Florida makes the Evil Genius look average

A look around the SEC confirms a number of things that many SEC fans had long suspected:

1. LSU is the best team in the league;
   
2. Arkansas is indeed not a good football team;
3. Neither is South Carolina;
4. Georgia is looking like a good football team;
5. Florida is looking better all the time.

The jury is still out on Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi State. MSU has three very impressive SEC victories, one at home and two away, and with Arkansas and Ole Miss remaining on their schedule, have a real chance at winning eight games this year. Of course, Arkansas has been tougher after getting smoked, so who knows what will happen next week. And despite the fact that Arkansas isn't a very good team, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones are very good, and on a given day can dominate anyone.

I was surprised at the beat-down the Gators delivered to the Ol' Ball Coach this weekend. The Razorbacks exposed the run defense of USCe last weekend, but the Gamecocks got creamed in their own house. Neither team, seems to me, can make any case at all for their defense -- South Carolina isn't exactly an offensive powerhouse, and still managed to throw up 31 semi-meaningless points on the Gators. Still, Tim Tebow has yet to be stopped by any SEC defense except Auburn [UPDATE: An astute reader pointed out that Georgia also stopped Tebow, and I carelessly omitted mentioning them. Sorry, Dawgs].

At this point, there is so little blog reaction in from the Gamecocks that I'll defer looking at this game in depth until they have had a while to ponder this latest debacle. Obviously, the Gates are happy, but Ryan Ferguson was wondering over at Fanhouse if leaving Tebow in to run up the score was actually smart. Good question.

Mlmintampa writing for Alligator Army had no such reservations:

As much as I want to protect Tim Tebow, um, how do I say this...NO MERCY URBAN! RUN UP THE SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was nice wasn't it? If Lou Murphy had caught the other pass in the end zone, it could have been a lot worse. Lucky for Spurrier that Percy is at home sick. We could have hung 70 on him.

I think that pretty well sums up the Gator's feelings about the Visor. Ryan Ferguson has yet another post on the subject, quoting a Gamecock fan thus:

If history teaches anything, it really does not matter who coaches here, it has not improved by any discernable measure when you look at the "average" win loss ratios of the last 10-15 years or heck even more. Sure there have been ups and downs, but we always return to mediocre. So, SOS may as well stay. He can either tarnish his legacy like Holtz, or he can do something about. Heaven only knows which it will be. (sic)

Spurrier has recruited good talent to South Carolina, but so far, he hasn't been able to get the team to the point it can consistently compete with the best of the SEC. The SEC is quite unforgiving to program-building, and once you get down to a certain level, it is very hard to raise the bar in this conference. Just ask Kentucky, the Mississippi's, and Vanderbilt. Yes, all have had some success, but when was the last time any of those teams won the SEC, or even a division? Hint: It was Kentucky in 1976, the Bicentennial year -- they shared the SEC title with Georgia. Before that, you have to go to the Ole Miss teams of the 1960's.

The SEC is a very, very unforgiving league.

New Orleans Love says that Spurrier was "inconsolable" after this huge defeat. Senator Blutarsky at Get the Picture says it was karma, and karma is "a beyotch". The Visor no doubt agrees.