Grudges, politics and gentlemen’s agreements: The chaotic history of SEC scheduling

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Johnny Vaught was bringing a powerhouse Ole Miss team to Auburn that October day in 1953. His Rebels, on a 13-game winning streak, were heavy favorites over third-year coach Ralph Jordan’s Tigers, who hadn’t had a winning record in more than a decade. But in front of a near-sellout crowd of 20,000 fans at Cliff Hare Stadium, Auburn running back (and future Alabama governor) Fob James ran all over Ole Miss, and quarterback (and future Georgia football coach and athletic director) Vince Dooley ably guided the Tigers to a 13-0 upset.

As his players piled into the team bus, Vaught stood in front of them and proclaimed: “Boys, get a good look. No Ole Miss team will ever come here again.”

And it did not, for another 20 years. Even though the programs were in bordering states. Even though both played in the Southeastern Conference. Because Vaught, like any head coach at the time, could just decide not to play certain teams, and that was that.

Long before the divisions of the SEC East and West, conference scheduling was more like the Wild West. Opponents chosen based on win probability. Matchups arranged or canceled because of personal relationships. Co-champions declared because undefeated teams didn’t play each other.

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In the two decades after World War II, Alabama and Ole Miss were perhaps the SEC’s two biggest powers. Ole Miss won six conference titles and claimed three national titles between 1944-65; Alabama won four conference titles and claimed two national titles.

And in those 21 years, they didn’t play each other.

“We were always told that Alabama wouldn’t play us. Later, I found out, the Alabama players were told it was because we refused to play them,” Robert Khayat, an Ole Miss player in the 1950s who later became the school’s chancellor, told longtime Mississippi sports writer Rick Cleveland.

What was the real reason? Vaught and Bear Bryant got along well, so Cleveland suspects that the two coaches had a gentlemen’s agreement: Why should we beat up on each other when there are so many other teams we can beat?

There were no parameters in place to make them play. The SEC office merely required teams to play at least six games to qualify for the conference championship. Bowls could invite whom they wanted, and the AP and UPI poll voters tended to vote for teams with the best records. So if Bryant and Vaught could avoid playing each other, that’s just what they would do.

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