IS THE SEC...OVERRATED??

In the wake of the New Year’s 6 bowl games we saw the SEC go 5-5 with the elite teams in the conference suffering from losses. This has started some rumblings around the College Football world that the SEC might be overrated.  While it is easy to jump to this conclusion, I assure you that it absolutely is NOT.

What makes the SEC so great isn’t the gap at the top, but the depth of the conference as a whole.  We see it every year, the top 2 teams of just about any power conference can compete and even beat the top teams in the SEC. But in every other conference (except recently the Pac-12), after those first 2 or 3 top teams, there is a DRASTIC drop in talent level. Again, it’s not the 1, 2, 3 of the SEC that makes it an elite conference; it’s the 4-8 teams that separate them from the rest.  

We can just look at this bowl season. Alabama and Miss. St. are probably considered to be the cream of the crop this year in the SEC, followed by Ole Miss and Auburn. All of these teams lost. However, the middle of the pack teams (South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Georgia etc.) had very strong showings. It is easier for elite teams to look consistent and avoid slip-ups when their conference has 8-9 teams that are completely outmatched when they line up to play week in and week out than it is for the elite teams in the SEC to play their “mediocre” teams who are VERY CAPABLE of beating anyone in the country.  I would bet that coaches around the country would be more likely to take 7-6 Arkansas a little more seriously than they would a 7-6 Penn State or even an 8-5 Washington team.

Also, take this into consideration…

·         The Big 10 had 6 teams with 8 wins or more, the SEC and the Pac-12 both had 8 teams.

·         The Big 10 had 5 teams with a losing record, the Pac-12 had 4…the SEC had 2.

So what makes the SEC the best conference in the country? Are their top teams any better than any other conference’s top teams? No. Say it with me…

                                                                                D-E-P-T-H

-Jalynn

 

“We beat ourselves up every week” “We wanted to play in the bigger bowl games”  “ The refs just wanted to see the SEC finally lose” “SEC players are two busy thinking about the NFL”

Those are just a few of the #SECEXCUSES I’ve been hearing, seeing, and listening to the last 48 hours as the “unbeatable” SEC became very..beatable. LSU lost to an unimpressive Notre Dame team, Auburn fell short, the state of Mississippi collapsed, and the Tide didn’t appear to roll. Now I will give credit to the SEC East. They have actually looked alright in their bowl games, but I want to focus on the “vaunted”  SEC West. I actually heard people say this was the best division in the history of college football. WHAT A JOKE. Could it be that this was the most even, average division this year? What great teams are in the SEC? You can make an argument that the SEC has the 5^th best team in the nation this year at best. I would personally have Oregon, Ohio State, TCU, and Florida State (assuming they don’t have 50 fumbles) ahead of Alabama. Heck, Michigan State has 2 losses this year, both to the two teams playing for the title. Maybe that pushes the SEC to number 6. SEC fans LOVE to say “ O, well we beat each other up every week” Can the other conferences not use that same argument or is it reserved for the SEC??

To address Jalynn’s points though…

He says the ELITE SEC teams had losses. I ask, who are those ELITE teams? I see some solid teams, an entertaining team, and maybe 1 good one. But no, I see no ELITE teams in the SEC. Mississippi State? Really? He says the 4-8 teams are “what makes the conference”.  Makes them into what? Ole Miss who lost 4 of their last 6 games, and 6 regular season win South Carolina is who you’re banking on? And that’s not all!! He had the AUDACITY to mention TWO win Arkansas!! So 2 conference wins is what it takes to be “middle of the pack” in the vaunted SEC? If only other conferences were awarded that luxury! Let’s face it. The best quarterbacks are in the PAC 12, the best running backs are in the BIG 10, and the best receivers are in the BIG 12. Now the SEC still has the big boys up front but that’s neutralized when you play teams who speed up the game and tires those guys out.

Sometime we don’t get these great inter-conference matchups until the end of the year so these bowls may be all we have to judge. And if the big bad SEC doesn’t show up, then that’s on them! They can take these L’s as well as a backseat to these leagues that want to be great! With all that said, the SEC isn’t terrible and they are probably still one of the top 2 conferences (PAC 12) in the land. But they’ve done ONE thing very well…made it debatable.

-Derrick