I see the comments posted daily on the message boards. Ohio State wasn't deserving of a shot in the National Championship game. The SEC is the most dominant conference in football. USC or UGA should have been the second team despite their losses. And the rhetoric goes on endlessly....
I won't digress into another article on whether or not the Bucks belonged in the National Championship, or get into a shouting match about whether they would have beaten USC or UGA heads up. No, what I hope to address here is the constant commentary from south of the Mason Dixon line that espouses that only the SEC plays "real football" and that no other conference can compete.
I grant the point that the SEC has fielded back to back National Champions. I further acknowledge the Big Ten has produced back to back National Championship game losers. However, to assert that as a whole the SEC is head and shoulders above the rest of the college football world is to overlook reality.
The SEC plays good football. But so do five other BCS conferences. Frankly, the 13 losses by top five teams throughout the season to unranked opposition should be evidence enough for most folks to realize there is some insane amount of parity among the college football ranks.
But to many, facts be damned, the SEC won two very high profile games in the last two years over the Big Ten and as such, the SEC is by far and away the best conference playing football and the Big Ten is a pathetic also ran who should never be invited back to a BCS game regardless of their record.
So here's where we start looking past the two big games that form everyone's opinion, and look at some facts from the last year.
Did everyone quickly forget that the supposed second best team in the SEC (UGA) was out gained (488-465) and out first downed (23-18) by lowly Troy in a game at home. Did the lose track of the fact that this team that should have played for a national title was struggling to a 10 point victory over the Sunbelt?
The SEC blowhards also ignore how Michigan manhandled UF in the Outback bowl in what was essentially a home game for the Gators. You can quote the score all you like, but the fact that Michigan coughed up the ball multiple times in the red zone is the only thing saving face for the SEC here. The Southern Speed of UF was good for 125 less yards than Michigan and 10 less first downs.
And what about that Kentucky team that was good enough to top LSU earlier in the season. They struggled pretty mightily against a dumpy ACC team missing half their roster in a bowl game.
UT was in the SEC championship game and could probably be called one of the best teams in conference. They got smoked in their only tough OOC game by a PAC Ten team that finished the year barely above .500. As the SEC chides Ohio State for a weak OOC schedule, it is hard to defend Cal, La Tech, and Arkansas State.
I can continue to pick and choose to demonstrate the point that parity is the word in college football these days and the folks that espouse otherwise are just parroting the nonsense that the talking heads get paid to spew. You are ultimately welcome to believe whatever makes your heart content, but the bottom line is, when it comes down to betting, and it comes down to your pocket book, having an opinion that one conference is head and shoulder above another and ignoring all the evidence to the contrary, you'll find yourself short on dollars and long on talk real soon....
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