Were the SEC and Big 12 the Best Football Conferences in 2008?

Of all the BCS conferences, it is widely accepted that the SEC and Big 12 are the best of the best when it comes to College Football.

My question is:  "Are they really all that much better than the other BCS conferences?"

In order to keep this entry as short as possible, I'll simply concentrate on the 2008 season and punch some holes in this 'elitist' theory.

The two arguments that I will represent are these two power conferences records against fellow BCS competition during the regular season, and then to put their bowl seasons into a realistic perspective.

HEAD TO HEAD vs. BCS CONFERENCE COMPETITION:

SEC 

In 2008, the SEC played 14 regular season games outside of their regularly scheduled conference play.  In these 14 games they held a 'gaudy' 6-8 record.  You take away the powerhouses of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama from last year and the SEC was a paltry 2-7 vs. fellow BCS competition. 

Florida

Much kudos to the Gators.  Their dominating victories over in-state rivals in Miami and Florida State sent a pretty solid message that these guys were for real.  Their eventual National Championship backed it up.

Georgia

Their 27-10 victory over ASU on the road looked to be a solid win.  However, as the season rolled along, that victory lost a lot of luster as ASU finished the season 5-7 and obviously did not go to a bowl game. 

Couple that with a home loss to in-state rival Georgia Tech to cap off the regular season, and the Bulldogs regular season was well below pre-season expectations.

Tennessee

The 27-24 OT loss to UCLA was a bit embarrassing.  UCLA was starting a 4th string walk-on at QB in his 1st career start.  UT went on to follow up that loss with a shocking home loss to a rather pedestrian Wyoming team at home.

Ole Miss

Their only non-conference game against a BCS opponent was Wake Forest.  It was a great game, but the Rebels fell short as a late field goal attempt was no good against a pretty solid Demon Deacon squad.  Not a bad loss, but a loss nonetheless.

LSU

The defending National Champs did not play a single OOC team from a BCS conference.  I'm a big LSU fan, but that is simply pathetic.  The 30 point 4th quarter needed to beat Troy at home let us all realize just how far this team had fallen in a single year.

Auburn

A 34-17 loss at West Virginia let us all know that AU was far from being a true SEC contender. 

Alabama 

The 34-10 win over Clemson in the 1st game of the season caught everyone's attention.  When the season was completed, we all noticed that this win was far from being as spectacular as anybody believed it to be. 

The complete collapse against Utah in the Sugar Bowl put a damper on a very solid season out of the Tide team that 'arrived' a season early. 

Kentucky

The 27-2 win over Louisville looked impressive.  When Louisville finished in the cellar of the Big East, that win lost a ton of weight. 

Vanderbilt

Their 1st bowl birth in over 26 years had some painful thoughts about a 10-7 loss to ACC bottom-feeder Duke.  One of only 2 teams in the ACC to not garner a bowl bid. 

South Carolina

The early season domination over NC State looked promising.  The 31-14 setback against big time rival Clemson capped yet another frustrating season in Columbia.  The pasting they took at the hands of Iowa in their bowl game ended a season in which they finished 2-4 after a promising 5-2 start.

Arkansas

The only OOC game in which they played a BCS school ended in a 52-10 loss to ex-SWC rival Texas.  This was the Razorbacks worst loss of the entire season.

Mississippi State

The 38-7 beating they took from Georgia Tech pretty well told the story for the Bulldogs in '08.   

BIG 12

During the non-conference season in 2008, the Big 12 had the exact same 6-8 record against BCS opponents as the did the SEC.  When you take away Texas, Missouri,  and Oklahoma, the Big 12 was a very pathetic 2-8 against their BCS brethren. 

Oklahoma

Much like Florida, Oklahoma played a couple of solid teams in OOC play in Cincinnati and TCU.  Before the season started TCU was somewhat heralded, but Cincy wasn't all that highly touted.  The Washington road trip looked good when they scheduled the game, but was nothing that proved their worth. 

Their dominating victories over Cincy and TCU proved to be a strong position in which OU was voted over Texas to not only play in the Big 12 title game, but the BCS Championship game as well. 

Their showing against Florida was hampered by ill-afforded decisions and lack of execution, but they were very competitive against a very very good Florida team nonetheless. 

Texas

Outside of Arkansas, their non-conference schedule was less than impressive.  Even with a dominating victory over a rebuilding Arkansas squad, their non-conference schedule proved to ultimately be their demise amongst voters. 

Texas Tech

Yet another forgettable non-conference season for the Raiders.  Their toughest OOC game was at Nevada.  Their humbling losses to Oklahoma and Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl truly proved that this team was more about hype than substance. 

Oklahoma State

An early season dominating victory over Washington State proved to be far from a solid win.  Wazzu proved to be one of the worst BCS teams in the entire country. 

Texas A&M

Hammered at home 41-23 by a very average Miami team.  Toss in an 18-14 loss to Arkansas State and you have capped off a dismal Aggie year in which they finished in the Big 12 South cellar. 

Baylor

They were pasted by Wake Forest, but beat Wazzu on the road.  The Bears improved, but those two games were a definite indication of where they truly sat in the BCS pecking order.  They are improving, but still have a ways to go.

Nebraska

A grand chance was lost in a home loss to a Virginia Tech team that was ripe for the pickings at home.  The Hokies were again ACC Champions, but they were still building when the Huskers had their chance at home. 

Missouri

The 52-42 win over Illinois wasn't as close as the final score, but that win was super-ceded by an Illinois squad that failed to qualify for a bowl game.  Humbling losses against solid teams would define the Tigers 10-4 season.

Kansas

The effort against an early season Big East favorite in South Florida was a great game.  But they still lost.  After a 12-1 dream season, the Hawks were introduced to reality with a 7-5 regular season.

Colorado

Jekyll and Hyde.  A 17-14 win over West Virginia was eclipsed by a 38-29 loss at Florida State.  I do have to hand it to Colorado.  They consistently play one of the toughest OOC schedules out of anybody in the entire country year in and year out. 

Kansas State

The 38-29 loss to Louisville wasn't even that close.  Outside of a couple of big plays, the 'Cats were dominated by a rather poor Cardinal squad.  The eventual cellar position of Louisville pretty well told us all that we need to know about that loss.  

Iowa State

The 17-5 loss to Iowa was the normal battle we have learned to expect from these two bitter in-state rivals.  After a 2-0 start to the season, the 'Clones finished with 10 straight losses.  Obviously that was good enough for Auburn to call upon Chizik's solid performance while at ISU.  The rest of the nation is puzzled. 

BOWL GAMES

SEC

Florida

They deserve every bit of credit that they earned last year.  After the home loss to new found rival Ole Miss at home, Tim Tebow's promise held true.  Argue as much as you want about these guys being the best team in College Football last year, they won the games they needed to win.  Again, much kudos to the 2008 Gators.  A deserving champion.

Georgia

The pre-season hype proved to be just that.  A lackluster performance in a victory over an out-manned Michigan State team pretty much put a cap on a season that just wasn't meant to be.

LSU

A very disappointing season that saw two losses in which they surrendered 50+ points to Florida and Georgia came to a screeching halt when they dominated a pretty solid Georgia Tech squad.  Outside of Florida and Ole Miss, this was the SEC's best win during the bowl season.

Alabama

Call it a hangover from the SEC Championship game, but the dull effort they put forth in the complete collapse against Utah in the Sugar Bowl was rather embarrassing.  The 2nd best team in the SEC shouldn't get dominated by a MWC team?  Should they?  Maybe Utah was that good?

Kentucky

The 2-6 season they put forth in SEC play should not have landed them a bowl game.  The 6-6 Wildcats did win against a decent East Carolina squad, but this game was played so close to home that it isn't all that impressive anyway that you look at it. 

Vanderbilt

OK.  Their bowl game was in Nashville.  They beat a decent Boston College team that made it to the ACC Championship game, but this was an upset that wasn't all that surprising considering the circumstances. 

Vandy was excited to be in a bowl game for the 1st time in 26 years, BC just lost in the ACC Championship game and now found themselves in a bowl game so below a BCS bid it is hard to even compare. 

South Carolina

Pathetic.  The performance against Iowa was below anybody's standards.  They were manhandled in every phase of the game and the 31-10 final was closer than the game that we all saw play out on the field.

Ole Miss

The biggest feather in the SEC cap was garnered by Ole Miss.  They dominated a high-flying offense with a pounding run game that simply put Texas Tech in their place.  A big reason why many see the Rebels as Title contenders in the SEC and maybe even sleepers to contend for the whole 9 yards.

In the end, the SEC finished with a very respectable 6-2 bowl season.  But when one truly takes a peek at the games played, only 2 stick out as solid wins.  Florida and Ole Miss.  The rest should have been somewhat expected.  The final score in the LSU bowl game was somewhat expected as they took out some frustrations after a disappointing regular season.  Solid yes.  Spectacular?  No. 

BIG 12

Oklahoma

A game effort against Florida fell short.  In the end the better team won.  The biggest problem facing the Sooners is lack of wins in recent bowl games.  Especially BCS games. 

Texas

They were 8 1/2 point favorites over an Ohio State team that has been recently dominated by SEC schools in the previous two years.  They needed some late game heroics from Colt McCoy to pull this one out.  Yes, it was a win, but not as big of a win as many expected. 

Texas Tech

Dominated.  Ole Miss shoved it down their throat in a solid 47-34 victory.  The claims that the Big 12 can't play defense echoed true in this one.

Oklahoma State

When a guy who was a 4th string QB before the season started puts up 42 points on you, well.......you have some defensive issues. 

The Pokes were solid favorites over an up-and-coming Duck squad, but to be completely dominated in the 2nd half like they were is no excuse.  Oregon finished in the top 10 final rankings, but I'm not sure they were that good.  OSU was 0-3 against the big 3 from the Big 12 South.  Their weaknesses were definitely exposed in this one.

Missouri

Yep, you won.  But Northwestern was far from being a juggernaut.  The fact the Tigers needed overtime to beat the 'Cats is truly uninspiring.  The talent differential between the two teams was monumental. 

Coupled with Texas Tech and Oklahoma States performances, this game precluded the struggles that OU and Texas would see in later bowl games.

Nebraska

Beating Clemson was a solid victory.  But we all have to keep in mind that this was a 7-6 Clemson team that fired their head coach in mid-season.  The Clemson offense never fired all year, and their defense was good but not great. 

This was a nice name victory, but far from being as solid as anyone is led to believe. 

Kansas

The pounding they put on Minnesota was likely the best win for the Big 12.  But let us put that victory into perspective.  After Minny started the season at 7-1 they capped it off with a 5 game losing streak including a 55-0 washout loss to Iowa to finish their regular season.

In summation, the Big 12 got a lot of egg put on their face in that their high-powered offenses were widely shut down and their defenses were exposed more than a time or two in the bowl season. 

Talk of the Big 12 taking over the SEC as the premier conference was completely shut down by embarrassing losses by both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.  The lackluster performance by Missouri didn't help either.

SUMMATION

As I stated earlier, the SEC and Big 12 are widely recognized as the two premier conferences in College Football today.  Their play during the 2008 season against non-conference BCS schools and bowl games sheds some solid doubt on just how solid and deep these conferences truly are.

Should they deserve credit as power conferences?  Sure. 

Should they deserve praise as being head and shoulders above every other BCS conference?  No.

Look for the Pac 10 and Big 10 to keep making strides back to serious contention.  The Big East will keep getting better, and look for the ACC to start making a serious statement about their worth in the years ahead. 

When all is said and done, the SEC and Big 12 will get some serious challengers to their title of being the elite conferences. 

I fully expect that to begin in the 2009 College Football season.