With the SEC moving to a nine-game slate next year, and the league announcing there would be three “permanent*” rivals on the schedule, the biggest question for ‘Bama fans was who would be on the Tide’s schedule. But, let’s be honest, it was always going to be which one team was rotating on the schedule.
Though many fans may think of Auburn as just another team (ahem), for Alabama natives it’s a big deal. The Iron Bowl was never leaving. And there is simply no way the league was cancelling the Third
Saturday in October — the Tide and Vawls have played 98 straight seasons, 107 times total. It’s one of the most storied hate-fests in football. With Tennessee’s resurgence, it’s become a high-stakes ratings bonanza again too.
So, the choice really was only ever about LSU — a rivalry that has become important in the last two decades — and the SEC’s oldest rivalry: Mississippi State – ‘Bama
And despite what some haters and rivals may have wished, per Chris Lowe, the league did the right thing for the right reason: Clanga it is.
I’ve alluded to this before in comments, but let’s make the historical case here that the Tide-Bulldogs game was always a no-brainer.
- It is the SEC’s oldest rivalry, dating back to 1896. How much history is that? It not only predates the SEC (founded in 1932), it predates the Southern Conference (1921) — and MSU and ‘Bama were charter members of both — it goes all the way back to ‘Bama’s membership in the SIAC in 1895.
- Mississippi State and Alabama are the closest proximate SEC schools: just 84 miles separate the two. It is absolutely absurd to think the pair would only meet twice every dozen years.
- Until five minutes ago, when Greg Sankey decided to chase a few Austin bucks and destroy the league, MSU/’Bama had skipped just three annual meetings in the last century.
- It’s lopsided on the field, for sure (the most one-sided series in the league, behind only ‘Bama/Kentucky at 36-2-1). But that’s not the important part here: Alabama has a whole lot of lopsided series with the league…it comes with being royalty. No, the important part is that outside of Ole Miss, the Tide are the Bulldogs greatest rival, and the pair have battled especially fiercely on the diamonds and basketball courts. Bloggers and media whined incessantly to get the ‘Bama/LSU game for the spectacle of it all. But that simply wasn’t a meaningful rivalry until two decades ago, when the game often set up the winner of the West (and usually the league). There are two parties to consider here: Mississippi State deserved the consideration of adding their second rival to the schedule. Everyone was speaking of this in terms of Alabama; as a founding member of the SEC, Mississippi State deserved to be heard as well.
Of course, it’s better for competitive balance too. Since 1992, Alabama has faced a brutal Amen Corner with LSU/Tennessee/Auburn backloading the schedule — oft with MSU thrown in as an afterthought to most ‘Bama fans. But if you can only play three of those, it makes little sense to give someone like Tennessee a slate with Vandy and Kentucky, and stick the Tide with three (usually) ranked teams, and two of them on the road every other season. Just as it makes little sense to force LSU into Texas A&M and Ole Miss games, and then add the Tide on the backend.
It just works better for everyone. It lightens the load on LSU and ‘Bama a tad, certainly. It gives the Bulldogs its historical marquee matchup back, and most importantly in all of this, it’s just the right thing to do.
One of the casualties of this insane chase for cash has been the death of the sport’s cultural patrimony and history. Relatively homogeneous leagues grew out of propinquity: teams were in the right place and the right time. Rivalries grew organically and forged their own stories over the course of a century and more. And Alabama-Mississippi State is an integral part of the history of Southern football. It hearkens back to an era when people had to take a train to see the closest teams around (like the Third Saturday, for instance), or were close to an old US Highway to where they could rattle down the road to catch their favorite team.
The Battle for 82 is the latter. It is part of the fabric of the league, it was always part of the fabric of the SEC and SoCon, and it’s right that it was restored, no matter who wins and loses on Saturday in November.
Welcome back, Bully.
* These are not “permanent” in any sense. The league has said they’re “annualized” and will be revisited every six years. We all know why too: to give the SEC as many chances at the playoff moolah as possible.
