[NU Sports] Debunking the SEC mystique ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Aside from the crappy start in Evanston, an
interesting day in the college football world as
usual. GO NAVY!!!:) And with the cinderella shoe
falling off of BC and with ASU losing a tough game in
Autzen, the debate's only going to grow the next
couple weeks of Oregon, LSU and Oklahoma. And if OSU
falls in Ann Arbor, it could get real ugly.

But what might be interesting is that this SEC
mystique may finally be taking a hit this year with
all the parity (and lack of defenses) in the league.
No one doubts that the SEC has most of the finest
athletes in the country and there's some fine
football. But SEC fans were all too happy to jump on
last year's B(C)S title game (nevermind what happened
in Orlando and Tampa) and declare the Big Ten dead
with their conference supreme.

The media jumped aboard after Michigan's loss to
Appalachain State at the start of the year and
suddenly the Big Ten was behind the Big East, ACC and
Big XII. Pollsters piled on, with 3-loss SEC teams
still in the BCS hunt, but a 3-loss Big Ten team like
Penn State is obviously nobody ... nevermind that they
lost to #1, their usual menace Michigan and Illinois.
And nevermind that Illinois outplayed what has proven
to be a strong Mizzou team and only lost because they
couldn't hang on to the ball. Parity shows the SEC's
strength and the Big Ten's weakness.

But suddenly all the 41-38 and 44-41 shootouts aren't
being looked at so fondly anymore and people are
starting to see this year's SEC not as a dominant
league but as it is - an enjoyable coalition of
athletic teams, fun offense and poor defenses that are
fairly evenly matched. Exciting? Yes. Athletic?
Without question. Dominant? Hardly. Now if only the
polls would catch up and give Big Ten teams with 2-3
losses as much reverence as they do SEC teams.

Sure, SEC teams have wins over top 25 teams -- each
other -- but aside from LSU beating VaTech, the league
hasn't fared too well outside league play. East
division leader Tennessee got waxed by Cal. Auburn
lost at home to South Florida. Alabama lost to FSU.
Georgia squeaked by Troy. Kentucky lost a home to a
team West Virginia had blown out the week before.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the SEC isn't the
top league. I've always said they were the best league
at the top and the Big Ten was the deepest and either
one has great fans and no gimmes from week to week. 

I'm just saying that the folks down south did a lot of
Big Ten bashing and chest thumping early in the season
but that I'm not sure that their 1-loss team (LSU)
deserves to be in the title game over a 1-loss Pac Ten
champ in Oregon or a 1-loss Big XII champ (the winner
of what should be a wild final race between KU, OU and
Mizzou).

And I'm saying that there's no reason a 7-3 PSU,
Illini or Badger team shouldn't be ranked right there
with 7-3 SEC teams like Tennessee, Kentucky or Auburn.
Losing to Mississippi State at home isn't enough to
drop out but losing at Illinois or Michigan is?

And while we're on the old supremacy talk, let's not
forget that all these bowls are played basically in
SEC back yards. So yeah, it's kinda tough to come down
to those humidity boxes every winter and look as
dominant as the home team ... one nice thing about the
ACC and Big East is that these Florida teams have to
come up north every once and awhile to face the
elements. FSU survived this year but USF didn't fare
so well. Too bad the SEC schools never try it.:)

OK. End of rant. Just had to get that out.:) Maybe
it's frustration with NU's loss ... or just tired of
hearing Musburger and his likes ask if OSU really
deserves to be #1 because they play in the Big Ten. It
may not seem like it, but it does impact NU and had we
not gone into a shell after the first quarter today,
we'd really be hoping for that Big Ten respect to kick
in for that extra bowl slot to open up.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com