CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Four => SEC => Topic started by: utee94 on September 22, 2025, 01:42:17 PM
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Figured this deserves its own thread. This seems to be the list of official matchups, and I gotta say there are a couple of curious ones. I guess they were going for competitive balance over some annual games that I think were fairly important.
(https://i.imgur.com/Vdu2iZe.png)
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First thing I notice is... no Florida-Tennessee? Really? As an outsider, I've always liked this game.
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Looks like Missouri basically got the "leftover" rivals. They all sort of make sense. Obviously Mizzou's traditional rival is the B12's Kansas.
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As it was originally described, the upper-tier teams were each supposed to have 2 upper-tier annual rivals and 1 lower-tier annual rivals. Maybe I have a mistaken idea of which teams are in which tier, but I see some schedules that don't seem to match that description. Texas A&M, for example, has what I would think are 3 top-tier annual rivals. So does Arkansas, I think.
FTR, I'm happy with OU's annual rivals. Texas was mandatory and Missouri was almost a given, since it was a conference mate going back to Big 6 days. Ole Miss is a pleasant surprise. Our about-to-retire A.D. Joe Castiglione loves the game-day experience in Oxford. I wonder if he put in a personal request for Ole Miss.
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As it was originally described, the upper-tier teams were each supposed to have 2 upper-tier annual rivals and 1 lower-tier annual rivals. Maybe I have a mistaken idea of which teams are in which tier, but I see some schedules that don't seem to match that description. Texas A&M, for example, has what I would think are 3 top-tier annual rivals. So does Arkansas, I think.
FTR, I'm happy with OU's annual rivals. Texas was mandatory and Missouri was almost a given, since it was a conference mate going back to Big 6 days. Ole Miss is a pleasant surprise. Our about-to-retire A.D. Joe Castiglione loves the game-day experience in Oxford. I wonder if he put in a personal request for Ole Miss.
A lot of Aggies, in fact a large majority of Aggies, really wanted LSU. There are multiple reasons for that, not the least of which is that we had developed something of a nice rivalry with LSU in our time in the SEC. It is a little lopsided, especially the first 5-6 games, but we have had some really good games over the years and our history goes way back, I think there's something like 30-50 games played between the schools. Also, I think outside of UT, it's the closest school to College Station at 359 miles. Arkansas I believe is the next closest at 512 miles.
I know a lot of people wanted us to play Arkansas, and I'm sure it would be a net positive for A&M as we're like 12-1 against them or something. I don't remember the exact number, but I can tell you we've only lost one game against them the whole time we've been in the SEC. We've had some really close games, a couple of scares, but somehow we manage to pull it out at the end, search for the Oink Doink for instance.
I'm neutral on Mizzou. We've won some, we've lost some, nobody gives a shit. I'd much rather play either Ole Miss, or Miss State. Ole Miss because they're kinda cool, and sometimes they're really good. Miss State has really been a tough game for us, and the DNA of the schools is kinda similar. Maroon colors, Ag school, etc, Jackie Sherrill and Emory Bellard. But honestly I don't care to play them every year. They're absolutely atrocious at least 30-40% of the time, and the rest of the time beating them gives you nothing because they spend so many years in the crapper. It's almost like Baylor in the old Big 12. They were so bad for so long, I can never ever think of them as a good or decent football team, even when they're not bad.
I'm sure you're all smirking because A&M's not far from that situation, but all the more reason not to play them.
Jesus, I just had to look up Emory Bellard to make sure I spelled his name right, and I discovered his middle name is Dilworth.
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I know I surprised a couple of people when I said I didn't want Texas in our perma-rival. One of the reasons is because I wanted LSU, and over the last 25 or so years LSU is a superior program to Texas and most other teams in the SEC and even in NCAA. That being said, Texas is a true blue blood, and most years pretty damn good. So now our 3 perma-rivals are a blue blood, and a 21st Century blue blood. I guess maybe it won't matter as much now that the playoff is expanding to 16 teams or whatever, but I think it's stupid for a non-blue blood to play that difficult of a schedule, especially in the SEC. I get it, that we will still play a lot of tough teams year in and year out, but every once in awhile maybe you can catch a bit of a break with a good team in a down year, plus match-ups with teams that you've historically had success against.
Besides, Wouldn't we still play them twice in three years? Not sure how the new format works.
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Besides, Wouldn't we still play them twice in three years? Not sure how the new format works.
Twice every 4 years for the non-perma-rivals.
And not two years in a row, either, which I think is dumb. The 4-year rotation will look like this for the 6 SEC games that are not perma-rivals:
2026: A B C @D @E @F
2027: G H I @J @K @L
2028: @A @B @C D E F
2029: @G @H @I J K L
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Twice every 4 years for the non-perma-rivals.
And not two years in a row, either, which I think is dumb. The 4-year rotation will look like this for the 6 SEC games that are not perma-rivals:
2026: A B C @D @E @F
2027: G H I @J @K @L
2028: @A @B @C D E F
2029: @G @H @I J K L
It won't matter anyways. It's only a matter of time before the SEC takes in FSU and Clemson and we'll have to start all over. Or whatever the next step brings. We might be forming new leagues before this is all over.
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Could be. I'm sure more changes are coming, no idea when.
Anyway, I'm happy with our three perma-rivals. Younger Horns don't understand Arkansas at all and don't view it as a rivalry, but there are still plenty of us oldtimers around who appreciate the history.
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Kinda feels like Texas joined the league and just unboxed the trunk from 1980.
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Kinda feels like Texas joined the league and just unboxed the trunk from 1980.
I'm happy about that. For me the best thing about joining the SEC and having OU join as well, was being able to get all three of our historical rivals back on the schedule.
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I'm happy about that. For me the best thing about joining the SEC and having OU join as well, was being able to get all three of our historical rivals back on the schedule.
I agree with it, and understand it couldn't ever be any other way. It's a good thing.
It just kinda feels like moving into a brand new mansion, and having your buddy say, "Hey! We saved your old couch! It's in the living room!".
Nice to have familiarity, but...
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I agree with it, and understand it couldn't ever be any other way. It's a good thing.
It just kinda feels like moving into a brand new mansion, and having your buddy say, "Hey! We saved your old couch! It's in the living room!".
Nice to have familiarity, but...
I hear ya, but Florida, Georgia, Alabama, LSU, and Tennessee weren't ever hanging out on that couch with us before. We've got some fun new furniture in addition to that old couch.
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Twice every 4 years for the non-perma-rivals.
And not two years in a row, either, which I think is dumb. The 4-year rotation will look like this for the 6 SEC games that are not perma-rivals:
2026: A B C @D @E @F
2027: G H I @J @K @L
2028: @A @B @C D E F
2029: @G @H @I J K L
I think it's dumb too.
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Wow, Tennessee has got to be overjoyed with this. UK and Vandy? WTF?
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Florida and Tennessee had to have wanted it this way. No way the SEC just did that.
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We? just weren't elite based on our record the past decade. So there was no urgency to give us 2 big-boy teams. Carolina is decent year in and year out, but idk.
To get UK and Vandy.....the Vols kissed the right asses on that one.
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Florida and Tennessee had to have wanted it this way. No way the SEC just did that.
I guess so. Maybe I find the game more valuable and interesting than their own administrators do.
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Shit like this is what makes me not even care about conferences anymore. Similar to OU-Nebraska not playing every year in the Big 12.
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Yeah conferences larger than ten were the beginning of the end. 16 and 18 is just flat out ludicrous.
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We? just weren't elite based on our record the past decade. So there was no urgency to give us 2 big-boy teams. Carolina is decent year in and year out, but idk.
To get UK and Vandy.....the Vols kissed the right asses on that one.
Correction, it was based on league record the past 4 years. OU and Texas' records from the Big XII were used.
You know, just half-ass this shit.
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One can criticize the choices easily, but coming up with alternatives gets tough.