You know it matters. I know it matters. We all know. And we all know why…sort of. Mostly. Underneath it all. But at this time of year, it is worthy of taking full stock once again in why it matters. Why it really, REALLY matters.
In the last five years, a few times this rivalry has done what it hadn’t done for most of the previous quarter century: it mattered in the standings. Only a couple times in the ‘80s and ‘90s did it matter in the SEC or SEC East standings, basically never in the ’00 decade, and not often this decade.