quote:
Oklahoma played Nebraska, and Texas, every year, for decades. Alabama is the only "blue-blood" that has never shared a conference with another blue-blood, or had one scheduled every year as an OOC rivalry opponent.

Allow me to retort…..

The SEC vs ACC non conference rivalries are well known and apply to both the 4 known yearly games and the 4 to 8 more not as well known outside the south like Auburn vs Clemson, Auburn vs Georgia, North Carolina vs South Carolina, etc. etc

First of all, the Iron Men of Sewanee (Sewanee was a charter SEC member) have been generally recognized as the greatest football team of all time. They were a member of the old SIAA from which the SEC was born. Centre College (also a former SIAA school) was not only the first non IVY to break the IVY dominance of early football (before the B1G, Big 8, PCC, or SWC) but also the opponent that created the "12th man" for Texas A&M. While texas may have a high percentage win ratio, it should be noted they were dominated early on by Vanderbilt who also had a dozen early conference championships.

Before World War II, the private schools still held sway in college football and the GI Bill after the war gave rise to the state schools. This does not negate the history of schools like Tulane (who turned down the Rose Bowl for academic reasons) allowing Alabama to take their place and the game in the 1920's that changed the perception of college football in the south forever. It should also be noted that teams with high % wins also were not travelers so when Michigan played say Vanderbilt it might be 4 games in Ann Arbor for every 1 game in Nashville.

While I was not alive in this early era my parents were so I was hearing firsthand from those who played or lived in the time. They were not ghosts of the past like they would for many on wbesites that were born as the children and grandchildren of the baby boomers and who were not alive in the 1990's, much less the 1980's or 1970's when I was a full grown adult. I grew up knowing the power of Georgia Tech when they were still in the SEC and winning 3 MNC's. Talk of The Six was spoken around the dinner table by those who played in the SEC from WW II to the 1970's.

Before Bear Bryant and Nick Saban the Tide had Wade Wallace and Frank Thomas. Before the fat man at Tennessee you had coaches like Robert Neyland and Johnny Majors and a history of solid winning dating back to the end of World War I. Georgia Tech in the SEC had 3 different MNC coaches in 3 different eras and strong national football presence from World War I to their exit from the SEC.

After you get past Oklahoma and Nebraska in the old MVC and Big 8, where are your MNC schools with say 3 or more in conference?

List them

Same with the SWC past texas, who has say 3 or more MNC's in the SWC history?