LSU has a great bowl record of late... and BCS OOC record, combined better than Florida this new decade. If there is separation, it's those two teams doing it, ala Southern Cal and Texas. The rest of the conference, this decade, not so much. The Big Ten holds their own with the SEC, despite tOSU's embarassments... and the PAC 10 and Big East have winning records. It's the ACC that you guys pound. There is a big conference halo effect that occurs when a conference team wins the national championship. It even occurs when a Florida beats the rest of their conference teams 360-49 (less Ole Miss). Makes no difference, win the NC and your conference gets the kudos. This year Florida doesn't appear to be as dominant as last year, Bama looks very beatable... so the halo gets lowered a tad. It's still there, just doesn't glimmer as bright. You get the good with the bad, media-wise. That's why I wouldn't worry if I was a big SEC fan. To me it's obvious you'll get one team into the dance and that team will have a 50/50 chance of winning.... and should they win, the halo will be put back in its proper place. (and probably just above Tim Tebow's head... how media-fitting that will be)
Maybe I heard a different part of his show but I think he was just using USC to prove his point. He kept mentioning USC in reference to how bad a one loss team would kill Iowa, Boise, TCU. He even threw in Texas and Florida a couple times. I haven't given up on Cowherd yet.
Well, I gave TCU the benefit of a doubt that they could at least hang with OM or possibly LSU, although they would still lose.
I just think the SEC is the only conference that is top to bottom committed to defense. I am not sure how many offenses would look good week to week in the SEC. Texas? USC? Boise? maybe get up for one game, but to face SEC defenses week after week? That's why SEC offenses dont look so great, and why most games are very close. I might be wrong but Matt Barkley would look like a true freshman if he had to play SEC ball week after week.
If they played out schedule they would end up 8-4 this season. Don't think they would fair well on the road against teams like UGA, Bama, or OM.
Well, it's not a huge deal, but I think these journalists are either lazy at times or just dishonest. The guy Doyle on the CBS Sports web site went totally overboard. He said Florida, Bama and LSU don't deserve their rankings and then went on to basically say that the SEC stinks this year. Of course, he's the same idiot that predicted that OU would stomp Florida last year. But a few others have been saying this stuff too and they try to base it on comparisons of last year and this year. Well, that doesn't work either. As dominant as Florida was last year, they were 3-1 with a loss to Ole Miss in the Swamp last year through four games. This year, they're not killing teams as much, but they're undefeated through seven games. And there is still only one team that played them that didn't get beat by double digits (Arkansas). Florida doesn't look as dominant as last year and that's obvious. But what is more important, dominating teams and occassionaly dropping one or winning them all? They've won all their games so far even with about half their team getting the flu and Tebow having a huge concussion. Did people forget this? And going into Tiger Stadium and winning at night with a record crowd against a top 10 team is a nice feat as well. Bama at this point last year had beaten Kentucky by only 3, Ole Miss by 4 and Tulane by 14 points (all at home). So they didn't kill teams in every game last year. They beat Kentucky and Ole Miss by much more this year. Only one opponent has not gotten beat by double digits by Bama through 8 games and that was Tennessee. That's pretty impressive. Bama didn't look very good last week, but it happens. And I know there are rivalries in every conference, but Tenn/Bama games are usually played like this. Most rivalries don't include one team's coach ratting out another school to get them on probation, etc. Bama has actually been more dominant this year compared to last year so far. Ole Miss had the win over Florida at this point last year, but they were 4-4 with losses to Memphis and Vandy. They're 5-2 right now so it's not like they totally fell off the map. LSU already had two blowout losses already at this time last year. Right now their only loss is to #1 Florida in a low scoring defensive battle. Auburn has already reached their win total from last year and South Carolina only needs one more win to match their total from last year. Tennessee and Miss St. are obviously much improved (although State likely won't really finish with a better record than last year). Tennessee could possibly go to a bowl. I'd say the only other teams that are clearly not as good as last year are Vandy and Georgia. Florida is clearly not as dominant in spots, but they haven't lost at all either. So the conference is fine and I don't see how the highly ranked teams wouldn't deserve their individual ranking. Who would go above them? The only team I'd probably put higher in the top 10 is Oregon. I could see putting them above LSU because they've looked impressive lately and only have one loss to Boise St. in the first game. Up until this point, they've done well (and they'll move up if they beat USC). But other than that, SEC teams are where they belong. Doyle was saying that USC possibly deserved #1 over Florida/Bama because their only loss was without their most important player (Barkley). I realize the guy is just likely trying to stir the pot more, but that's just idiotic. Washington has 5 losses right now with two of them being by 20+. USC couldn't beat them with their 27 5-star tailbacks we hear about every year? Should we not count games played when key players get hurt? They do call it a team, right? LSU won 2 SEC championship games with backup QBs with little to no experience. Why? Because they had a great TEAM each time. I think the media goes way overboard with what they expect out of the SEC and I think that's where the issue comes in. In that sense, they might be overrated because nobody could live up to those expectations. But I think some of them try to put those unrealistic expectations out there on purpose so they can pounce on the SEC at some point in the season. I just think it's stupid (just like the early SEC worshipping). The SEC is really good, but the other conferences have some really good teams too. I just wish there were more actual journalists out there giving a unique look at something to the reader rather than stirring the pot like most of these guys do these days. It's pretty sad.
