Alabama vs. Gators a welcome crossover
Who doesn’t want to see Saturday afternoon’s clash between Alabama and Florida in the Swamp?
These two programs have combined to win 16 of the 29 Southeastern Conference championship games, with the Crimson Tide holding off the Gators 52-46 last December in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Yet due to SEC expansion in 2012 with the additions of Missouri and Texas A&M coupled with the decision to maintain an eight-game league schedule, this will be Alabama’s first trip to Gainesville since 2011.
And that’s no fun for anybody.
“If we maybe got rid of the permanent (cross-divisional) games, the SEC would have more opportunity to play these games, which the fans love,” Florida coach Dan Mullen said Wednesday on the SEC teleconference. “The last time we had the rotating game come into the Swamp was two years ago and the Auburn game, which had a similar-type excitement.
“The league creating more of these games would be good for the fans and good for the players and good for the conference. I didn’t know that the last time they were here was 2011. That’s a long time between playing a conference game at home.”
Mullen’s comments had to be music to Alabama counterpart Nick Saban’s ears. Saban is for keeping permanent crossover games such as Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia but has been pushing a nine-game conference format for years.
When the announcement that Oklahoma and Texas would be joining the SEC broke this summer, Saban immediately suggested 10 conference contests.
“I don’t have any control of how we schedule games in the SEC,” Saban said. “Ever since we went to more teams in the SEC, the only way you’re going to play everybody is to play more SEC games. I’ve been an advocate of that for some time without very little support, so I don’t know how you do it when you only play eight SEC games and you’ve got six that you play in your division and one natural rivalry that you keep.
“They do the best job they can with the situation that we’re in, but I’ve always said it would be great if every player on your team got to play every school in the SEC in his career. With the present format, that’s just not possible.”
It’s certainly understandable why Saban wants Alabama to play more games against Eastern Division teams. The Tide will head to Gainesville having won 31 in a row versus East members, a staggering streak that includes SEC title games and began after a 35-21 loss at South Carolina in 2010.
Alabama’s 31-game surge contains 11 wins over Tennessee, five over both Florida and Georgia, four over Missouri, three over Kentucky, two over Vanderbilt and one over South Carolina.
Pasquali’s Pix
UTC at Kentucky: The Mocs will be playing their 127th all-time game against a school currently in the SEC, having defeated Ole Miss and Vanderbilt in 1945 and Tennessee in 1958. Wildcats 45, Mocs 10.
Tennessee Tech at Tennessee: The Volunteers move on from the Johnny Majors Classic to the Da’Rick Rogers Classic.
Vols 52, Golden Eagles 3.
Nebraska at Oklahoma:
Fifty years ago, the Big Eight ruled the world when Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado finished 1-2-3 nationally. Those schools are now in the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12, with the Sooners headed to the SEC.
Sooners 41, Cornhuskers 24.
Alabama at Florida: Mullen has defeated every SEC member — even Florida and Mississippi State — as a league head coach except for one: Mullen is 0-10 against Alabama.
Crimson Tide 34, Gators 16.
Georgia Tech at Clemson:
The similarities of these two programs right now begin and end with each team possessing a 1-1 record. Tigers 48, Yellow Jackets 7.
Stanford at Vanderbilt:
This is the first meeting of these academic heavyweights, and it’s the first time Stanford has faced an SEC foe since topping Georgia 25-22 in the 1978 Bluebonnet Bowl. Cardinal 31, Commodores 10.
Auburn at Penn State: The average score of an Auburn game this season is 61-5. That’s subject to change. Nittany Lions 27, Tigers 24.
South Carolina at Georgia: The Gamecocks actually possess four series wins over the Bulldogs when Georgia is ranked among the nation’s top six teams, including in 2012, 2014 and 2019. Bulldogs 44, Gamecocks 7. Other picks:
Arkansas 35, Ga. Southern 16 LSU 42, Central Michigan 21 Ole Miss 48, Tulane 19 Miss. State 29, Memphis 28 Missouri 50, SEMO 15 Texas A&M 56, New Mexico 7 Cincinnati 27, Indiana 22 Notre Dame 31, Purdue 20 Florida State 24, Wake Forest 23 Iowa 33, Kent State 14 UTSA 30, MTSU 27 Oregon 69, Stony Brook 6 North Carolina 22, Virginia 17 N.C. State 41, Furman 10 Northwestern 26, Duke 13 Pitt 45, Western Michigan 12 Ohio State 59, Tulsa 24 Last week: Winners ………………… 20 Norvells ………………… .5
Pasquali is 38-12 overall (76.0%) this season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.