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CU Guru [1309]
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Wow. This in the AJC today...we've all said it....
Nov 30, 2012, 3:07 PM
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From various far-away precincts, where they wouldn’t know a MoonPie from a manhole cover, there comes some scurrilous talk about Southeastern Conference football.
Saturday afternoon in the Georgia Dome, the conference that has provided the last six national champions will decide who to nominate for a seventh term. The winner of the SEC Championship Game between Georgia and Alabama is expected to ascend to January’s title game, where it will play Notre Dame in a profound cultural clash.
And it appears as if some folk outside the borders of the SEC are a bit weary of the conference’s dominance. Such supremacy – even that which drips in Tupelo honey — tends to annoy the less fortunate.
As the SEC’s broadcasting partner, CBS has much skin in this game. Still, Gregg Doyel, who writes for the website arm of the network, offered the brave opinion last week that: “It’s a Ponzi scheme, this 2012 SEC fraud, built upon layers of air. Georgia is great because it has beaten Florida. Florida is great because it has beaten Texas AM. Texas AM is great because it has beaten Alabama. And Alabama is great because it has beaten…um, who has Alabama beaten, anyway?”
From the Salt Lake City Tribune of last Saturday: “Welcome to college football, where the SEC gets rewarded for doing pretty much nothing and the rest of the nation suffers for not being absolutely perfect.”
The questioning of SEC credentials is not limited to North America. London called this week. It’s not entirely happy about the way this college season has shaken out.
“I stand by what I said,” proclaimed Alex Ferguson, who, writing for the European site Skysports.com, had labeled the SEC “the most overrated conference in college football, by a mile.”
Amplifying via long distance, Ferguson said, “I don’t think Alabama or Georgia has played anybody this year. The SEC refuses to play any big non-conference team home-and-home and it’s a killer. You can’t have any credibility that way.”
Ferguson makes it clear that he still regards the SEC as the premier conference in college football and that the affection he gained for its swaggering kind of football while going to school in the South remains strong. He is thrilled to be flying into Atlanta to cover the event Saturday. Nevertheless, he remains convinced that the SEC has been living upon its reputation as much as its on-field performance this season.
Some may call that fair and balanced appraisal.
Neither Alabama nor Georgia played the top three teams from the opposing division of the SEC this season. Their non-conference schedule has been as soft as a Ritz Carlton pillow (the Tide did play Michigan, but followed that up with Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic and Western Carolina).
So lightly tested have the Bulldogs been since beating Florida on Oct. 27, CBS analyst Gary Danielson can’t figure out exactly what they are made of. “Coming into this game, I don’t know how real Georgia is,” he said.
The top of the SEC is pretty good. The bottom is pretty bad. The top six teams in the conference are undefeated against the bottom dwelling six. Such shallowness does not speak well for overall vitality.
These arguments are handy ammunition for those who question why the winner of Georgia-Alabama should potentially waltz into the national championship game ahead of other one-loss teams from other conferences (see Oregon and Kansas State). Or why there are six SEC schools in the BCS top 10.
In all this nitpicking there also may reside a simple case of SEC fatigue.
Those close to the subject have a difficult time sensing that. College football, SEC football specifically, enjoys such sacred standing in the South that it is blasphemy not to concede it every benefit of the doubt. There is almost the Copernican belief that college football revolves around the SEC.
You hear that belief in the words of Georgia coach Mark Richt: “There is something about our league that is special.”
You hear it in the boasts of former Georgia great running back Herschel Walker: “I’m SEC all the way. No matter where I’m at, I want to see them play that physical football on Saturday, see them go out and pound people.
“There’s a mindset in the conference, and that is to be the most physical and to be the best.”
And echoed in the anthropological assessment of Danielson: “The North has Yankees and Bulls and Red Sox. The South has Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, Florida and Georgia.”
In small doses, the rest of the country can possibly stomach the idea that within the SEC lives the best brand of football, the most passionate fans, the fairest ladies, the most stirring rivalries. It just doesn’t want to be immersed in those claims season after season after season.
“The level of excellence displayed by the SEC is to be admired,” said Danielson’s partner in the CBS booth, Verne Lundquist. “But I’m not so much a participant in the telecast that I don’t understand the desire of people to have some variety. I really do understand the desire in many parts of the county – let’s have some raspberry after all the vanilla.”
For those who wish to drown out the trumpeting of the SEC with counterclaims of their own, for those who would challenge the conference’s alpha dog status, Danielson has one snippet of practical advice:
“Until someone beats them, everybody should shut up.”
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Orange Blooded [2245]
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Re: Wow. This in the AJC today...we've all said it....
Nov 30, 2012, 3:10 PM
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What goes up. Will come down!! Keep your helmet on and your head down!
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CU Guru [1431]
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All-In [26968]
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Last sentence says it all...
Nov 30, 2012, 3:12 PM
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When given the opportunity, the teams from other conferences lose. It'd be one thing if the SEC just got to the championship game every year without earning it. But they make it, and they win, usually convincingly.
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All-In [26968]
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Oregon lost to LSU by 2 TDs last year...
Nov 30, 2012, 3:17 PM
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Lost to Auburn in the championship the year before. K-State went 10-2 then lost by 2 TDs to Arkansas last year.
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CU Guru [1346]
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ND may or may not put this to rest
Nov 30, 2012, 3:19 PM
[ in reply to Last sentence says it all... ] |
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After all, they have played some tough games this season.
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All-In [26968]
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Yep, they have the opportunity.
Nov 30, 2012, 3:24 PM
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The last five teams to attempt it failed.
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110%er [7980]
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Auburn was handed the championship***
Nov 30, 2012, 3:37 PM
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110%er [7980]
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the problem is the SEC does the same thing as everyone else
Nov 30, 2012, 3:38 PM
[ in reply to Last sentence says it all... ] |
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but gets rewarded more.
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All-TigerNet [11435]
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Last I checked Bama and UGA have losses just
Nov 30, 2012, 3:43 PM
[ in reply to Last sentence says it all... ] |
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like Oregon and KSU. Oregon lost in OT. Bama and UGA have beaten no one. When you have one good win, why do you deserve to be in the NC?
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Member [20]
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Re: Last I checked Bama and UGA have losses just
Nov 30, 2012, 4:06 PM
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I'm not sure you can say that Bama and Georgia haven't beaten anyone. Bama has wins over LSU (#7 BCS ranking) and Michigan (#18 BCS ranking). Georgia has a win over Florida (#4 BCS ranking). Whoever wins the SEC Championship game will have another win over a top 5 ranked BCS team. That will give the SEC champ two wins over top 10 ranked BCS teams. Oregon's only win against a top 25 BCS team is Oregon State at #15. A strong case could be made for KSU being left out though.
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CU Guru [1081]
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“Until someone beats them, everybody should shut up.” ******
Nov 30, 2012, 3:16 PM
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Orange Blooded [3350]
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Well we were 50***
Nov 30, 2012, 3:24 PM
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Orange Blooded [3350]
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Re: Was trying to say 50% against them this year
Nov 30, 2012, 3:29 PM
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If NCSU wasn't Mr. Hyde when they played UT that would have helped. Hopefully the Bowl season will back up this article. We and everybody else need to handle our business. But the networks make it hard when they are the number one recruiting tool for the conference as a whole. It's a self fulfilling prophecy for the networks. Hype the SEC therefore adding to their percieved greatness which leads the best highschoolers there which helps them sell more adds. Kind of like NASCAR. He with the most money wins and then everyone will lose interest and quit watching because it's so obviously slanted to the few advantaged. Maybe Duke has it all figured out. Raise you own money though private gifts and donations and let the poor state schools fight over public and TV money.
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Orange Blooded [4903]
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Sadly we beat their bottom. I hate the SEC but the ACC and
Nov 30, 2012, 3:38 PM
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us did little last week to disprove them as the best conference. The fact that we and FSU lost at home by 10 points or more to the upper SEC unfortunately continued to "prove" that they are the best conference - at least at the top.
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CU Guru [1746]
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I think the first part of that article is...
Nov 30, 2012, 3:37 PM
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passed on as fact, but not really true. One thing that is true is Bama and UGA had easy SEC schedules..but thats how the ball bounces some years and both teams took advantage of the easier schedule. Other years it will not be so easy.
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Orange Blooded [3350]
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Credit Bama for scheduling Michigan.***
Nov 30, 2012, 4:28 PM
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All-TigerNet [11435]
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How can they beat them when they don't get the chance
Nov 30, 2012, 3:41 PM
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Hard for them to lose when it's all SEC game like last year. Oregon doesn't get the chance, K st doesn't even though they have by far the best resume. Bama and UGA have no 2nd best win.
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Varsity [208]
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Longwinded article abt the SEC and USuC not mentioned ONCE!!
Nov 30, 2012, 4:00 PM
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Snicker, snicker ***
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Rock Defender [54]
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Will somebody shut that stupid dog up! ******
Nov 30, 2012, 4:16 PM
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Junkie [590]
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Re: Will somebody shut that stupid dog up! ******
Nov 30, 2012, 4:28 PM
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Tenn. beats NC.St. Fla. beats Fla. St. Ga. beats Ga.Tec. Sc. beats Clemson Vandy beats WF. Clemson beats Auburn. Did I leave anybody out?
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Legend [15749]
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I'm as sick of the SEC as anyone, buuuuut...
Nov 30, 2012, 4:40 PM
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Bama scheduled a "supposed" #8 Michigan and pummeled them. Georgia beat no one, but GT had a chance to make a statement, and they did. That statement was "Please, please stop scoring on us." Florida went into the house of a Top 10 FSU and beat them by double digits. LSU beat Washington by 38. Washington has seven wins, including two wins over top 10 ranked PAC 12 teams. And of course, the Gamecocks came into Death Valley without their starting QB and starting RB and still handled us.
I think it's fair to ask "who have the beaten", but there's enough meat on the answer to that question to ask the follow-up..."who has beaten them?"
We went 0-4 vs them with two evenly matched teams at home (us and FSU), one overmatched team at home (Wake) and one overmatched team on the road (GT). We had the opportunity to make a statement and we blew it.
In the bowl season, we'll have another chance to make a statement. Let's see what we do.
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