SEC Fans: The Force Behind the King of Conferences

It’s not clear why the sports media spends so much time debating which of the BCS conferences is the best.  On paper, the answer is simple.

First of all, the BCS era only goes back to 1998.  Second, college football is so cyclical that any attempt to crown an “all-time best” conference would truly be an exercise in futility.

If one strictly looks at the numbers throughout the first decade of the BCS, there is absolutely no question that the SEC has been the dominant conference.  Any debate to the contrary would only be dismissed as emotional. 

Now, keep in mind that the argument could easily be made that the Big Ten may have edged out the SEC in the first half of the last decade, but the SEC’s utter dominance over the past five years makes them the obvious top conference of the BCS era.

While the Big East barely squeaks past the SEC in the bowl game winning percentage, one should note that SEC teams have appeared in a bowl game about 30 more times than Big East teams since 1998. 

In fact, the whopping 77 bowl appearances that SEC schools have made in the BCS era give them a commanding lead in this category.  At a distant second is the Pac-10, with only 55 bowl appearances in the same time period.

But we can forget these and other facts—like that of the SEC holding more national titles, having more first round NFL draft picks, and finishing more teams in the Top 25 and Top 10 polls than any other conference since the inception of the BCS.

Because who cares about numbers, right?

With all the attention being placed on the stats, everyone seems to be leaving out the one true factor that keeps the SEC on top: the fans.

Did a light just go off in your head?  If you close your eyes for a moment, you should see the image of John Belushi as “Joliet” Jake Blues standing in the back of the chapel with a ray of divine light shining on him and suddenly yelling out, “Elwood, the fans!”

Despite the fact that the Big Ten has some of the largest capacity stadiums in the nation, the SEC continues to shatter college football attendance records.  In 2007, Alabama fans actually packed Bryant-Denny Stadium with 92,000 for the Spring Game! 

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