The Myth of the SEC
The Myth of the SEC
The myth of the SEC
I think it's important for people to know that the SEC contrives its high rankings by playing a bunch of nobodies, and I'm sure some of you haven't seen this yet, so enjoy. Note: this was compiled before this year's bowl games. Also, i did not write this but another fellow trojan did to prove the SEC is not the best conference. And he certainly did.
This is to show how the SEC (or the Big XII, for that matter) inflates its rankings by playing a weak schedule, then beating up on the bad teams in the league to produce five or six top 25 teams.
The SEC has played 243 nonconference games over the past six years, includng this year (not counting bowl games). Of those 243 games, only 54 were road games (22%). That's right, 12 teams over the course of six years played a total of 54 road games against nonconference opponents. That averages out to 3/4 of a road game every year per team, meaning on average, teams in the SEC play less than one road game out of conference a year. And the majority of those road games were games played by teams who had traditional rivals in other conferences (South Carolina and Clemson, Georgia and Georgia Tech, Florida and Florida St.). To compare to the Pac-10, the Pac-10 played 72 road games out of 205 nonconference games (35%).
Even more startling is the fact that the SEC played only 68 games against BCS teams (28%) vs. the Pac-10's 85 games against BCS teams (41%). 12 teams on average played less than one game a year against BCS competition in nonconference play, while the Pac-10 played an average of one and a half BCS teams a year over the past six years. Against BCS competition, the SEC had a losing record over the past six years, going 30-38 (44%). The Pac-10 had a winning record against BCS teams, going 46-39 (54%). The majority of those 30 SEC wins came from four teams-- Tennessee (7-1), Kentucky (5-1, but played only Big Ten doormat Indiana six times), Vanderbilt (5-3, but played Duke for four of those victories), and Georgia (5-3, 3-3 against GTech). The other eight teams in the SEC could only win eight games in six years against BCS teams (going 8-30).
Here is the breakdown of the Pac-10's and SEC's nonconference records over the past six years against the other BCS conferences (does not include bowl games-- this is about scheduling):
ACC
Pac-10 2-2, SEC 14-20
Big East
Pac-10 6-2, SEC 6-7
Big Ten
Pac-10 14-13, SEC 5-1
Big XII
Pac-10 13-11, SEC 2-3
Pac-10
SEC 1-6
SEC
Pac-10 6-1
Notre Dame
Pac-10 5-10, SEC 2-1
To further illustrate the point, the SEC was 151-24 in games against nonconference teams that weren't in the BCS conferences (86%). Even the bad teams in the SEC prop up SOS for the good teams by playing horrible teams that guarantee them wins. Auburn is a good example of what the SEC does to inflate their rankings. If Auburn had played the usual cupcake schedule that they have played in the past, they would be 9-3 right now and ranked in the top 15 most likely, having "only" lost to LSU, Mississippi and Gerogia, while beating supposedly good teams like Arkansas and Tennessee. However, because they chose to play someone legitimate, they are 7-5 and look
they are 7-5 and were looking for a new coach.
This is what the rest of the SEC does, with the exception of Florida, which has to play FSU every year (and loses, by the way) and sometimes Miami (losing to them, too). The following are the SEC teams and their records against BCS opponents listed first and their record against non-BCS opponents over the past six years.
TEAM BCS record, non BCS record
Alabama 0-4, 13-5
Arkansas 1-0, 19-0 (yes, played only one BCS team over the past 6 years)
Auburn 1-5, 14-0
Florida 1-7, 12-0
Georgia 5-3, 12-0
Kentucky 5-1, 10-4
LSU 1-2, 15-2
Mississippi 0-2, 17-1
Mississippi St. 1-3, 13-3
South Carolina 3-7, 8-2
Tennessee 7-1, 12-0
Vanderbilt 5-3, 6-7
This is how the myth of the SEC is perpetuated. Since every team is guaranteed three or four wins to start the season, and then they get 3-4 more wins against the bottom half of the SEC, they have 6-8 wins before playing any of the tougher teams. With just one or two more wins, you have five or six teams with a minimum of eight wins in the "tough" conference, leading to higher rankings for all of those teams and increase SOS.
If you're wondering how the SEC did in bowl games over that time, here you go. After all, if they were truly a much better conference, their bowl record would show it, would it not. Over that same period, the SEC was 21-20 in their bowl games, certainly not dominant like they all claim to be.
Here are the nonconference schedules of both conferences so you can see how sickening the schedules of the SEC teams really are.
Fight On!
Alabama
BYU, E Carolina, S. Mississippi, Houston, Louisiana Tech, S. Mississippi, @UCLA, S. Mississippi, Central Florida, UCLA, Texas El Paso, S. Mississippi, Mid Tennessee, @Oklahoma, N Texas, S. Mississippi, @Hawaii, S Florida, Oklahoma, N Illinois, S. Mississippi, @Hawaii.
Four nonconference road games in six years. Four games against BCS teams. 0-4 r
Stupid. Here's the SEC's schedule over the past six years of nonconference opponents.
Alabama
BYU, E Carolina, S. Mississippi, Houston, Louisiana Tech, S. Mississippi, @UCLA, S. Mississippi, Central Florida, UCLA, Texas El Paso, S. Mississippi, Mid Tennessee, @Oklahoma, N Texas, S. Mississippi, @Hawaii, S Florida, Oklahoma, N Illinois, S. Mississippi, @Hawaii.
Four nonconference road games in six years. Four games against BCS teams. 0-4 record against BCS teams.
Arkansas
SW Louisiana, SMU, @Memphis, @SMU, Louisiana Monroe, Mid Tenn St., SW Missouri St., Boise St., Louisiana Monroe, UNLV, Weber St., Central FLorida, Boise St., S Florida, Troy St., Louisiana Lafayette, Tulsa, @Texas, N Texas, New Mexico St.
Three nonconference road games, ONE GAME against BCS teams. 1-0 against BCS teams.
Auburn
Virginia, Louisiana Tech, Central Florida, Appalachian St., Idaho, Central FLorida, Wyoming, N. Illinois, Louisiana Tech, Ball St., @Syracuse, Louisiana Tech, @USC, W Carolina, Syracuse, Louisiana Monroe, USC, @GTech, W Kentucky, Louisiana Monroe.
Three nonconference road games in six years. Six games against BCS teams. 1-5 against BCS teams.
Florida
The Citadel, NE Louisiana, @FSU, W Michigan, Central Florida, FSU, Ball St., Mid Tenn St., @FSU, Marshall, Louisian-Monroe, FSU, Alabama Birmingham, Miami, Ohio U, @FSU, San Jose St., @Miami, Florida A&M, FSU.
Four nonconference road games in six years, three coming from OOC rival Florida St., the other coming from in-state rival Miami. Eight games against BCS teams, all coming from traditional OOC rivals. 1-7 against BCS teams.
Georgia
Kent St., Wyoming, Georgia Tech, Utah St., Central Florida, @GTech, Georgia Southern, New Mexico St., GTech, Arkansas St., @GTech, Houston, Clemson, Northwestern St., New Mexico St., GTech, @Clemson, Middle Tennessee, Alabama Birmingham, @GTech.
Four nonconference road games in six years.
Could not do anymore, but I think this most certainly proves my point. NOBODY can argue with this. Facts are facts. Don't be duped into thinking the SEC is so tough. :lol:
