There was the “60 minutes” quote and all the other out-of-the-gate tough talk towards Bama and the Bear. But an even better example of Pat Dye coming out swinging in his first days on the Plains was how willing he was to buck protocol, and consequently butt heads with Bobby Bowden and Florida State.
At the time, Auburn, along with several other SEC schools, had an agreement of sorts with the independent Seminoles: No poaching. Once a recruit signed and sent a letter of intent to Auburn, it was hands off for Florida State, and vice versa.
The SEC then limited the number of annual signees to 30, a rule independent Florida State felt no obligation to abide by that year since it had undersigned in 1980 — and they didn’t.