I'm Back: Pac-10 Football Is Better Than SEC Football (Part Eight)

Another thing I am tired of hearing about is how fast the SEC is. I have some news for you: the Pac-10 is faster. You guys just probably miss all the action because you are too drunk from your tailgating. Let me hit you with some stats.

The following is a table from the past two NFL Combines (2007 and 2008). It includes every Pac-10 and SEC running back that chose to run a 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine.

SEC RB	40 Time	Pac-10 RB	40 Time
Jones, Arkansas	4.47	Bernard, OSU	4.83
Boyd, South Carolina	4.51	Stewart, Oregon	4.48
Brown, Georgia	4.55	Torain, ASU	4.64
Green-Ellis, Ole Miss	4.63	Henry, Arizona	4.4
Lumpkin, Georgia	4.64	Lynch, Cal	4.46
McFadden, Arkansas	4.33
Stewart, Auburn	4.69
Anderson, Tennessee	4.69
Wynn, Florida	4.48
Darby, Alabama	4.64
Irons, Auburn	4.45
AVG	4.553	AVG	4.562

As you can see, the SEC’s runningbacks averaged only slightly faster times than their Pac-10 counterparts. If not for McFadden’s 4.33, the SEC’s average would be much higher. What you can gather from this chart is that the Pac-10 and SEC running backs have similar speed.

Next, let’s take a look at how the Pac-10 and SEC wide receivers' times compare to one another.

SEC WR	40 Time	Pac-10 WR	40 Time
Bennett, Vanderbilt	4.48	Bradford, Stanford	4.69
Burton, Kentucky	4.43	Breazell, UCLA	4.47
Caldwell, Florida	4.37	Hawkins, Cal	4.56
Hall, Alabama	4.55	Jackson, Cal	4.35
Johnson, Kentucky	4.57	Hill, Washington State	4.32
Monk, Arkansas	4.57	Smith, USC	4.44
Taylor, Auburn	4.5	Steptoe, Arizona	4.52
Davis, LSU	4.46
Baker, Florida	4.62
Bowe, LSU	4.51
Swain, Tennessee	4.67
Cornelius, Florida	4.5
Meachem, Tennessee	4.39
Rice, South Carolina	4.53
Newton, South Carolina	4.68
AVERAGE	4.52	AVERAGE	4.47

Although there are considerably fewer Pac-10 wide receiver draft candidates, they are also considerably faster than SEC wide receivers by five hundredths of a second.

The SEC has a lack of burning speed, with only two players (Meachem and Caldwell) breaking the 4.4 mark. Only four SEC players even broke the 4.5 mark. SEC wide receivers seem to have decent speed, but lack elite speed like the Pac-10.

Meanwhile, in the Pac-10 there is elite speed. They have two players under the 4.4 mark in DeSean Jackson and Jason Hill. They also have four players under the 4.5 mark.

On to Part 9.