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! 

Lou Holtz once said that while coaching at South Carolina, he was elated to find out that they had the 11th-highest game attendance in the nation.  Then he found out that they were sixth in the SEC.

Even Vanderbilt, who only has a student population of just over six thousand, averages almost 35,000 fans per game in the post-Jay Cutler era. 

The truth is that fans are what drive college football programs.  Ticket sales mean money, which leads to improved facilities, which leads to better recruits, which leads to bowl games, national television, and more money!

College football in the South is much more than a sport.  It’s an event, and for many people, an interpersonal experience.  It’s a daylong (several days for some) festival where people migrate to the mossy oaks of a Southern college campus and celebrate more than just their team.  They celebrate life. 

SEC football is a tradition that is passed down through generations like a wristwatch or a hunting rifle.  As soon as anyone has a baby in the south, they get inundated with toddler clothes bearing the logo of a college football team (you gotta teach the kid early).  You'll never set your eyes on a more proud human being than when a young father takes his new son to his first tailgate party. 

By the way, here is normally where we would describe an SEC tailgate party, but that could be an article all on its own.

Oh, and speaking of kids, you know those friends of yours who got married and started having babies, so you basically never see them anymore unless someone gets married or dies?  Well, you’ll see those guys every Saturday in the fall.

This is what drives the passion.  Many compare their love of college football and team allegiance to a religion.  In the South, we have God, country, and football—and depending on who you’re talking to, not necessarily in that order!

It’s that feeling you get when you first wake up on a Saturday morning and you almost trip down the stairs because you can’t wait to turn on College GameDay.  Later on, you’re halfway listening to your wife rattle on about God knows what while you’re loading up the SUV with enough food and drinks to sustain a 60-day standoff with the ATF. 

Your cell phone is blowing up because everyone wants to know what time you’re picking them up.  You wipe some sweat off your brow as you pass through the living room and suddenly you’re stopped cold in your tracks because Lee Corso is talking about your team and you can’t miss a word of it. 

Then Lou Holtz comes on the screen and you immediately go back to what you were doing.

You’ve run through your mental check list for about the one hundredth time, and now you finally feel comfortable about getting in the car.  You start the engine and then realize that the reason you felt like you were forgetting something is because you did—the tickets.

You wave goodbye to the wife (tickets now in hand) and your idiot neighbor, a Michigan State alumnus, waves back at you because he thought you were waving at him.  Who cares anyway?  He’s got an exciting day of yard work ahead of him. 

You’re now on the highway, and a feeling comes over you like you were just released from indentured servitude.  Home is in the rear view mirror, and glory lies ahead.  This is, after all, SEC football. 

Forget Christmas—this is the most wonderful time of the year.

Now, I’ve heard many people in the Pac-10 criticize the SEC by saying that the only reason they aren’t as fanatic about their football games is because the West Coast is the hub of entertainment in America, and there are just “so many other things to do.”

You know what?  We’re OK with that.

You guys can have Paris, Britney (well, technically Britney is our fault), and Lindsay all to yourselves.

We’ll take college football!