The midsection of the SEC is absolute mush this year. I remember posting that about a month ago, when someone suggested it was too strenuous to go unbeaten in the SEC. That may have been true when the conference was 3-6 deep but this year it's only 2, and that has been obvious all year. The rest of the teams are either laughably imbalanced due to personnel deficiencies, and/or going through identity crisis, trying to move to more physical, like Tennessee, or less physical, like Auburn.
Right now the SEC's reputation is far beyond reality. It's laughable that Mississippi and LSU ever reached #4 in the nation, given the true level of those teams.
In the old days I didn't mind the teams that scheduled nothing but patsies in non conference. They were subject to subjective scrutiny and the terrific bowl tie in system allowed multiple possibilities toward the national champ, dominoes tumbling everywhere on New Year's Day. But this era has convinced me we need a playoff. There is no way one bowl game should be isolated as the only outlet for the eventual champion, not when so few legit hurdles are faced en route to that game. Florida's schedule this year is basically a few games, and that applies to others like Penn State also.
BTW, it's nonsense to denounce the Pac 10. That conference has tons of athletes, and that shows up in every head to head long term evaluation. Hardly a surprise that UCLA, even in a down period, swept Tennessee last year and this year, home and road. I can't count how many times I've won major bets backing the Pac 10 as underdogs in non conference. The teams in that conference often give up big points so that brands the conference as softer than it really is. The SEC would have hell if it faced the Pac 10 every year in a series of games among equally rated teams.
I believe Vanderbilt was runner up to Army yesterday.
Right now the SEC's reputation is far beyond reality. It's laughable that Mississippi and LSU ever reached #4 in the nation, given the true level of those teams.
In the old days I didn't mind the teams that scheduled nothing but patsies in non conference. They were subject to subjective scrutiny and the terrific bowl tie in system allowed multiple possibilities toward the national champ, dominoes tumbling everywhere on New Year's Day. But this era has convinced me we need a playoff. There is no way one bowl game should be isolated as the only outlet for the eventual champion, not when so few legit hurdles are faced en route to that game. Florida's schedule this year is basically a few games, and that applies to others like Penn State also.
BTW, it's nonsense to denounce the Pac 10. That conference has tons of athletes, and that shows up in every head to head long term evaluation. Hardly a surprise that UCLA, even in a down period, swept Tennessee last year and this year, home and road. I can't count how many times I've won major bets backing the Pac 10 as underdogs in non conference. The teams in that conference often give up big points so that brands the conference as softer than it really is. The SEC would have hell if it faced the Pac 10 every year in a series of games among equally rated teams.
I believe Vanderbilt was runner up to Army yesterday.
