auburn To The East?

Auburn to the east, even at the loss of the Alabama game?


  • Total voters
    88
  • Poll closed .

jabcmb

All-American
Feb 1, 2006
2,792
318
107
Birmingham, AL
It's no biggy to me, let 'em move. Curious as to Eastern Division schools' opinions on it. And, Eastern seems to be more of a posturing, strutting division. So, it would be a good fit.
 

bama61

1st Team
Aug 24, 2004
655
29
52
North Alabama
Can't really say that I'd care one way or the other. It was fun when the game was played in Birmingham but not so much so now, plus the animosity on both sides has gotten to be a bit of a downer for me at least.
 

81usaf92

TideFans Legend
Apr 26, 2008
35,306
31,375
187
South Alabama
I think this would be more earth shattering news if this was the pre-1989 Iron Bowl that was played in Birmingham every year. That was a thing of beauty in that you would have a near 50/50 crowd trying to outdo one another cheering wise. But once again let's be honest - this thing is about money as always (not that there's anything wrong with that). The part I will confess surprises me a tad is that Auburn is not proposing to move to the East AND trying to change things so that the Iron Bowl is still the locked-in game (e.g. Alabama no longer plays Tennessee every year but instead plays Eastern rival Auburn). I'm also assuming that Dye has made the financial calculation that replacing Alabama with annual games against both Tennessee and Florida will more than make up for any financial losses.

Who would Auburn keep as their Western annual rival? I'm guessing they'd prefer LSU if not Alabama merely because of the money.

College football has been going through constant evolution and if this happened it would just be the latest. I recall a time when Oklahoma-Nebraska was one of the biggest rivalries going, bigger even than the Red River Rivalry. But they weren't even annual rivals in the Big 12 much less nowadays. Same with Texas/ATM, and both of those games were always played right around Thanksgiving, sometimes back to back.

I think the days of the Iron Bowl being a big thing have regressed from what they were. How many times has the game carried any NATIONAL significance? 2013 obviously but what other times was this true? It did have some secondary significance (e.g. the unbeaten or one-loss team HAD to win but it didn't really mean much nationally otherwise). The only other time that comes immediately to mind is 1971, when both teams were undefeated, but I was two years old and have no recollection of this. OK, and maybe 1981 because of Coach Bryant's becoming the winningest coach (though this turned out to be a fraud when later research showed Pop Warner actually had won 319 games and so Bryant actually broke the record against Penn State in 1982).

At the state level? Well, I don't think some of the Tide fans have thought this one through. The game is a trap for Alabama - if we win we were supposed to but if we lose we listen to a year of "we beat you." Of course, this could also set up an Auburn national title run that bypasses Alabama merely by the luck of the draw, and don't think Tide fans wouldn't resort to "but you didn't beat us!!" Same in reverse.

I thought the rivalry could have used some cooling off back during the Ramsey and Jelks scandals as well as the twin occurrences of the Cam Newton scandal and the tree killer dude.

Years ago I would have said, "No, we need to keep this." Now? I honestly don't care one way or the other. I DO suspect part of it in Dye's case is looking over the East and realizing, "Ok, if we put together a good team we have four easy wins and if we can go 2-1 at worst against the Big Three and maybe draw Miss State and Arky in the same year, we can win the East - and in one game against hopefully not Alabama, we can win the SEC and maybe play in the playoff, and that's money."

On the flip side......strength goes in cycles. Florida or Tennessee won the East every single year for the first decade of the expanded SEC, and they won the conference title seven of those times. Since then, however, the Vols have yet to win the conference and Florida has only won it twice. Think about that: since 2001, Auburn has won the SEC more times than powerhouse Florida.

The history of how it moved was interesting - and money-driven on both sides - but there's not much of interest now more than any other game save for rare years like 2013.
94 and 13 are probably the most important iron bowls in the last 30 years in terms of it meaning something more than Alabama trying to avoid embarrassment and Auburn trying to show their relevant. I think in that time range the Red River Rivalry and the FSU-UF (in the 90's) had more games that meant something more than beating your rival.
 

colbysullivan

Hall of Fame
Dec 12, 2007
16,697
13,613
187
Gulf Breeze, FL
I'm kind of torn on this. Do I care about playing the Barn every year? Meh, not really.

Do I care about Bama winning championships? Yes, and this would make that easier.

However, it also makes the Barn's road to the championship infinitely easier, and that just won't do for me. I don't want them to even sniff a chance at the playoffs.
 

Elefantman

Hall of Fame
Sep 18, 2007
5,935
3,855
187
R Can Saw
I can't decide. I think they should be in the East but I still want to play them each year. I would love to eliminate them from being the East rep in the SECCG on the last game of the year, every year.
 

edwd58

All-American
Aug 2, 2006
4,711
1,396
187
Several of the Aubs I work with are in favor of this, because their hero, Dye, is pushing it. Personally, I wouldn't mind it happening either.
 

bamacpa

All-American
Jul 19, 2006
4,783
1,073
182
It's beautiful to see Pat Dye admitting defeat and tapping out. I didn't think I'd see that, and surely wouldn't have if any of the Mikes were still at Bama.
 

Tideflyer

Hall of Fame
Dec 14, 2011
7,829
3,909
187
Savannah, GA
Don`t know the mechanics of how something like that would work. Would AU somehow petition the conference? Does Pat Dye still have enough sway in Auburn to really influence the school in something of this nature?
 

deliveryman35

Hall of Fame
Jul 26, 2003
12,998
1,194
287
55
Gadsden, AL
The barn needs us more than we need the barn. I would be in favor of it. The only rivalry that is untouchable and sacred IMO is the third Saturday in October.
 

AUDub

Hall of Fame
Dec 4, 2013
16,268
5,939
187
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
* = Mr. Dub: how does it feel to lose 3 games, on your own field, to the worst team in the conference. We did such a number on your baseball team's head that you went on to lose the next 4 games! For maybe the only time in my lifetime, we got the chance to ruin your season, and looks like we did.
Hell, it feels a lot like UGA in football. Even when they're bad they have our number.
 

Crimson1967

Hall of Fame
Nov 22, 2011
18,737
9,919
187
I think Missouri's annual rival is Arkansas. So if they did switch I guess the barn plays the pigs and Missouri gets UGA.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
10,615
4,540
187
44
kraizy.art
Just keep in mind, all the risk in this equation is the gamble Auburn would be making. As I've said before, Alabama really doesn't need them, for anything. What this would be about is simple balance. The divisions are unbalanced, and while some people talk about cycles, they are merely talking about the teams on top. Yes, Florida and Tennessee will have better years, but Vanderbilt and Kentucky are still Vanderbilt and Kentucky! Having both those in one division weakens it, then when you add to it the fact that South Carolina and Missouri are not exactly elite football programs, and the division is just plain weaker, period. So, Auburn would benefit by having an easier time of it and the SEC would benefit by having more balanced divisions. It also makes geographical sense, Missouri makes little sense in the East and Auburn geographically belongs in the West.

Now, how does that play out long term? Well, the SEC East figures to suck a little less, Sagarin had them ranked below both ACC divisions, both Big 10 divisions and the Big 12. Missouri and Auburn should both be a bit happier since they'd be playing teams close to them and a bit more natural rivals. Other than that, the only thing of real value that's lost is the Iron Bowl, which as some have noted isn't really the Iron Bowl anymore anyway.

How does it hurt Alabama? It doesn't, not at all. I suspect this is part of the rational as well, but there's just no benefit to having a game that tough this late in the season. If Alabama or Auburn loses, they are almost certainly out of a playoff. Does it hurt recruiting? Nope, I can't think of a single player even coming to Alabama to play Auburn. It might hurt Auburn's recruiting though, because I can think of several guys that went to Auburn because Alabama didn't extend a scholarship. The bottom line though is this might not help Auburn, but it sure as heck won't hurt Alabama.
 

GP for Bama

All-American
Feb 3, 2011
4,328
1,090
187
My soapbox...
Do away with divisions.
Every team has three permanent opponents. Eight SEC games a year . Every SEC team would play every SEC team at least twice every four years.
The two top teams play for the championship.
 

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