The SEC's Secondary Crisis

Birmingham, we have a problem.

The SEC, headquartered in Birmingham, has been known for decades as a conference that is driven by defense. Since 2012, however, things have changed.

An injection of creative offensive coaches combined with big, physical receivers and secondaries that struggle to keep up has transformed the league into the "Pac-12 East," where "just enough" defense is all a team needs to win at an elite level.

The secondary crisis has become even more apparent this season, as 12 of the 14 teams are giving up more than 200 yards per game through the air and six or more yards per attempt.

Never was that more prevalent than during Week 3 in Columbia, South Carolina, when Georgia's secondary—which is coordinated by Jeremy Pruitt, a secondary coach (and teacher) by trade—was lit up by South Carolina quarterback Dylan Thompson.

His stat line wasn't of the video-game variety that jumps off the page, although it was solid. He completed 21-of-30 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns. What was very concerning for Pruitt was the room with which South Carolina's wide receivers had to work.

Nick Jones, Shaq Roland, Rory Anderson and the rest of the Gamecocks got so open that, at times, there wasn't a Bulldog within 15 yards of them.

"There were a myriad of issues for the Dawgs against South Carolina," said Michael Felder, Bleacher Report's lead college football video analyst and former defensive back at North Carolina.

"The general thing I noticed with the secondary was players a step or two away from where they needed to be to impact the play. As Jeremy Pruitt institutes his pattern-matching heavy schemes, that's to be expected at times. Players are pushing to get to landmarks in coverages and not relating to the players in front of them."

South Carolina's pass defense hasn't been much better, although it certainly looked improved in Week 3. The Gamecocks have still been lit up this year through the air, first by Texas A&M (511 yards) and then by East Carolina (321 yards).

Alabama's problem at cornerback was one of the hot-button topics of the offseason, and it popped back up again in the opener when West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett threw for 365 yards. The Tide have looked better lately with Eddie Jackson replacing Bradley Sylve in the starting lineup and Cyrus Jones' improvement between Weeks 1 and 2, but that could be as much—if not more—a product of weak competition as it is a sign of actual improvement.

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

"Eddie Jackson looks to be in midseason form, which is amazing coming off a major knee surgery," said Felder. "Cyrus Jones has been night and day from not only the West Virginia game, but the entire 2013 campaign. This team is addressing its major issue, and that will help the rest of the defense click as they play tougher teams. Of course, FAU and Southern Miss make it easy for Jones to be more aggressive; it has to translate against the Ole Misses and Texas A&Ms of the world."

Auburn's pass defense has been on the express to struggle-town since Ellis Johnson took over as defensive coordinator prior to the 2013 season, Texas A&M's might as well run for mayor and the rest of the SEC's "elite" have been hit-or-miss over the last few years.

What's the issue?

The game has changed.

New, creative coaches have revolutionized the game in the SEC. It's no longer a "three yards and a cloud of dust" conference—it's a conference loaded with diverse offensive schemes and coaches who know the weaknesses of the defenses and choose to exploit those holes at the proper time.

Butch Dill/Associated Press

The dirty little secret is that it's not that much of an issue at all.

Back in the day, a common phrase was that "the best defense is a ball-control offense." That's changed a bit nowadays, because the best defense is a dynamic offense.

"The offenses put more pressure on everybody playing defense. The secondaries' issues just are more glaring because they are what a casual fan notices most," said Felder. "Georgia's linebackers jumping routes in a 'no cover' zone instead of hitting the top of their drops makes corners appear clueless. Giving teams 'five Mississippi' to throw the ball makes safeties seem incapable of covering."

The SEC has also evolved into an "offense first" conference, for the most part.

Take Auburn, for example. 

The Tigers are nothing to write home about on defense. In fact, if you did write home about Auburn's defense, the letter would probably get lost in the mail. The offense, though, is so efficient, so dangerous and so consistent that it forces opposing teams to abandon their game plan offensively. At that point, all it takes is one or two big plays at the right time to turn a close game into a blowout.

Times have changed. Half of the conference finished in the top 20 nationally in pass defense in 2008. Right now, LSU and Ole Miss are the only two teams that appear in the top 20, and really are the only SEC teams in that neighborhood.

That's OK, though, because the definition of what makes a team elite has changed over the last few seasons, which means some of the secondary "issues" that have popped up lately are easily overcome.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report and co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.