Blind loyalty
SEC fans need to accept that the conference is down
Admittedly, college football wouldn't be what it is without the blind loyalty of fans to their chosen teams and conferences. But man, some of you SEC fans may want to think about visiting the eye doctor.
Stewart: Why the constant bashing on the SEC this year? You stated a few weeks back that the SEC was overrated and this week you mention an "ugly" 6-3 SEC game that happened to be played by two teams with excellent defenses. With three teams in the top 10 and six in the top 25, is there any doubt right now that the SEC is the best conference in college football?
-- Jason, Baton Rouge, La.
Umm ... yes?
Did you happen to see the scores in the SEC matchups this weekend? The closest margin of victory was seven points. Yet you and all the other sportswriters on this site jump on the Big Ten bandwagon! You guys condemn a very good team like Tennessee because they happen to have three loses to two teams in the top five and another team in the top 20. If Tennessee was to play Michigan's schedule, the Vols would be undefeated! Also, do you think if Texas was in the SEC they could beat LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida or Auburn 52-17?
-- Donnie Jones, Knoxville, Tenn.
And how do you propose Tennessee would go undefeated exactly? By out-punting Penn State and Wisconsin? And no, the Longhorns would not beat those teams 52-17. It'd be more like 21-3.
Look, I'm not trying to be mean. The fact is, the SEC is the strongest conference in the country most seasons. This isn't one of them. It's always tough to look yourself in the mirror, so if you won't listen to me, SEC fans, perhaps you should hear what they're saying in other parts of the country:
Is it just me, or are the top teams in the SEC playing incredibly sloppy football? Outside of LSU's win over 3-4 Arizona State, what have any of the top six teams done to suggest they are playing any better than Colorado or Minnesota?
-- Ben, Tucson, Ariz.
Why won't someone come out and say how pathetic the SEC's offenses are? Alabama over Tennessee, 6-3? LSU-Auburn 17-17 in regulation? Please. These teams would have no chance with a top team from any other top conference. Even if their defense holds for 10 points, their offense won't score more than 6!
-- Shiva B., San Diego, Calif.
It's not that I don't appreciate good defenses, of which the conference has a whole bunch. But I do tend to favor teams that are at least functional on the other side of the ball. Alabama was the closest thing the conference had to a "complete" team this year, but without Tyrone Prothro, the Tide's offense is borderline impotent. Georgia's is in danger of going in the same direction without quarterback D.J. Shockley. LSU's offense is inconsistent; Auburn's is young; Florida's is a mess and Tennessee's was a joke even before losing Gerald Riggs Jr. And, in a true sign of the state of the conference this season, as opposed to previous years, the other six teams aren't even worth mentioning. As a more lucid SEC alum in my office said this week, you can sum up the conference this season with a word: "unwatchable."
Now, compare that to the ACC, which not only has three teams that could play with anyone in the SEC (Virginia Tech, Florida State and Miami) but also no less than six other teams (Boston College, Clemson, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and North Carolina) capable of beating those squads on any given week. In the Pac-10, the current seventh-place team, Arizona State, came within a stone's throw of beating top-10 foes USC and LSU, and the eighth-place team, Washington State, was a combined seven points from beating 7-0 UCLA and 6-2 Cal.
In my current conference pecking order, the SEC falls behind those two leagues, but ahead of the defensively-challenged Big Ten and one-horse Big 12. Then again, how would I know? Perhaps if the Tide or Bulldogs had beaten an Ohio State or Notre Dame in their non-conference slate rather than Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, Utah State, Boise State or Louisiana-Monroe, I'd have a better measuring stick. In the absence of that, perhaps the best point of comparison you can make is this: USC gained more yards against Arkansas in a two-minute span (261) than Georgia did against the Razorbacks over the course of an entire game (217).
That's great!
