Athlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

Bama Czar

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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

Shocked that 1998 Tennessee is #2 on this list.....kinda makes me question the list period.
 

TiderJack

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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

Shocked that 1998 Tennessee is #2 on this list.....kinda makes me question the list period.
I was too and assuming they were #2 only because they were undefeated.

I have argued the 2011 team being the best ever in seperate threads. The 2011 team had the greatest defense of all time and we outplayed and should have beat what many were calling the greatest team ever in the regular season and showed we were the much better team in the BCS game.
 

TiderJack

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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

Interesting they had the 2011 LSWho team at #13 and behind our 2008 team at #12.
 

Bama Czar

1st Team
Sep 1, 2010
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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

Interesting they had the 2011 LSWho team at #13 and behind our 2008 team at #12.
Yeah, it's almost like someone put this list together in about 20 minutes without doing too much "homework".... Way too many holes to poke in it.
 

bamacon

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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

I also think Bama 2011 would have made Timmy and the Gators 08 cry a year earlier. Actually, I think they would beat the Bama 09 crew. Like coch said, That D was a "hateful bunch".
 

Perrett4Bama

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Aug 28, 2001
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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

08, 09, 11 and 12........wow what a run. If only 10 could have made the list.....I still think the 2010 team could have won it.....they were good....ask the big 10's best for that year....what a smack down that was......;)
 

KrimsonNinja

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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

08, 09, 11 and 12........wow what a run. If only 10 could have made the list.....I still think the 2010 team could have won it.....they were good....ask the big 10's best for that year....what a smack down that was......;)
Agreed. I can't remember who said it, maybe Kirk Herbstreit, that Alabama "could beat anyone in the nation" after seeing their performance against Michigan State. The 2010 team wasn't bad and didn't lack any talent, they just lacked the focus and determination other Saban coached Alabama teams have had.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

I really didn't like this list much but I wanted to think about some before posting.

1. 2009 Alabama
2. 2008 Florida
3. 2011 Alabama
4. 1998 Tennessee
5. 2003 LSU
6. 2012 Alabama
7. 2004 Auburn
8. 2006 Florida
9. 2011 LSU
10. 2009 Florida
11. 2010 Auburn
12. 2007 LSU
13. 2007 Georgia
14. 2006 LSU
15. 2002 Georgia


'08 Florida and '09 Alabama, in my opinion, are probably the two most talented and balanced teams in the era. 2011 and 2012 Alabama may have more talent overall but those two teams were flawless in all three phases. '08 Florida is probably better offensively than '09 Alabama, but '09 Alabama has the defense and special teams edge (Javier Arenas is one of the best returners in college history; Tiffin was hitting 40+ yard FGs with ease).

'11 Alabama was a step below these teams offensively and on special teams but the defense was otherworldly. '98 Tennessee gets lost in history right now but that team was a dominant force on the ground and their defense was elite. They also had a knack for making clutch plays that simply can't be understated. '03 LSU was the first taste the SEC and nation got of what a Saban defense would be like long-term. I remember their game in Tuscaloosa and how hopeless the game felt from the kickoff.

This year's Bama squad was as fine of a unit you could hope for at most schools and conferences, but there was that missing piece of consistently suffocating defense. They shutout people and turned out fine statistically but those teams above '12 Alabama had a defense that made it feel like a win on offense to just net a first down. 2004 Auburn is in a group along with '66 Alabama as most deserving non-national champions in SEC history. 2006 Florida rounds out the top 8...they weren't a title team in September but they grew into a force by the end of the season.

Minor quibbles by my other rankings. Pure and simple, '10 Auburn and '07 LSU wouldn't beat any of those teams above them. Auburn had a terrible defense in 2010 but they caught the fortunate roll of the dice that defense as a whole was down in the SEC that season. It allowed the only true offensively-focused SEC national champion in the BCS era. '07 LSU was a Sugar Bowl participant in any other season but that year. If Dennis Dixon didn't get hurt, Oregon plays - and wins - the national title against Ohio State. Didn't Pat White get dinged up in their loss to Pitt? I think '11 LSU and '09 Florida beats both of those Auburn and LSU teams. In fact, '11 LSU may very well be much better than where I ranked them. They did beat three teams in the regular season who won a BCS bowl game (unfortunately one of those teams beat them in the BCSCG). '11 LSU was closer to being #3 team of the era with a legitimate argument for #1 than where they are now because of the shutout we handed them in the rematch.
 
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Bama1985

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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

Agreed. I can't remember who said it, maybe Kirk Herbstreit, that Alabama "could beat anyone in the nation" after seeing their performance against Michigan State. The 2010 team wasn't bad and didn't lack any talent, they just lacked the focus and determination other Saban coached Alabama teams have had.
The 2010 team also had a gauntlet of an SEC schedule--Arkansas, Florida, and South Carolina back to back to back. South Carolina also had 2 weeks off to prepare--the Gamecocks played their best game in 20 years that day. Bama looked tired.
 

NoNC4Tubs

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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

The 2010 team also had a gauntlet of an SEC schedule--Arkansas, Florida, and South Carolina back to back to back. South Carolina also had 2 weeks off to prepare--the Gamecocks played their best game in 20 years that day. Bama looked tired.
The '10 team had to play six schools coming off of their bye weeks..............Thanks, Kramer!:rolleyes:
 
'11 Alabama was a step below these teams offensively and on special teams but the defense was otherworldly.
That's the reason why I think they should be number one. Their defense was so much better than everyone else's. Offensively we did really well that year. We just didn't have the receivers to go vertical like we wanted to. Maze was great on special team, kicking game not so much but they ultimately came through. We could still score with the best of them, but I do agree just a step back, but leaps ahead of everyone on defense. The loss to LSU hurt them for the number spot.


Sent from Jay's iPhone via Tapatalk
 

rgw

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People tend to underrate special teams and that was my discriminator for these top teams because everything is so close to equal among the two main phases. Also, it is fair to say just comparing the 2009 and 2011 seasons that special teams were a factor between 12-0 and 11-1 in the regular season. Tiffin nailed some tough FGs to get the needed 12 points to beat Tennessee while Cody blocked two attempts. Javy had some big returns against Auburn that induced some important bad punts.

In the '11 LSU loss, the special teams were a disaster from kicking to returning. Something one can hardly afford when you don't have the offense clicking.
 

luvthat_TIDE

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Aug 10, 2004
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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

When I read title, I thought that is a stupid thread. There are only 14 teams in the league and that just started this year. Found out who is the stupid one. Any way RTR on the list.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

I don't think 2010 Auburn could beat any of the streak champions besides possibly 2007 LSU. I have both '07 LSU and '10 Auburn below teams that didn't even win the title ('09 Florida and '11 LSU). I consider the '07 LSU and '10 Auburn teams among the greatest beneficiaries of circumstances. Auburn caught a down defensive year in the SEC to make a title run with a wholly offensively-focused team work. They'd be this year's TAMU any other recent season. 2007 had every single bounce go their way in the polls despite losing to two 5-loss teams.

Also, before a lurker Auburn fan catches wind of this and cries foul in their message board backyards...I'm not arguing whether Auburn was a deserving national champion. Auburn was clearly the best team in 2010 but this is an argument about "all-time" type comparisons. I don't think their team is comparable to most of the other better BCS teams from this conference.
 
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CrimsonJag

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Re: Atlon's Top 15 SEC Football Teams In The BCS Era

If I died tonight, I'd go to my grave thinking that the 2011 Alabama football team was the most dominant college football team I ever saw. Not sure any thing or any argument could change my mind.
 

RammerJammer15

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If not for a odd loss to Louisiana Tech and a overtime loss to Michigan in the orange bowl, the '99 team would've been up there.
 

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