The SEC a Hidden Conference
| 11
|
by user The Beast
Every time I turn my TV on to ESPN I hear Lee Corso exclaiming, "the SEC is the toughest conference in America..." Hold on a second Mr. Indiana coaching-reject. So you and others seem to claim that the SEC is the best conference in America! Right. Well, SEC schools were 41-7 in non-conference games during the 2006 football season. Wow! What a great record. They seem to do really well out of conference, proving how tough they are. That could not be any more misleading.
And when the schools did take on other BCS schools, ten of the fifteen were at home. Talk about refusing to play BCS schools on the road.
For those BCS conference schools, the record at home was a very respectable 7-3, butt he road record was 2-3.
The road wins were by Vanderbilt (over Duke) and South Carolina (over Clemson). Only the South Carolina victory is meaningful. The road losses were Kentucky (@ Louisville 59-2) , Vanderbilt (@ Michigan 27-7) and Ole Miss (@Missouri 34-7).
In terms of Home and Away Games, the SEC schools played a total of 7 away games in 2006. SEVEN! They refuse to play on the road.
So who do they even play? Take a quick look here:
Some popular schools to play appear to be:
- UL-Monroe (who lost to Kentucky, Alabama, and Arkansas).
- Duke (who lost to Alabama and Vanderbilt)
- UAB (who lost to Miss St. and Georgia)
- Memphis (who lost to Tenn and and Ole Miss).
Even worse:
- W. Carolina (Florida beat them 62-0)
- W Kentucky (Georgia beat them 48-12)
- Texas State (Kentucky beat them 41-7)
- Wofford (South Carolina only beat them 27-20)
- Tennessee St (Vanderbilt beat them 38-9)
- Temple (Vanderbilt beat them 43-14)
- SE Miss State (Arkansas beat them 63-7)
- Northwestern State (Ole Miss beat them 27-7)
- Jacksonville St (Miss State beat them 35-3)
Losses in 2006 were:
- Kentucky at Louisville, 59-28
- Vanderbilt at Michigan, 27-7
- Arkansas, home against USC, 50-14
- Ole Miss, at Missouri, 34-7
- Ole Miss, home against Wake Forest, 27-3
- Miss State, home against Tulane, 32-29
- Miss State, home against W Virginia, 42-14.
Impressive wins in 2006 include:
- Tennessee, home against CAL, 35-18
- South Carolina, at Clemson, 31-28
- Alabama, home against Hawaii, 25-17
- Auburn, home against Wash St, 40-14
- LSU, home against Arizona, 45-3
Conclusion: I am not saying the SEC sucks. It surely has some very good football programs. However, it is impossible to objectively rate the conference due to their members' unwillingness to schedule tough non-conference games on the road. When do we see Florida, Georgia, or LSU travel to Autzen Stadium, Michigan Stadium, or Ohio Stadium? Do they play a night game at Beaver Stadium? No, they don't. They stay home and play subpar Division 1-A and 1-AA teams. The SEC only had one legitimate road game victory this year in non-conference play, South Carolina by THREE at Clemson. The only way we can know if the SEC is for real is to play more BCS conference teams, besides Duke, on the road.
Big Name schools (which make up about half of the SEC) don't play away games with crappier non-con teams. It's the same thing with Ohio State. They give teams like Bowling Green a shot to make some cash by playing a big school, but they're not going to trek up to Northwest Ohio to take on the Falcons.
And I think it's an unfair point to focus on the SEC's non-con schedule anyway, because there are so many in-conference power houses. There will typically be more ranked teams in the SEC than every other conference. It's not like the Big East where there might be one or two.