In an unprecedented move in college football conference realignment, two new teams have decided to join the Southeastern Conference: the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans. The teams announced Wednesday they will become the 15th and 16th members of the SEC beginning in the 2013-2014 season.
Both teams are currently members of the AFC South, along with the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans. The Jaguars finished with a 5-11 record, while the Titans finished with a 9-7 record. Neither team made the playoffs, so it’s easy to see why they wanted to try their luck in the college game. Jaguars owner Shahid Kahn and Titans owner Bud Adams announced their teams’ move early Wednesday morning. Kahn said he first came up with the idea to join the SEC after watching the National Championship game between the LSU Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide on Jan. 9, when his team otherwise would have been in the playoffs. “I thought, ‘Well, if they don’t have to win every game at the college level to go to the championship anymore, we might actually be better off playing college ball,” Kahn said. “So, me and Adams here decided to bombard Goodell with requests to leave the NFL. We never actually thought he’d let us go, though.” When asked what possessed him to let the two teams leave the league, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he was unaware they actually left. “You’re kidding,” Goodell said, flabbergasted. “Both their owners called me, but I thought they were drunk, so I just decided to humor them. I didn’t really think they’d leave!” SEC commissioner Mike Slive said he was excited about adding two new teams to the conference. “With these teams, I’m sure the SEC will continue dominating college football,” Slive said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we won another six-straight championships! Not to mention all our increased revenue.” Still, Jaguars’ and Titans’ head coaches Mike Mularkey and Mike Munchak seemed less than thrilled to join the SEC. The two held a joint press conference at noon Thursday to address their move. “There’s a reason we left the NFL,” Mularkey said. “We were in the AFC South, and now, we’re moving to the SEC? There are four freakin’ teams that can beat us on any given day here; whereas, in our last division, there were only three. You do the math.” Three of the four teams were Alabama, LSU and Arkansas. Members of the media finally asked who the fourth team was. “Georgia. Yeah, that’s right, I said Georgia,” Munchak said. “That should tell you a little about the predicament we’re in.” Alabama head coach Nick Saban, the only SEC coach to actually believe the reports so far, said he expects the newest SEC teams to experience some growing pains from the move. He then rescinded the statement, saying he doesn’t believe in expectations. Still, Saban said he’s not worried about the two newest SEC teams. “I said to our guys, ‘Look, guys, we’re basically an NFL team in college anyway,’” Saban said. “’We’ll be fine.’ I’m not worried. Alabama is still king of this castle.”