Yep, watched the same show as downtown, and it is what got me going. I mean, as I said I think the SEC is just back to beating itself up again, with a couple of strong teams, and a couple of good teams, but very few at the cellar like so many other conferences. Just like downtown said I believe that the SEC will put 9-10 teams in bowl games this year, will have the best OOC record, and have the best bowl win record. HTH does that equal down year. Ok, so Bama and UF all of the sudden look vulnerable, and LSU hasn't proven to be the team we or they are used to; UT, AU, and UGA aren't at the top, but OM, USCe, and UK aren't in the cellar either. So it sorta balances out. I just don't see where they can justify their resoning for saying the SEC is down.
I'd have no problem with unbeaten Iowa or unbeaten TCU getting in ahead of a 1 loss SEC champion, 1 loss USC on the other hand (or unbeaten Cincy) would annoy the heck out of me- seriously, USC lost to Washington that'd be like Florida, Bama, or LSU losing to MSU or Vandy and then arguing they deserve a title shot.
Still alot of football left to be played. And the media will probably be back on our side, SEC, as soon as USC drops their second game of the season. The way USC likes to do it, they will probably win in Oregon, and then drop one to Ariz State\stanford or something. They are such choke artist every year. I highly expect them to drop another game somewhere. Of course we could be in the same boat soon, as we tend to do the same things on some years, see 2006 and 2007. But you are right, alot of those media guys have to justify their votes ahead of time.
If it really came down to a 1 loss USC team and a 1 loss LSU team being decided for one of the two spots in the chamionship game. Our win at Washington wins it for us, the human voters would have to see it that way, and the computers would heavily favor LSU. Especially after beating an unbeaten Florida team on a neatral field, atleast I really hope they stay undefeated. I wish USC was our only problem if it does play out like that. Fun to talk about, but its all silly speculation, if we come away from Alabama with a win, things will really heat up.
All LSU has to do is continue to play solid defense and keep gradually improving on offense each week and I believe there probably will not be a team in the Nation that can stay on the field with us by the end of regular season. Our defense is really special and our offense is just a few minor adjustments away from being incredible! The way I see it, LSU is probably the only team that can beat LSU if we just play up to our level of talent!
It's hard to be objective when it's YOU they are talking about. I handle criticism well, as long as it's not me being criticized. I've read some of the "SEC is down" commentaries. I haven't seen much about some other conference being better, so I'm not sure that's the issue. I think they're talking about parity. The fact is it is eyebrow raising to see the closeness of some of these games, be it LSU/MSU, Bama/Tn or Fla/Ark. There seems to be a lot of parity out there, especially with Florida struggling on offense. Last year whenever Florida played anyone, there was kind of that "wow" factor. I mean, let's face it, other than the Ole Miss game, Florida beat the rest of the conference 360-49. Then when Bama got blown out in their bowl game.... well... you get the drift. The BCS has always been about trying to find the best teams (and trying it has been), not finding the best conference. It's the fans/media who throw in that part. Florida and Bama... and Texas.... have the top slots... and, obviously, if they win out it will be Fl/Bama winner versus Texas. That's gonna happen regardless of what Iowa, TCU, USC or Boise does. It's the system (Pete)... it's the system. The fact is, with the way everyone's been playing, there's probably ten teams right now, maybe more, that could put up a showing in a championship game. Nobody's scaring the daylights out of anyone.... and every conference has tough rivalry games... that's not just an SEC thing. And those are my deepest of thoughts on the subjectopcorn:. (Hey, where did my "contributor" thingy go. I'm suppose to be paid up through March... or something...)
I agree on both accounts. It's clear to me the SEC is THE strongest overall, year-in and year-out, but games like Bama vs. Utah and Florida vs. Michigan the year before scream out at fans of other conferences.
The Media is just doing this to overhype the other conferences and bring them up to par with the SEC. They say that the SEC is having a down year, but at the same time, they say that a 1-loss SEC team will be considered ahead of anybody else for the BCSCG. Personally, I this its all BS
There's no Oklahoma averaging 54 points per game against sub-par defenses out there. So the media is bored. When bowl season comes around the SEC's top 5 teams will dominate. It happens 8 out of 10 times, basically. And it's because SEC defenses are better. And that's why Bama struggled with Tennessee and Florida didn't blow out LSU. More times than not (by a large margin), SEC top tier teams beat up on other conference top tier teams and prove that averaging 50ppg or having the #1 defense statistically doesn't mean crap when your conference is weaker top to bottom. But, Bama will be distracted and near suicidal after getting spanked at the end of the season again and lose to Boise freakin' state in the Sugar Bowl, or some team in the MAC will beat South Carolina or Kentucky in the ToysRUs bowl, and the lesser conferences will ignore the other 8 bowl victories and use that one as their salve. I'm beginning to enjoy this little ritual every year. No offense to Hawker, who is a great forum member.
