Question: Was this a down year for college football?

I don't necessarily see it as a "down year" in college football as a whole. Parity has brought a lot of teams closer together in terms of talent. As for the talent itself, this is the best it has ever been, IMHO, across the board top to bottom. For instance: That team that gave us our toughest test and finished last in the West? Probably the most talent of any team we faces not named LSU and was decimated by injuries down the stretch (to say nothing of NCAA distractions). The ACC is always 2 teams then everybody else. Same for the Big12. The B1G has had a definite upgrade in coaching and improvement in talent development.

Lost in everything else is how remarkable, given the parity now, Alabama's run has been. Also lost is that this Alabama team has had to overcome a number of deficiencies to run the table to this point and has been able to do so thanks largely to consistently high recruiting and pure tenacity and persistence - IOW, attitude and hard work. This team has been buoyed by intangibles. The process works.

Also lost are the shifts happening across the board in college football. Coaching talent has concentrated more in the B1G. Teams that have been down are on the rise (Washington, Michigan) while others are falling (Oregon). All these shifts along with the parity has left us with one dominant team to this point, a few very good teams, a lot of pretty good teams, then everyone else. The top three have consistency in coaching and recruiting (Bama, OSU, Clemson). The others in the conversation haven't been so consistent.

For one, all this shows how difficult it is to do what Bama has done over the last 9 years and how difficult that will be going forward. This year doesn't seem all that different than the past several so far as 2 loss teams past the top 5 or so. The B1G having two 2 loss team in its championship game is a bit of luck, previously mentioned shifts, and poor decisions in making that conference's divisions.

Have you been processed? Probably, but you're not alone.

I think you might be right, though the difference between a down year and a high-parity year are basically semantics.

I do wonder, though, if the perception of how down the SEC East is this year - at least compared to the rest of college football - has been somewhat overblown. After all, SEC East teams did beat Va Tech, UNC, and Louisville.

It'll depend a lot upon the bowl match-ups but it'll be very interesting to me to see how the SEC East performs in the postseason.

uafan4life said:

I think you might be right, though the difference between a down year and a high-parity year are basically semantics.

I do wonder, though, if the perception of how down the SEC East is this year - at least compared to the rest of college football - has been somewhat overblown. After all, SEC East teams did beat Va Tech, UNC, and Louisville.

It'll depend a lot upon the bowl match-ups but it'll be very interesting to me to see how the SEC East performs in the postseason.

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Gators v either the Badgers or the Lions I would take the Gators comfortably.

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The SEC is way down. There's not a consistently good team outside of us.

4 loss Auburn ended up being the SEC's second best team. Let that sink in.

Perception wise, the SEC is down and very top heavy with Alabama dominant. Hats off to coach Mac though with back to back SEC championship appearances in his first two years. Give him another recruiting class and, more importantly, an elite QB talent and that program is an up an comer. The Big is far and away overtaken us this year with 3 of the top 6 teams at the end of the regular season. That trend will only continue with the top notch head coaching they have and the resulting recruiting prowess. Clemson and FLA ST make the ACC strong and that trend will also continue. The PAC will continue to ascend because of Peterson and USC will waffle until they get a better head coach...and where did Colorado come from? Anyway, that is my snapshot. I think Temple has a pretty good up and coming coach as does WMichigan. Until the SEC cycles some better head coaching talent into its ranks I think it will play second fiddle to strength perception with Alabama the only bright spot.

CajunCrimson said:

Yet 12 SEC teams are in bowl games...The joys of parity

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I think you can thank the 50 bowl games for that...

colbysullivan said:

I think you can thank the 50 bowl games for that...

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And frankly, I hope we don't get embarrassed by losing a majority of those matchups. Michigan made the SECe champs look like chopped liver last year and would do it again if given the chance. Whisky, Penn ST, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, FLA ST...there are a lot of good teams out there in conferences not the SEC.

The SEC is definitely taking a backseat to everyone else. We're the only dominate team in the SEC. Be interesting to see what conference gets former SEC coach Les Miles. It's the coaching landscape that's propelling other conferences ahead of the SEC. Combine that with the lack of super quarterbacks in the conference I'd say the only down is the SEC.

But as long as our team keeps winning I'm happy.

Saban is the reason the SEC is down, particularly in the west. You get fired if you can't beat Saban.

I don't think college football is down, in general. Other than Bama, I do think the SEC is in a transition period. LSU fired Miles, Kirby's first year at UGA, Ole Miss coming back down to Earth, Miss St no longer has Dak Prescott, etc.

Clemson and Ohio State are very good teams and pose a danger to us. There are a bunch of two-loss teams from the major conferences and one Cinderella team in Western Michigan. Overall, it seems like a pretty normal year, especially if Alabama wins the National Championship.

This has been, and will continue to be, one of the best college football seasons that I have ever watched. I am not sure what you guys are watching.

B1GTide said:

This has been, and will continue to be, one of the best college football seasons that I have ever watched. I am not sure what you guys are watching.

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It's been a down year for the SEC, and we aren't really used to that around here.

B1GTide said:

I am not sure what you guys are watching.

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We are SEC-centric, so that is why some may feel it is a down year overall. I totally get that it was a great year, especially for the Big 10.

OreBama said:

I don't think college football is down, in general. Other than Bama, I do think the SEC is in a transition period. LSU fired Miles, Kirby's first year at UGA, Ole Miss coming back down to Earth, Miss St no longer has Dak Prescott, etc.

Clemson and Ohio State are very good teams and pose a danger to us. There are a bunch of two-loss teams from the major conferences and one Cinderella team in Western Michigan. Overall, it seems like a pretty normal year, especially if Alabama wins the National Championship.

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I agree with this. The SEC is down a little this year a bit because of coaching transitions and losses of some very experienced players.

I think next year parity in the SEC will increase if FL and UGA figure out their QB situation. LSU's situation will get better. I actually think Ole Miss will improve with their young QB.

I still think our bottom 6 is better than the big10's. The SEC usually eat's our own anyway. I think it will be evidenced in the bowls again this year.


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AUDub said:

4 loss Auburn ended up being the SEC's second best team. Let that sink in.

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Well of course an Auburn fan is going to say that. ;-) But ... you guys were able to put it together as the season went on. Just losing the RB and White not being 100% against UGA really showed how bad it was. UGA in my opinion is terrible. Without injuries. I think if Auburn hadn't gotten the injuries towards the end, that Iron Bowl would have been a little different. I worry that the Sugar Bowl now won't be nearly as competitive as it should be. IMO, Oklahoma is not that good really. But with the defense being on the field most of the game, Mayfield may have a field day. Hope your guys get better before the big day.