Alabama Football: Are Alabama and LSU Making the Rest of the SEC Irrelevant?

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) The reason television executives ponied up so much cash for the SEC was simple. They played an exciting brand of football that attracted viewers, even those far away from the traditional areas of the SEC's footprint.

But are Alabama and LSU making the rest of the SEC a lot less desirable to watch and even more problematic for the television executives?

The two titans that are Alabama and LSU are simply mowing over the rest of the SEC, and the forgone conclusion for months has been that the best team in the SEC will be decided by the meeting between these two teams, not in the SEC Championship.

The fact that the Alabama and LSU game will be for the real championship really downplays the significance of the SEC Championship game, where the winner of the Alabama-LSU game will surely mow down whichever team makes it out of the East with a loss or two.

It's not that the SEC is having a down year overall as much as it is that these two teams are simply having years that are just that much better than usual, and neither has really been challenged yet by a team inside or outside the conference.

How much better are they, really?

There is no other team that comes close to either Alabama or LSU in the SEC. The closest may be Arkansas, and the Tide simply destroyed them in an earlier meeting.

But in reality, these two teams may make every team in the Top 10 irrelevant, not just teams in the SEC.

Only Oklahoma may have a respectable line against one of them should they be slated to play anytime soon, and they would almost certainly be the underdog.

The other SEC teams will still have viewers. Their own fans and others will watch them even if the other fans across the nation may yawn at the prospect of SEC also-rans battling it out.

But the SEC also-rans may be better than most teams presently occupying the Top 20 spots in the polls, but that won't be born out as fact until bowl season.

Then, every team that makes a bowl game will certainly be relevant again.