SEC-bashers, you've found your prophet!

[KamaAina]

http://www.thepostgame.com/commentary/201208/better-without-em-northern-manifesto-southern-secession-chuck-thompson-sec-bcs

Few enduring southern delusions do more to illustrate Woodward's point than the region's storied devotion to college football and the myth of the superiority of the SEC, the twelve teams collectively regarded in the South -- and much of the rest of the country -- as whales to krill, The Beatles to Herman's Hermits, jackhammer sex with Mila Kunis to dry humping your junior prom date standing up in her parents' garage....

It certainly isn't on-field performance. Judging by inter-conference records -- that is to say actual games as opposed to media guesswork and bestowed rankings -- the SEC plays other BCS conferences about equally. Witness the record since the start of the BCS era in 1998:


SEC vs. PAC-12 regular season: 10-12
SEC vs. PAC-12 bowl games: 1-0
SEC vs. Big 12 regular season: 6-10
SEC vs. Big 12 bowl games: 21-8
SEC vs. ACC regular season: 42-36
SEC vs. ACC bowl games: 16-9
SEC vs. Big 10 regular season: 7-4
SEC vs. Big 10 bowl games: 19-19
SEC vs. Big East regular season: 16-15
SEC vs. Big East bowl game: 3-8...

In 2012, for instance, the SEC was able to even its BCS bowl record against the Big Ten at 19-19 when the Florida Gators beat Ohio State in the none-too-partisan Gator Bowl. The game was played in Jacksonville. No bowl games are played in Ohio....

Start the season with two of the top four teams being from the SEC, as was the case in 2010 with Alabama and Florida, and in 2011 with Alabama and LSU, and the conference is virtually guaranteed to be represented in the title game -- and this is an important point -- even if neither of those two schools end up winning the conference.

SEC partisans, fire away!

[madinmaryland]

1. I had this argument with BossHog a few years back here about the Southern Bias of

the bowl games and how they have home field advantage in most, if not all Bowl Games. Except for maybe that bizarre Bowl Game in Boise, Idaho.

[joeybee12]

2. Brilliant!!! KNR!!!!

[hughee99]

3. Looking at the SEC tie-ins for next years bowls (excluding BCS)...

What do all these bowls have in common? The SEC team is playing an opponent who finished AT LEAST as good if not better in their own division. Despite this, they still have a winning bowl record (or even, in the case of the big 10). As far as the regular season goes, I'd have to look at the matchups. I know when USC and Texas were good a few years back, they were playing a second tier Arkansas squad, but I can't say with any certainty that it was the norm.

Independence
SEC #10
vs.
ACC #7

Music City
ACC #6
vs.
SEC #7

Chick-fil-A
ACC #2
vs.
SEC #5

Gator
Big 10 #4 or #5
vs.
SEC #6

Outback
SEC #3, or #4
vs.
Big 10 #3

Capital One
Big 10 #2
vs.
SEC #2

Cotton
SEC #3 or #4
vs.
Big 12 #2

BBVA Compass Bowl
Big East #5
vs.
SEC #8 or #9

[JonLP24]

4. That is the problem w/ evaluating conferences

only due to bowl results. The vast majority of them are uneven match-ups, they start to level out across the board in upper bowls like Cotton, then BCS Bowls.

I don't know how it is but the Pac-10 used to have even match-up in the Rose Bowl, then favorable match-up in Sun Bowl. The rest were higher finishers in their conference, I think Pac #5 drew Mountain West #1 unless they were in a BCS Bowl.

Regular season match-ups in the are sometimes better indicators. I'm no fan of USC but they did play Arkansas on the road the year they went to the SEC Championship, don't dispute they were 2nd tier. Even with that they consistently face tough competition, on the road.

My team from what I remember, ASU, against LSU. My memory is not 100%, I remember them facing them the year after they won the national championship. LSU won by a desperation heave down by less than a touchdown. I believe the QB was Jamarcus Russell. A few years ago they faced Georgia on the road, missed a late FG in a tie game where Georgia then won by a FG as time expired. That same year #9 UCLA team defeated a top 6 Tennessee team. To be fair, the UCLA season starting QB was injured in that game and didn't play til late in the season and won a couple of games when he returned.

I actually use Sagarin ratings myself, SEC is #1 pretty much every year, 2009 was the Pac-12. Last season was the Big-12.

[El Supremo]

5. JonLP24 revealed!