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.

Back to FOOTBAW!!!

OK, so I had to stray a little into basketball there yesterday. So sue me.

But not so today. Today we return to the sport that is nearly at hand, and have a look at some of the interesting bits out there on Al Gore's greatest invention.

First, there is this article from The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida. It's been a while since I have seen a mainstream sports media outlet rub salt in a wound like this. It starts with the title, which is fittingly "Flashbacks of 41-14 Loss to Florida Still Haunting Buckeyes". Stings a little but not too bad, right? But it does get better:

The loss of so many well-known standouts from last year's team - Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Troy Smith, receivers Anthony Gonzalez and Ted Ginn Jr., tailback Antonio Pittman, three defensive linemen, two starters in the secondary - may actually make it easier for the Buckeyes to purge those dreadful memories. At least that's the hope.

"I think they've probably been beat up enough. We're ready to move on," Heacock said of the returning players.

Heh. If this isn't a "Poor wittow Buckeys" moment, I have never seen one. Jeez, the angst is killing me. Congrats to The Ledger for totally emasculating the Big Ten's most accomplished football team.

On the heels of some friendly give and take between myself and Bobby O'Shea of Vanderbilt Sports Line, we have this article over at The Sporting News. It seems like the eight wins Bobby predicts for Vandy is too low a bar for the team -- they are setting their sights on not just any old bowl, but a BCS bowl.

Having lofty goals is definitely a good thing, but one must wonder if the word "realistic" should enter into their thinking. Is it really realistic for Vanderbilt to get invited to a BCS bowl, given their schedule? VSL hasn't yet gone that far, but one thing is for sure -- the Commodores will be no pushover this year. Consider the rest of the SEC on notice. Whether the rest of us "pundits" believe it or not, the 'Dores claim to believe.

The Associated Press defends the Pac 10 from the evil SEC and, in particular, that minion of Saban Satan himself, Les Miles. The article points out proudly that four of USC's last five losses have come against Pac 10 teams, dating back to 2002:

But to some critics — including Miles, perhaps — those results only support the perception that the Pac-10 has become USC and the Little Nine. The Trojans have won or shared four straight conference titles.

The perception is, so to speak, miles away from reality. Most of USC’s recent trouble has come in its own backyard.

Four of USC’s last five losses, dating to October 2002, have come against Pac-10 rivals.

Now, think about that for a minute. In the last 4 years, USC has suffered only 4 defeats at the hands of conference foes. No SEC team can even come close to matching that 4-year conference record. For example, in that same time period, Florida lost something like 11 games to conference foes. Auburn lost 9. LSU lost 10. You get the picture, but apparently Pete Carroll doesn't:

“If you look at our score spreads, in-conference versus out-of-conference, it’s obvious that our toughest games are in the conference,” Trojans coach Pete Carroll said.

Yeah, Pete. Exactly. Your conference is so tough, all nine of them have been able to hang one whole defeat per year on your team in the last 4. Hello, Pete! Remember the theory of holes ...

Wednesday: Best of the SEC Bloggers

We all know that football season is almost here, but there are lots of folks around the SEC thinking about basketball. As a Kentucky Wildcat fan, I think about basketball a lot, and today I'll be recognizing the intrepid SEC basketball bloggers trudging toward the glorious day in mid October when hoops practice begins.

• Bamahoops at The Alabama Basketball Blog says that Mark Gottfried's Pan-Am games experience as assistant coach was good for him, even though they brought home no hardware.
  
  
• Arliss at the Mississippi State Basketball Blog has an update on freshman Riley Benock, from ... wait for it ... a Kentucky fan.
  
  
• Joswalt at the RazorBlog has a post about John Pelphrey's latest recruit. He is from Georgia ... no, the other Georgia over by Russia, not the home of the Dawgs.
  
  
• Finally, WrathofRupp at Wildcats Thunder Blog has a post about how Rick Pitino, the formerly-kind-of-beloved-but-wildly-successful Kentucky basketball coach rebuilt the UK basketball team from the ashes of well-deserved NCAA sanctions.

Obviously, since this is football season, we have a short post here. But we have to keep an eye on basketball as well as football, and I don't know how I'm going to keep up during the overlap.

I'd also like to thank Third Saturday in Blogtober for mentioning us on their blog today. Thanks, gentlefolk!

Tuesday's Best of the SEC

The best thing you can say about Tuesday is that it isn't Monday. Never has that been more true for me than today. But time marches on, and so we continue inexorably forward to the start of a brand new season.

So who is blogging excellence today? I found a few, as usual.

• Tuesday means College Football Resource has a big post, and today is no different. From a great post on scheduling by DawgsOnline to a history lesson about Boise State, Southern Cal and more. Must read, as always, for football fans of any league.
  
  
• MaconDawg at Dawg Sports takes us around the SEC for a look at recruiting. Well, kinda -- as long as you are an Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, MSU, Florida, Tennessee or LSU. Ole Miss, Kentucky, Vandy, Arkansas and South Carolina fans will just have to fend for themselves.
  
  
• Paul Westerdawg at Georgia Sports Blog has an insightful post about Big Ten expansion.
  
  
• Arkbear at the Hawg Blawg looks at the McFadden he-said, she-said.
  
  
• Doug at Hey Jenny Slater once again tempts the wrath of a vengeful God. This time, his target is the Rebels of Ole Miss.
  
  
• The LSU Football Analyst has a detailed post of scrimmage statistics. You know you are way into football when you report scrimmage statistics. Even UK Wildcat fans don't keep statistics for Big Blue Madness -- at least, not to my knowledge ...
  
  
• Memphistider reposts a message board comment that details eight things that will "set Alabama football on fire".
  
  
• Nixforsix at Old School Nasty is looking at each of the SEC teams' schedules, and predicting outcomes. A good read. So far, he has done Arkansas and Alabama.
  
  
• Outside the Sidelines dissects a disaster. This guy is on a roll. He probably expelled more football knowledge the last time he passed gas than I have ever known.
  
  
• Joel at Rocky Top Talk looks at how a potential quarterback controversy was squelched at Tennessee.
  
  
• Todd at Roll 'Bama Roll has an initial top ten.
  
  
• Mergz at Saurian Sagacity makes a compelling case that there is no such thing as a football national championship.
  
  
• Keith Dardis at SEConds to Victory is previewing SEC teams one at a time.
  
  
• The Valiant Underdog goes Vanderblogging.
  

Thanks to Nixforsix at Old School Nasty for the plug he gave us today, as well as Bobby O'Shea at Vanderbilt Sports Line. Much appreciated, amigos.

News around the SEC

Looking around the SEC today, there are a few news articles of interest that deserve comment.

First up is this article in The Chattanoogan by Roy Exum. It describes an event during Bear Bryant's reign at Alabama involving one of his players and pot back during the early 1970's.

If you haven't read this story or heard it before, you really should just bookmark the link above and do it. It is one of the most fascinating stories I have ever read about Bear Bryant, and even if you don't love Alabama football, you should read this. I have always been a sucker for stories about redemption.

Continuing with the Alabama theme, we have this story from the Memphis commercial appeal about Nick Saban. Seems he is as much of a stranger to his players as he is to most Alabama fans. I found this kind of interesting:

Fair or not, Saban has become the poster child for coaching-salary excess ($5 million per year), though Castille, speaking to reporters at SEC Media Days last month in Birmingham, said he had been unaware that Saban is the highest-paid coach in college football. If Saban resides in a stratospheric tax bracket, well, Castille could not care less.

"I mean, the only time I ever really think of it is when I see him hop into his Mercedes," Castille said.

Now, I don't know Nick Saban from a load of coal, but I don't particularly like to see coaches parading expensive cars in front of players. I would rather Saban come to work in a less ostentatious vehicle. It's no mystery to anyone that he is the highest paid college coach in America, but tooling around campus in a Mercedes just doesn't seem like the best way to demand sacrifice from your players. I'm probably just old-fashioned, though.

On top of this, Cary Estes at ESPN thinks Nick Saban is overrated, and he may have a point. But one thing is for sure -- Nick Saban has energized the considerable Alabama fan base, and that is good news for a dispirited Tide following who must feel like the post-Bryant years are like Moses' time in the desert. They are starved for national relevance, and while Saban is a rock star now, he will have very far to fall if he doesn't deliver -- and soon.

From one overrated thing to another, Trev Alberts of CSTV thinks Florida is overrated this year:

Florida is the most-overrated preseason team in the last 10 years. I understand what they achieved last year. But with what they lost, the conference they play in, to be No. 3 in the country in the Coaches' Poll? They're probably No. 11, No. 12, just outside the Top 10 if you ask me. All of their preseason rankings are based on what they accomplished last year.

I think he's right in one respect -- the Gators are ranked way too high at number three. But I don't think they deserve a ranking outside the top ten, either.

Complicating Florida's situation is their kicking game, which, if you believe this report, is in even worse shape than last year. Chris Hetland was only 6-15 last year, including 3-11 outside of 20 yards, and he is gone. Who will replace him? Well, at this point, neither Joey Ijjas or Jonathan Phillips is setting the world on fire.

The Gators weren't exactly the hottest special teams school in the SEC last year. The fact that their kicking game seems to be sub-Gator standard is not promising, and only reinforces the idea that perhaps the Gators are not quite worthy of their lofty pre-season ranking.

Auburn is dealing with a good news/bad news situation. The good news is freshman quarterback Kodi Burns is making a serious impression on the coaching staff. The bad news is that Auburn is racking up some serious injuries, including some hits to the O-line and special teams.

Arkansas cannot seem to go a day without off the field controversy. This time, it comes in the form of an ESPN report that Darren McFadden has already taken a decision to enter the NFL draft after this year, which allegedly came from McFadden's mother. Now, that news should come as a surprise to no one, except it did -- to his mother.

On top of all the Houston Nutt drama, this is just one more distraction Arkansas doesn't need.

Maybe I was too hard on Bobby O'Shea's review of the Vanderbilt Commodore's season this year. Bobby thinks that the 'Dores will go 8-4, and articles like this from the Jackson Sun help reinforce the view that the Commies might well surprise some of the big boys this year. I still don't see 8-4, but 6-6 or even 7-5 seem very realistic to me.

Catching up a bit

Yesterday was one of those days where I simply couldn't get everything done, and so I wasn't able to update this place. Well, life happens, I suppose.

But Saturday is another day, and a day off at that. So it's time for me to take a look around and see who has been excellent while I have been ... well, not.

Needless to say, this will be a rather lengthy post.

• Year 2 (Florida) continues his season analysis. Check out how your favorite team stacks up against the Gators (assuming, of course, they are on the schedule).
  
  
• Bobo at WorldClassGlass (Ole Miss) notes this Andy Katz article over at ESPN. Apparently, some teams in the SEC like to play little pre-game games to annoy the visitors. Fortunately, the SEC isn't anywhere near the worst offender of this sort. Some of these "annoyances" are pretty unsportsmanlike, if you ask me.
  
  
• Bobby O'Shea at Vanderbilt Sports Line has a schedule preview for Vandy. He has Vandy beating such worthies as Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Wake Forest. With all due respect, I think optimism has gotten the better of him. But who knows?
  
  
• Tiger Tales (Auburn) blogs about Auburn's role in the college loan scandal for which it received a demand for documents from the NY Attorney General. Auburn is claiming no direct relationship with UFS.
  
  
• The Valiant Underdog (Vanderbilt) blogs about a Steve Megargee article on Yahoo! Sports listing three Commodores among the "best players you've never seen". He thinks this bodes well for Vanderbilt's season.
  
  
• The Cover Two (Georgia) thinks maybe Dawg fans should consider some sacrifices to the gods for intervention in this year's football season. He says Kyle King of Dawg Sports (Georgia) made him do it.
  
  
  
• There is little doubt that the Houston Nutt drama in Fayetteville is beginning to wear on the psyche of Arkansas fans. Razorback fans should be in hog heaven over Darren McFadden's Heisman bid, and the promise of some exciting football this season, but the coach's on and off the field newsmaking is beginning to take a toll.
  
  The Hog Blogger (Arkansas) has had it with the Days of our Nutt, and says that it's time for him to go:
  

  Today’s been a rough day for Hog fans. Any doubt we once had that nothing was afoot in Fayetteville can essentially be tossed out the window. We’ve tried to stay positive. We’ve tried to give Houston a break at times, hard as it’s been. After today, though, we’re done. Win or lose, Houston Nutt is a distraction, and is hurting the program. We understand that there are 20 oral commitments at stake. We understand there is a race for the Heisman Trophy set to begin in a little over three weeks. And yes, for the millionth time, Nutt defenders, we understand that this team won 10 games last season. However, we will not stand here and tolerate this ridiculous conspiring, blatant rule-breaking, rumoring, intimidation, and all-around absurdity.
  

  Hat tip: Razorback Blogs
  
  
  
• Todd at Roll 'Bama Roll (Alabama) also gets in on the Houston Nutt act.
  
  
• Now, for something completely different. TonyOrlando at Alabama Gameday creates a competition between the SEC East and West fan bases, ranking them on some ... unique criteria.
  
  
• Loser with Socks' Jai Eugene (Tennessee) says Gator fans are starting to think Tim Tebow is engaging in some serious suckage, and provides evidence.
  
  
• Heisman Pundit (Unknown fan affiliation) gets in on ranking the conferences. His conclusion, like mine, was that the SEC was tops, but not by itself. His analysis is a lot more sophisticated than the effort I put forth.
  
  
• Travis at Hail Dear Ole State (MSU) doubts Sylvester Croom's hype about the team this year. He says Croom's statement is really putting he and his coaches on the line.
  
  
• Senator Blutarsky at Get the Picture and Kyle King of Dawg Sports (Georgia) take Stewart Mandel's recent column asserting Georgia isn't a national power any more to task.
  
  
• Jon at Fulmer's Belly (Tennessee) finishes ranking the SEC quarterbacks.
  
  
• Paul Westerdawg at Georgia Sports Blog (Georgia) says Mark Richt is channeling Rodney Dangerfield (as Thorton Melon). Orson Swindle at EDSBS invokes Galactus and the Silver Surfer.
  
  
• The Gamecock faithful have been in high dudgeon over Steve Spurrier's recent comments to the media bemoaning South Carolina's admissions policy. Scott Hood at Gamecock Central tells Gamecock fans to chill, all will be well:
  
  

  I’ve even seen posts bemoaning the prospect of Spurrier eventually departing USC over the issue.
  
  If you’re one of those people, I offer this: Don’t worry, be happy.
  
  Spurrier isn’t going anywhere.

  Cock -n- Fire wonders what USC's current admission policy is supposed to be accomplishing:
  

  The job of a public university is not to weed out undesirable students who are otherwise qualified out of some vague notion that they might not be able to graduate. Granted, the school can't graduate for the student, but the university is supposed to provide the resources necessary for the student to graduate. If no more than six out of every 10 students walk off your campus with a diploma within six years of beginning classes, something is wrong with the system, not the students.

  I think he's right.
  
  
• Finally, The Capstone Report (Alabama) says that Nick Saban is really pissing him off. Pay no attention to the tongue behind the cheek.
  

The SEC -- King of Conferences? (updated)

A lot of us SEC fans like to think that the SEC is the King of Football conferences, and perhaps we are. But history may spread a bit of doubt upon that.

As of 2005-06, this is what the SEC vs. The World looked like:

Southeastern Conference vs. Division I-A Conferences
Conference	Games	W	L	T	%
Sun Belt	191	178	9	4	94.20%
Western Athletic	103	91	10	2	89.30%
Mid-American	75	58	16	1	78.00%
Mountain West	155	109	42	4	71.60%
Conference USA	1181	758	374	49	66.30%
Big East	172	103	59	10	62.80%
Pac-10	108	63	38	7	61.60%
Atlantic Coast	1719	893	743	83	54.40%
Big 12	635	310	301	24	50.70%
I-A Independents	97	46	47	4	49.50%
Big Ten	184	86	91	7	48.60%

This is not so bad. The only conference we don't have winning record against is the Big Ten, and Independents and we are very nearly even with both. So just for comparison, let's look at the same thing from the standpoint of the Big Ten:

Big Ten Conference vs. Division I-A Conferences
Conference	Games	W	L	T	%
Sun Belt	14	14	0	0	100.00%
Mid-American	253	215	34	4	85.80%
Conference USA	96	74	19	3	78.60%
Western Athletic	44	33	11	0	75.00%
Big East	490	324	147	19	68.10%
Mountain West	101	66	30	5	67.80%
Atlantic Coast	277	174	98	5	63.70%
Big 12	538	309	208	21	59.40%
Pac-10	528	265	250	13	51.40%
Southeastern	185	91	87	7	51.10%
I-A Independents	502	211	266	25	44.50%

I suppose that's pretty much what we would expect. It's interesting to note that although the SEC has a loosing record to the independents, it is a better record than the Big 10's. Interestingly enough, taking all wins and all games into account, the Big 10 and SEC have an identical 58% winning percentage overall against others.

Since there has been much talk about the SEC vs. the Pac-10, we might as well look at their table, also:

Pacific-10 Conference vs. Division I-A Conferences
Conference	Games	W	L	T	%
Mid-American	11	10	1	0	90.90%
Sun Belt	14	12	2	0	85.70%
Western Athletic	711	564	130	17	80.50%
Mountain West	579	390	175	14	68.60%
Conference USA	191	125	59	7	67.30%
Atlantic Coast	81	43	37	1	53.70%
Big East	91	46	45	0	50.50%
Big Ten	528	250	265	13	48.60%
Big 12	386	163	210	13	43.90%
I-A Independents	168	66	91	11	42.60%
Southeastern	108	38	63	7	38.40%

Hmmm. Not quite cricket, now is it?

UPDATE:

A table for the Big 12 by special request:

Big 12 Conference vs. Division I-A Conferences
Conference	Games	W	L	T	%
Sun Belt	119	110	9	0	92.40%
Western Athletic	136	111	23	2	82.40%
Mid-American	60	47	13	0	78.30%
Mountain West	840	535	270	35	65.80%
Conference USA	1062	622	389	51	61.00%
Pac-10	388	212	163	13	56.30%
Big East	138	66	65	7	50.40%
Southeastern	635	301	310	24	49.30%
Atlantic Coast	234	111	123	0	47.40%
I-A Independents	101	46	53	2	46.50%
Big Ten	538	208	309	21	40.60%