Some interesting points in this discussion. Roy, you're correct in saying that BBCOR bats had an effect on stats since being mandated beginning with the 2011 season. RollTide1017 is also right, the change in bats had an effect on all teams. Lets see what effect it has had during the past three years on teams in the SEC. I am looking only at batting average for this discussion. Below is a list of the 14 SEC teams and their team batting averages for each of the past three years.
Bama: .276 (2011) .259 (2012) .226 (2013)
Barn: .296 (2011) .304 (2012) .282 (2013)
Arky: .270 (2011) .271 (2012) .279 (2013)
LSU: .303 (2011) .258 (2012) .318 (2013)
Ole Miss: .282 (2011) .296 (2012) .307 (2013)
Miss St: .281 (2011) .251 (2012) .319 (2013)
Tex A&M: .291 (2011) .288 (2012) .288 (2013)
Missouri: .261 (2011) .274 (2012) .223 (2013)
Florida: .307 (2011) .284 (2012) .271 (2013)
Georgia: .274 (2011) .279 (2012) .314 (2013)
Tenn: .274 (2011) .248 (2012) .277 (2013)
Vandy: .315 (2011) .267 (2012) .311 (2013)
Kentucky: .299 (2011) .394 (2012) .308 (2013)
So. Carolina: .294 (2011) .265 (2012) .290 (2013)
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that only two of the 14 teams have seen a dropoff in average both years since 2011, Bama and Florida. Florida, by the way is 8-9 right now if I read their record correctly. In all fairness, Missouri, after raising their team average by 13 points from 2011 to 2012 has dropped like a rock this year to .223. Auburn's team batting average has also dropped this year, from .304 last year to .282 this year and Texas A&M is batting the same thing this year as last year. Every other team's batting average is higher this year than last year. Even the teams that had a dropoff from 2011 to 2012 (LSU, Miss. St,Tenn, Vandy, Kentucky and S. Carolina) have raised their averages this year. Part of that, of course, is that they haven't gotten into SEC play yet. Of course, our average has dropped 33 points from last year while facing average at best pitching with the exception of Louisville and Tulane's Friday starter.
Simply put, teams around the SEC with the exception of Bama and Florida have made adjustments and are hitting the ball fairly well. If we don't make adjustments right now we will be watching the rest of the SEC play in Hoover in about 10 weeks along with Mizzou and whoever else doesn't make it.
The problem is real simple. It is either (a) we aren't getting good enough players or (b) we are getting good players and doing a poor job of coaching them. Whichever one it is, the responsibility lies with the same person or group of people.
