Best of the SEC: Conference wars addition

Lots of SEC bloggers have been weighing in on the conference wars lately, and so have many of the mainstream media. GeauxTigers at And The Valley Shook points us to this article by Pat Forde of ESPN, which explains why the passion of the South propels the SEC to pre-eminence in college football. Forde's article makes sense to me, but then again, he is talking about people like me. Forde holds forth that the South is college football, and anything less than the best is simply unthinkable:

The reason is simple: The SEC has to be better than the Pac-10. It's nonnegotiable.

The quality of life in the South is dependent upon good college football. Local economies, race relations and collective psychological health all would suffer without it. Sweet tea would not be as sweet. Fried chicken would not be as crispy. Country songs would be even sadder.

If SEC football were mediocre, the South might as well be back in Reconstruction.

Auburn Football at Fanblogs discusses this Tony Barnhart (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) article where Barnhart ranks the conferences, then defends his choices. Really, the biggest debate seems to be for second place. I find it interesting that both the blogger and Barnhart rank the Big East so low.

BamaPride points us to this Sports Illustrated article that says Alabama and Nick Saban are dominating in-state recruiting (this means you, Auburn fans). Paul Finebaum at the Mobile Register agrees, but Jerry Hinnen at Joe Cribs Car Wash tells the Tiger faithful not to buy what Dawg fans like Finebaum and others like Mike Farrel are selling.

Quinton McDawg at Georgia Sports Blog says the new kickoff rule moving the line to the 30 from the 35 shouldn't hurt the Dawgs too bad. But David Ching at the Georgia Bulldog Blog notes that if it were up to Mark Richt, college football would do without the kickoff altogether, and just begin at the opponent's 24 after each score.

Ching interviews Georgia assistant coach Jon Fabris, and Fabris finds the kicking game to be inconsistent in NCAA rules, with a large disparity between how punts and kickoffs are handled. Injuries are also a concern, something that we worried about here back when we first blogged on the rule.

Dawg Sports and Hey Jenny Slater both take a look at the football Blogpoll with different perspectives. Kyle King at Dawg Sports makes the case for resume ranking. Doug at Hey Jenny Slater says his Blogpoll ballot sucks, and that it was much easier last year than this.

A few more quick hits:

• Brandon at Cock -n- Fire takes a long, hard look at the Kentucky Wildcats game with the 'Cocks down in Columbia, and pronounces it a dead heat -- almost.
  
  
• Heisman Pundit looks at the front-runners for the Heisman Trophy at this very early stage of the game. Will pre-season publicity have more of an impact than actual performance?
  
  
• Suarian Sagacity ranks the best teams based on his own algorithm over the last five years. Needless to say, Stewart Mandel and he come to rather different conclusions.
  
  
• Guy Tiller at VolNation makes the case that close calls are the difference between a good season and bad. Taking a look at some of the teams who had close calls go against them last year (and if your memory is bad like mine, you might be surprised at who they were), you have to wonder what could have been but for a couple of bounces.

There are many more blogs worthy of mention today, but it is time for dinner and a big, juicy steak awaits. So, until later ...

UPDATE: Corrected a couple of links. Sorry, folks.