Is the SEC overrated this year?

[rgw]

So I did this to get an idea of what the SEC's week was like in relation to everyone else

ACC: 2-1 against P5 conferences (1-1 against ranked); Virginia lost to Richmond, Wake Forest struggled against Tulane

Big-12: 2-2 against P5 conferences and Notre Dame (1-2 against ranked); TCU struggled against South Dakota State, Iowa State lost to Northern Iowa

Big Ten: 2-1 against P5 conferences (1-1 against ranked); Indiana struggled against FIU (down at the start of the 4th), Michigan State looked terrible against FCS, Western Michigan rowed Northwestern

Pac-12: 2-4 against P5 conferences and BYU (0-1 against ranked); Washington State lost to Eastern Washington, Utah was sloppy against Southern Utah

SEC: 3-4 against P5 conferences (3-2 against ranked); Tennessee struggled to beat App State, Florida looked listless against UMass, Kentucky lost to Southern Miss, State lost to South Alabama.

The SEC had some BAD "bad losses" but two likely basement dwellers are responsible for them. Nobody should care that WVU beat a bad Mizzou team. 3 clearly bad teams lost because they're bad (SURPRISE!). Florida and Tennessee had varying degrees of trouble with opponents they should be able to dispense of with ease (I'd dispute that a bit in App State's case). That is where you start getting something to chew on. Then LSU no-showed and Ole Miss melted away like Warm Miss on Snow. That is where you get something of substance: two supposed conference and national contenders just looking ill-equipped personnel or personality wise to win big games.

The SEC still had the most OOC top-25 wins EVER by a conference this past weekend with 3...played 5 total ranked opponents, easily the most of any major conference. The SEC has decided to emphasize OOC schedule and we're putting ourselves out there more especially on opening weekend. It is gonna go like this some years. I wonder how much of a deal will be made when we dominate in a future opening weekend? Probably not all that much...heck we saw the SEC beat 3 ranked teams and the problem is that we didn't win them all.

 

[MatthewG]

Definitely a bigger gap between the top tier SEC schools and the bottom tier SEC schools this year. The last few years the West was fantastic almost from top to bottom. Doesn't seem to be the case this year. Other conference's are indeed getting better obviously, but SEC is still best overall conference to me. We still have MORE SEC schools at the top nationally than other conferences. Given that we have only seen one week worth of competition from each school though, I think it is too early to rule out that some of these schools that did not do well Week 1 do not make major changes and end up with winning seasons. We still have the whole season to play and progress. This is what makes it so much fun to watch the SEC every Saturday. Never being able to absolutely guarantee wins. My main wish is that the SEC remains a conference that can take our bottom tier schools and play nonconference teams and shove them around. I am a fan of the Grown Man Football in the SEC and I hope that we can continue to show other conferences what that means. We need several of our schools to make major adjustments this week to ensure that that remains the case though.

 

[KrAzY3]

Frankly, having a somewhat weaker SEC allows a better chance for Alabama to go 13-0 and that is going to get you in the playoff every single year no matter what the SEC's SOS is. Now, I hear you when you say but if Alabama goes 12-1 SOS really comes into play and it becomes a toss up proposition.

You touch on both things that I personally hope for, that might seen contradictory but I think they operate a bit separately from each other.

For example, I remember a few years back Miss. State was undefeated and starting to get some hype (even though they hadn't beaten anyone). Well, Alabama comes in and just dominates them and that was the end of Miss. State hype. The thing is, Miss. State was both undefeated and they well, kind of sucked. That's the ideal scenario within the SEC, paper tigers.

A key part of this is it doesn't usually make the game easier if a team has struggled previously. I mean, will any of us here write off the LSU game as a sure win after seeing how they played? Probably not since they're still loaded with talent and dangerous. So, I'd like to breath a sign of relief with seeing some team's struggle, but really it technically makes Alabama's path a bit more difficult (things like a ball bouncing off a goalpost). They have to play the team either way, they might as well have the football equivalent of a high RPI coming in.

In terms of how good the SEC is, it goes beyond the path to a championship. There is also financial incentive for the SEC to succeed. The more compelling the SEC product is to watch, the more shared revenue there will be. The more teams go to a bowl game, the more of that money there is to go around. So, I still feel like people sometimes misread the cheering for other SEC teams. I got excited when Iowa St. won to (in 2011), and it wasn't because I was an Iowa St. fan...

 

[RTR91]

 

[Sabanizer]

Times have changed where having better players means less than it did. Good play calling and quarterback is vital. Tennessee and LSU were great examples.

Notice you see fewer 77-0 than you did in the past.

 

[CoastGhost]

Not anymore ...

 

[Alasippi]

good post

 

[KrAzY3]

While in the subject of graphics, I think I saw a graphic saying the SEC had the most losses in the FBS after week 1. Now, we know the SEC played the toughest schedule week 1, but it is hard to ignore all those losses.

Anyway, I thought it was worth revisiting the issue after the SEC had a well, more SEC like week. If you missed any results you can take a look at them here:
http://www.secsports.com/scores/football

Good win by Arkansas, one of about two that seem like they could impact the playoff. It's a bit of a consolation prize after Clemson (who doesn't look impressive this year) and FSU didn't get knocked off. Georgia looked like crap, but otherwise things went fairly well. Vanderbilt played like a football team and Missouri handled business. Not too much to get excited about, but it does put the SEC back on the right track. No embarrassing losses, no losses at all.

The worst part of week 1 wasn't necessarily the horrible Miss. State loss (South Alabama got dominated by Georgia Southern, which underscores my earlier points about this being an SoS killing game) or LSU not having an offense, but the missed opportunities. The SEC had a chance to really hurt the ACC's playoff hopes but despite close games they didn't accomplish that. Anyway, not a whole lot of OOC games of note in the upcoming week, but Vanderbilt does have Georgia Tech and South Carolina does have East Carolina.

 

[crimsonaudio]

 

[Sabanizer]

When the league split, it was the East, all east. Then coach Saban arrived at LSU and it has been all west. Maybe the SEC is slow starters out the gate, but it seems that the Big 10, with a major coaching upgrade and recruiting strategies might be catching up. The bowl season is where I look. But these Appy state teams are better than many teams that have bigger names.

But yes, I think we might have been overrated at the start.