Debunking the SEC myth

[Anthony 78]

Everyone says the Southeastern Conference is the toughest football league in the country.

 

And it's hard to argue the point given the league's five-year run as the home of the BCS champion.

 

But let's get away from the false notion that the league is some Murderer's Row and that every game is like facing the Green Bay Packers.

 

Although the league likely has more "programs" capable of being national title contenders than any other conference, those teams are rarely good at the same time.

 

Currently, the SEC has six teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. So does the Big 12. Two of the computer rankings that figure into the BCS formula rank the Big 12 as the top league in the nation this year, ahead of the SEC.

 

Seven SEC teams are yet to have a nonconference win over a team from a BCS conference. That's the case for only five Big 12 teams.

 

I laughed watching the LSU-Mississippi State game earlier this year. The ESPN announcers gushed about the Bulldogs, how tough the atmosphere was in Starkville and how good a win it was for LSU (19-6).

 

Here's the problem: Despite Mississippi State's top 25 ranking at the time, the Bulldogs aren't very good. Their best win to date: it's either a 59-14 win over 1-4 Memphis or a 26-20 overtime win over 1-4 Louisiana Tech.

 

In all the realignment talk, I've heard the stories that Texas A&M won't be able to compete in the SEC, that Oklahoma is scared of the competition, etc.

 

I can understand Oklahoma president David Boren preferring to associate his university with the Pac-12 rather than than SEC from a culture perspective. But I doubt the Sooners' football bottom line would take a huge hit if they decided to head East.

 

Take Arkansas for example. I often hear that Arkansas has fallen off the map since joining the SEC.

 

And although Arkansas' recruiting in Texas took a dip with the move away from a Texas-based conference, the results on the field haven't exactly changed.

 

In 19 years since joining the SEC, Arkansas has averaged 6.6 wins per season, won eight or more games nine times and won or tied for its division championship four times.

 

In their final 19 years in the Southwest Conference, the Razorbacks averaged 7.8 wins per year, won eight or more games 11 times and won or tied for four league titles.

 

Arkansas has yet to finish a season ranked in the top 5 nationally since joining the SEC, but it did that only once in the final 19 years of the SWC.

 

South Carolina, which joined the SEC with Arkansas before the 1992 season, has seen its wins per season drop from 6.0 to 5.6 in the 19-year segments before and after the move.

 

So the SEC may very well win another BCS championship this season, but please don't tell me every team in the league is a national title contender.

 

Source: Tulsa World

[Guest Phailadelphia]

I think when people talk about the SEC in that way they obviously mean the powerhouses. Every conference has its bad teams.

 

That being said, I'll put money on any Top 25 SEC team beating any other Top 25 ranked team in college football.

[Anthony 78]

I think when people talk about the SEC in that way they obviously mean the powerhouses. Every conference has its bad teams.

 

That being said, I'll put money on any Top 25 SEC team beating any other Top 25 ranked team in college football.

 

Yeah, all conferences are top heavy, but the SEC is stacked with title contenders at the upper half. You get the same programs competing year after year for it all. But how far back would we have to go to find the lower half winning the conference, Kentucky, Vandy, South Carolina, Ole Miss, MSU, etc?

 

If there's one thing I agree on with the article, it's that Mississippi State has been overhyped for the past two seasons.