Well, "a college footbll expert" was telling us just last season, I believe, what a great rivalry it was going to be in the SEC West between Nick Saban and Les Miles -- "a ten-year affair," like the rivalry "between Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes."
Before Coach Bryant came into the SEC, Bobby Dodd, Johnny Vaught, and Paul Dietzel had been ruling the SEC roost. Bryant beat Dodd and Georgia Tech like a drum and so Dodd took his team and left the SEC. Bryant beat Vaught and Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl; Vaught didn't leave, but he never really challenged Bryant enough to make it a real "rivalry." After the initial 1958 game in Ladd Stadium (LSU 13- Ala 3), Dietzel left LSU for Army before he ever had to play Bryant and Alabama again. Bryant commenced making his successor, Charley Mac, his lap dog.
O yeah. I forgot Shug Jordan and Auburn, who had won the national championship in 1957. Bryant ruled Shug to the point that when Auburn won in 1972 on one or two blocked punts, it was the high point of Auburn football for over two decades.
The question I have had is not whether Les Miles will really challenge Nick Saban for dominance, but whether Nick Saban will so dominate the Southeastern Conference that NO one will challenge him -- like it was when Bryant was here.
The only other possibility I see is if it will indeed be a rivalry between Saban and Urban Meyer. I have been impressed with Urban Meyer since his first year at Florida, when I saw them play Tennessee on TV. I just thought Meyer was all business, just like I thought Nick Saban was all business at LSU. Urban Meyer is a good football coach. He has proved that at Utah and Florida.
When Meyer threw his headset in the SEC championship game, THAT seemed to me to be when Meyer realized, "You know, this guy is actually going to be difficult to beat."
Something happened to the psyche, the Soul, of Steve Spurrier, I think, when Alabama beat him twice in one year under Mike DuBose. If Spurrier hadn't cashed in his chips and run off to Washington, he might still be ruling the SEC roost at Florida -- and that would be a rivalry now, him against Saban. But Spurrier got cold feet, apparently, and now he doesn't have to worry about the pressure cooker of challenging Nick Saban -- or the record of Bear Bryant. He could have done both if he had stayed at Florida. He can't get enough blue chip recruits at South Carolina, and that provides him with an excuse to stay out of the heat of the SEC kitchen.