By Lyn Scarbrough
“Patience is a virtue.”
… A phrase first credited to William Langford, a little known Englishman, in his allegory Piers Plowman around 1360
“Good things come to those who wait.”
… A partial quote from President Abraham Lincoln, not all of what he said, but all that is ever repeated
“Be patient, everything will come together.”
… From an often quoted source – Anonymous
History is full of people that agreed with the Southeastern Conference.
Not many, especially not SEC fans, agreed with the conference back in August, not when Commissioner Greg Sankey and the 14 university presidents kept dragging their feet. While other conferences, college and pro, were making announcements, the SEC was making fans uneasy. For sure, the jury was out. Would there be football?
This past Saturday, the verdict became clear.
The Southeastern Conference, the league that waited, got it right.
The SEC became the last Power 5 league to start the 2020 season, the first of 10 conference-only games to be played by mid-December.
That came about six weeks after the Big Ten became the first Power 5 league to postpone the 2020 season. On August 11, that conference announced that no league games would be played in the 2020 calendar year, but that games might be played in early 2021, not giving details about how that might happen.
The Big Ten, often compared to the SEC but seldom coming out on top, probably thought the other conferences would follow its lead, but that didn’t happen.
The Mid-American Conference (the MAC), the Group of 5 league embedded in Big Ten country, did postpone its games.
Another Power 5 conference, the Pac-12, delayed its schedule, but it was facing laughingly outrageous demands from players, at the same time that some league cities were being torched by rioters. So, there were other reasons that could have made a no-season seem like a good season. And, the Mountain West, the Group of 5 conference in the Pac-12 footprint, also postponed its games.
That was it. Nobody else followed. Ironically, by the time SEC teams kicked off their first games a few days ago, all four of those early trigger-pulling conferences had already announced that they would play football in 2020 after all.
Back to the SEC, a couple of important things have proven, at least so far, that the league did it the right way by moving the start of the season to Sept. 26 and setting Dec. 19 for the Championship Game.
** It allowed several extra weeks for the coronavirus to run its course, for protocols to be put in place, for testing procedures to be implemented and for honing plans for the first game day.
** It allowed for two “off” weeks for every team, making re-scheduling games more viable in case of COVID postponements.
While the other Power 5 conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big 12) and Group of 5 leagues (American Athletic, C-USA, Sun Belt) did follow the SEC’s lead by not postponing the season, none of them delayed the start until the end of September.
What has happened? All five of those conferences have had multiple games postponed and a few cancelled, making rescheduling necessary, in some cases impossible.
All seven SEC games were played as scheduled with no significant issues regarding team travel, stadium set-up, game day management or on-the-field play. Limited numbers of in-stadium fans, along with countless thousands in front of televisions, saw well-organized and for the most part well-played match-ups.
Most were exciting and most were competitive for most of the game. Home field advantages – now with fewer fans, no pregame tailgating, no marching bands – were mostly non-existent, as only two of seven home teams won.
Even when the Big Ten and the other non-starters finally decided to play football, they didn’t do it right. Season starts were delayed and the number of games were reduced … Big Ten (eight games, starting Oct. 23, Championship Game Dec. 19) … Pac-12 (seven games, starting Nov. 6, Championship Game Dec. 18) … Mountain West (eight games, starting Oct. 24, Championship Dec. 19) … MAC (six games, starting Nov. 4, Championship Game Dec. 18 or 19). That leaves little wiggle room for games that may not be played due to COVID issues.
Revenue and postseason play were two main reasons for the changes of heart. Of course, those two go hand-in-hand. With no games, those four conferences would miss out on television revenues and wouldn’t be available for postseason play, including College Football Playoff consideration.
The moves raise a couple of significant questions:
** Does a team that just plays 7-8 games, and didn’t start playing until late October or November, deserve to be invited to the football Final Four? Should an undefeated team from one of those leagues be considered over a one-loss SEC team that played 10 or more conference games? We’ll see how plays out.
** If the Big Ten and Pac-12 hadn’t started their league seasons, how much would it have mattered anyway in the national championship picture?
It’s tough to argue with the facts on that. Take the last decade (2010 – 2019). Those 10 years produced 20 spots in the national championship game … two teams every season. Of those, one came from the Big Ten (Ohio State) and a Pac-12 team played twice (Oregon both times). Six times it was an Atlantic Coast Conference team (four times Clemson, once each for Florida State and Notre Dame, which is an ACC member for the 2020 season).
Eleven times it was an SEC team, providing 55% of championship contestants. And, it wasn’t isolated, as three teams played multiple times (Alabama 6, Auburn 2, LSU 2), along with a single appearance for Georgia.
Much to the chagrin of the other Power 5 conferences, SEC teams won six national championships during that span.
Maybe the most important aspect where the SEC got it right was in terms of perception. Its fans weren’t let down. Its players weren’t disappointed. Recruiting wasn’t sidetracked. And, the league wasn’t branded … not as being knee-jerk or being political or being a quitter.
Heading into this Saturday’s full slate of games, four SEC teams are among the Top 7 and six are in the Top 14 in the national polls. As for the Big Ten, it has two teams in the Top 10 and still doesn’t play a game for another five weeks.
It was easier finding quotes that supported the SEC’s approach than it was trying to find any that could explain how the Big Ten handled things. But there were a couple:
“Sometimes the early bird gets the worm, but sometimes the early bird gets frozen to death.” … Canadian-American economist, Myron Scholes
And, one that gives them credit for recognizing the wisdom of the SEC, then finally going in that direction:
“There is no stigma attached to recognizing a bad decision in time to install a better one.” … the late Canadian educator Laurence J. Peter, formulator of the famous Peter Principle
Simply stated, the Peter Principle says that people will rise to their highest level of incompetence.
For sure, that’s not something that the Southeastern Conference needs to worry about regarding how it has handled the challenges and hurdles of the 2020 football season so far.
Thanks much Southeastern Conference.
Your patience paid off. You got it right. Well done.
Lindy's Sports columnist Lyn Scarbrough is a contributor to this blog. He lives deep in SEC country and offers his take on the College Football landscape.
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