Hi Connie
SEC goes from All-Mighty to Overrated
By Terence Moore | Tuesday, November 1, 2005, 06:33 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Sorry to burst those bubbles the size of Steve Spurrier’s ego, but when it comes to The All-Mighty SEC in college football, there is the myth, and then there is the reality. Here’s the myth: That there still is such a thing as The All-Mighty SEC in college football. As for the reality, this is the most overrated and overhyped conference, division or league in sports.
You do have the All-Mighty ACC in college football right now. Courtesy of solid teams from Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State and Boston College at the top and the competitive likes of Georgia Tech, Clemson, Maryland and Virginia in the middle, the ACC is what the SEC used to be, and that is a conference whose strengths aren’t exaggerated.
“Well, you know what? I think what you’re saying is obvious,” said Bill Curry, an expert on this subject. Not only is he an ESPN analyst for the sport, but he was a head coach in the ACC (Georgia Tech) and in the SEC (Kentucky and Alabama). “The SEC is going to win a bunch, but it’s not going to dominate Michigan and Texas and Notre Dame, not like it used to. It’s a conference [the SEC] that has lost its luster, and I don’t see how anybody could even begin to argue that point.”
I mean, Tennessee? Long before the Volunteers exposed themselves as frauds earlier this season, it was clear that they hadn’t a quarterback. Nobody ever will confuse Erik Ainge or Rick Clausen with anybody good. Still, courtesy of the myth, the Volunteers were ranked No. 3 by preseason polls. Now they aren’t even the best team around the Smokies. In case you haven’t noticed, historically putrid Vanderbilt has more victories (four to three) than the Volunteers. Plus, Tennessee is a Saturday trip to Notre Dame away from sliding two games below .500.
Elsewhere, after all of that whining around the SEC over the prospects of having another Auburn this season (an undefeated team without a shot at a national championship), consider two things: First, Georgia showed that it is D.J. Shockley and a bunch of talented but complementary players. Without the injured Shockley, the Bulldogs collapsed against an inferior Florida team with significant flaws, especially on offense. Second, Alabama hasn’t lost, but Alabama joins Florida and Tennessee among the many SEC teams that can’t score. Alabama averages fewer points per game than such powers as Navy, Tulsa and Louisiana Tech.
Speaking of powers that aren’t, you have South Carolina. Even so, the Gamecocks just won at Tennessee for the first time ever. The great Spurrier aside, they shouldn’t win at Tennessee. (And how good is LSU, since the Tigers choked in Death Valley to a Tennessee bunch that choked to South Carolina?) South Carolina is among the slew of athletically challenged SEC teams in most seasons.
Which brings me to more of the myth: That the reason why the traditional SEC powers have so many patsies on their schedule (LSU played North Texas last week and has Appalachian State this week for homecoming) is because the conference schedule is so brutal. There are 12 SEC teams, and the only thing brutal about half of them (South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Vanderbilt) is the way that they’ve played in recent years.
So when did The All-Mighty SEC in college football vanish?
“I think it began to happen when all of that cheating became public, and after it was proven and was documented and people started to go on probation and losing scholarships,” Curry said. “Not only did that hurt the teams that were doing the cheating and got put on probation, but it hurt everybody. At that point, a lot of good football players were lost by the SEC to other conferences. That’s because parents started to say, ‘Well, gee, I don’t want you to go somewhere that has that kind of a reputation.’ “
Earlier this decade, Curry predicted such an exodus from the conference during an SEC media day. Former commissioner Roy Kramer was so furious that he demanded that Curry justify his remarks to Kramer’s security chief. “I told [Kramer] that I’d be glad to, so I started documenting things right and left, and the guy never called me back again,” Curry said.
Guess the guy knew Curry would become omniscient.
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