Wait A Minute SEC! Don't Be Too Proud.

The SEC has just won another college football national championship. The coveted BCS crystal football's resting place is once again in the "land of Dixie". Folks in the south take great pride in their football and what their beloved schools have accomplished on the gridiron. 

However, success has not come without a "one-eyed glare of scrutiny" from the opposing conferences' coaches, players, and fans. Sure, you have great athletes. You have great coaches. You have great facilities. You even have great fans, but are we really playing on a level playing field?

The SEC certainly has a rich history when it comes to football pageantry and tradition.  Football isn't the "main thing" in the South. It is the "only thing".

"Win by any means necessary". That is the prevailing climate in SEC football. It has been that way for a long time.

Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant recognized you had to get the best talent on the field, even if that meant recruiting African-American players such as Wilbur Jackson, John Mitchell, Sylvester Crooms, and Ozzie Newsome. 

The 1970's changed things forever in the SEC. That was a positive occurrence. The "old South" wasn't completely overjoyed with integration, but once they saw that those guys could really play and win games, they became OK. 

They were no longer African-American football players. They became Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State, LSU, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina football players. These players won the hearts of their fans, and they were embraced. 

No longer did great southern talent like Jim Parker, Bobby Mitchell, Bubba Smith, Rosey Brown, Harold Jackson, Lem Barney, and others (the list goes on and on and on) have to go north to play Division I or stay home and play at an HBC (historically black college).  That is probably when the advantage certainly shifted to the SEC. The SEC then began its dominance!

The SEC has also taken advantage of oversignings. For some reason, the SEC has no problem with moving scholarships and establishing, shifting, and twisting "redshirt", "greyshirt", or polka-dot shirt eligibility. Win by whatever means necessary!

In 10-plus years at Ohio State, Coach Jim Tressel has given out one greyshirt and two medical hardships. Compare that to Alabama's Nick Saban, who over four years has given out 12 medical hardships and 10 greyshirts. Houston Nutt and Les Myles are just as bad, if not worse. I hate to paint with a "broad brush", but I think you get my drift.

It would certainly be wrong if I didn't mention that not all SEC coaches have followed the patterns of their contemporaries. Outgoing coach Urban Meyer at Florida and Mark Richt at University of Georgia have not participated in such unethical behavior.  Unfortunately, they did have lackluster seasons for their respective programs. 

Needless to say, the new athletic director at Georgia has stated he wants to see some changes. He wants to see more "visible passion and emotion" from Coach Richt. I wonder what that entails? Hopefully, that doesn't include oversigning.

I am quite certain there exist flaws and weaknesses in every conference in America.  Hopefully, when SEC fans are ready to "stick out their chests" and gloat about the triumphs of their conference, they will think about some of the points mentioned.