I understand what you are saying and I get the point you are trying to make. What I'm saying is that the Pac-10 is so much weaker than the SEC that since the BCS stuff started, teams like USC have to play tougher OOC games to get the RPI up while the SEC schedule is tough enough as is, making the SEC teams not have to go for the tough OOC games. That's the point I'm trying to make.
Playing Georgia, Florida, or LSU is alot different than playing Oregon, Arizona St, or Washington.
The SEC is no different from any of the other major conferences. They all have two or three very good teams, two or three pretty good teams, two or three mediocre teams and two or three mediocre-to-bad teams.
SEC zealots just want everyone to believe that their conference's second- and third-tier teams are powerhouses. But there's a big dropoff after Georgia, LSU and Florida. Tennessee gets up into that "very good" tier sometimes, but it's been happening less and less frequently.
Seriously, take the two or three very best teams from any major conference. Do you really believe they'd be over their head in the SEC? Of course not.
SEC zealots just want everyone to believe that their conference's second- and third-tier teams are powerhouses. But there's a big dropoff after Georgia, LSU and Florida. Tennessee gets up into that "very good" tier sometimes, but it's been happening less and less frequently.
Seriously, take the two or three very best teams from any major conference. Do you really believe they'd be over their head in the SEC? Of course not.
If I absolutely had to bet each of those matchups on the moneyline with all other factors being equal (injuries, game location, etc.), here's what I'd lean towards:
- USC - Georgia Flip a coin
- Oregon - Florida This year Florida, last year Oregon
- Arizona St - LSU Flip a coin right now, I still have questions about both
- California - Tennessee (I look for both teams to be down a bit in 2008, though)
- UCLA - South Carolina (this is pretending Olsen is healthy)
- Arizona - Alabama (I'll take a Stoops over Saban in a big game)
- Washington - Mississippi St (Jake Locker is a monster and you never know what Sylvester Crooms might do)
- Washington St - Arkansas (Not much of an edge this year, but I don't think I could take Wazzou)
- Oregon St - Kentucky (Woodson's departure hurts the Wildcats a lot)
- Stanford - Mississippi (If there were a way I could bet that somehow both teams would lose, that'd be the option I picked...)
My picks in bold.
Cal over Tenn? South Carolina over UCLA? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
LSU would crush Arizona State in a rout.
Arizona over Alabama I'd side with the Tide. The Wildcats are improving but they are not even close to having the recruits that Bama has.
I think Mississippi State could run all over Washington any day, all day. Washington's D-Line is tiny. Mississippi St has the athletes to stop Locker who is pretty much the entire offense on the team.
Oregon St over Kentucky is one I could see happening. USC has a chance against Georgia although I think the Bulldogs would be favored on a neutral site.
Haha I laughed at the last line by the way about the Stanford/Miss game.
LSU would crush Arizona State in a rout.
Arizona over Alabama I'd side with the Tide. The Wildcats are improving but they are not even close to having the recruits that Bama has.
I think Mississippi State could run all over Washington any day, all day. Washington's D-Line is tiny. Mississippi St has the athletes to stop Locker who is pretty much the entire offense on the team.
Oregon St over Kentucky is one I could see happening. USC has a chance against Georgia although I think the Bulldogs would be favored on a neutral site.
Haha I laughed at the last line by the way about the Stanford/Miss game.
Cal did beat Tennessee just last season. I think the Bears will be down a couple of notches this season because of offensive losses, but if the two teams played again this year I'd still favor Cal. I have questions about whether or not the Tennessee offense will do much this season.
As for Washington/Mississippi State, would you feel better knowing your bet is in the hands of Jake Locker or Sylvester Croom? Croom-coached teams are so very inconsistent.
As for Washington/Mississippi State, would you feel better knowing your bet is in the hands of Jake Locker or Sylvester Croom? Croom-coached teams are so very inconsistent.
Okay..The best team from the SEC has won their BCS title game the last two years...But speaking for the rest of the conference the jury is still out..I wasn't really impressed with the SEC's performance in their bowl games last season. Florida lost to a mediocre Michigan team. The Arkansas team that beat LSU got routed by Missouri, the second best team in the Big 12. Auburn, the team who beat Florida and for all practical purposes had LSU beat until their hail-mary pass, needed overtime to beat a Clemson team who finished third in the ACC. Tennessee beat Wisconsin by 4 points..They were higher rated and favored to win. So no surprise there..But still no SEC runaway with two teams who finished in similar places in their conferences. Kentucky, another team who defeated LSU, beat Florida State by 7 points as 9 point favorites..A FSU team where half their starters were suspended before the game. So no surprise that an 8-5 Kentucky should beat a 6-6 FSU. But it was no runaway, and they didn't cover. And Bama beat Colorado, the worst bowl eligible team from the Big 12..And they very nearly lost that game. And finally Miss. St. beat a non BSC school UCF 10-3. So i really can't call that one an impressive victory..The only GOOD win that the SEC had in a bowl last season was a veteran LSU team over a very young Ohio State team, who basically wasn't even given a chance to make it back to a BCS bowl at the beginning of the season. So yes, I would say the SEC as a whole, has plenty to prove..Not only in their bowls, but during the regular season...I'm not convinced.
Well you could be right in a given year, but you'd be wrong in others. At some point every team in the Pac-10 goes on a roll and they've beaten teams from all over the country. It happens to most conferences just the same way. And if you want to jumble up those matchups, it gets even more interesting. Say for example you take Oregon State and send them over to play @ LSU... results -- 3 missed PAT's by Alex Serna any one of which would have smeared the LSU and the SEC terribly by a 2nd tier Pac-10 school.
I'm telling you that most of the SEC schools that refuse to travel are SCARED to lose to better teams around the country because when they do, the SEC doesn't look so good. What would that do to their RPI then? Sorta like beating Notre Dame when they are ranked 4th but before they go on to losing 9 games that year.
Yeah, the SEC stands to lose a lot of prestige when they go out and play other major BCS schools.
Imagine rolling the tape ahead about 5 years... People used to think they (SEC conference schools) were larger than life before they went out and did like most of the rest of CFB and took on all comers. But they turned out to be nothing more than average by their W/L results.
Not a very good outlook. They should have stayed put. They are a better conference in people's minds for doing that... and it's safer.
Just to add something... I wouldn't call any team scared. You know the players will play anyone in the country. It's hard to look down on the players since they have nothing to do with scheduling and it's done years ahead of time before alot of these guys even join up. I don't think SEC teams are scared at all of facing anyone, although the ADs might want to limit exposure in the schedule.
Just felt like I'd add that.
Just felt like I'd add that.
The bottom line is, for a conference that you think is head and shoulders above everybody else, they sure aren't winning (or losing) that way in their bowl games. Or many of their regular season OOC games. Taken as a whole are they better than the other conferences? Yes...Head and shoulders better? No
All right so blame the AD's and college presidents for the weak scheduling. It's probably true. Daddy is the one who is scared. You just know it would backfire in their faces if they took on better OOC competition.
Very few teams have ever succeeded other than Notre Dame historically and lately USC. But lots of schools like Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio St. etc. have gotten themselves involved. Especially in championship years, they've proven themselves playing outside of their own conference in addition to their bowl games. Maybe at one time Alabama really did prove to the nation that they were the best when Bear Bryant coached there. It's been a long long time since any SEC coach has taken on all of CFB the way USC and Notre Dame (historically) have and beaten most of their opponents. But any effort would look better than none.
http://www.finebaum.com/audio_current.html
Go to July 28 in the 4th hour.
Start at 12:48
A caller ask about OSU and the SEC. This is a show from Birmingham.
Go to July 28 in the 4th hour.
Start at 12:48
A caller ask about OSU and the SEC. This is a show from Birmingham.
First of all, I disagree with your first post of this thread. But disagree even more with this list you made. Where's Auburn on this list? Are they not mentioned in the top 10 of the SEC anymore?
Just a side note - I wouldn't be surprised at all if Auburn beats all three of your previously stated teams this year [LSU-Sept. 20, UGA-Nov. 15, FL-Dec. 6 (SEC CG)].
I checked it out and that is probably the best unbiased opinion I have heard thus far. Everyone has such a short memory about how things transpired with OSU. They just look at it and say "OSU got over powered in their last two NC games so they shouldn't have been there and they suck. The Big Ten sucks, public enemy #1!". There is a good reason things transpired the way they did and it's not OSU's fault and it doesn't mean the Big 10 is as about as good as the Sun Belt conference. Since the majority of the sports fans don't have enough intelligence to figure that out (for example, the Alabama caller who makes the same point as everyone else), ESPN and the rest of the media jump on board and the sheep follow.
