Equality killed the SEC
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Like the rest of the college football world, the SEC has been a rollercoaster this season.
You’ve had upsets galore.
When I found out that Arkansas had upset LSU, I_ran through a quick progression of emotions.
My first impression was,_&uot;Good.
After escaping Auburn and Alabama, it finally caught up with them.&uot;
However, the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t like the fact that there won’t be an SEC team in the national championship game.
To me, it hurts not to have a representative from the best conference in the country playing for the title.
Throughout college football this year, the recurring theme has been parity.
It seems that Appalachian State set the tone with that first big win over Michigan (which looks even better since Michigan has recovered and had a decent season).
This level playing field has been evident all over college football by the number of teams in the top five that have been knocked off by unranked teams.
As usual, this parity has also killed the SEC’s chance to play for a national title.
All year, LSU has been the closest thing to a dominant team the conference has had.
Top to bottom, I believe the SEC is the best conference in the nation.
Every team is bowl eligible except for Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
However, those two teams have been competitive in most of their games.
Ole Miss gave a good effort against LSU and put fear in the hearts of Florida Gator fans and Bama fans.
Vanderbilt almost took out Tennessee, who ends up in the conference championship game.
Even the teams at the bottom of the SEC have given the teams at the top a run for their money.
The argument could be made that maybe the teams at the top are overrated and not that good.
Perhaps, but they’re just as good as the other top teams around the country.
Like the SEC, there have not been many dominant teams in all of football this year.
Missouri and Kansas have looked good, and if Missouri can take out Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship, they’ll be in the national championship game.
Ohio State has also been a good team, but the Big 10 is not the conference it normally is.
West Virginia?
Ok, they’ve played well, and I_can see them in the championship game, especially after their thumping of a solid Connecticut team.
However, you must admit that the Big East is no SEC.
Oregon looked like a strong contender for being called a dominant team until Dennis Dixon went down with a knee injury.
He was the heart and soul (and apparently the entire offense, too) of that team, and they don’t stand a chance without him.
I’m not going to say that LSU should be in the championship game in the place of Missouri or West Virginia.
I_just feel that these teams haven’t had to go through as much as an SEC team would to reach the championship.
I hope I’m right, but there’s the possibility that I’m not.
The best way I know of checking all this out is to pay attention when bowl season rolls around.
The SEC will be facing off against schools from other conferences.
No matter how much I don’t like a team, I pull for them when bowl season comes around so that the entire conference looks good.
We’ll have to wait until the end of December to start finding out.