Why SEC Isn't As Great In Football As You Think - Chuck Thompson

[BlufftonBuckeye]

Analysis of Why The System is Setup For SEC 'Dominance'

Please, do yourself a favor and read this incredible article. The guy absolutely NAILS it.

Is the SEC really the best conference in college football "top to bottom," as it's so often described? And if it is, why since the start of the BCS era in 1998 does the conference have overall losing records against the Pac-12 (11-12) and Big East (19-23) and superior but not dominating records against other major conferences? Might the nationwide perception of SEC superiority simply be part of a well-constructed ESPN business plan meant to protect and enhance the network?s $2.25 billion partnership with the SEC?

Since the inception of the BCS, the SEC has been crowned national champion 57.14 percent of the time. That's a stunning turnaround when compared with an undisputed national title rate of 10.42 percent over the half-century prior.

So what's behind such a radical shift in fortune, such a statistical improbability?

It certainly isn't on-field performance

The BCS business plan works like this: preseason rankings typically include two, three, or four SEC teams among the nation's top ten, more than from any other conference. From the outset, this bias for SEC teams builds into the system a near insurmountable advantage.

Start the season with two of the top four teams being from the SEC, as was the case in 2010 with Alabama and Florida, and in 2011 with Alabama and LSU, and the conference is virtually guaranteed to be represented in the title game -- and this is an important point -- even if neither of those two schools end up winning the conference.

To be the best, so goes to the old sports adage, you've got to beat the best. But since only SEC teams are consistently declared the best, only SEC teams get the chance to prove themselves against "the best."
It's a chicken-or-the-egg situation. Does the SEC get favorable rankings because it's so good? Or is the SEC so good because it gets favorable rankings? I argue for the latter.

Those are just a few of the highlights. Spot on.

 

[BigWoof31]

I'm sure that the user comments following the article will be well reasoned, demonstrative of critical thinking and polite in tone and argument.

 

[BlufftonBuckeye]

I'm sure that the user comments following the article will be well reasoned, demonstrative of critical thinking and polite in tone and argument.

They've been so awesome.

"JUST BECAUSE WE ARE THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME!"

One guy wrote, "SEC! SEC!" and he wasn't being ironic

 

[DiaBuckeye]

Wow, great read. Written with obvious Northern bias and contempt but backed up soundly by fact after fact. Pretty much sums up my feelings of frustration that I've never been able to put into comprehensible words due to the fact that my blood pressure rises every time I try.

My favorite quote was this:

In 2012, for instance, the SEC was able to even its BCS bowl record against the Big Ten at 19-19 when the Florida Gators beat Ohio State in the none-too-partisan Gator Bowl. The game was played in Jacksonville. No bowl games are played in Ohio.

The main thing I took from the article though is the fact that the SEC has losing, or barely winning records against every major conference since the inception of the BCS. Those statistics haven't changed much historically, going back to before the BCS. And yet here we are, in their "decade of dominance". But what most don't realize is that the dominance is a fabrication created by a new biased and flawed championship system. The advantages the SEC receives in the BCS are astounding, but the general public is ignorant to it all because they eat whatever the mother ship serves for dinner. And what's for dinner is always SEC fried chicken. It's sickening.

Everyone needs to read this article. I'll be forwarding it to my contact list, thanks.

 

[Bill Lucas]

They are clearly the best at the top of their conference and at the end of the day that is what matters most to most people.

I'll add that if you look at the SEC record against other BCS conferences since the BCSNCG streak started you'll find that they are 80-49. It's difficult to argue against that success.

Beat them on the field in the big game.

 

[Nutriaitch]

I don't think we're head and shoulders above anyone necessarily.

I think our best team can beat any other conference's best team on any given day and vice versa.

What the BCS has done is give the SEC the opportunity to actually play those teams in Bowl games.

Pre-BCS, our champ would go to Sugar and play some at large team.
Only in rare instances was that opponent a top 2-3 type team.

Meaning if the SEC champ wasn't #1 going in, the odds were very slim of them being #1 afterwards.

Look at 07 as an recent example.
Without the BCS, we would have played some 2nd rate team in sugar.
Y'all would have gone into the Rose as #1 against USC.
Winner of that game would have probably been named champs.

LSU would have never had the chance to play for it.


Could the SEC have had more titles Pre-BCS if they could have played those other Conf champs?
It's at least possible.

And the SEC having 2 teams in Pre-season position is nothing new.
Until Texas fell off map a couple years ago, the same could be said about the Big XII with OU and UT.
Same with Big Ten (OSU & Mich) until just recently.
USC and Oregon are right there this year for PAC-10.

We are given the benefit of doubt because we have won when we got to title game.
Had OSU won either or both of those back to back CG, the SEC would not be the media darling it is today.

And some time in the future (probably soon), an SEC team will get routed by another Conf in the CG and the love fest will diminish greatly.

 

[alexhortdog95]

They are clearly the best at the top of their conference and at the end of the day that is what matters most to most people.

I'll add that if you look at the SEC record against other BCS conferences since the BCSNCG streak started you'll find that they are 80-49. It's difficult to argue against that success.

Beat them on the field in the big game.

Here here. My Huskers were in a sloppy bowl game filled with penalties, two star player ejections, turnovers, and a bunch of bs against the Ol' Ball Coach's SEC team last year, and choked it up at the end of the first half to lose.

That game wasn't dominated by physical athletes on the field. It was marred by mistakes after mistakes by both teams.

Not to mention, that if most of those teams that lost in BCSNCGames that were not from the SEC had taken care of business, this is a moot point.

Winning and losing happens on the field.

 

[alexhortdog95]

P.S. - If we really want athletic equality on the field in college athletics, then we need to make academic equality in the classroom for college athletics a priority.

 

[Nutriaitch]

An other aspect of this SEC run that never gets mentioned.

Several "traditional powers" who once dominated the tops of the polls have all been non-contenders during this run.

Nebraska
Florida St
Miami
Norte Dame
Michigan

Those are teams that lose 4 games minimum just about every year Of the streak.
A decade ago, it would take Nebraska five years to lose 4 games.

Those programs dropping off coincided with:
Bama coming off probation.
LSU rising up
Auburn started cheating again
Florida staying near the top

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

An other aspect of this SEC run that never gets mentioned.

Several "traditional powers" who once dominated the tops of the polls have all been non-contenders during this run.

Nebraska
Florida St
Miami
Norte Dame
Michigan

Those are teams that lose 4 games minimum just about every year Of the streak.
A decade ago, it would take Nebraska five years to lose 4 games.

Those programs dropping off coincided with:
Bama coming off probation.
LSU rising up
Auburn started cheating again
Florida staying near the top

... uhm... you mean they just opened their pocketbooks more ... than starting up again :)

 

[exhawg]

I like the article, but I think there are factors beyond ESPN and the BCS that make it easier to win the MNC in the SEC. i.e. weather, hometown bowl games, and oversigning to name a few.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

And some time in the future (probably soon), an SEC team will get routed by another Conf in the CG and the love fest will diminish greatly.

Not if ESPN has anything to say about it. They'll just chalk it up to the "brutal SEC schedule" the losing team had, and say that the winning team had it easy going into the game because they didn't have to go through that SEC schedule.

 

[HorseshoeFetish]

An other aspect of this SEC run that never gets mentioned.

Several "traditional powers" who once dominated the tops of the polls have all been non-contenders during this run.

Nebraska
Florida St
Miami
Norte Dame
Michigan

Those are teams that lose 4 games minimum just about every year Of the streak.
A decade ago, it would take Nebraska five years to lose 4 games.

Those programs dropping off coincided with:
Bama coming off probation.
LSU rising up
Auburn started cheating again
Florida staying near the top

Good post... I think Miami and the FSU decline also had to do with crying over losses.

Miami crying over tOSU NCG.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6LiLngusVM"]Ohio state 2002 National Champions (Watch this video) - YouTube[/ame]

Florida State crying about Louisville playing too rough in beating them IIRC.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnE1AIiEv2E"]2002 Louisville Cardinals vs. Florida State Football - YouTube[/ame]

Neither of them seemed to be the same after those losses. I think that, and Tennessee seeming to fall off the map at the same time contributed to the rise of UF and the SEC dominance.

 

[Saw31]

They are clearly the best at the top of their conference and at the end of the day that is what matters most to most people.

I'll add that if you look at the SEC record against other BCS conferences since the BCSNCG streak started you'll find that they are 80-49. It's difficult to argue against that success.

Beat them on the field in the big game.

I agree.

 

[zwem]

They are clearly the best at the top of their conference and at the end of the day that is what matters most to most people.

I'll add that if you look at the SEC record against other BCS conferences since the BCSNCG streak started you'll find that they are 80-49. It's difficult to argue against that success.

Beat them on the field in the big game.

Agree 100%. Over the last 2 decades Alabama has 3 national championships, Florida has 3, LSU has 2, Auburn has 1 (also 3 undefeated seasons), Tennessee has 1 even though they have dropped off, Georgia was a top 10 team every year for while. Usually their top 2 or 3 teams can play with anybody in the country. SEC teams step up in the big bowls and championships.

SEC also sends more players to the NFL than any other conference. They get the best players. It is what it is.