How do we know the SEC is any good?

[JarHeadJim]

Florida lost to Georgia Southern!

 

[NashvilleOrange]

So we shoudl base pre season rankigns on recruiting rankings? Or are you just pointing out the similarity between the two.

A little of both. Ole Miss had the number 1 recruiting class and they moved up the polls pretty quickly, not sure if they started out in the top 25 though. I don't mind it, especially with the way the ACC is recruiting - second best after the SEC; that will give some good opportunities for Syracuse to grab some wins over top 25 programs.

 

[TheCusian]

I think they live off of perception - and years like this hurt their perception a little. You can schedule light when everyone agrees you are the best conference - but questions will surface when you have years like this.

The playoff may push some to schedule up more than they have - as a fan - that's what we should want.

 

[Alsacs]

The SEC has been the best conference in college football the past 5 years no doubt. However, the conference perception is that beating 10th best SEC team is better than beating 4th or 5th B1G, Pac-12, ACC team. The SEC is top heavy like a lot of conferences its just their top heavy is 5 or 6 rather than 1 or 3 teams. LSU and Tennessee are the only SEC teams that plays the top brand in each division each and every year Alabama and Florida. LSU played Georgia and Florida from the SEC East this season, Tennessee played Alabama and Auburn from the SEC West. The reason some of these teams have inflated resumes is because they avoid the top teams in the conference and get an extra 1 or 2 wins which makes a team that would be 9-3 or 8-4 and barely a top 25 team a team that goes 11-1 or 10-2 and is a top 10 team.

Why is Missouri ranked 5th and Michigan State ranked 10th when both are 11-1? Mizzou beat Florida, a banged up Georgia team, Texas A&M, Ole Miss. Michigan State beat Nebraska, Michigan, Minnesota. I think Michigan State is better than Missouri, but SEC perception gets Mizzou higher and I hate the B1G more than the SEC. Neither Mizzou or Michigan State played the top 3 teams from the other division which causes their records to get inflated during conference play. This is why the SEC tends get teams with good records because the good teams which are really good for the record don't play each other as much and the bottom half teams take the losses.

 

[ImperialOrange]

[quote="JarHeadJim, post: 827566, member: 178"Florida lost to Georgia Southern![/quote]

And paid 550k for the right to do so thinking it was an auto win/bye week.

 

[cuseincincy]

A little of both. Ole Miss had the number 1 recruiting class and they moved up the polls pretty quickly, not sure if they started out in the top 25 though. I don't mind it, especially with the way the ACC is recruiting - second best after the SEC; that will give some good opportunities for Syracuse to grab some wins over top 25 programs.

You mean Ole Miss that went 7-5 and is currently unranked? But I'll give them credit, they did play and beat Texas.

 

[NashvilleOrange]

You mean Ole Miss that went 7-5 and is currently unranked?

I mean Ole Miss who lost to Alabama, Auburn and Missouri. Ole Miss was ranked for much of the season and is finishing the season ranked 9 or 10 in SEC power rankings; put them in any other conference and they finish much better than that.

 

[TheCusian]

I mean Ole Miss who lost to Alabama, Auburn and Missouri. Ole Miss was ranked for much of the season and is finishing the season ranked 9 or 10 in SEC power rankings; put them in any other conference and they finish much better than that.

That's the whole point of this thread - are we sure that they'd finish "much" better than that in the other big 5 conferences? Maybe - but who knows? - they played and beat a mediocre Texas team. Not their fault since when they scheduled them I'm sure Texas was a pretty good challenge - but you play who you play.

 

[javadoc]

Whatever their faults, the computer polls are (supposed to be) a decent measure comparing teams nationally. By halfway through the season, more or less, the polls have lost any statistical significance from the initial rankings. And by season's end teams have generally played enough other teams OOC to provide some measure of national comparison and scaling. So we could see what the computers say.

For instance, in this week's BCS standings, it looks like Oklahoma State is noticeably overrated, while Arizona State is underrated, according to the computers. Sound reasonable? The other rankings tend to track what the human voters say.

 

[timkay99]

But if somehow a one loss SEC team jumps over an undefeated FSU or OSU, this years championship game will be meaningless. That said, if OSU plays against MSU the way they did against UM they will get trounced.

I think a 1 one loss SEC team should jump Ohio State.

Ohio State has scheduled worse then every SEC team and haven't played a top 15 opponent in 2 years! Michigan State will be their first this week.

If you are an Alabama fan it obviously leaves a bad taste. But, do you really think you should go from being #1 all year to out of the national championship b/c of a road loss against a top 10 team (at worst) who happens to be your biggest rival on a fluky last second play?

Here is something funny, the combined records of the teams Ohio State played on the road is 14-38:

California (1-11)
Northwestern (5-7)
Illinois (1-7)
Purdue (0-8)
Michigan (7-5) - which happened to be the only close game

Alabama, Auburn and Missouri are much more deserving, IMO.

 

[kirbivore]

I think Alabama, Auburn and Missouri are much more deserving, IMO.

Whomever wins the SEC title game is more deserving than Alabama and would have no problem with Missouri/Auburn jumping Ohio St. I'm sick of Alabama getting a mulligan.

 

[SmilinBob]

I'm thanking the football gods that FSU is undefeated because all we'd hear from the pundits is that we should have a Bama/Auburn rematch in the NCG.

Why no Baylor or OSU? Amazing how the Big 12 seems to get the boot when their top team loses to a bad team each year. Maybe, deservedly so but it's odd that it's a 4-8 team within its own conference that is it's own undoing. Much like when Pitt beat WV back in the day.

 

[All4SU]

Get a legitimate playoff system in place and all of this pointless debating goes out the window.

 

[SmilinBob]

Get a legitimate playoff system in place and all of this pointless debating goes out the window.

The problem is when teams like Bama don't win their division or conference and back into the playoffs. I want a playoff with just the conference winners and no conference championships (1 division) with more games played within the conference at least 9 and should be 10 if you have 14 teams or more. That's a freakon rule the NCAA should have if you want to qualify for a playoff.

 

[All4SU]

The problem is when teams like Bama don't win their division or conference and back into the playoffs. I want a playoff with just the conference winners and no conference championships (1 division) with more games played within the conference at least 9 and should be 10 if you have 14 teams or more. That's a freakon rule the NCAA should have if you want to qualify for a playoff.

You're just talking crazy now.

I don't know what the right formula is. There was a time I would have agreed with you. But I think the large conference model is here to stay, and I don't think you will ever get away from conference championships, or get more than 9 conference games.

 

[SmilinBob]

You're just talking crazy now.

I don't know what the right formula is. There was a time I would have agreed with you. But I think the large conference model is here to stay, and I don't think you will ever get away from conference championships, or get more than 9 conference games.

I don't mind the large conferences as long as the games played are proportional to how many teams are in it. The Big 12 has 10 teams and plays 9...as does the PAC 12 while the SEC, Big 10 and ACC play 8?

 

[mscanlo]

Florida lost to Georgia Southern!

they also were missing 10 starters due to injuries, and using a 3rd string qb, (and basically their season was over already since, even if they had won the game, they probably were not going to beat fsu)

 

[BlazeOrange]

I want a playoff with just the conference winners and no conference championships (1 division) with more games played within the conference at least 9 and should be 10 if you have 14 teams or more. That's a freakon rule the NCAA should have if you want to qualify for a playoff.

Partially agree: I like the stipulation that only conference champions qualify for the playoffs, although I'd prefer adding a couple power conference wild cards to get to 8 teams instead of adding a bunch of lower-level conference champions. Maybe the five power conference champs, highest ranked of the other conference champs, and two wild cards. [I know we're currently at a 4-team playoff, but that's only temporary. Maximum shelf life is whenever an SEC team is left out, but will probably expand before that happens.]

And I'd keep/require conference championship games, since it effectively doubles the playoff field. The teams are just re-seeded after the conf. championship games. The only awkward part is that one or two losers of their conference championship games will probably get another chance in the playoffs.

 

[BlazeOrange]

I want FSU to play an SEC team. I dont feel like watching them destroy a B1G team, noone respects the B1G anyway.

Plus if FSU beats Ohio State, all you'll hear is grumbling about how they didn't beat the "true" top team. You'd get the same if an SEC team bumps an undefeated OSU, but to a lesser degree. Either way, someone will lobby the non-BCS-associated poll to declare a different national champion - probably unsuccessfully though.

 

[sufandu]

My ideal set up within large conferences, I'll go 14 since that's what we're in, is play everyone in your division, only one crossover game, the rest of the schedule is out of conference, and only conference champion winners are eligible for the playoff. All of the added non-conference games would make each season interesting, since we're not seeing as many of the same match-ups every year. I get bored with only seeing one or two good non-conference match-ups in week two and the rest of the season is all in conference. I'd love to see Oregon-vs-Ohio State or Alabama-vs-Stanford or FSU-vs-Oklahoma in week 4 or 5. The conference championship game would almost be a first round of the play-off. Since there are fewer playoff spots than large conferences, there would be incentive to play a decent non-conference schedule.

Edit: I know this will never happen.

 

[cuseincincy]

they also were missing 10 starters due to injuries, and using a 3rd string qb, (and basically their season was over already since, even if they had won the game, they probably were not going to beat fsu)

Sorry but those are not reasons ro excuses to lose to Georgia Southern.

 

[TheCusian]

Sorry but those are not reasons ro excuses to lose to Georgia Southern.

Exactly. I'd bet there wasn't one player on Georgia Southern that would be on scholarship at FL. No excuse, at all.

 

[NashvilleOrange]

Plus if FSU beats Ohio State, all you'll hear is grumbling about how they didn't beat the "true" top team. You'd get the same if an SEC team bumps an undefeated OSU, but to a lesser degree. Either way, someone will lobby the non-BCS-associated poll to declare a different national champion - probably unsuccessfully though.

Hopefully OSU loses to Michigan state this weekend. That will fix a lot of the mess although if Missouri wins, some will argue that Bama deserves to be in the championship instead.

 

[mscanlo]

Sorry but those are not reasons ro excuses to lose to Georgia Southern.

valid, but to say the SEC isn't a great conference is crazy. granted a the whole conference significantly from a few great teams and the self-fulfilling prophecy of having a lot of preseason ranked teams to help maintain their status as best conference when they knock each other off.

trust me, living in the south, i want nothing more than to shut up SEC fans, but the top teams in their conference are dominant and make the SEC. funny, people never really bring it up, but for as good as they have been the past 7 years, the SEC bowl record has been only slightly above average (going off memory), and probably will be again this year, and if it wasn't for the fact they clean up agianst the big 10, the bowl record would be dismal

 

[retro44]

. they're 4-4, right? bama and lsu won their games vs vtech and tcu. i'm not saying they're better, necessarily. i'm taking issue with the point that they don't schedule anyone. i'm saying their schedules, on the whole, are still at least as hard as anybody elses.

did TCU finish 4-8 this year?