It's Only SEC (but I like it....)
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
week 11
We are knocking on the week 11 SEC football fixtures and it all gets very real this weekend. With the first official College Football Playoff rankings released mid week, this weekend’s games will help cement places in the playoff or frankly end them.
It already feels like Alabama v LSU is a winner takes all. Any thing other than an Ole Miss victory over Georgia will see the Rebels eliminated. Even for those on a roll victory is so important. No slip ups then for Texas, Tennessee or even Vanderbilt!
So there hasn’t been a lot of hilarity or nonsense across SEC football this week. It’s all business!
So, welcome y’all to our weekly round-up of life in the Southeastern Conference.
Here are this week’s headlines….let’s get started!
this weeks sec headlines
Tiger Kings
Baton Rouge, LA
One of the highlights of visiting the LSU Campus is walking across the road from Tiger stadium to Mike the Tiger’s enclosure. Yes, LSU has a live tiger on campus and Mike has a pretty comfortable environment to roam around in. Climate controlled year round the Tiger habitat keeps Mike – who is a Siberian tiger – comfortable.
Mike is a SEC football celebrity in Baton Rouge, with visitors regularly from the campus but also around the world. So comfortable is Mike’s living quarters that he doesn’t move from there. Not even across the street to Death Valley.
However, news coming out of Baton Rouge this week is that there will be a live tiger within the stadium on Saturday night for the match up against Alabama. What, I hear you say?
This harps back to a bygone day when the team mascot was paraded in the stadium ahead of games. Per Yahoo Sports Ross Dellenger,
“Decades ago LSU used to station the live tiger outside of the visitor’s locker room and feed it raw steak, setting a horror scene for visiting coaches and players who would emerge for pregame warmups to a roaring bengal tiger ripping apart a ribeye, his jaws covered in blood”.
The story about the tiger being at this week’s game was broken by ESPN 104.5.
However the Tiger won’t be Mike, as the school ruled that out quickly when Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry began his campaign to have a tiger back at games – and this game in particular. Mike will stay in his 15,000 square feet climate controlled pad on gameday.
Instead Landry has arranged for a tiger from an out of state refuge to be on site. This has already caused controversy, with criticism of where the tiger has been sourced from and the extraordinary environment that it will find itself in on Saturday.
While this game is a huge spectacle, and no doubt the biggest game on the schedule this week (and perhaps any week), the reintroduction of the tiger feels unnecessary on many levels, most of all not being in the animal’s best interests. But hey its Louisiana….
Napier to stay for year 4
Gainesville, FL
It is accurate to say that Florida’s performances have improved in recent weeks. The Gators have been hampered by key injuries however it appears that head coach Billy Napier has righted the ship and at 4-4 for the season (2-3 in conference) the season has not become the unmitigated disaster it threatened to be.
However Florida still has to play Texas (road), LSU (home), Ole Miss (home) and Florida State (road) to complete what is a hugely difficult schedule. Regardless of these results Billy Napier will stay at Florida beyond the end of this season. Gators Athletic Director Scott Stricklin confirmed the news via a press statement issued on X Thursday.
“I wanted to let you know that Billy Napier will continue as head football coach of the Florida Gators.
As we’ve seen these past several weeks, the young men on this team represent what it means to be a Gator. Their resolve, effort and execution are evident in their performance and growth each week – building a foundation that promises greater success next season and beyond” said Stricklin in the post.
The Gators Athletic Director continued in his support of his football head coach,
“I am confident that Billy will meet the challenges and opportunities ahead. We will work alongside him to support any changes needed to elevate Gator football”.
Which is as supportive as you are going to get from your AD. Wow, well done Billy Napier!
"Stay in the game"
Austin, TX
The last time that Texas played at home in DKR there were some unsavoury scenes as Longhorn fans pelted the end zone with bottles and other objects in protest at a controversial penalty flag.
The Longhorns were penalised by the SEC for these actions with remediation plans required to be put in place by the school to avoid repeat behaviour.
On Friday just 24 hours before the game we saw the most public of these plans when Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and Athletic Director Chris Del Conte released a video to students (posted on Youtube but not to X) with the tagline “stay in the game”. While not explicitly stating that the throwing of objects wouldn’t be tolerated, “stay in the game” is a reference to not doing anything to get thrown out of the stadium.
Honestly it is thickly veiled and only at one point in the video does Athletic Director, Chris Conti say ” bad behaviour will not be tolerated” so it feels very light touch by the school.
With the Longhorns hosting Florida this week we will await the first flag thrown in the game to see whether the soft messaging has got through to the student section.
Bestest boy Ben
Nashville, TN
Very sad news from Kirk Herbstreit this week that his beautiful golden Labrador Ben had passed away.
Over the last 18 months Ben had become a regular and honestly a superstar on Gameday every Saturday as he followed Kirk on the road to the various stops on the college football schedule.
Herbstriet confirmed some time ago that Ben had been diagnosed with cancer however was undergoing treatment. On Thursday Kirk confirmed that Ben’s condition had deteriorated and that he had passed on.
Ben’s on the road antics had become regular news over the weeks as he made it on to a different campus to be spoiled by each school he visited. In fact Ben would receive his own media credentials allowing him all access to the field and stadium.
Social media was awash with memories, photos and tributes to Ben on Thursday and Friday this week. It was really very emotional seeing the outpouring for the beloved Ben.
On Friday Herbstreit posted on twitter how taken aback he was by the response.
“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing for the last 3 hours from texts and tweets about my boy Ben. I’m truly overwhelmed by how many people he touched-and from the bottom of my heart thank you for sending your best wishes and letting me know how much you loved him.
This has been a really tough day and all your touching notes and messages have really hit home. Thank you for taking the time to reach out and sharing such beautiful words about Ben. Appreciate all of you”.
Ben, you are missed by everyone.
College Gameday in the Bayou
Baton Rouge, LA
Ok. No-one needs to tell us that the biggest game this weekend is in Baton Rouge for the Tigers v Bama clash.
However a ringing endorsement is when College Gameday comes knocking on your door. Midweek that happened to Brian Kelly and his team when ESPN confirmed that their premier pre-game show will set up on campus for the game.
As soon as the location was set social media started to second guess who would be the celebrity guess picker on the day. By Thursday ESPN had confirmed that LSU superstars Paul Scenes and Livvy Dunne would be a picker duo. Both are recent graduates of LSU where Skenes broke all records for the LSU baseball team and Dunne was one of, if not the best gymnast at LSU and the country.
If you haven’t heard of Livvy Dunne, you should have. The former LSU gymnast was one of the first to enter the world of NIL and sits 2nd (she was 1st) in Forbes list of college athletes valued by NIL. To say that Dunne is anything short of a college superstar is an understatement.
Of course this will also be an interesting return for Nick Saban who not only still has ties to Alabama but also coached the LSU Tigers and won a national championship in 2004. So interesting times for Coach Saban ahead this weekend.
Skenes and Dunne are sure to receive a heroes welcome. We will wait and see what the reception is like for Saban.
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.