The SEC Network recently announced a 10-day schedule, where it will air 16 SEC Football Classics. I love watching old games in the summer to help get my football fix; I’m addicted to fourth-quarter comebacks and goal-line stands. However, I was a little disappointed when I saw the complete list.

No, Bo? No Herschel?

As a lifelong college football fan, and a native of the South, I have been entrenched, inundated, and downright obsessed with SEC Football since I was about 4 years old. I grew up in Atlanta, the youngest son in a long lineage of (Sidewalk) Alabama alumni and am a card carrying 4th generation member of “The 85%.”

Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

I grew up in a football obsessed house where you wore crimson, hated orange, and never took the Lord or Bear Bryant’s name in vain. My family even used to tape every Bama game (and some others) on the VCR for our own family collection. Sure The Land Before Time is cool, but have you ever watched a VHS from 1988 of Derrick Thomas wreaking havoc on Penn State during summer break? That might sound weird, but I used to love watching the coaches and players I had heard stories about but had never seen for myself.

We’ve all seen The Kick-Six and 2nd-and-26 a billion times by now. So, here is Part I of my own list of games that I think every true SEC Fan should watch and appreciate before the season begins…

1988 LSU vs. Auburn: The Earthquake Game

This is easily the most boring of all the games listed, but you’re not a true SEC fan if you don’t know about “The Earthquake Game.” People forget that LSU wasn’t always the powerhouse they are today. For instance, in the 1990s, LSU only had 3 winning seasons and a combined record of 54-58. But sometimes games like this are what shape tradition and get fans through the down years.

Playing in Baton Rouge at night has always been a nightmare for most teams not named Troy. All jokes aside, for whatever reason when “the sun has set in the Western sky, and it’s Saturday Night in Death Valley,” Tiger Stadium gets loud. How loud? Bear Bryant used to say it was “like being inside a drum.” I always thought that was ridiculous until I watched this game.

When Auburn went to Death Valley in October of 1988 they were undefeated and ranked No. 4 in the country. They led 6-0 heading into the fourth quarter until LSU got some late life. On 4th-and-10, and with 1:41 to play, LSU QB Tommy Hodson hit Eddie Fuller wide open in the back of the end zone, and the stadium erupted. Literally. The celebration in Death Valley was so loud that it registered on a seismograph inside of LSU’s Geoscience Complex roughly 1,000 feet away. LSU won 7-6.

Thirteen total points were scored and roughly 80,000 livers were irreversibly damaged. Geaux big or geaux home.

1980 UGA vs. South Carolina: Herschel Around Right End

I don’t care if this game is almost 40 years old, it is must-see TV. Georgia was undefeated and ranked No. 4, at home in Athens against a 6-1 South Carolina team that had its highest ranking since 1959 (No. 14). The game featured two ranked teams, two (eventual) Heisman Trophy winners, and Keith Jackson calling some of the most incredible Herschel Walker highlights you will ever see.

Photo courtesy of University of Georgia Athletics

Watching Herschel Walker’s games at Georgia is a lot like watching a Home Run Derby. It’s rhythmic and repetitive and every 3-4 “pitches” he does something that makes your jaw drop. Herschel wasn’t one of those generational players that your parents and grandparents embellished about when they retold his stories. They didn’t need to. He was that good.

In this game he faced George Rogers, a Dacula, Ga., native, and the eventual winner of the 1980 Heisman Trophy. Rogers rushed 35 times for 168 yards, but the freshman in silver britches stole the show. In the third quarter he broke off a 76-yard run down the right sideline. Four Carolina players had an angle on him, and all four failed to even touch him.

Walker finished with 43 carries for 219 yards, and UGA won 13-10 as Rogers fumbled late in the fourth quarter inside the UGA 20.

1985 Alabama vs. Auburn: The Kick

Come on, you know there has to be at least one Iron Bowl included on this list. The Camback from 2010 was a close second, as was  “Bo Over The Top” from 1982. However, if you haven’t seen those, I can only assume you either: Don’t have cable, are a Bama fan still in denial, or both. I’m sure I’ll be called a homer for choosing this Iron Bowl, but hear me out.

Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

This game featured: Bo Jackson in his Heisman year, Mike Shula (not coaching, thank God), Bama RB-turned-Auburn NCAA informant Gene Jelks, four fourth-quarter lead changes, and an Alabama kicker with the game on the line. Sign me up.

Bama trailed 23-22 with 37 seconds left and was facing a 3rd-and-18 from its 12 with no timeouts. Bama converted a 4th down on a double reverse, and on 3rd-and-long, Shula hit Greg Richardson across the middle and he somehow got out of bounds down at the Auburn 35 with 6 seconds left. From there Alabama K Van Tiffin hit a 52-yard field goal through the hands of an Auburn defender, and Bama won 25-23.

My family used to watch a replay of this game every year the Friday night before the Iron Bowl. Like It’s a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story, but the present was a mild heart attack instead of a Red Ryder BB gun.

2003 Kentucky vs. Arkansas: The 7 Overtime Game

Seven OTs? What more do you want? Aside from being (at the time) the longest game in Division I history, it was also one of the most entertaining games in SEC history. The game featured two middle of the road teams but also two larger than life personalities (literally) in Houston Nutt and Jared Lorenzen.

The marathon in Lexington was nuts from early on, as it even included a blocked punt returned for a TD by both teams. It was basically the most Houston Nutt coached game ever, which I am always here for. The game featured 7 overtimes, 17 touchdowns, and lasted almost 5 hours. Arkansas won 71-63.

1995, 1996 Florida vs. Tennessee: Wuerffel vs. Manning

As a kid in the 1990s, Tennessee vs. Florida meant two things: 1) the SEC East was decided in September and 2) The CBS 3:30 games officially started back, which meant I didn’t have to watch crappy Jefferson Pilot games all afternoon. Both teams were so talented and so well coached it felt like you were watching an NFL game. But my favorite part? They really hated each other.

I’m sure some of you will scoff at me choosing these games over other classics like 1998, 2001, or 2014, but the mid-to-late 1990s UF-UT games were incredible. Ike Hilliard, Peerless Price, Joey Kent and Reidel Anthony were better than every WR in the country, and if you didn’t like watching them play, then bless your heart because you must hate fun.

Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Both the ’95 and ’96 games featured two great QBs, two high-scoring offenses, and two incredible comebacks.

In ’95, both teams were ranked in the Top 10, and Peyton Manning came out firing. The Vols scored in the first 15 seconds of the game, and Tennessee opened a 30-14 first half lead in Gainesville. Then all hell broke loose. Florida’s offense outscored Tennessee 41-7 in the 2nd half. As a 10-year-old Bama fan forced to watch I-formations and suffocating defenses reading these stat sheets was like reading a Playboy for the first time. “That’s real? People do that?”

Manning was 22-36 for 326 yards and 2 TD’s, but Danny Wuerffel was ridiculous, going 29-39 for 381 yards and 6 TDs. Florida won 62-37 and put up 584 yards of total offense. It was the most points and offensive yards given up by Tennessee in program history.

The ’96 game was a Top 5 matchup in Knoxville that featured the second installment of Wuerrfel vs. Manning. It was a total 180 from what we saw in Gainesville the year before. The weather and Manning were both atrocious in the first half, as he threw 4 INT’s (including two at the goal line) in a downpour at Neyland. And, trust me there are few things funnier than watching Phillip Fulmer sulk in a poncho.

Florida opened up a 35-6 lead at the half. However, Tennessee stormed back in the final 30 minutes scoring 23 unanswered points behind a record-breaking day from Manning. He finished 37-65 for 492 yards and 4 TDs. Florida held on 35-29, and Spurrier coined the phrase “You can’t spell Citrus without UT.”

Stay tuned for Part II of My All-Time Favorite SEC games as well as The 5 Most Underrated games in SEC History later this month!