twk

They have a weekly article in the Athletic every Monday for SEC vibes rankings -- not a ranking of how your team is playing, but how your fans feel about it. I was shocked that A&M wasn't at 16, but I guess I could see the case for some of the others.

I'm surprised that they are televising this week's A&M v. Arkansas game on linear television. I would have thought this would be a prime candidate for a streaming only game. Or perhaps a telegraphic recreation.

Can't believe I'm traveling to Columbia for our game in November. That will be a hoot.

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Texas has the best color orange and it's not even close. The fact that some even think it's debatable is funny. Tennessee is a dark yellow shade of orange and it just doesn't look good. Facts.

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Thats like being the tallest midget.

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Their downfall was not joining the Big 12 when the Southwest Conference folded. Could have kicked Baylor out, maybe, for Arkansas instead. If they had fought hard to get in the south division of the Big 12, they literally could have taken Nebraska's spot in the annual turkey day game against OU, and it would have been a big deal for their recruiting, in my opinion. It would have become a natural rivalry game to look forward too. Not like the Red River shootout, but more like Texas vs A&M on Turkey day. And, more importantly TV sets in Texas would tune in for that game. Nebraska would have thrown a major hissy fit over that but who cares. No foresight though on Arkansas part..

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Arkansas was already in the SEC when the Southwest Conference imploded. I guess you could say that they should have been the ones forcing a move to the Big 8 (and there was talk about this in the ‘80s), but it takes two to tango, and it took some softening up for the Big 8 membership to realize that things were going to have to change because they had no TV markets (and Arkansas wouldn’t have helped in that regard). It was the SEC that had the vision to realize that the status quo would not last (Penn States move to the Big Ten was the first domino to fall).

You also have to remember that Arkansas was a poor state, and Northwest Arkansas was not the economic boom area that it would later become. The fact that Fayetteville was closer to a bunch of Big 8 schools didn’t matter much when Fayetteville was just a small college town. The state as a whole was more oriented south than west.

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Supreme Court has already said this isn't going to fly.

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Under federal antitrust law as it existed at the time. Congress passed the antitrust law. Congress can amend it (and thereby effectively overturn a Supreme Court ruling) if it wishes.

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I just don’t understand what TF the point of this shite is.

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The point is, who writes the rules? Corrupt local judges or the leagues? SEC is entitled to have a rule barring guys who have signed player contracts with the NFL (cue the apologists who want to insist the line should be drawn somewhere else, just because).

A&M played Houston in the Astrodome in 1980. Problem was that the Astros made the playoffs for the first time in their history, and were the prime tenants. Astros hosted the Phillies in the afternoon, then the stadium had to be converted for football. The game kicked off at 11:33 pm.

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Texas A&M coach Mike Elko received a written question from a fan on his radio show jokingly asking if the SEC voted LSU out of the league, would the Tigers go independent or go to the NFL?

“This is a little bit like the son figuring out where the limits are until dad comes home and raises his voice, and then the son goes, ‘I was just kidding, I didn’t mean any of that.’ I think that’s what you’re seeing.

“LSU will be in the SEC. LSU will be fired up when we go to Baton Rouge in a couple weeks. All of those things are going to happen. This is just a little bit of, parenting, going on right now.”

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LSU bent the knee. No reason to vote to expel. It's obvious to everyone, (and should be for even LSU fans) that Lane was playing frick around games with the last w roster spots. Now that it's a done deal, there's no reason to talk about expelling LSU. Now a penalty or suspension Lane? Who knows. I really don't care, but I guess it's possible because Lane was really trolling and poking the rest of the SEC, which is pretty ridiculous for a HC to do. LSU fans will defend his trolling, but let's face it, there's a time and place to troll and he stepped over the line.

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Pretty much this.

The eligibility issues need to get resolved, and by that, I mean all these suits where athletes run to court to get injunctive relief from the application of rules. What’s different here, and in the Sorsby case, is that when courts relied on antitrust laws to slap around the NCAA, the conferences stepped in to assert their authority to regulate their own competition. We desperately need Congress to pass legislation that takes these decisions out of the hands of judges, or at least removes the ability of players to shop for a favorable forum.

If John Kennedy would stop flapping his gums for a moment, and try to actually do something productive, he could get behind the Protect College Sports Act. That’s what we need our politicians to do. If they want to tweek it here and there, then sit down and work it out, but until they get off their asses and get this legislation passed, the field will be ripe for people who want to use the courts to push the envelope.

You left out a step.

LSU needs to get the Louisiana suit dismissed. We know all the protestations about it being the players acting on their own are total BS, as evidenced by the Louisiana AG sitting at the counsel table with the plaintiff's during the injunction hearing. Kiffin initiated the litigation. LSU can bring it to a halt.

Good analysis of the legal situation can be found, here: Trish Whitcomb Substack

The judge in BR has yet to sign the injunction order, but the draft prepared by the plaintiff's attorneys (which is standard operating procedure -- state trial court judges don't usually draft their own orders, instead relying on the prevailing side to draft it) basically leaves the SEC with no remedy short of expelling LSU. If the BR suit is dismissed, and the SEC is given other options, then all the litigation can stop, the SEC can impose appropriate penalties (way short of expulsion), and sanity can be restored.

Defending Lane Kiffin, as loathsome as that is, probably isn’t as bad a cause as supporting slavery.

Probably