SEC Survivor: Who Would You Kick Off the Island?
By Editorial Staff
Survivor has been on since January of 2000; a lifetime in today’s TV landscape. There is something fascinating about watching people from different walks of life battle it out in athletic and mental challenges in an environment that may be disturbingly hot and filled with giant insects and reptiles. It’s every man or woman on their own.
The most consistent part of Survivor is the Tribal Council, held at the end of each episode. All of the tribemates each vote one person out of their tribe. When the fire from your torch is gone, you are out.
In the SEC, the conditions can be fierce. Teams can play in temperatures of over 100 degrees, with crowds of thousands of people cheering them on or booing them with violent fervor. They go helmet-to-helmet each week against people they know and some they don’t. One only has to look at the last six national championship winners to realize that the SEC is a raging force to be reckoned with.
But not all teams in the conference are created equal. If the SEC was the show Survivor and the East and West divisions were “the island,” who would you kick off?
I would love to know what you all think. We can discuss it here, and open up the question on Facebook. Pop over there and give us your answer.
When I approached this question, I immediately knocked some teams off my list. Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida automatically came off of my list. I would say that if you combine history, tradition, rivalries and wins, these teams are roughly the top three from each side. In Survivor, you don’t immediately kick off the best competitors or the ones with the most potential; they help you win (think strength of schedule).
After that I knocked off the new guys, Texas A&M and Missouri. They haven’t had a chance to prove themselves yet.
I also decided that Vandy should stay. Every tribe needs somebody smart. Sure, they would lose in a foot race, they can’t lift more than two coconuts at a time and the jock in the tribe always bullies them, but they bring the intelligence of the whole bunch up, and that’s important.
The Mississippi teams stay. I like the way Ole Miss parties and the Egg Bowl is a piece of SEC history. Also, you know the phrase, “thank God for Mississippi?” What would Bama have done this season if they couldn’t have taken their aggression out on the Bulldogs after their LSU loss?
That leaves Arkansas, South Carolina and Kentucky. It makes sense; voters often go to the middle, rather than the bottom or the top…at least at the beginning. If we were down to only a couple of teams, it would be totally different. You would vote off the biggest threat. To be fair, Arkansas and South Carolina stayed in close proximity to the top of the East and West this year. I kept Arkansas fairly quickly but when it came to South Carolina and Kentucky, I teetered a moment.
When it came down to it, and I had the aged piece of paper and permanent marker in front of me, there was only one team I could choose:
Kentucky.
Sorry Wildcats, Kentucky ain’t known for football. Horses and basketball are your thing. Sure, one could argue that basketball should keep them in, but they would do just as well in another conference. You don’t have much on your own in terms of football that makes you unique. You had Paul “Bear” Bryant and Bill Curry and Kentucky wouldn’t be the first thought someone had if those names were mentioned. You won five games last year. You are always the last one I think of when I’m listing off SEC teams.
I’m sorry. It’s time to go.
Do you guys agree?