What’s the best rivalry in SEC? How has transfer portal affected recruiting interest?

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Your votes are in on high school recruiting interest as it goes up against the transfer portal. But first, is Red River the best rivalry in the SEC?

SEC Rivalries

Is the newest the best?

If you missed Tuesday’s episode of our Until Saturday podcast, The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman, Max Olson and Scott Dochterman discussed Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte’s recent comments regarding the Red River Rivalry becoming the best rivalry in the new-look SEC.

Let’s take a look at what Ari and Max had to say:

Max: “It’s the best. We talk about it every time it comes up. That experience of the Cotton Bowl split 50-50 crimson and burnt orange, the fans outside before halftime and after 300,000 at the state fair, it’s an unbelievable experience. But I also haven’t been to the other ones. Ari, you went to Georgia-Florida last year. Give me the takeaway of how impressive that experience was.”

Ari: “Very impressive. That was my first time going, and Georgia was a 17-point favorite. So, I’m not gonna pretend that was the best it had to offer. The thing I don’t love about it is the neutral site, NFL stadium situation. I think there are two discussions we need to have. One, what’s the best spectacle? And what is the most intense rivalry? I don’t necessarily think those are the same thing.”

My two cents: I’ve been to Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville a couple of times, and while it’s a fun and relatively competitive rivalry (the Bulldogs lead 56-44-2 all-time), Red River is both a better spectacle and a more intense series of late, often deciding the best team in the Big 12.

But most would say the Iron Bowl is still the best rivalry in the SEC, and I agree with them. Until proven otherwise.

If you could attend any SEC rivalry game going forward, which would you pick? Answer here.

Mark Your Calendars

Kickoff times, dates for CFP

You can tell your family you’ll be sitting on the couch watching the first round of the College Football Playoff on Friday night, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Dec. 21.

The kickoff times and dates for the new 12-team Playoff were finalized and released on Wednesday. The national championship game will be played at 7:30 p.m. (ET) on Monday, Jan. 20 in Atlanta and will be broadcast by ESPN.

On Saturday in the opening round, the Playoff will go head to head with the NFL. But as our Scott Dochterman pointed out in his analysis, that’s what multiview on YouTube TV is for.

Portal vs. High Schools

Recruiting losing some interest?

In our last newsletter, I asked you how following high school recruiting coverage in the era of unlimited transfers has affected your interest in it. Here’s how you voted:

Here are some reader responses as to why some don’t care as much about recruiting anymore:

• “Why invest the time to learn about these high school commits when they’ll either flip by December or transfer within a year? I miss the signing days before we had the Early Signing Day.”
• “I have gone from 100 percent interest in high school recruiting to zero. I couldn’t name you a single signee to my favorite school from this past class when I used to know 90 percent of them.”
• “Though my school, Georgia, recruits better than almost anyone else, I believe the transfer rules lessen the impact of stellar high school recruiting. So while I still wander through recruiting sites, I am less interested than I used to be.”
• “I am a big Notre Dame fan. I could care less about who commits to play for them as incoming freshmen now. I shouldn’t even use the word ‘commit.’ Most college athletes are now playing to maximize their lottery money.”

Here are some responses from readers on the other side of the argument:

• “You still have to build your foundation with high school recruits. Almost all coaches, even those that portal well, know this. So I follow high school recruiting the same as I always have.”
• “While my school is not going the Dabo (Swinney) route, our culture is heavily invested in high school recruiting and the defections are dramatically less than most other schools, especially at the high end.”
• “I’ll always follow high school recruiting. Now, more than ever, I know my school can miss on a kid’s commitment and I know it’s not over.”
• “Recruiting and the transfer portal make college football interesting 24/7. Go Bucks!”

Quick Snaps

Our Stewart Mandel released his updated Top 25 rankings for the season, and there are two new teams that weren’t there before: Kansas State and Virginia Tech.

Ohio State is building a monster 2025 recruiting class. Antonio Morales tells us what we need to know about the Buckeyes and the rest of the Big Ten on the trail in his latest recruiting piece.

Why isn’t College Football 25’s online Dynasty mode crossplay enabled? Chris Vannini answers reader questions about the new game.

It’s a Red River championship matchup in the Women’s College World Series. Follow our Jayna Bardahl in Oklahoma City for all of The Athletic’s live updates.

(A programming note: Our baseball Super Regional live updates get going on Friday.)

You can buy tickets to every college football game here.

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(Top photo: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)