside the Palmetto State.  LSU head coach Les Miles told a group in Birmingham today that he’s in favor of the SEC’s divisional champs being decided by division games only:

“I want the schedule to be fair and I want it to give everybody the same opportunity.  I’m for the Western Division deciding the Western Division champion and the Eastern Division deciding the Eastern Division champion.”

And there you have it — two SEC coaches are now in favor of making cross-divisional SEC games meaningless.  Totally meaningless.  Exhibitions actually.

Miles says he wants the schedules to be fair.  Well, then he should be in favor of a 13-game round-robin format in which every SEC team plays every other SEC team.  That or he should favor just going back to the six-game schedule of old with only games against division foes on the docket.  (In reality, those scenarios wouldn’t be fair either because some teams would play at home and some on the road and some would meet pre-injuries, some post-injuries, etc.)

Personally, I’m tired of writing about this subject because it’s so utterly ridiculous.

If the SEC wants to become the only major league — college or pro — in America to not count all its games, fine.  Might as well.  I’m already on record as saying the SEC is being flat-out cowardly when it comes to avoiding a ninth conference game.  What’s a little more nonsense?

If Mike Slive and his presidents are content to let the league’s athletic directors do what’s best for themselves rather than what’s best for the league as a whole, then why not add more cupcakes to the nonconference portion of the schedule and stop counting or even playing cross-divisional league games?  Hell, perhaps they can get the folks with the BCS computers and the poll voters not to count those games, either.

“Loss?  What loss?  That exhibition with Alabama didn’t count in the SEC standings so it shouldn’t count in the BCS rankings!”

Jon Solomon of The Birmingham News was on hand for Miles’ engagement today and he has more on the ongoing soap opera that is the SEC’s struggle to put together a new schedule format.  An SEC vote at the end of the month can’t get here soon enough for this writer.  Time for this story to be put to bed.  Regardless of the final decisions.

SIDENOTE — Miles also managed to chuck a little warning in the direction of SEC newcomers Missouri and Texas A&M, today: “I would say strap it up.  They’re going to really not enjoy their welcoming to this conference.”

Les Miles doesn’t see January’s 21-0 loss to Alabama in the BCS Championship Game as a reason for his team to hang its collective head.  Instead, he believes that game — on the heels of such an otherwise tremendous season — will serve as motivation for the 2012 Tigers:

“There’s an understanding we had the best record in college, 13-1.  We won the conference, won the Western Division, and frankly beat the national champions at their home stadium.

They (LSU players) recognized that they achieved greatly; they didn’t play well in their last game. There’s a real hunger and want to start the season. Any time you finish a season on a negative note you return to the opener in the beginning of next season with a real anxious want. That’s very much the case here.

I’ve never been 13-1. I certainly enjoyed it for a long stretch. We were the No. 1 team in the country for 11 straight weeks and answered that bell well. It’s hard for me to talk about coming off a season of great achievement with a hangover.”

Expect the mantra for this year’s Tiger squad to be a single, simple word — Finish.

Mike Slive has made it quite clear that he eventually would like to see the SEC move to an 18-game conference schedule in basketball.  Scrapping the East and West divisions in hoops is also a top talking point for the league commissioner.

“In basketball, almost all the conferences don’t have divisions, so we ought to be asking ourselves the question, ‘Is this what we want?,’” Slive said.  “Rather than just going blankly on, should we take a look and see if we like it?”

For the most part, East Division coaches — and that’s been the stronger division the past couple of years — are in favor of doing away with the divisional set-up.  West Division coaches have not favored the move.  Again, we’re generalizing.

Mark Fox of Georgia represents the East’s way of thinking:


“We have to look very hard at going away from divisions.  Two years in a row, the Western Division champion has been left out of the NCAA Tournament.  For the health of our league, I think we have to look at it. 

There is no championship playoff between the division winners like in football.  What is that format doing to help us?  I’m not saying we have to change it, but we have to evaluate what’s the best thing for SEC basketball.”


Mississippi State’s Rick Stansbury speaks for most West Division coaches:


“Why change it?  Why change the way the system is?  I think it worked well for several years.

It gives the opportunity for an extra team or two to compete for championships in January or February, which, in turn, helps the fans and gives them something to look forward to.”


Divisional strength is a cyclical thing.  Re-seeding the SEC Tournament from 1 through 12 can overcome that issue.

However, from a money standpoint, if the league believes that the publication of divisional standings — with one division looking strong and the other looking weak — hurts the chances of SEC teams vying for at-large NCAA Tournament berths, then the divisions need to go. 

Slive has chaired the NCAA tourney selection committee.  He should have a fine grasp as to how much of a role “perception” plays in the selection process.  If he can make the case that the SEC is leaving bids on the table — and therefore money on the table — because of divisional play, then it’s likely that he can eventually push through a division-less system for SEC hoops.

Here are some headlines as we are now 48 hours away from National Signing Day.

1. ESPN has a look around the SEC in recruiting and what could happen between now and Wednesday.

2. Here are some recruiting needs in the SEC East. And some needs for the Western Division.

3. John Jenkins heard the Georgia call during his trip to Florida this past weekend.

4. Georgia is still in the running to land linebacker Kent Turene, who decommitted from Southern Cal.

5. Here’s a look at some targets remaining for Alabama.

6. Auburn has plenty of targets remaining, too, including the brother of an Alabama player.

7. A look at the potential of a National Esigning Day.

8. There are plenty of options for defensive end Jermauria Rasco.

9. Alabama and Mississippi are included in the in-state state recruiting battles.

10. Rivals has a new policy for crowning a recruiting national champ.

Content provided by Swamp Things – Gators Blog.

Still plenty of games left this season, but Florida has released its football schedule for next season. Nonconference opponents are Florida Atlantic, UAB, Furman and Florida State.

Florida also faces a three-week run through the Western Division similar to the one that tripped up the Gators this season. The Gators play Alabama, LSU and Auburn on consecutive weeks before the bye week on Oct. 22. The lineup of Bama, LSU and Mississippi State gave Florida its first three-game losing streak under Meyer earlier this season.

Vanderbilt’s trip to The Swamp in Nov. 5 is the Gators’ homecoming game.

BATON ROUGE — In a battle of two of the SEC's most successful programs and its top 2 defenses, 12th-ranked LSU came to life in the second half and buried fifth-ranked Alabama's Western Division hopes, 24-21, on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
(more)

Arkansas wins Western Division matchup in four sets Friday at Barnhill Arena.
(more)

Friday's first serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CT) at Barnhill Arena.
(more)