To: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes...

ALA2262

All-American
Aug 4, 2007
4,977
393
102
Cumming, GA
Personally, I would love a Home & Home slate against a top team like the OU vs Ohio State slate. I completely understand the logistics issues and the benefits of a neutral site game but it would be incredibly fun to have a game at BDS against a team like Ohio State. I also imagine it would be fun for players to go to some of these other big time stadiums like the Big House.

Again, I get why its unlikely but boy would it be fun for both fans and players.
The fun was removed from CFB longer ago than I care to remember. Been nothing but a business for a very long time.
 

The Ols

Hall of Fame
Jul 8, 2012
5,136
5,724
187
Cumming,Ga.
Penn State was cool...that was only 3-4 years ago...

Personally, I would love a Home & Home slate against a top team like the OU vs Ohio State slate. I completely understand the logistics issues and the benefits of a neutral site game but it would be incredibly fun to have a game at BDS against a team like Ohio State. I also imagine it would be fun for players to go to some of these other big time stadiums like the Big House.

Again, I get why its unlikely but boy would it be fun for both fans and players.
 

theballguy

Hall of Fame
Nov 5, 2012
6,268
1,083
187
Roll Tide Roll, Colorado USA
Re: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes

Although I don't agree with the OP's sentiments, what I DO like is when people post threads that go against the conventional thinking. Always interesting to read those threads. Good job, PM.
 

TrampLineman

Hall of Fame
Jul 21, 2010
7,287
6
57
Alabama
Re: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes

It is the Mercer and Chattanooga Jr. College games that make we want to puke. Disgusting. I know, I know. It is the $$$$$$$$$$$. Still want to throw up. It is only a matter of time until a one loss Alabama get left out of the playoff and our consolation will be $$$$$$$$$.




We have to have a break sometime during the year. You want to play ranked teams every dang week we are going to get beat down and lose more than we normally would. It is no different than great teams playing a pansy in week 1 while we play top notch teams, it's not like we play more than any other team out there. I'd love to see nothing more than say FSU, Notre Dame in one year but chances are we won't make it through that kind of schedule plus the SEC schedule without major injuries. I love the big games but we also need a break every now and then too.
 

GP for Bama

All-American
Feb 3, 2011
4,328
1,090
187
The fun was removed from CFB longer ago than I care to remember. Been nothing but a business for a very long time.
I can't really say that I agree with you on this. I think college football (especially at Bama) gameday is a lot of fun!
 

deliveryman35

Hall of Fame
Jul 26, 2003
12,998
1,194
287
55
Gadsden, AL
Re: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes

With a college football playoff now, you have a great season and you've got a shot at having two additional top 4 programs added to your schedule. To me that's another reason why the high profile H/H's are really not necessary anymore.
 

Blindside13

All-SEC
Oct 22, 2011
1,846
1
0
Near the Barn
Fans want to win championships. You cannot win championships without championship level recruiting. These games really help in that recruiting. So choose - better home games or championships.
I agree with you completely the neutral site games the last few years have definitely helped in recruiting.
 

GrayTide

Hall of Fame
Nov 15, 2005
18,810
6,245
187
Greenbow, Alabama
The fun was removed from CFB longer ago than I care to remember. Been nothing but a business for a very long time.
I totally agree with this. Once fun is totally removed then it becomes the NFL which is nothing more than a business. I have been a fan of college football longer than most on here, but it is no longer an exciting Saturday afternoon.
 

edwd58

All-American
Aug 2, 2006
4,710
1,390
187
I totally agree with this. Once fun is totally removed then it becomes the NFL which is nothing more than a business. I have been a fan of college football longer than most on here, but it is no longer an exciting Saturday afternoon.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I'm curious about part of your statement above. Are you making that statement as someone that attends games on Saturday afternoon or as someone that watches from somewhere other than the stadium? I've been watching football likely as long as you and I still get excited when: we load up the car and head to T-town, or Knoxville, or Atlanta; the team comes out of the tunnel; the ball is put on the tee for kickoff; a crimson clad athlete makes a terrific play; a rival loses; or any number of other times on a fall Saturday. From reading this you can tell my perspective is from someone in the stadium. I can't fathom that a Bama fan can't something about Bama football that excites them whether in the stadium, watching from the sofa, or listening to Eli while riding down the highway.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,735
287
54
Re: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes

Btw - times were not really as 'great' 'in the old days as folks want to say. We played six - occasionally seven - SEC games per year and 4-5 out of conference games.


In the 1970s, we won the SEC damn near every year (only missed in 1970 and 1976).

Anyone know who we played out of conference back then?

1971- USC, Southern Miss, Houston Miami (the last 2 were nobodies back then, USM not that great - USC was so good that some folks think their 1972 team is the best of all-time)

1972 - Duke, USM, Va Tech (pre-Beamer, a nobody)

1973 - Cal, Va Tech, Miami

1974 - Maryland (decent), USM, FSU, Miami (FSU was 1-10 and we beat them late, 8-7)

1975 - Mizzou, Clemson, Washington, TCU, USM (lost to Mizzou, Clemson was 2-9, Washington was up and coming)

1976 - SMU, USM, Louisville, Notre Dame

1977 - Nebraska, USC, Louisville, Miami

1978 - Nebraska, USC, Washington, Mizzou, Va Tech

1979 - Ga Tech, Baylor, Wichita St, Va Tech, Miami


Then remember some things:

1) USM played in a high school stadium so the game was ALWAYS in Alabama. There was no home and home.

2) The Ole Miss and MSU-Bama games very often were played NOT on campus at Ole Miss or in Stark-Vegas but three hours down the road in Jackson Mississippi. In fact, they sometimes had 'doubleheader Saturdays,' where one team played around noon and the other kicked off at seven pm. MSU started playing ALL of their SEC games on campus in 1991 and Ole Miss in 1994.

(I only bring this up because there weren't - technically - home/home back then, either. Hell, Alabama played most of the IMPORTANT games at Legion Field, which isn't in Tuscaloosa, either).

3) We only played Cal in a HOME game for Alabama in 1973. There was no home/home despite the fact that Cal's home stadium seated over 76,000 at the time....keep in mind that's 16,000 more people than fit NOW in Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. We then played Maryland only in an AWAY game in 1974 - in former Bryant assistant Jerry Claiborne's first head coaching game (he would later do okay at UK, too).


But I know what you'll say - "Oh, but we had all those GLORIOUS SEC rivalries!!!" WRONG!!!!!


Did you know that Alabama and Ole Miss did not play each other from Veterans Day 1944 until New Years Day 1964? That's almost twenty full years!!

Or what about Georgia? We used to play Georgia every year, and the game was usually the same week we either play bye or LSU nowadays. Then they became our opener (1959-65). In the fallout of the alleged fix of the 1962 game....all of a sudden.....we played UGA in 72-73-76-77-84-85-90-91. So in the thirty-year span from the alleged fix to the SEC divisional split, we played UGA eight times total in an old rivalry that we used to play every single year and often as the opener.

Want to know how many times in those 30 years we played BOTH UGA AND Ole Miss in the SAME season?
1976 and 1977. That's it.

Yes, you read that correctly. Only twice did we play both Ole Miss and UGA in the same year (going backwards) after 1944.

Our common opponents through the years were Auburn (every year now since 1948) and Miss St (we have played the Bulldogs every single year the SEC has been in existence except 1937 and the year we didn't field a team, 1943....plus we played them for most of the 22 years prior to 1933 and the founding of the SEC).

What about Florida? From 1930-1969 (40 full seasons), we only played the Gators EIGHT times...and then we went 6-0 against them in the 70s and 1-1 in the 80s before Spurrier arrived. Sixteen meetings in 60 years.

Wanna hear something more insane? During that same time we played Tulane (an SEC team during much of that time) 23 times during those years we were only playing Florida eight.

We also played SEC foe Ga Tech every single year from 1947-1964 (and went 1-6 during the Red Drew and Ears Whitworth years).

What I'm saying is that that nostalgic past and those glory rivalries are MOSTLY myths and the 1980s was a unique time that enabled it. Remember - entering the 1980s MANY schools including Penn State, Notre Dame, Miami, Florida State, West Virginia, and others were not affiliated with any conferences. Those schools plus Army and Navy and - back then - MANY others - set up their own schedules.

Now follow me: Independent schools means no conference meaning no guaranteed games every year with whoever which MANDATES a school like Penn State needed an Alabama on their schedule for revenue. (Notre Dame not so much). Those days are gone because those schools save ND, Army, and Navy are all members of conferences with mandatory tie-ins and sometimes nine-game schedules.


And even with all of that, who did we play in the 1980s? See if you don't notice something....

Ga Tech 1980-84 (Tech joined the ACC in 1983....good-bye old rivalry)
Rutgers 1980-81 (Independent)
USM 1980-83, 85-87, 89 (Independent)
Notre Dame 1980, 86-87 (Independent)
Penn State 1981-1990 (joined Big Ten coming off that - started conference play in 1993)
Arky St 1982 (Independent)
Cincinnati 1982, 84-85, 90 (Independent, there was no Big East back then)
Memphis 1983-85-86-87-89-91 (Independent)
Boston College 1983-84 (Independent)
La-Lafayette 1984-87-88-89-90 (Independent)
Texas A/M 1985-88 (SWC)
Ohio State 1986 (Big Ten - Kickoff Classic arranged by network/NCAA)
Temple 1986-88-91 (Independent)

Note that with the exceptions of ATM and Ohio State (a one shot wonder), ALL of our opponents had ZERO conference tie-ins.

This world no longer exists!!!!

Back then it was an 11-game season. Let's say for the sake of argument we wanted to play Michigan State. In eleven games, they had EIGHT Big Ten conference games back then. That left them three games and one HAD to be Notre Dame. Do you REALLY think that even if we wanted to play Michigan State that they would have wanted to add Alabama to that schedule?

What about USC? Well, eight conference games for them, too. And the ninth MUST be Notre Dame. That leaves USC TWO games to schedule...and remember that the Western states are bigger than the Eastern states (e.g. it's 1,117 miles to Pullman, Washington from the USC campus...that's 250 miles further back then than Florida has to go to play Missouri...and USC/Wazzu was almost every year).

Do you really think they wanted a home/home with Alabama, either?


That's not to say there are not some GREAT SEC rivalries involving Alabama - most notably Tennessee (before the relationship soured) but also LSU and - before the Graining/Holt incident (Tech) and the alleged fix (UGA).

I concur with the OP it would be nice but those days are gone and with every game on TV, the networks are going to have more influence than ever before. And the purpose here was part of 'why' it's gone.
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
10,615
4,540
187
44
kraizy.art
Re: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes

It is kind of funny, if you look back at those old schedules without thinking about it you see Miami and Virginia Tech and think wow, those were some tough schedules. The only issue is at that point they were basically cupcakes.
 

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
6
0
Prattville
I totally agree with this. Once fun is totally removed then it becomes the NFL which is nothing more than a business. I have been a fan of college football longer than most on here, but it is no longer an exciting Saturday afternoon.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,735
287
54
Re: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes

It is kind of funny, if you look back at those old schedules without thinking about it you see Miami and Virginia Tech and think wow, those were some tough schedules. The only issue is at that point they were basically cupcakes.
Yeah, we read now back into then.

Same with FSU or even TCU in the infamous Dryden game.

The schedule back then GENERALLY speaking was the SAME as now for the most part: SEC mandated schedule, one really decent team, and 3-4 cupcakes or almost cupcakes. But folks think that was some golden age of nostalgia.

The 80s were better COMPETITION wise but that was my point: it was a different world back then.

Oregon wasn't any good at all.
Notre Dame's demise really began in the 80s with Faust although Lou Holth brought them back.
West VA was nothing
Va Tech, Miami, FSU

Hell, Wichita State quit football after the 1986 season....and almost nobody remembers that Wichita State actually had their team killed in a plane crash about six weeks BEFORE Marshall did.



I'll bet if you told any Tide fan in September 1978 that "It will be forty years before you play Nebraska again," not one would have believed it.
 

rolltide_21

Hall of Fame
Dec 9, 2007
11,447
7,489
187
NW AL
I agree with him. I understand why we do the neutral site game. But would still like to see better OOC home and home.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

GrayTide

Hall of Fame
Nov 15, 2005
18,810
6,245
187
Greenbow, Alabama
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I'm curious about part of your statement above. Are you making that statement as someone that attends games on Saturday afternoon or as someone that watches from somewhere other than the stadium? I've been watching football likely as long as you and I still get excited when: we load up the car and head to T-town, or Knoxville, or Atlanta; the team comes out of the tunnel; the ball is put on the tee for kickoff; a crimson clad athlete makes a terrific play; a rival loses; or any number of other times on a fall Saturday. From reading this you can tell my perspective is from someone in the stadium. I can't fathom that a Bama fan can't something about Bama football that excites them whether in the stadium, watching from the sofa, or listening to Eli while riding down the highway.
Very good post BTW. I probably should have said somewhat less enjoyable. I attend at least one game at BDS every season, the remainder I watch on TV. Chalk it up to old age, but the game day experience, IMO, has more of a carnival like atmosphere and less like a football Saturday afternoon, but that's me.
 

B1GTide

TideFans Legend
Apr 13, 2012
45,499
46,842
187
Very good post BTW. I probably should have said somewhat less enjoyable. I attend at least one game at BDS every season, the remainder I watch on TV. Chalk it up to old age, but the game day experience, IMO, has more of a carnival like atmosphere and less like a football Saturday afternoon, but that's me.
I'll say this - I am in my 50s and no longer love live games, in stadiums, as much as I did even 10 years ago. But, for me, it's not because anything has changed at the games (though some things have), it is because I have changed. I used to love that "carnival" atmosphere outside the stadiums before games. I would arrive early in the mornings before games and help many groups set up as they arrived for pre-game festivities. I went from tent to tent, visiting and laughing (eating and drinking too much). I even loved getting together with rival fans before games, everyone feeling their oats and full of hope.

Now I prefer to watch at home. I still love college football Saturdays, but my Saturday experience is nothing like it used to be, and I prefer it this way. Has the game changed? Sure. Everything changes. But I have changed a whole lot more than the game.
 

Moro Creek

All-SEC
Jan 21, 2014
1,831
667
137
Equine country
Re: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes

Selma mentioned the 1974 FSU game we won 8-7. That brought back some memories. That was the worst game I ever saw Bama play and win. It was frustrating to watch. Sorry to get off subject a little.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,735
287
54
Re: AD Byrne - We Need Some Quality OOC Home and Homes

Selma mentioned the 1974 FSU game we won 8-7. That brought back some memories. That was the worst game I ever saw Bama play and win. It was frustrating to watch. Sorry to get off subject a little.
I was five years old so I have no recollection of it, but I've heard many Tide fans who were of age then say that might well have been the worst win in Bryant's tenure at Alabama if not the entire history of the school.

For those who don't know, I looked it up:

Alabama was #3 in the country (remember - we were UPI champs in 1973). FSU took the opening kickoff and went 78 yards in nine plays for a TD. That was the halftime score. At the end of the third quarter, we kicked a field goal to make it 7-3 FSU.

With 87 seconds left in the game, FSU was perched to punt from their own end zone. Their coach took an intentional safety to make it 7-5 FSU. We drove and hit a 36-yard field goal with 33 seconds left to win, 8-7.

Florida State was 1-10 that year.


It was the classic 'trap game.' We beat Ole Miss (who was entering the dark ages of the post-Johnny Vaught era) by two TDs and then played the Vols the next weekend. Of course, the Vols cannot beat Alabama without the extra week and in 1974 they played.....5-5-1 LSU the week before and lost.
 

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.