It is not a question of who they can beat on any given Saturday, it is a question of who they did beat on these specific Saturdays. I do not think that by virtue of playing an SEC schedule that a 1 loss SEC team should automatically be included or ranked ahead of any other team. I do think that strength of schedule should count in conjunction with a team's record. The notion that an undefeated team is automatically ranked higher than a team that has a loss or two is a bankrupt idea. The missing premise in that type of assertion is that the quality of opponents for all teams is homogeneous.
Anybody who doesn’t think that TCU is a very good team hasn’t watched them. They are well coached, well disciplined, physical, and execute very well. My knock on them is that in comparison to some teams, like us, their schedule is weak, and a 1 loss SEC team deserves to go in ahead of them. I’m not one of those that thinks they wouldn’t fair well in the a big boy conference, like the SEC. I just think they would have 2 losses if not more this year. Some say the SEC is down, I contend the SEC has leveled its own playing field. With 7 teams ranked in the top 25, and 10 that will go bowling it is hard to believe that the SEC is down. Our problem is that there aren’t the dominant teams at the top. The top, especially in the West is all pretty even. I said it at the beginning of the season, that I think the SEC might be in for a drought when it comes to making it to the MNC. Now obviously AU may put a crimp in that thought, should they win out. It was and still is my belief that the SEC is going to start having 1 loss teams at best and staking up a couple of 2 - 3 loss teams, ending up with 10 or better teams going bowling. This season is very much shaping up to be that way. I think Bama takes down AU and we end up with 0 undefeateds and lose out of the MNC. We will probably end up with AU 11-1, LSU 10-2, Bama 10-2, Ark 9-3, Miss St 9-3, UF 9-3, USCe 8-4, UGA 7-5, UK 7-5, and who knows for UT, Ole Miss and Vandy. I do think that 1 of those 3 will still make it to a bowl, probably UT. Bottom line is the SEC is leveling out and the top is getting deeper. Instead of 4-5 really good to great teams we are going to have 6-8. Our bottom is going to go from 3-4 bad teams to 1-2. As has been shown this yr on any given Sat any one of the top 7-8 teams can and do beat up on each other.
Playing in the best conference in the nation, and in the best division of said conference has benefits, and detriments. We are penalized for playing in the toughest conference in the nation.
