Pennington: Money changes UT-Alabama game

As Tennessee and Alabama prepare to meet for the 89th time today at Neyland Stadium, I wonder if Robert Neyland and Paul "Bear" Bryant will be watching from their 50-yard line seats in that great coaching box in the sky? And if so, will they even recognize the college football landscape as it exists today?

The rivalry between their two schools has certainly shifted over the last 50 and 25 years, respectively, since those legends last walked the sidelines and gave pre-game talks. First, there are the on-field changes.

Bryant, for example, would probably like to take some of those renegades from Miami and Florida International to a place called Junction, Texas, for a little re-orientation camp. Think that type of brawl (and the less publicized one between Dartmouth and Holy Cross) would be acceptable to the Bear?

As for Neyland, he would probably have a hard time watching a Tennessee team that so heavily relies on the passing game. Remember, this is the guy who first said, "when you pass the ball, three things can happen ... and two of them are bad." (Research has traced that one back to Neyland, long before Woody Hayes and Darrell Royal repeated it.)

These two great coaches, while they may not have liked it, would have probably adjusted to today's plays and players just fine. It's the off-field stuff that I don't think they'd like at all.

"It's all in the past now, money changes everything." -- Cyndi Lauper

The Tennessee-Alabama rivalry has lost quite a bit of luster since 1992. Not to the "old timers" (myself included ... darn it), but to a whole generation of Vol fans who grew up wanting to beat Florida and Georgia more than Alabama.

That shift wasn't brought about by orange or crimson. It was brought about by green. As in dollars. As in lots of dollars.

Fifteen years ago the SEC saw an opportunity to expand the conference (make more money), divide into divisional play with extra in-conference games (make more money), and play a championship game (make a lot more money). They took the cash and the Big 12 and ACC have now followed suit.

But the SEC's switch to divisional play rendered The Third Saturday in October less meaningful than before. Shoot, half the time it's not even played on the Third Saturday in October anymore.

How would Neyland, who led Tennessee to catch and pass Alabama as the premiere program in the South, feel about that?

What about Bryant? Sure he once said that "nothing matters more than beating that cow college on the other side of the state," but Bryant didn't play against Auburn with a broken leg. He did against Tennessee. Think that rivalry was special to Bryant?

"It's money that matters. Hear what I say." -- Randy Newman

And that's just the tip of the U.S. Mint. Cold cash has changed a lot more than just the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry.

Coaches now make millions of dollars each year. Can you imagine what Bryant and Neyland might be getting paid today (if they enjoyed the same successes in this day that they did in theirs)?

Here's another one, how do you think tough, crusty guys like Neyland and Bryant would have dealt with 24 sports TV networks, message boards, and sportstalk radio shows? Again, why so much coverage in this day and age? Because there's money to be made from it.

(My guess is that Bryant and Neyland would both heartily approve of, say, a year-round sportstalk show on Sunday morning television, but that's just my guess.)

The dollars now control everything. Right down to who wins the national championship.

In Neyland's day, national titles were handed down before the bowl games. That had changed before Bryant left the game in 1982. But what would they think about a national title that's partially determined by computer rankings?

"What's a computer," might be their first query. Their second would probably be, "how can a team you beat just six weeks ago now be ranked ahead of you in the darn computer poll?" Then they'd probably kick something.

A playoff would be easy to pull off, would still have football players in class more than basketball or baseball players, and it would satisfy the fans.

But teams in the BCS conferences (about 65 schools) already have to share their bowl money with the Vanderbilts of their conferences ... who haven't been to a bowl since Bryant last coached at Bama.

Would those schools really like to see a Division 1 playoff, which like the NCAA Tournament in basketball, would require the money made to be split up among ALL the schools in Division I?

Uh, "no," is the quick answer. No one wants to give up more of their money.

It's a cash-driven sport these days. More so than ever before. From divisional play to conference championship games to talkshows to BCS computers. Quite simply, it's not the same game that Neyland and Bryant helped to build. Would they even recognize it?