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| "The Maybach stands above the rest but does SEC Football?" |
That’s how I feel about Southeastern Conference(SEC) Football. It drives me crazy to hear all of the analysts and so-called experts say that the SEC is the best conference in football and no one challenges that thinking. Sure the last five national champions have come from the SEC. However, it wasn't from five teams. We're only talking about 3 teams at the top of the conference, LSU and Florida have won two each and then there's Alabama. Auburn has been irrelevant since the days of Bo Jackson in the early 1980's until last year because of Cam Newton and now they're barely holding on to a Top 25 ranking at 24th.
My argument is not to say that the SEC isn’t good because it is. But it’s no better than the other BCS conferences as a whole. Every conference typically only has two teams that are dominant every year. No league as a whole is that much better than the others that‘s why they all are a part of the BCS. For example, the Big Ten traditionally has Ohio State and Michigan, they're down right now so Wisconsin slides up to fill the void. The PAC 12 has USC and Oregon, the Big 12 has Oklahoma and Texas, the Big East for years was only Miami and Va. Tech now they've gone to the ACC. Clemson is rolling now but that won't last long. The Big East now isn't even worth mentioning. They will always remain at the bottom of the pile.
My point here is, don't get fooled by people saying that the SEC is hands down better because they've got catfish in their conference too. As a matter of fact, the other nine schools outside of LSU, Bama and Florida(Auburn was an anomaly last year because they last won a title in 1957) have had nothing to add to that argument for years and some have never contributed at all. Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Miss St, Arkansas, Georgia, Tenn, South Carolina(worthless until Steve Spurrier showed up) has brought nothing to Christmas dinner for at least the past 10 plus seasons. You would stop inviting folks to dinner if they just kept coming through eating and bouncing, wouldn’t you?
That's like saying that the Big 8 back in the day was the best conference in football because between Oklahoma(6 now 7 as part of the Big 12) and Nebraska(5) the conference won 11 national titles before the two joined the Big 12. Don't give the conference credit for the success of two or three teams bruh!
Do we say that the Big 10 is the best all-time because of the success of Michigan(11 titles) and Ohio State(5 titles)? Between the two of them they have won16 national titles and had 10 Heisman trophies( Michigan 3 & Ohio State 7). The SEC has had only 10 Heisman winners total. Ohio State has had more BCS Bowl wins than any other school in the country at 6 with the most appearances at 9. The Big Ten has had more BCS appearances than any other conference at 21. That doesn't mean that they are better. That would be dumb to say out loud.
All I'm saying is quit selling the SEC to me like it's the Bentley of conferences when we're all driving Benz’s around here. Every conference is top heavy and that typically is the case in basketball too. Can you imagine people saying that the SEC is the best basketball conference because of the success of Kentucky? After all, they are the winningest program of all-time. That would sound stupid to say wouldn't it?
Let the school stand on its own success and be done with it. Just because one or two schools dominate doesn't mean that the conference is great. Everybody has their bottom feeders and the SEC is no exception! Roll up on me when schools like Kentucky, Ole Miss, Miss St, Georgia and Tennessee start pushing Bentley‘s and Range Rover‘s. But if all I’m going to see every year is LSU and Alabama in the Bugatti I won’t be impressed.
Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
GREAT ARTICLE!
ReplyDeleteThe Kentucky basketball analogy was an excellent point!