re: The SEC Big Six vs. The SEC Big Six in the Modern Era

You guys get my point (or should). With black players accounting for 80% of the starters in the SEC last year, their integration into the game is the single biggest factor in ushering football into the modern game that we all watch today.

I think any discussion of "modern college football" has to include the race that currently represents 80% of the participants starting the game. The athleticism and speed brought by blacks to the game of college football changed it forever.

Yes, Kentucky was the first SEC team to play a black player in 1967. Tennessee followed in 1968. Florida first played a black player on their varsity team in 1970. Bama, Auburn, and Georgia followed in 1971. LSU and Ole Miss first played a black player in 1972.

With the list above, you get a good idea that the early 70's were the dawn of the game that now represents modern football. If you want to use 1970 as a good, round number, then so be it. But, anything prior to 1970 is not modern football. It was a game played by players in most cases would never even see the field, much less excel in it with the addition of black athletes.

For anyone to say that football played in 1958 or 1965 represents what we watch today is lying to themselves.