Verne Lundquist has seen a lot in his 50 years of sports broadcasting. He can be forgiven when he said he wishes something interesting would happen to liven up the SEC.
“It’s been a really average month,” he said. “I thought Georgia-Auburn and Alabama-Auburn were really mundane. I just wish one of these SEC games would live up to their promise.”
Lundquist is, of course, joking. He said those two games — the first won by Auburn on a Hail Mary and the second on a missed field-goal attempt returned for a touchdown — were two of the most exciting he has ever called, and his memory is sharp: He can accurately recite who broadcast certain football games in the early 1970s, or provide TV ratings from 20 years ago.
Lundquist, the voice of the SEC on CBS, will be in the booth for Saturday’s SEC Championship game between Auburn and Missouri at the Georgia Dome.
He took a few minutes to answer a few questions. Yes, his voice sounds as smooth on a cellphone as it does through your TV speakers. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: Was this the best year in SEC history?
A: It is for us (laughs). I can't speak before 2000, that's when I joined it. In my 14 years, we've never had a season like this.
We started Sept. 14, with Alabama 49, Texas A&M 42. A week later after we did Florida and Tennessee, which have both had down years. Next up was Georgia 44, LSU 41 in the mano-a-mano between Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger, which I would put in my list of top-five games in SEC history.
With a couple of exceptions, every game has been exciting to the finish, with the capper being the Iron Bowl.
Q: Can you put your finger on why this was such a crazy year in the SEC?
A: This is just a theory: So many great defensive players were eligible to leave and did. Simultaneously with that, we had the elevation of a group of quarterbacks that I've never seen the likes of.
You had Johnny Manziel, AJ McCarron, Murray, Mettenberger, James Franklin at Missouri, who was injured part of the year but is a quality quarterback, and then one of the great stories of the season was Nick Marshall. I don’t think anyone saw that coming back in August.
I read where (Auburn coach Gus) Malzahn was saying he should be in the Heisman (Trophy) mix. It’s so late, I don’t think he will be a contender for Heisman, but I can understand Auburn people saying ‘why not?’
I think Manziel, Mettenberger, McCarron and Murray will all play in the NFL.
Q: Have you begun thinking of any crazy ways the SEC Championship game can finish? What would they be?
A: It can't. It would take, and I expect a very competitive game, a six-overtime time game decided on a field goal.
One of the things I’ve thought about a lot, is that last Saturday’s game was one of the best experiences I’ve had in network television in part because it was flawed. There was so much pressure in that game.
We will remember Chris Davis for as long as we live. But the whole 60 minutes, there were so many ups and downs and plot twists, that it enhances the memory for me.
I would be shocked if it equals Saturday, but that’s what I said after Georgia-Auburn.
Q: Is that good or bad for the league? Now there may not be an SEC team in the national championship.
A: I think it's good for the league. I truly do. The level of excitement has never been this high. I don't think the awareness of the SEC, outside of the SEC, has never been this high.
The product is magnificent.
As for the other question, I think there’s an SEC fatigue that exists, and I kind of understand it. (Commissioner) Mike Slive wouldn’t like me saying that. But I believe strongly that a once-defeated SEC team deserves to be in the BCS Championship game.
If I live in Florida or Ohio, I would argue strenuously against that.
This is a goofy (BCS) system, and thank God, it’s going away.
Q: What SEC football game from any time in its history do you wish you could have called?
A: "Punt, Bama, Punt."
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