SEC football: 15 instances where it just meant more

In my 15 years as a fan of SEC football, these moments just meant a little more than the others.

I remember my first time being inside of an SEC football stadium, alright…

T’was my freshman year at UGA. The Dawgs were the No. 1 team in the land. Matthew Stafford was the quarterback, Knowshon Moreno was the running back and Mark Richt was the coach. This team was coming off a stellar 2007 campaign with serious national title aspirations. Fate would have it, getting half of my face sunburnt at Sanford was pretty interesting foreshadowing, I’d say.

Born as the son of two transplants, you don’t know what you don’t know. I didn’t understand the Bulldog thing until I was 18. The academics, being in-state and 100 percent Downtown Athens brought me to The Classic City. Over time, this absolutely wacky sport I love so much became part of my being. It went from a seasonal weekend passion to the lifeblood of how I pay my bills now.

Since 2008, I have seen some things, good, bad and downright ugly. These 15 instances stood out to me as moments in my SEC football fan where I was like, “Well, I guess this couldn’t have happened anywhere else…” Per usual, these have very little to do with what happened on the field, but rather when the clock wasn’t running and people had some things to say about when it did.

Behold! 15 instances where SEC football just kind of meant more to me over the last 15 seasons.

SEC football: 15 instances where it just meant more in the last 15 years or so

15. Joe Burrow celebrates Senior Day as Joe Burreaux coming out of the Tiger Stadium tunnel

Over the last 15 years, I have been truly blessed to watch two of the greatest single quarterback seasons in college football history in my conference I hold so dearly. What Cam Newton did at Auburn in 2010 was the stuff of legend. That team had no business winning a national title, but it did. Then, there is the story of Joe Burrow, the 2019 LSU Tigers and how he became The Geauxt…

Seeing Burrow walk out of the tunnel at Tiger Stadium in a No. 9 Burreaux jersey was incredible.

While a lot of these 15 instances where it just meant more are of the petty and hilarious variety, this isn’t one of them. Part of what made that 2019 season so special for Burrow and LSU was that no one saw this coming. Burrow had to transfer out-of-state after losing the starting quarterback job at Ohio State to the late Dwayne Haskins. In two years at LSU, Burrow flourished.

He went from a sixth-round pick as a fifth-year senior, to the unquestioned No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Burrow became the second Heisman Trophy winner in LSU history, helping the Tigers win their fourth national title. The offense was historic, but his impact in Louisiana was undeniable. One man from Athens, Ohio became as Baton Rouge as they come in this moment.

He had victory cigars after clobbering Clemson weeks later, but this is when he became a legend.

14. Brian Kelly was just getting started on forming his LSU family, while picking up a horrific Cajun accent in the process

There is no denying it at this point. Brian Kelly is one helluva football coach. He has won everywhere he has been at every level. After bringing Notre Dame back to relevancy in the 2010s, Kelly shockingly left South Bend to replace Ed Orgeron at LSU. Football is a language everyone speaks, but this native of Massachusetts went from saying “I would like a poor boy sandwich.” To whatever this is.

He ain’t done winnin’ yet, ’cause he’s just getting started building his Family. Oh, the cringe factor…

My favorite thing about this was not only how poorly it landed, but how quickly Kelly and LSU recovered. In his first season on the job, LSU went 10-4 and won the SEC West by beating Alabama and Ole Miss in critical division games. They may have gotten trounced by Georgia in Atlanta (Jalen Carter picking up Jayden Daniels was cute), but Kelly had that thing popping already!

Cultural differences aside, Kelly is going to work out just fine in Baton Rouge. Catholicism and winning big-time football games will work wonders in bridging the otherwise large societal gap between the two parties. I don’t know if Kelly is a particularly likable guy, but he can coach, he can recruit and he can win! He’s not done winning yet. LSU might be the team to beat outside of UGA…

Thank the lord for college basketball to give new head football coaches the platform to talk to us.

13. Mike Leach told Alyssa Lang that she and her fiancé Trevor Sikkema should elope instead of planning a wedding, while having no idea that Trevor also worked in sports, too!

Months later, I still can’t believe Mike Leach is gone. There is never going to be another Pirate. As we try to swing our swords whenever we can to honor the life and legacy of one of college football’s most important people of all time, try not to cry watching this clip of the former Mississippi State head coach talking to Alyssa Lang of the SEC Network about having weddings.

He told Lang and Trevor Sikkema to elope. Leach had no idea that Sikkema worked in sports, too.

I don’t know if this will go down as Leach’s greatest interview response ever, but it’s the one that gets me emotional every time I watch it. This was weeks before he tragically passed away at the age of 61 from a heart attack. Knowing what we know about Coach Leach, he would have talked to Sikkema on the phone about his and Lang’s wedding. Sadly, he never got the chance to…

Leach may have been one of the godfathers of the Air Raid offense, helping the most remote outpost in each major conference win a ton of games with it. However, I think his personality and curious nature is what we will miss the most about him. Completely comfortable in his own skin, Leach was never afraid to answer the tough questions. He was college football. We will miss him.

People asked Leach all sorts of questions over the years, but his rapport with Lang was so special.

12. Steve Spurrier was photographed by South Carolina superstar Jadeveon Clowney getting some sauce at the local Arby’s in during SEC Media Days

We could, and probably should, dedicate an entire day’s worth of content to the SEC football content machine that is the Head Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier. When I was a kid, he was too busy winning at Florida and trolling the likes of Georgia and Tennessee every step of the way. However, I was lucky enough to fall in love with the sport while he was coaching ball over at South Carolina.

That meant the Head Ball Coach went to SEC Media Days, and had to make a stop at the Arby’s.

The fact it was his star defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney snapping this candid photo at the local Arby’s makes it infinitely better. I don’t know if “Sir, this is an Arby’s” stems from this, but I know for a fact Spurrier would have quite the response to it. So why is this a great moment worth celebrating some 10 years later? I think the better question is why don’t we celebrate it more?

Only in the SEC can something like this happen and you feel the need to respect it happening in real time. Did that father and young boy know they were part of history? I’m not saying their lives peaked in an Arby’s, but this is a top-tier moment in the life of the Head Ball Coach, so I’ll let you be the judge of that. Not until doing this project have I wanted to set foot inside an Arby’s more.

Let’s just say Clowney, South Carolina and Arby’s for sure are better off for having known Spurrier.

11. Cade Mays transferred in-division from Georgia to Tennessee over his father’s lost finger

Back in the day, it was exceptionally taboo to transfer from one school to another in-division. One of the last ones of note before everyone gets the one free transfer anywhere without question philosophy was adopted saw former five-star Georgia offensive lineman Cade Mays transferring home to play for the Tennessee Volunteers. It had everything to do with his father losing a finger.

What if I told you a five-star recruit’s father lost his pinkie finger on a recruiting visit to Georgia?

Apparently, Mays’ father got his finger wedged between a wall and a folding chair, and the dang thing fell off. They didn’t try to tape it back on like Petey the Parakeet’s head, but Georgia did put it on ice and continued on with the recruiting visit. Mays ended up signing and playing with the Dawgs for two years before the lawsuit was brought on by his father. It was a valued appendage!

Blood, sweat and tears go into playing ball, but nobody really expects for bones to be broken off. Football is a gladiator sport, but cookouts are the real culprit here. This is why you have it in the cul-de-sac. Put the folding chairs in a circle around the manhole, and nowhere near a wall or picnic table. That way, the only way you can lose a finger or two is playing with fireworks like our boy JPP.

Mays may now play in the land of Cook Out in Charlotte, but the one in Athens was unforgettable!

10. Nick Saban wanted us to quit asking about his Alabama quarterback situation between Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, aight!

Nick Saban has done so much for the SEC over the years. After briefly winning it all at LSU, he went pro, only to come back to the only league that matters. He has done so much winning at Alabama, they will make multiple statues of him. While his team usually does the talking for him, Saban is actually pretty fantastic in front of a microphone. Just don’t ask him about quarterbacks.

His “I’m not going to, so quit asking!” response to ESPN’s Maria Taylor’s question about Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa quickly went viral, only adding intrigue to the living legend that is Saban.

That comment came out of Saban’s mouth like s**t through a tin horn, aight. Every so often during a regular season, Saban will have something to say at the podium during the campaign, and he will let it rip, no matter what question he was initially asked to begin with. However, this response to Taylor’s serious journalistic question became meme-worthy overnight, thus the content we crave!

Taylor has since left ESPN and has gone on to work for NBC Sports. Saban has continued to excel at Alabama into his early 70s. While he and Taylor have since patched things up since their most famous encounter, we will always have these three seconds of unintentional comedic gold. “So quit asking!” has transcended college football and can be applied in all areas of life, to be honest.

Though there is a chance Saban may have a few zingers left to be unloaded, how can he top this?

9. Butch Jones gets a Gatorade bath as an Alabama assistant after finally winning the Third Saturday in October

In my SEC football fandom, no one made my skin crawl in pure agony quite like the redundant cliche machine that was, and still is, Butch Jones. Whether it was rebuilding a great program brick by brick or getting those leadership reps in on the pathway towards being a champion of life, bless his five-star heart. It didn’t work out for him in Knoxville, so he went to Nick Saban coaching rehab.

Upon winning his first Third Saturday in October on either side of the rivalry, Jones got to taste sweet victory in the form of an impromptu Gatorade bath, as well as a delicious cigar afterward.

Prior to last year, the last time Tennessee beat Alabama, I was not even a year into having my license. You better believe that was at least four hairstyles ago (yes, I was rocking the cringy white dude wings, bro). Interestingly enough, I’ve had the same car throughout Alabama’s dominance of the rivalry. What if I told you I have had it longer than Alabama has even had Saban?

Bad trips down memory lane aside, it was good to see the goofiest of goofy goofballs have his day in the sun in one of college football’s best secondary rivalries. It may be going away in due time in the SEC out of fear, but we should never forget that Jones got a Gatorade bath as a pencil pusher on Saban’s 2018 staff. Last time I checked, he is still coaching over at Arkansas State, I believe…

The irony of this sticky Gatorade bath should not be lost on you because it’ll never be lost on me.

8. Landon Collins’ mom could not believe her son committed to Alabama over LSU on live TV

There may not have been a commitment out of high school that further illustrates just how much more it means in SEC country than Landon Collins’ high-profile commitment to Alabama during the Under Armour High School All-America Game. The Louisiana native was down to Alabama and LSU. He made his commitment on live television by showing off his sweet Alabama gloves and all.

Let’s just say his mom was not the least bit happy about where her son chose to attend college…

Collins went on to play three seasons for Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa from 2012 to 2014. He won a national title as a true freshman and would be a unanimous All-American during his junior season. Collins would go on to be a second-round pick by the New York Giants in the 2015 NFL Draft. He was a three-time Pro Bowler during his first run with the G-Men, and is now back with the team.

However, this viral video clip from over a decade ago will forever be part of Collins’ football legacy. Surely, he would have had great success playing safety for DBU in Baton Rouge, but he did seem to make the right decision for himself professionally by going to play for Saban and Kirby Smart in Tuscaloosa. In a day that should have been all about celebrating, Collins got a bad look from Mom.

It is amazing what kind of commitments stick with you, but I will never forget watching this one.

7. LSU beats Florida in Gainesville after Marco Wilson threw a shoe like he was Random Task in Austin Powers. Eaux neaux, baby!

I don’t know if this was the beginning of the end for Dan Mullen in Gainesville, but who throws a shoe, honestly? Marco Wilson sure will! In one of the craziest moments I have ever seen decide a game, Wilson threw an LSU player’s shoe to give the Bayou Bengals a first down. The Tigers would go on to win this one in The Swamp on a 57-yard field goal off the foot of Cade York in heavy fog.

This play in particular, not recruiting well at all and going Darth Gator vs. Mizzou ruined Mullen.

Florida won the SEC East that COVID season, as Georgia was still trying to figure out what it was all about under center in a post-Jake Fromm world. This defeat to a reeling LSU team pretty much ended their hopes of making the College Football Playoff. Ed Orgeron was already on his way out of Baton Rouge even before cleats were chucked at Ben Hill Griffin. Mullen wasn’t that far behind.

There have been other dumb things I have seen watching and covering SEC football throughout my 20s and 30s, but I still struggle to comprehend the hilarity that ensued in the final minutes of a huge cross-divisional rivalry game. The stakes are always higher in games of this magnitude, but I still can’t believe Florida blew this game in this manner. You have to be more locked in than … this…

Florida had a great season that year, but this is one of the plays from it we will always talk about.

6. Stetson Bennett IV goes on Good Morning America on maybe an hour of sleep after winning Georgia’s first national title since 1980

As a Damn Good Dawg myself, I simply will not tolerate any slander of the man, the myth, the legend, “The Mailman”, Stetson Bennett IV. The greatest quarterback in Georgia football history delivered by beloved alma mater two national titles before heading to the NFL. But fresh off his first two years ago, Bennett had himself a good night before appearing on Good Morning America.

He had no idea what day or time it was, but it didn’t matter; that man was an absolute champion!

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1480934369758003204

Needless to say, Bennett wasn’t invited back on GMA a year later to celebrate the Dawgs’ repeat. As a matter of fact, it was Mackey Award winner and all-world tight end Brock Bowers who spoke on behalf of the Georgia offense at the podium the next morning in Los Angeles. Bennett may like to get after it a bit, and that may hurt him a bit as a pro, but you know what? This was so hilarious!

When I think about everything that I hold so dearly to the University of Georgia, I think about all the brain cells I destroyed, all the times I rooted on the Dawgs in person, and of course, me somehow coming out of Athens alive and with a degree. If I wanted an image and an experience to best encapsulate my time at Georgia, this would be pretty close. To the victors go the spoils, baby!

When you are fresh off, or still having, the best night of your life, these shenanigans will happen.

5. Tennessee fans throw garbage, mustard bottles and golf balls at Lane Kiffin in his Knoxvillian homecoming of sorts

Don’t lie to yourself. We all have a sneaking suspicion that Lane Kiffin’s return to Knoxville as the head coach at Ole Miss would not go over swimmingly. With the Vols getting stopped just shy of the down marker on a fourth and long, it would be a controversial turnover on downs, leading to a Rebels victory at Neyland. What ensued following the tough spot was nothing short of … garbage.

Quite literally, as Vols fans threw garbage, golf balls and mustard bottles on the field, and at Kiffin!

Being the ultimate troll that he is, Kiffin somehow found a way to take this in stride. After all, he named his son Knox after only spending one season as the Vols’ head coach. Admittedly, for as zany and absolutely wild of a moment it was to watch unfold on live TV, it was a terrible look for Tennessee fans, and the SEC as a whole. Frankly, it was starting to get unsafe for everyone there.

Ole Miss would go on to have a double-digit-win season and play in the Sugar Bowl. Although the Rebels lost to Dave Aranda’s Baylor Bears in New Orleans after Matt Corral’s college career came to a painful end due to injury, it became very apparent during Kiffin’s 2021 season at Ole Miss the Rebels were going to remain a factor in the SEC going forward. He has proven to be a great coach.

Nothing breaks easy for the ole Lane Train, which is why we love these type of moments so much.

4. Bobby Petrino sports a neck brace at a press conference after wrecking his Arkansas hog in most scandalous fashion

I am just going to be as straightforward as I possibly can with you. I am an Atlanta Falcons fan, so I despise the man who quit on my NFL team towards the tail-end of his first season at the helm to go coach the Arkansas Razorbacks. While I will admit Bobby Petrino is a savvy offensive mind, he is too busy doing whatever he wants to have any sliver of character. Karma did catch up with him.

It is a little risqué, but you know what? Bobby Petrino in a neck brace has become a great meme.

After wrecking his hog in the midst of an affair, Petrino showed up to a press conference with obvious facial scars in a fricking neck brace. I mean, what is shame really? Then again, he does not feel a thing. All the while, the entire college football world had a laugh, or seven, at Petrino’s expense. This led to him being ousted at Arkansas before they went on a decade of irrelevancy.

There have been other scandals in the SEC, and there will be plenty more in the years to come. However, I don’t think the one of Petrino committing adultery and then crashing his motorcycle will ever be topped from a hilarity standpoint. It is okay, though. Lamar Jackson did win a Heisman Trophy for him at Louisville. He is still coaching, now as an offensive coordinator for Jimbo Fisher.

I cannot begin to even tell you how great of a Halloween custom this was to see way back in 2012.

3. Jimbo Fisher goes after his favorite writer Sliced Bread from Bro Bible about Texas A&M NIL

This is going to be so hard to explain to my future children, but man, that feud heading into last season between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher was a doozie, alright. It had everything to do with NIL and a writer named Sliced Bread from Bro Bible. Sliced Bread was actually a message board poster that Bro Bible curated into an article, but whatever, it made Fisher big mad about Saban.

This boiled over onto CBS Sports HQ with Josh Pate and into the spring meetings in Destin, aight.

Basically, Texas A&M had the biggest outlier recruiting class of all time for 2021. Had the Aggies been a solid, fringe-contending program since joining the league in 2012? Sure, but they had never beaten out the likes of Alabama or Georgia for five-star recruits on the reg before. It gave off vibes eerily similar to Hugh Freeze’s Ole Miss recruiting class that landed Laremy Tunsil, among others.

Fate would have it, Alabama would avenge the heartbreaking 2021 defeat to Texas A&M with another nail-biter in 2022. Though neither team won the SEC West last year, Alabama won the Sugar Bowl, while Texas A&M was the first team to fail to achieve bowl eligibility last season. The Aggies went 5-7 in their first year with all those blue-chippers on campus in College Station. Wow!

Fisher and Saban played nice in their meetings to follow, but the relationship has seen better days.

2. Elijah Moore lifts his leg in end zone, causing Ole Miss to lose Egg Bowl, resulting in both Matt Luke and Joe Moorhead getting fired in the weeks to come

You may love the absolute hatred your favorite team has with its arch rival, but it is different in Mississippi. Always has been, always will be. So in a very critical Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State, Rebels star Elijah Moore hit the Bulldogs with a dog pee celebration in the end zone to mock them. This was seen as a tribute to what DK Metcalf did in an Egg Bowl previously.

Fate would have it, the celebration penalty led to a missed PAT and Mississippi State would go on to win the Egg Bowl. That is where things only got more insanely ridiculous in the weeks to follow.

https://twitter.com/ActionNetworkHQ/status/1200259592338518016

The Egg Bowl defeat led to Ole Miss firing former head coach and offensive lineman Matt Luke. While the Bulldogs went bowling, Joe Moorhead was still a fish out of water in Mississippi as a Yinzer. His “Yankee ass” did get fired only a few weeks later after the Bulldogs came up embarrassingly short in their bowl game. So because of this celebration, both teams fired coaches.

This debacle of epic Magnolia State proportions led to the respective Mississippi universities hiring Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach. Sadly, we only got three Egg Bowls with the two most entertaining head coaches in quite some time due to Leach’s tragic passing in early December 2022. Despite this being rivals, Kiffin and Leach were very close, while trying to make Mississippi a better place.

But without the infamous dog pee celebration, we would never get The Lane Train vs. The Pirate…

1. Harvey Updyke called into The Paul Finebaum Show after poisoning the oak trees on Toomer’s Corner

This will never be topped. It is as ridiculous as it is unsettling. When Harvey Updyke called into The Paul Finebaum Show as Al from Dadeville, how could we have possibly known what was coming next? Finebaum was already disgusted by hearing “Al” say Auburn fans rolled the Toomer’s Corner trees the day Paul “Bear” Bryant died. Updyke then finished his story with something so horrible…

He told Finebaum over the air that after he saw a “Scam Newton” jersey being worn overtop Bryant’s statue in Tuscaloosa, he went over to Toomer’s Corner and poisoned the oak trees…

I don’t particularly care for Auburn, but that was so unbelievably disgusting. It changed everything.

This would be the phone call that took Finebaum from a sports talk radio legend in Birmingham and turned him into a national phenomenon. When the SEC Network launched in 2014, Finebaum was the first person ESPN hired, so that his one-of-a-kind radio show would grow from just a Alabama/Auburn-centric program in Birmingham, into a nationally-centric one based in Charlotte.

Updyke would pass away a little more than a decade after this infamous phone call. While he was taken into custody, and didn’t do a stellar job of holding up his end of the bargain when it came to making legal payments, I remember him calling into the show another time shortly before he died. I heard the unforgettable tone of his voice and my skin started to crawl off my body.

It is not the most wholesome tale of why SEC football just means more, but it is a defining one…