PRESEASON PRIMER: SEC Media Days is a big deal, even if it isn't

Compiled by GRAHAM DUNN

It’s “blowhard” time.

Too harsh a word for the annual Dull-fest, also known as SEC Media Days? Maybe so.

But we all love the fact that it’s here if only to get the countdown clock running to opening weekend.

Granted, we’re glad we are talking a normal start to the college football season. Anything is better than last year where we watched about a third of the nation kick off on Labor Day – all in the FCS.

At the time, we were still trying to figure out what to do in the SEC, which eventually decided to open about a month late.

The fun part was watching the Big 10 and Pac 12 cower in the corner wondering what to do after the other Power 5 leagues refused to join them in the panic room.

Nope, we don’t want any part of that in 2021, although the officials with the Hyatt Hotels chain (the host this week) are doing their best to recreate last year’s calamity.   If it were up to them, this event would be held in the parking lot with the fans cordoned off like lepers. Instead, they are putting limits on who can come - reporters and fans alike.

About half of the normal number of media attendees will be at the Wynfrey this week. In a way, that’s good since that means less TV cameramen bulldozing around to shove you out of the way while hogging the corridors. 

There are less radio stations on “the Row” but it will be just as loud and full of boisterous windbags. Hold the complaints… the writer of this column is one of those windbags.

Yep, it will be different, except for the constant malaise handed out by coaches, who will find 100 ways to say their team has improved despite being young for the ninth consecutive year (we’ll miss you Gus Malzahn for that reason alone).

One prediction… make that two. At least one reporter will ask all 14 coaches the same question for a feature he or she is writing for the paper/Website. It will have something to do with a subject that no one has one iota of interest but this is the only way to get what they need (no way to visit all 14 schools, right?). By the third time the question is asked, the rest of the press will be ready to find the nearest building and take a leap.

Second – this will be the final time Hoover will be the host of this event. Get ready for the SEC Road Trip. Next year, the event is to be held in Nashville. After that, Atlanta will get it back. From there, it will revolve around all sorts of cities such as New Orleans, Orlando and, yes, even St. Louis, where you can expect the ESPN/SEC Network crew and a couple of stringers from the St. Louis Dispatch to cover it.

But by then the league will have done what it wants and that is make this solely a TV event. ESPN runs this party and has for the last several years. They want exclusivity and with a new ginormous TV contract coming in two years, expect the “worldwide leader” to be fully in charge by 2023.

Until then, we should enjoy the moment and bask in the thoughts of players that will be asked in every interview room, “how did you cope in a COVID world?”

So, make way for the boys in highly tailored suits. They’ve got plenty to say, whether or not you are interested.

A FEW NOTES

HOW DOES THE SEC MEDIA DAYS ATTENDEES FARE PICKING THE SEC CHAMP?

The media has guessed the winner of the SEC Championship every year since 1992 (yes, even last season even though there was no event). Here is how it has stacked up…

PICKED THE CHAMP CORRECTLY:  8 (including Alabama last year)

PICKED THE TEAM THAT LOST IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP: 3 (but not since 2009)

PICKED A TEAM THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP: 18 (including 2015 picking Auburn which finished last in the SEC West)

PICKED ALABAMA TO WIN TITLE: 11(9 times since Nick Saban took over in 2007 and the last 5 years)

PICKED A TEAM FROM THE EAST: 13 (last time – 2009)

PICKED A TEAM FROM THE EAST OTHER THAN FLORIDA OR TENNESSEE: 1 (Georgia in 2004)

PICKED A TEAM TO WIN THE SEC TITLE BUT NOT A DIVISION TITLE: 1 (2015 when Alabama was picked to win West but Auburn to win SEC… It’s complicated but Bama won both)

MEDIA DAY BY THE NUMBERS

36 - Number of years SEC has held Media Days (sans 2020, the first year was not held since 1985)

1 - Times Media Days not held in Birmingham/Hoover: 2018 in Atlanta

3 – Number of quarterbacks attending this year’s event

10 – Highest number of quarterbacks to attend an event – 2019

1 – Lowest number of quarterbacks to attend the event in a given year – 2007 and 2008

10 – Quarterbacks that have made multiple appearances at SEC Media Days

3 – Largest number of appearances made by one player – Vandy QB Jay Cutler (2003-05)

23 – Most appearances by a coach – Steve Spurrier between 12 years at Florida and 11 at South Carolina

18 – Nick Saban’s appearances iincluding the longest current streak of 14

8 – Next most appearances by a current coach other than Saban - Mark Stoops of Kentucky

1,500 – approximate number of media members that normally attend SEC Media Days each year

700 – Number expected this year reduced due to COVID protocol  

SEC MEDIA DAY SCHEDULE

MONDAY

Florida (Head coach Dan Mullen; DL Zach Carter; LB Ventrell Miller)

LSU (Head coach Ed Orgeron; OT Austin Deculus; DB Derek Stingley, Jr.)

South Carolina (Head coach Shane Beamer; DE Kingsley Enagbare; TE Nick Muse)

TUESDAY

Georgia (Head coach Kirby Smart; QB JT Daniels; DL Jordan Davis)

Tennessee (Head coach Josh Huepel; WR Velus Jones Jr.; DB Alontae Taylor)

Kentucky (Head coach Mark Stoops; OT Darian Kinnard; DE Josh Paschal)

Ole Miss (Head coach Lane Kiffin; QB Matt Corral; DB Jaylon Jones)

WEDNESDAY

Alabama (Head coach Nick Saban; DL Phil Mathis; WR John Metchie, III)

Vanderbilt (Head coach Clark Lea; OL Bradley Ashmore; DL Daevion Davis)

Mississippi State (Head coach Mike Leach; LB Aaron Brule; WR Austin Williams)

Texas A&M (Head coach Jimbo Fisher; OL Kenyon Green; DL DeMarvin Leal)

THURSDAY

Missouri (Head coach Eli Drinkwitz; DL Akial Byers; OL Case Cook)

Arkansas (Head coach Sam Pittman; OL Myron Cunningham; LB Grant Morgan)

Auburn (Head coach Bryan Harsin; QB Bo Nix; LB Owen Pappoe) 

SEASON OPENERS (Sept. 2-6) (All times CDT)

THURSDAY (Sept. 2) (2020 record)

7 p.m.: Bowling Green (0-5) at Tennessee (3-7) – SEC Network

SATURDAY (Sept. 4)

11 a.m.: La-Monroe (0-10) at Kentucky (5-6) – SEC Network

1 p.m.: Rice (2-3) at Arkansas (3-7) – SEC Network Plus

2:30 p.m.: Alabama (13-0) vs Miami, Fla. (8-3) (Atlanta) – ABC

3 p.m.: La. Tech (5-5) at Mississippi State  (4-7) – ESPNU

3 p.m.: Central Michigan (3-3) at Missouri (5-5) – SEC Network

6 p.m.: Eastern Illinois (1-5) at South Carolina (2-8) – SEC Network Plus

6 p.m.: Akron (1-5) at Auburn (6-5) – SEC Network Plus

6:30 p.m.: Florida Atlantic (5-4) at Florida (8-4) – SEC Network

6:30 p.m.: Clemson (10-2) vs Georgia (8-2) (Charlotte, NC) – ABC

7 p.m.: Kent St (3-1) at Texas A&M (9-1) – ESPNU

7 p.m.: East Tennessee (4-2) at Vanderbilt (0-9) – SEC Network Plus

7:30 p.m.: LSU (5-5) at UCLA (3-4) – Fox

MONDAY (Sept. 6)

7 p.m.: Ole Miss (5-5) vs Louisville (4-7) (Atlanta) - ESPN