Every other conference has a sure pick as to who will most likely win the conference. In the Pac-10 it is USC, in the Big Ten it is Ohio State, in the Big 12 it is Oklahoma, in the Big East it is West Virginia, and in the ACC it is Clemson.
While these conferences are not even close to stacking up against the SEC, there still are individual teams around the country that stack up pretty well against the best SEC teams.
The ironic thing is that the SEC now is what the ACC was supposed to become after adding Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College: the super-conference of college football.
The thing that people fail to realize, though, is that the SEC is so far ahead in many more ways than just the teams it puts on the football field. The SEC collectively has the best stadiums, facilities, fan bases, and college towns. They make the most money and are the ones that rule college football. This is what every conference should strive to be.
While there are teams out there that can compete individually with the SEC schools in all of these aspects, no conference has had a higher rate of success as a whole.
The Big 12 has received a lot of hype this offseason, but one thing is pretty evident after Week One: There are quite a few pretenders in this conference. The conference knows where the best football is played, and that is why they go after SEC defensive coordinators like Bob Stoops, Will Muschamp, and Bo Pelini.
Bob Stoops, the former defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators who won a national title with the Gators in 1996, has been the real deal at Oklahoma and leads the NCAA in win percentage since arriving in Norman. Stoops has dominated the conference because his teams know how to do something that the rest of the pretenders in the conference do not: play solid defense.
Missouri and Texas Tech showed their defensive weaknesses in Week One, when Texas Tech yielded 24 points to FCS team Eastern Washington and Missouri allowed Illinois' run-first QB "Juice" Williams to pass for 451 yards through the air for five TDs, which in turn allowed the Illinois offense to put up 42 points on the scoreboard.
The fact is that this conference does not know how to play solid defense, and that is why the smart teams like Texas and Nebraska are going after SEC defensive coordinators. A thorough comparison of Bob Stoops and Mike Leach is even more evidence for the old saying, "defense wins championships."
3. SEC! SEC! SEC!
I know that everyone has heard the chant, and it really gets on your nerves if you are a Pac-10, Big Ten, ACC, Big East, or Big 12 fan. Why are there SEC fans? I don't think you will ever hear anyone chanting "Pac-10," "Big Ten," "Big 12," "ACC," or "Big East." It is a strange phenomenon that is unique to the SEC.
What happened to hating your rival at all costs? Could you imagine a Michigan fan pulling for Ohio State in any game? Yuck...
Well, there are (fill in the blank with SEC team) fans out there that will pull for (fill in the blank with rivaling SEC team) in certain games.
4. It is all about the money
2 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete