University of Central Florida head coach George O'Leary caused a stir this summer when he publically chided SEC Commissioner Mike Silve over his threat of breaking the SEC off from the rest of the FBS to start his own separate football division.
"They sound like the South during the Civil War," O'Leary said at the time of the SEC and other schools that would possibly join them on their crusade. "If they don't get their way, they're going to secede and start their own country. … I think college football is in real trouble."
Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi showed firm support for O'Leary in an article posted in June, adding his own radical notions for how the SEC could be made better:
If the Power 5 leagues truly want to break off into their own division then they first need to jettison the dead weight and add more deserving schools like UCF before setting sail for the brave new world of college football.
Example: The SEC should dump Ole Miss and Mississippi State and invite in UCF and USF to take their place. It's crazy that the Mississippi schools get to be part of the most powerful league in college football in a day and age when the sport is all about cable television subscribers, recruiting base and growth potential.
There's one problem with that, however...Ole Miss and Mississippi State are both undefeated (a combined 10-0) and headed for the top ten or even higher after huge wins (over Alabama and Texas A&M) on Saturday.
UCF and USF? They're 2-2 and 2-3 respectively, with USF even having suffered a 49-17 loss to NC State at home a couple weeks back.
Don't tell that to Bianchi, however. He's got jokes to tell:
With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy: How can you tell if a Mississippi State fan is on vacation in Orlando? He's the one trying to take his fishing pole into Sea World!
Let's face it, the only reason Ole Miss and Mississippi State are part of SEC today is that they happened to be at the right place at the right time 100 years ago when the conference was formed while UCF and USF weren't.
At the very least, we know that Jeff Foxworthy isn't in danger of being replaced any time soon.
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