Considering the lull we are in the middle of leading into Monday night—UArk game was an exception which I'll get to in a minute—I've been involved in a conversation with a few friends of mine about how good the SEC actually is this season. Consider this...a compilation of a few thoughts. 10 wins in a season has been the standard for quality for as long as I can remember. I hear regularly that we are a conference with a couple of really good teams at the top, while the rest are good at best. There are a few conferences in football that have had three 11 win teams in a season. There's never been four. There are a handful of conferences that can boast having four 10 win teams in a given season—more than once in most occasions. The SEC in 2006, 2003, 1997, 1996, and 1971. As another example, the Big 12 in 2008, 2007, 2003, 2001. However, up until last night there has NEVER been a conference with four 11 win teams in a given season—Bama, LSU, UArk and USCe—or five teams with 10 wins in a season (add UGA at 10-4.) Having nearly half your conference at/above that level is one of those statistics is something no one can argue. Let me underscore that by speaking to the strength of the wins that did occur for these five schools. These five teams had 12 games each which equals 60 games. LSU and UGA each play an additional game in Atlanta to bring the total to 62 games played before the bowls. Each will play a bowl game to bring the total to 67 games. Of these 67 games, there were only 2 losses to teams NOT among these five. In other words it takes one of these five to beat one of these five. *South Carolina lost a game to Auburn, the defending national champion and an eventual bowl winner themselves. *UGA lost to Boise State, who finished 12-1 themselves and won their bowl game too. To counter the potential for someone now saying that the SEC is a conference with 5 really good teams and 7 cupcakes, I'll ask how did the SEC's non-10-win school do? Only three did not do well enough to get invited to a bowl game (Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Tennessee), so 4 of the 7 were bowl teams. These 4 went 3-1 in bowl games. That one loss comes from Vandy losing by 7 to co-Big East Champ Cincinnati who almost went to the BCS Orange Bowl. It's been a pretty solid year of football, eh?
