This is a love letter to the SEC.
Maybe this stuff doesn't need to be said. But my wife is encouraging me to express my feelings more often. Open up. You know, not assume the other party knows how you feel. Verbalize it. So, here goes. The timing is no coincidence.
Amid all the fun and hoopla of a benchmark Saturday of football (seven matchups of top 25 teams, plus Bowden Bowl VIII, which Clemson enters at 26th), a couple of fierce rivalries stand out because they carry extra heft.
This is Showdown Saturday in the SEC, with the focus on two rivalry games that will shape the respective division races and leave the two winners very much in the national title conversation. These games are the most significant of Saturday's huge games because they involve divisional, conference and national title hopes.
For example, the loser of the annual smackdown between LSU and Auburn has never represented the West in the SEC championship game. Never. The winner of the game has won the division four of the past five years. But just winning this guarantees you nothing -- long way to go. Losing it, however, puts you in a two-game hole versus the winning side early in the race. Given LSU's more challenging schedule, the Purple and Gold Tigers need it even more than the Blue and Orange Tigers.
The same principle applies in the East, although Georgia has emerged as such a formidable force in that division that the Vols-Gators winner can't feel too comfortable. Anything but a tie atop the East this year would surprise me.
Tommy Tuberville is always happier facing LSU earlier in the season, before the rival Tigers traditionally get things going. Les Miles' team has been very efficient so far, but LSU typically is much more vulnerable in its September tests than later on. Examples: the scares from Oregon State and Arizona State in recent years.
Can Kenny Irons possibly gash through LSU for a second straight year? Auburn controlled the trenches but bogged down repeatedly in the red zone and, incredibly, John Vaughn missed five field goals. We'll hear about how he has bounced back so strongly from that heartbreak on "College GameDay" this week. Kicking and defense: How can you think anything fancier will decide this one. I've got to stick with my preseason pick of Auburn, 20-16.
Did you know? Urban Meyer can become only the second Florida coach to defeat Tennessee in his first two meetings. The other? Nope, not the former Head Ball Coach. Steve Spurrier was spanked in his first visit to Rocky Top, 45-3. The answer is Galen Hall, now the play caller for JoePa at Penn State.
Did you know, Part 2: Not only did Florida beat top rivals Tennessee, Georgia and Florida State last year but the Gators never trailed in those games, making Meyer the first UF head coach to accomplish that.
Great memories
Of the 10 regular-season SEC games matching top 10 teams, we've had the privilege of watching seven from ringside, reveling in the drama. The Tennessee-Florida wars of 2000-02; Auburn's pounding of the Vols, with big Tiger-lover Sir Charles standing next to us on the sidelines at Neyland Stadium; and LSU's heart-stopping OT triumph at Tuscaloosa last year … those are memories that will last.
This is why I believe an explanation is needed for why GameDay won't be in Auburn for LSU's visit this Saturday.
For 13 seasons, the locations of the GameDay road shows have been editorial decisions based on the college football landscape. The basic principle was to (almost) always come from the site of the "biggest game," or occasionally, "the best story." Several times, we have visited the edge of the radar screen to pay tribute to the Mid American Conference's rise (at Bowling Green), the service academies (Air Force and West Point) or the tradition of the Bayou Classic.
Now, the philosophy has been rethought by upper management. For the first time, the competitive landscape of football programming is a frequent consideration. Serving the needs of ABC's new prime-time package of games is often a priority. The decision on GameDay's site is less a clear-cut "best game" philosophy now and is more complicated, made on a landscape where terms like "synergy" and "branding" live.
Please know this: Lee, Kirk and I have no say in decisions on GameDay's location. But as host of the show for 17 years, I am mainly concerned with the show's specific legacy, not the global college football landscape.
The first two weeks of the season were no-brainers. It made sense to follow Notre Dame to Georgia Tech and sit ringside for the first 1-vs.-2 regular-season game in 10 years last week in Austin. This week, the decision was made to come from the Los Angeles Coliseum, where ABC will be set up.
Executive vice president Norby Williamson asked me to relay his reasoning: Nebraska and USC, both visible programs with storied pasts, are colliding for the first time in 35 years, and this might be one of the few chances to showcase a Pac-10 location, keeping the show regionally balanced.
The SEC should feature a lot more big ones in the coming months.
This is important: Williamson said fans still can expect to see GameDay return to the SEC or to Notre Dame for games televised on CBS and NBC. That's a relief to me. LSU's visits to Florida and Tennessee loom large, as does Auburn's trip to the Swamp. Georgia versus the winner of the Vols-Gators clash will be huge.
Any of those games could carry national title weight.
So, who knows? I am hopeful. But just in case we don't make it there quite as often, I would truly miss broadcasting from Gainesville, Knoxville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Baton Rouge and Columbia. SEC campuses have consistently provided the most passionate, colorful and, uh … "spirit"-ed backdrops for the show.
Hands down. No other conference is close.
Even if we don't visit you as much, please don't stop visiting us Saturday mornings. We will continue to give teams from America's strongest football conference, and the Fighting Irish, their due any way we can.
-Chris Fowler
