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SEC School Anthem Showdown

Everyone's looking for their two minutes of fame on the internet and college football fans are no exception. At first there were highlights, then compilations to music, and now it seems fans are going out of their way to (usually) humiliate themselves in front of millions (read: thousands). I've scoured the tubes in search of the best and worst SEC school anthems. Some you may be familiar with, and some you'll soon wish you weren't.

I've taken all I could find, rated, and ranked them from top to bottom. I rated each video on five distinct categories by asking myself these questions:
Visual - The video itself. Was is well made? Funny? Or was is just a single photo throughout?
Lyrics - How well are they put together? Is it the same thing for 4 minutes straight?
Music - Does it sound professional or like someone used a midi player in Windows 95? Does it evolve or repeat the same two bars over and over?
Embarrassment - How embarrassed should a fan of this school be due to this video?
Team Pride - Are the artists taking pride in their school and athletic department?

We'll open with the top five.

...more

by Streyeder -- August 25, 2009 3:36 PM

Comments: 2 | Views: 1872

SEC AND ESPN: Making Waves Throughout the NCAA

It's no secret that the SEC has inked a deal with ESPN & CBS over the next 15 years that will put the SEC at the forefront of media exposure in the college sports market across the nation. The landmark deal with the two media outlets will add $3.05 BILLION to the coffers of the SEC schools. That's $17 million/year for each and every SEC school. Think about it, a member school could go winless every year and still pull down the equivalent of winning the BCS Championship Game for the next decade and a half.

You Know the Numbers

$2.25 billion over 15 years with ESPN.
$825 million over 15 years with CBS.
$17 million to each school starting in 2009.
Comcast will add ESPNU to its base package to join ESPN/ESPN2.
5,500 SEC sporting events will be on CBS, ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN ...more

by Streyeder -- August 7, 2009 8:43 AM

Comments: 3 | Views: 1888

Mythical Playoffs (Round 3) '92 Alabama vs '98 Tennessee

* Click the links in the stories for a bit of video nostalgia (they aren't ads, we promise).
Game Thirteen: 1992 Alabama Crimson Tide (13-0) vs 1998 Tennessee Volunteers (13-0)

Tournament to Date:
'92 Alabama:
Defeated 05 Georgia 24-13
Defeated 2003 LSU 20-14
(Players of the Game: George Teague, Eric Curry)

'98 Tennessee:
Defeated 2000 Florida 38-31
Defeated 2006 Florida 14-13
(Players of the Game: Tee Martin, Jamal Lewis)

Argument for Alabama:
For all the buzz that the Bama defense is ...more

by SECFans -- July 26, 2009 11:35 AM

Comments: 1 | Views: 992

SEC Media Days: Day 3

Oh boy, the final day of SEC Media Days has come and gone. Here's a bit of what went down today with the final four coaches taking the stand.

Gene Chizik -- Auburn

Welcome back Tubbs, as we've got yet another young Auburn squad. Chizik explained fall practice will be lighter thanks to depth issues and his want to start a 'fresh' team. He also spoke a bit on the pressures of coaching and being low-key, but really there wasn't much of note coming out of his mouth. The highlight was defending having only 12 verbals, and not many of the highly touted sort. Now, outside of the podium we did find out that Chizik has hired a new agent, Russ Campbell, a change from the notorious Jimmy Sexton.

Steve Spurrier -- South Carolina

Ok, Spurrier didn't read his SEC ballot and his assistant voted for Jevan Snead. WHO CARES. This was the most annoying part of SECMD, grilling every single coach to find the one that voted against Tebow. Spurrier has since "corrected" his vote, so Tebow is now the unanimous first team QB. ...more

by Streyeder -- July 24, 2009 9:10 PM

Comments: 0 | Views: 283

SEC Media Days: Day 1

Ahhh, you know the best time of year is right round the corner when the coaches of the greatest schools in the nation descend upon Birmingham, AL. The SEC Media Days is the yearly event that fills the papers with juicy tidbits and stories that attempt to discern how the upcoming season will play out. Here, and for the rest of Media Days, I'll be providing a nice summary of the juicy bits that flow out of Birmingham for all of you to see.

Mike Slive -- SEC Commissioner

According to Slive, the SEC is in a "Golden Age". We won 5 national titles and had 6 runners-up in the past year. We were able to fill our football stadiums to an average of 97% capacity and averaged 30k+ at the spring games! In the Summer Olympics we brought home 51 medals with 159 current athletes competing. As Slive said, "If the SEC was a nation, it would have finished fourth in the world in medal count."

Of course, there was the inevitable talk about secondary violations and the such. Basically taking one from Smokey the Bear's book, he reiterated that only the SEC can prevent the SEC ...more

by Streyeder -- July 23, 2009 9:53 AM

Comments: 0 | Views: 509

Mythical Playoffs (Round 2) 98 Tennessee vs 06 Florida

* Click the links in the stories for a bit of video nostalgia (they aren't ads, we promise).
Game Nine: 1998 Tennessee Volunteers (13-0) vs 2006 Florida Gators (13-1)

Tournament to Date:
98 Tennessee:
Defeated 2000 Florida 38-31
(Players of the Game: Tee Martin, Peerless Price)

06 Florida:
Defeated 1997 Tennessee 24-20
(Players of the Game: Reggie Nelson, Chris Leak)

Argument for Tennessee:
98 Tennessee has a defense that can slow down this 06 UF squad. The secondary and linebackers cover well, while the defensive line would be a good match the Gators when they plug Tebow in for short yardage running. To have success, the Vols will have to be balanced on offense with the 1-2 punch of Jamal Lewis on the ground and ...more

by SECFans -- July 3, 2009 5:19 PM

Comments: 0 | Views: 657

Mythical Playoffs Series - 98 Tennessee vs 00 Florida

Game Four: 1998 Tennessee Volunteers (13-0) vs 2000 Florida Gators (10-3)

Tale of the Tape:
'98 Tennessee:
Points Per Game: 33
Points Allowed Per Game: 15
Avg. Margin of Victory: 19
Key wins: #25 Syracuse, #5 Florida, #14 Georgia, #16 Arkansas, #3 Florida State
Losses: None

'00 Florida:
Points Per Game: 36
Points Allowed Per Game: 21
Avg. Margin of Victory: 25
Key wins: #18 Auburn, #19 South Carolina, #20 Georgia, #22 LSU,
Losses: #24 Mississippi State, #2 Miami, #5 Florida State

Argument for Tennessee:
This UT squad, minus Peyton Manning, managed to win the title in '98. Tee Martin led them there with a strong arm and decent running ability. It didn't hurt that his WR corps included ...more

by SECFans -- June 23, 2009 10:17 PM

Comments: 0 | Views: 819

Mythical Former SEC Champion Playoffs

Mythical playoffs are all the rage these days. Everyone loves speculating over 8 or 16 team end-of-year playoffs to determine the NCAA football champion. At SECFans.com, we like playoffs too. What better way to fill the downtime of the off-season than to speculate over a dream backyard brawl of former SEC Championship game winners? That's right, over the next few days we are going to see what could happen if these SEC champs went toe-to-toe.

Here's some details. We seeded from #1-4, giving preference to final record, ranking, and strength of schedule. The 4 undefeated champions naturally got the four available #1 seeds. Next, we seeded the #4's. Before the #4's were seeded, however, we had to bring the field down to 16 (there have been 17 SEC winners of SEC Championship games). Sorry LSU fans, the '01 squad just didn’t make the cut. There have been multiple 3 loss SEC Champions since 1992, and one had to go. Unfortunately for '01 LSU, their strength of schedule ranking was 23rd that year. '99 Alabama and '00 Florida both had the #1 ranked SOS in their respective ...more

by SECFans -- June 23, 2009 7:25 PM

Comments: 4 | Views: 3076

Mythical Playoffs Series 06 Florida vs 97 Tennessee

Game Two: 2006 Florida Gators (13-1) vs 1997 Tennessee Volunteers (11-2)

Tale of the tape:
'06 Florida:
Points Per Game: 29
Points Allowed Per Game: 14
Avg. Margin of Victory: 18
Key wins: #3 LSU, #25 Tennessee, #23 Georgia, #2 Ohio State
Losses: #9 Auburn

'97 Tennessee:
Points Per Game: 33
Points Allowed Per Game: 22
Avg. Margin of Victory: 16
Key wins: #11 Auburn, #5 UCLA, #10 Georgia,
Losses: #2 Nebraska, #4 Florida

Argument for Tennessee:
The 97 Vols were a bit of an anomaly. One one hand, their potent offense led by Peyton Manning had no trouble finding the end zone. But they had a hard time closing out games because their defense allowed 22 points per contest. They matched up well against the '06 Gators in a number of areas. Florida didn't face an offense in 2006 that was nearly as effective as the '97 Vols. Manning was great, but the Gators defense would also have to account for ...more

by SECFans -- June 22, 2009 1:47 PM

Comments: 2 | Views: 667

Road to Recovery Runs Through Kiffin

...But not that Kiffin. Sure, we've got Lane. We've even got our stable of high-powered recruiting dynamos in guys like Orgeron, Lance Thompson, and Eddie Gran. The one most forget about is Monte. If the Vols want to expedite their turnaround, they'd be wise to lean on Monte and let Lane get a solid foundation underneath him in the process.

One would be surprised to find out that Lane has done more than offer the verbal public misstep accompanied by the cursory apology since his arrival in Knoxville. He also very quietly amassed a bevvy of coaching talent. Since Monte's his arrival was all but a given, Monte didn't receive near the acclaim as Lance and Ed. But what he brings to the table might do more than solidify the defense, it might also bridge the gap between Lane the "learning on the job" young pup to Lane the "looks and acts the part" head coach.

Jim Chaney has the "Offensive Coordinator" title. Lane Kiffin has the actual duties (if we're being honest). The defense is all Monte's. It wasn't all bad in 2008. Tennessee had a defense that ranked 10th nationally in Scoring Defense and 3rd in ...more

by RockyTop -- May 19, 2009 9:58 PM

Comments: 0 | Views: 211

Kiffin Strikes Fear Into the Heart of UT Fans

So far, he certainly hasn't shaken the rest of the SEC in fear. The effects of unintended consequences have never been more on display than they have with the young pup in Knoxville. His cavalier attempt of "putting the league on notice" may have worked out, if he had an SEC-caliber squad ready to take the field in 09. Unfortunately, he does not.

Tennessee wanted to make a splash hire. They approached a guy strictly for name recognition alone. This move had the potential to pay off, in spite of itself. Take a step back in time, before Kiffin shot his mouth off at a booster dinner, before he had 11 players quit the team, even before his verbal assault on all things Florida. Kiffin was quietly amassing a star-studded cast of assistant coaches. Specifically, a who's-who of skilled recruiters. And let's not forget dear old dad, Monte.

The thought process behind breaking the bank on world class recruiting assistant coaches is two fold. One, it's a hedge against Kiffin as a head coach. If UT could get talented guys around him doing the teaching, he could be completely inept, yet the damage would be minimal. ...more

by GatorChomp -- May 11, 2009 11:05 PM

Comments: 0 | Views: 234