BMatt’s Monday musings
AUBURN | Don’t look now but Auburn’s actually building up some recruiting momentum and could add to that this week.
The Tigers have added six commitments in the last 27 days and that group includes the nation’s No. 1 kicker, an every-down tight end, a camp standout, a coveted, big-play wide receiver, franchise tailback and a big-bodied defensive end with the potential to be a star on and off the field.
That’s a good month of work by this staff, which laid the groundwork in June and saw the payoff in July and early August.
Those positive returns don’t appear to be over. Four-star in-state athlete Kobi Albert is set to choose Auburn, Michigan or Maryland on Wednesday. Offensive lineman Drew Bobo and several others are also strongly considering Auburn and could have a decision before the start of the season.
The Tigers are at eight commitments now and it wouldn’t be surprising if the total was in the 10-12 range when Auburn welcomes Akron to Jordan-Hare Stadium Sept. 4.
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It was just 12 days ago that the initial report came out in the Houston Chronicle that Oklahoma and Texas were in talks with the SEC. Now, they’ve officially been accepted with a start date of 2025. Many think they’ll be joining as early as 2022 or 23 once more dominos fall.
The next step for the SEC is to figure out how to structure the league and schedule once the Sooners and Longhorns are eligible.
Everybody seems obsessed with the idea of pods and the importance of being able to play all other 15 teams during a 4-year period. I’d like to keep the two division format and don’t think it’s that big of a deal to make sure Auburn plays Oklahoma or Texas every four years.
With the best players leaving for the NFL after three years and the transfer portal, how many players are actually going to be with the same school for four years?
I guess I’m in the minority on this, but I’d prefer to play a more set schedule that includes most of the same teams each year with a few changes and not a round-robin format pods would bring. I also dislike the possibility of playing of playing a big game in November only to have to have a rematch in the SEC Championship game as Auburn and Georgia did in 2017.
My proposal is to keep the East and West divisions, put Oklahoma and Texas in the West, move Auburn and Alabama to the East and Missouri to the West. That balances out the SEC geographically and places most of the important natural rivals on the same side.
The SEC should add a ninth conference game so schools would play all seven opponents in their division plus two from the other side, preferably within the first half of the season with no permanent cross-division opponents.
Here’s the twist. Let’s say four super conferences emerge out of the latest round of reshuffling and the 12-game playoff is implemented. What if all four super conferences divided into two divisions and the division winners earned automatic bids to the college football playoffs. That would take up eight spots and you could award a bye to the four that end up winning the conference championship games.
That would keep the regular season and the conference races a vital part of college football and still allow for four at-large bids. Probably a fanciful proposal, especially eight automatic bids, but I’d like to see it.
Keeping the regular season relevant and exciting while expanding the playoffs should be a priority and this is one way to make it happen.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 40 years to a music revolution that got its start on cable T.V. On Aug. 1, 1981, at 12:01 ET, MTV first aired on cable stations in the New Jersey area. Within three years, MTV was reaching 25.4 million households and was bringing in over $100 million in annual revenue. It began in the early morning of Aug. 1 with a countdown of the original Columbia shuttle liftoff and then executive vice president John Lack said, “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,” which was followed by the original theme song including an MTV flag on the moon. The first video to play was the Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star followed by Pat Benatar’s You Better Run. Then it was time to meet the original VJs: Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn, J.J. Jackson, Nina Blackwood and then Mark Goodman, who welcomed the viewers, “to the world’s first 24-hour, stereo, video music channel.”
MTV began focusing on album-oriented rock but was full Top 40 by 1984. The network was instrumental in driving the popularity of artists such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince. The MTV Video Music Awards began in 1984, which included a stunning performance by Madonna of Like A Virgin. As it grew in popularity, the music videos became more cutting edge and provided up and coming directors such as Spike Jonze and David Fincher early opportunities. It became the network for teens and young adults and began its spring break coverage in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1986. They added shows such as 120 Minutes, which featured alternative rock, Headbanger’s Ball, Yo! MTV Raps and MTV Unplugged to the lineup in the mid to late 80s. The 1990s saw the rise of grunge rock led by Nirvana, gangsta rap, teen pop and hip hop. The decade also saw the rise of reality shows like Real World and Road Rules. From the mid 90s to present, the playing of music videos consistently declined as MTV moved to more reality, comedy and animated programming. Today music videos can be found on MTV during the AMTV music block from 3-9 a.m. Monday-Thursday. Most of the original VJs can be found on SiriusXM.