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Dan Mullen said he didn’t want to cause trouble for the Commissioner, but then started giving us modest writing hacks the exact kind of material we beg for at events like SEC Media Days.
When asked about playing Alabama at Gainesville for the first time in a decade, Mullen made his plea to give up on opponents crossed to get those games more often. In essence, Mullen wants ‘Bama’.
“We’d love to see that more,” Mullen said of Alabama’s arrival in Florida. “There are ten teams that will be visiting – there are non-conference teams that will be visiting The Swamp much more than conference teams. I think you might like to see a better rotation of these teams.
Florida are on their third coach (Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and now Mullen) since Alabama’s last trip to Gainesville. Alabama last hosted Florida in 2014, although the two schools have also met in the SEC Championship three times during that time.
Mullen suggested ditching the crossover’s permanent adversaries to facilitate this to happen more often. That would mean no guarantee of the third Saturday in October or the deep south’s oldest rivalry. It’s a talking point that seems to come up every year, especially in Destin for the spring SEC meetings, but that conversation had mostly dissipated over the past year with other, more pressing issues making its way. headlines. The fact that we are even talking about eliminating the opponents crossed is another sign of a return to normal, although it follows direct comments from Commissioner Greg Sankey that the vaccination rate at the conference needs to improve. before the start of the season.
Mullen has long been one of the most outspoken SEC coaches, never afraid to come up with suggestions or ideas for making things better. His boss, Florida AD Scott Stricklin, has a similar perspective as he shakes up crossed opponents to improve the overall lineup. As detailed in a recent Athletic story, Stricklin prefers a 3-5 approach where the SEC eliminates divisions and each school keeps three permanent opponents. For Alabama, that could mean playing at Tennessee, Auburn, and LSU every season, and then the other five games turning every season. Stricklin’s plan would keep the games that matter most to schools but ensure that quality games like Alabama in Florida or Alabama in Georgia – or vice versa – don’t happen once a decade.
“I think for the players, for the fan bases, I really think it’s exciting to see the western (division) teams mix a little more and play two different teams every year instead of a crossover. permanent, ”Mullen said. “I think it would be really exciting then you get this game.”
The subject has been raised in the past but never had the momentum to become a reality within the SEC. Tradition matters a lot to the conference and the possibility of losing rivalry games or annual divisions altogether has been too far a bridge for some to cross. There are a lot of reasons why and they start and end with the fans. Fans love to know that they have these games to look forward to every year, it piques interest between these two schools and can be a major source of income for sports departments even when the games aren’t always that good. The Alabama-Tennessee rivalry is a perfect example.
You can easily imagine how controversial the debate would be to determine the three annual opponents if the SEC also followed Stricklin’s plan. Vanderbilt would quickly become every fanbase’s main rival if they could choose. If you go for Mullen’s set-less crossover games, you eliminate that problem, but you leave yourself open to some gnashing about ruining lore and what makes the conference so great. Either way, there will be some angry people.
Still, these are interesting suggestions from the SEC’s southernmost outpost. If you care the most about always getting the best games, it’s worth reconsidering the current approach to planning. That’s not to say that will change this year or next year because it won’t, but as Sankey mentioned several times in his opening speech, the varsity football landscape is changing. switch. The SEC is already evaluating how it can evolve with these changes in multiple areas, and the ongoing conversation of naysayers should be no different. As college football heads towards a 12-team playoff over the next few years, dropping divisions and / or rivalry games could help the SEC bring more teams to the playoffs.
Mullen making his case at a Monday SEC Media Days press conference won’t be the push for change. It did, however, reignite a conversation that had lain dormant last year and could become increasingly discussed and scrutinized in the years to come.
John Talty is the Sports Writer and SEC Insider for Alabama Media Group. You can follow him on Twitter @JTalty.
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