From the way ESPN is costantly humping the SEC's leg

[oxcoug]

you'd never know it but my favorite fun fact of the past decade is this:

the SEC has a losing (9-11) record against the PAC 10 since 2000. That includes UCLA going 4-0 against Alabama and Tennessee.

Here is an excellent breakdown of exactly how overrated the SEC is http://www.thefourthbranch.com/2010/...ed-conference/

Keep in mind - the argument here isn't that the SEC isn't a dang tough conference, probably the best conference in football right now - only that the gap bt the SEC and other conferences is nowhere near as large or as constant as its imagined to be.

[LiveCoug]

you'd never know it but my favorite fun fact of the past decade is this:

the SEC has a losing (9-11) record against the PAC 10 since 2000. That includes UCLA going 4-0 against Alabama and Tennessee.

Here is an excellent breakdown of exactly how overrated the SEC is http://www.thefourthbranch.com/2010/...ed-conference/

Keep in mind - the argument here isn't that the SEC isn't a dang tough conference, probably the best conference in football right now - only that the gap bt the SEC and other conferences is nowhere near as large or as constant as its imagined to be.

Hard to agree with the overrated claim when the conference has had a team win the national championship 4 years in a row.

[Fiyero]

Hard to agree with the overrated claim when the conference has had a team win the national championship 4 years in a row.

Win the what?

[Indy Coug]

When you have 12 teams in a conference and the range in quality between top to bottom may be as stark as any BCS conference in the country, you can paint very different pictures depending on how you want to frame the argument.

For example, comparing the SEC to the PAC10 using 20 games over 10 years with a variety of teams that were both good and bad doesn't really tell you much of anything, especially when the head to head is essentially 0.500.

The SEC also doesn't do itself any favors when they have perennially one of the worst OOC SOS of any BCS conference. What you can say is that the best team in the SEC is almost always a legitimate national title contender, but to extend it much beyond that starts entering very gray areas.

[beefytee]

Hard to agree with the overrated claim when the conference has had a team win the national championship 4 years in a row.

They definitely understand the system the best and how to do well in it, and I'm not just talking about OOC scheduling.

I assume other conferences are trying to emulate it (See Big ten expanding).

I also think this means it will get tougher to get BCS teams playing BYU.

[TripletDaddy]

When you have 12 teams in a conference and the range in quality between top to bottom may be as stark as any BCS conference in the country, you can paint very different pictures depending on how you want to frame the argument.

For example, comparing the SEC to the PAC10 using 20 games over 10 years with a variety of teams that were both good and bad doesn't really tell you much of anything, especially when the head to head is essentially 0.500.

The SEC also doesn't do itself any favors when they have perennially one of the worst OOC SOS of any BCS conference. What you can say is that the best team in the SEC is almost always a legitimate national title contender, but to extend it much beyond that starts entering very gray areas.

I agree with this. I enjoy the SEC brand of football, I really dislike the SEC mania that is promoted by its fans.

It is hard to deny that year in and year out, the SEC usually produces 2 or 3 teams that seem to be legit title contenders, or at least legit Top 10 teams. I think this is where the SEC excels, they seem to have more Top 10-type teams than the other conferences.

The bottom dwellers of the SEC are no more special than the dross of every other conference and this is where people get annoyed, I think. SEC fans promote the notion that even mid-tier SEC teams are vastly superior to other conferences.

In a sense, the SEC is a microcosm of the entire BCS conundrum, with the SEC being the BCS and the other 5 BCS conferences being the mid-majors.

I have no problem with the notion that, generally speaking, the SEC is the toughest conference. The gap between conferences....and the quality top to bottom....that is another story.

[Fiyero]

The SEC lost four bowl games this year, and one of the wins was a tie at the end of regulation. The real kudos should be to their top team for performing well after the invitation to be one of only two teams allowed to play for the title, with a month to prepare.

When a hoops conference sends three teams to the elite eight, two to the final four, and wins the title....now that's impressive.

[TripletDaddy]

The SEC lost four bowl games this year, and one of the wins was a tie at the end of regulation. The real kudos should be to their top team for performing well after the invitation to be one of only two teams allowed to play for the title, with a month to prepare.

When a hoops conference sends three teams to the elite eight, two to the final four, and wins the title....now that's impressive.

Are you still talking about bowl wins by conference?

Go Sun Belt and Big East! Number 1!

[Fiyero]

FAIL you troll. It's well documented that SEC teams rarely play any OOC FBS teams other than the occasional sub-.500 team at home, so bowl games are one of the few ways to gauge their talent from top to bottom.

Was this Bama's first win west of the Mississippi since the Carter administration?

[TripletDaddy]

FAIL you troll. It's well documented that SEC teams rarely play any OOC FBS teams other than the occasional sub-.500 team at home, so bowl games are one of the few ways to gauge their talent from top to bottom.

Was this Bama's first win west of the Mississippi since the Carter administration?

Big East: toughest BCS conference

Sun Belt: toughest overall conference

WAC: better than the MWC

Go bowls!

[Hot Lunch]

When you have 12 teams in a conference and the range in quality between top to bottom may be as stark as any BCS conference in the country, you can paint very different pictures depending on how you want to frame the argument.

For example, comparing the SEC to the PAC10 using 20 games over 10 years with a variety of teams that were both good and bad doesn't really tell you much of anything, especially when the head to head is essentially 0.500.

The SEC also doesn't do itself any favors when they have perennially one of the worst OOC SOS of any BCS conference. What you can say is that the best team in the SEC is almost always a legitimate national title contender, but to extend it much beyond that starts entering very gray areas.

Well said Indy.

SEC is king when it comes to college football. Do they get to much media love? Yes they do but they are in fact the best conference in football from top to bottom.

[BoylenOver]

The SEC is the best conference in college football, despite the cries and lamentations from their detractors.

They are not infallible, and they could not supplant the NFC West as an NFL conference, despite the pride and boasting of their most fervent supporters.

[oxcoug]

BoylenOver gets it right: I said the SEC is

the best conference in football right now. But they are a far cry from being the unstoppable force their fanboys pretend they are.

Fact is (go check the records) that they are .500 vs the PAC 10, the Big 10 and the Big 12 since 2002. They have a losing record vs the PAC 10 since 2000.

They are, therefore, overrated - bc the coverage you hear of the SEC never lets on that they're anywhere close to level ground with those conferences.

Yes it's very impressive that they've claimed four straight championships. But those championships are also the product of a system - as this author linked above demonstrates, no BCS conference plays sissier schedules OOC schedules. The SEC loads up on Charlestons, Florida Internationals, Western Kentuckies and the like - and then (Florida is notorious for this) what travel outside of their time zone to play other BCS schools.

It's a good formula. It limits the chances for getting knocked off on the part of the schedule that they can shape year to year. Good for them. But it's still a formula - and it wld fall apart if they had to be in a playoff.