What does the SEC's 7-2 bowl mark really mean?
As Alabama put the finishing touches on a 35-16 victory against Michigan in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day, the chants came out.
“S-E-C! S-E-C!”
Water is wet, and the SEC has conference pride like nobody in the sport.
The conference flexed its muscles yet again. Surprise? Well, probably not considering SEC teams were favored in 8 of their 9 bowl matchups (Kentucky was the lone underdog). Had the SEC only gone something like 5-4, that would have been considered a disappointment.
Instead, we got a reminder of the SEC’s dominance compared to the rest of the Power 5:
We’ll just leave this here… pic.twitter.com/XkUzWOP0vk
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 3, 2020
It’s easy to forget that regardless of what happens in the College Football Playoff National Championship, this will be the SEC’s first bowl season with a winning record since 2015. Surprised? Well, probably not considering an SEC team is playing in its 5th consecutive national championship game while the Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 have yet to put a team in the title game during that stretch.
If you argued against the SEC as the best conference in college football since 2015, you probably pointed to the Big Ten’s 7-1 bowl mark in 2017 or the ACC’s 9-3 bowl mark in 2016 as the basis of that argument.
That beckons the question — what do we make of the SEC’s 7-2 postseason mark in 2019?
There’s one immediate takeaway that probably would have held true even if the conference went 5-4 in bowl season. The SEC was the best conference in college football this year.
That’s not simply the product of the bowl mark. The bowl mark was the final touch on something that unfolded throughout the regular season. The SEC only had 9 bowl-eligible teams — not including 6-win Mizzou because of NCAA sanctions — compared to 11 from the ACC, but that’s essentially where that argument stops. In the final Playoff poll, the SEC had 5 teams ranked in the top 13 compared to the ACC’s 2 ranked in the top 25.
Had the SEC’s 5 teams ranked in those spots gone 0-5, then yeah, we’d have to revisit that conversation. But that didn’t happen. Those teams went 4-1 with an average margin of +13.4. In the New Year’s 6 Bowl games, the SEC is 3-0 (so far).
Compare that mark to the rest of the Power 5 conferences:
- SEC: 3-0
- Pac-12: 1-0
- ACC: 1-1
- Big Ten: 1-2
- Big 12: 0-2
Yes, the SEC had as many New Year’s 6 Bowl victories as the rest of the Power 5 conferences combined. To me, that’s an even louder statement than the 7-2 mark.
Compare that to last year when the SEC finished 2-2 in those games with the brutal loss that Georgia suffered to Texas, and the blowout defeat that Alabama was dealt against Clemson in the title game. The mood will be different even if LSU doesn’t cap it off.
But here’s what’s interesting. With this 7-2 bowl mark after the year that’s been, the SEC could finish with its best overall year of the Playoff era. If LSU were to win the national championship and Texas A&M got back into the Top 25, here’s how that would compare to past seasons in which the SEC won the national title during the Playoff era:
*if A&M is voted in
**if LSU wins
It’s interesting, isn’t it?
I know what some of you are thinking — doesn’t 2017 take the cake with Alabama and Georgia playing for the national championship? Possibly. That depends on who you ask. The fact that the conference had a losing record in bowl season probably didn’t help much, and neither did Auburn losing to UCF in a New Year’s 6 Bowl.
This bowl season, the SEC avoided the embarrassing loss. Let me back up a second. I don’t think losing to that UCF team was embarrassing, but in the eyes of the general public, losing to a Group of 5 team in a New Year’s 6 Bowl is what many what consider “embarrassing.” It also muddied the waters that the Big Ten was 7-1 that bowl season with a 3-0 mark in New Year’s 6 Bowls and just as many Top 25 teams as the SEC.
Again, what matters here is perception. Giving the perception of being the unquestioned best conference in college football is something that the SEC cares about. A lot. It impacts recruiting, TV rights deals and just overall branding. The recruiting and NFL Draft dominance has become so 1-sided for the SEC that it’s easy to discount it altogether, even though it shouldn’t be.
The only other way for the SEC to truly leave no doubt is to have a year like it did. And fair or not, it probably helps that Alabama wasn’t the driving force behind it. “Bama fatigue” is real in the eyes of the general public. The fact that the SEC is 3-0 in New Year’s 6 Bowl games without Alabama and it has a non-Alabama team playing for a national title is huge. It wasn’t long ago that many argued the SEC’s perceived success was simply a product of an all-time great team/coach, and not the conference as a whole.
Fans of teams from other conferences questioned why fans of middle-of-the-pack SEC teams would puff their chest for Alabama’s accomplishments.
Go figure that on the first day of 2020, it was Alabama fans’ turn to brag about the SEC.
Still can’t believe Auburn lost to Minnesota.
Minnesota was 7-2 in conference games. Auburn was 5-3 in their conference games. So Big Ten fans have nothing to brag about.
The SEC has so many tie-ins with the top bowls that we frequently see the fifth best SEC team competing against the third best team from some other conference.
Nit surprising really. Auburn under Gus had only won 2 bowl games. Crappy Purdue last year and Memphis in the Bhm Bowl.
Agreed. Auburn uses whatever voodoo they have to beat Bama every few years but then they poop the bed in their bowl games. I think Gus is a good play caller and maybe a good motivator but I don’t think he does a very good job of getting his team prepared week in and week out. Auburn has the money, facilities and the talent to be a top team but year after year they always come up a little short.
Auburn does not have the facilities.
Soon you will. And nothing will be any different.
Glad you can predict the future
And still Beats Bama….what a head scratcher huh.
Once every few years… And yes, it is definitely a head scratcher.
Classic example of how rivalry promotion kills motivation to win other important games.
The winning bowl record only means something if the SEC NOT having a winning bowl record since 2015 meant anything. Yet imply the sub.500 bowl record didn’t mean anything those years because an SEC team still made the Championship Game. Lets be real here, it was Alabama making the Championship Game each of those years, not a wide array of SEC teams. Ride coattails much? That’s playing both sides of the fence at best, and makes no sense at worst. Honestly, I don’t think bowl season amounts to much at all collectively. Individually it can be good for teams, sure.
Mizzou fans like you are why we’ve never truly accepted Missouri as a SEC team.
Yeah, you just keep marching straight along little lamb, don’t look side to side you just might fall out of line.
Seriously, Dirty South? Speak for yourself. MIZ is SEC, and has won the EAST twice. Columbia is a fantastic college town. With that said and IMHO, the powers need to figure out if the SEC will still have an East & West or go with the 3 permanent opponents and rotate. If the keep an East & West, then they need to figure out how to realign MIZ to the west.
Agree with APT on Mizzou. Not sure about the elimination of Divisions, but they need a 9 game conference schedule.
Swap Missouri for Auburn as a possible scenario to realign the divisions
Winning the east is nothing to brag about. Mizzou hasn’t done jack $h!t since. Those 2 east titles were more about UGA and UF being down than about Mizzou being good. They got waxed in the title game both times. And I really don’t care what kind of town Columbia is. I confidently stand by my comment. Anything else you want to say?
Florida’s and Georgia’s SEC East titles the last 5 seasons don’t mean jack$hit cuz Mizzou has been down. Ya’ll been lucky
Mizzou has been down for five seasons?
I don’t think the “Mizzou has been down for 5 seasons” is the hill you want to die on……
@boxter355: It makes complete sense but Alabama would have to agree to drop TN as their cross division rival in order to do that. Saban was none too pleased about it when it was suggested back when the SEC originally invited Mizzou. May have to wait until Saban is gone for an Auburn/Mizzou swap to be a realistic possibility
Yes. Makes sense because Nick Saban invented Alabama’s rivalry with Tennessee, and it’s sort of his baby etc.
Yes, of course, it was Saban who invented the rivalry back in the 20’s and 30’s when Neyland and Wade/Thomas were battling for Southern supremacy and when Tennessee was Alabama’s most significant game while they refused to play Auburn for most of the first half of the 20th century. I don’t know if you were joking or just aren’t up on history.
@brk4wc Until you can consistently beat us, I’d advise leaving Georgia and Florida the Hell alone. Go pick on Vandy or Arkansas – that’s more your speed.
@MobileWildcat: Well other than Mizzou, FL, GA and uSC are the only other East teams to win the division over the last decade. So yeah stay in your own flock with Vandy, Ark etc, k? :)
Booches94 if you’re going to live in the past and crow about what you did over five years ago, I guess it’s just as relevant to say we were the 1951 national champs with Bear Bryant as our coach.
Feels a little silly, doesn’t it?
And if we’re in a flock with Vandy and Arkansas, where does that put Mizzou, the team we’ve defeated the last 5 years in a row?
By the way, when is the last time Missouri lost to Vandy?
@Booches94 We’ve beat y’all 5 times in a row and lead the all time series 7-3. Ever since your 2 East titles, you’ve become more like Vandy & Arky than ever before. We’re 5-3 against Mizzou since you’ve joined the SEC & we’ve gone to 4 straight bowls and won our last 2, while you’ve gone to only 2 in the past 4 years and only won 1. So yea, Vandy/Arky is more your speed, for now.
Hi Bill. I think by any measure possible 2014 is more modern and relevant than 1951. I mean, you can call me crazy if you need to, that’s ok.
I’m sorry BBNWildcat, if I could have included KY with Mizzou, FL, GA and SC as winning the East over the last decade I would have. But that’s not really up to me, that’s up to KY actually winning the Division, ya know? I mean, it’s not personal.
Most Mizzou fans love to talk up the bowl games, largely because the previous coaches(pinkel esp) sold bowl appearances as an alternate for championships… something he couldn’t win.
Probably a good thing Mizzou didn’t get a bowl this year with the coaching issues. Hopefully that is rectified and we can get back to beating the snot out of some 6 win acc-big teams again.
I hated and still hate to see Coach Pinkel not being able to coach Mizzou, I know how much he means to y’all, but he got dealt an unfortunate hand with his illness and obviously that is a priority. Always hoping for the best for him, his family and everyone that holds him close.
“largely because the previous coaches(pinkel esp) sold bowl appearances as an alternate for championships.”
Lmao, can you be a little more specific with his technique here? I don’t remember Pinkel talking about how NOT competing for conference championships is the goal.
Not so fast, story inventer, nobody working for the Univ. of Missouri, said “bowl games are ok” to replace Pinkel’s 5 division championships in less than a decade.
You can argue the Athletic Director, or board did that by default when they hired the all-talk, zero-experience head coach in Odom? Several million Missourians holding positions due to their own experience as successful managers were slapping their knees that day.
Mizzou is as SEC as Georgia or Bama. Just because a fan says something you don’t like is no reason to bash a whole team.
That’s why nobody likes you, Mizzou.
Yeah, so? If you want to pretend Bama only made the playoffs those years because they were in the SEC that’s your prerogative. But I’m not insecure enough to admit or not realize it wouldn’t have mattered what conf there were in, they were that good and certainly not insecure enough to ride their coattails in an effort to excuse away the SEC having losing records in those Bowl Seasons. I’m comfortable in my own skin thank you. And just like smithdk4 said below, there are too many factors to simply use a conference Bowl record as an end all to mean anything.
You got a worm in your pocket? Try not to pass along what everybody thinks, ok? Just worry about trying to get your program ahead of Arkansas.
That was for Bulldogbuck. MSU being one of the worst teams and programs in the conference leaves little room to talk here.
There’s another reason, my comment simply didn’t contain enough to draw all that nonsense out of it. As for all the UGA hate towards state recently, I don’t get it. We were never gonna match 7M annually to keep Mullen put of the east, so deal with it.
No on hates MSU, stop feeling persecuted. Neither you or your program is worthy of a second of time worrying for UGA.
*No one……
Yet…
With key players opting not to play these days, all bowl games other than the CFP semi’s and championship are simply scrimmages. You can’t rely on the bowl games to mean anything – I cite last year’s Sugar Bowl when UGA didn’t give an ish and played like it. You’re going to see more of that. I look to the rankings of the last week of the season to tell me who is who and who ranks where.
You’re exactly right. It also helps a conference (big ten) when they miss out on the playoffs. Their best is pitted against a lesser team from a conference that put a team in the playoff. They get avoid the “best” 4 by missing the playoff. Ohio state walked through their bowl games when they missed the playoffs. This year they make the playoff (lose) and Wisconsin has to play Oregon in the rose bowl. If Ohio state misses the playoff again they roll through Oregon and Wisconsin gets a “lesser” opponent.
Bingo. It’s truly silly to simply look at a conference bowl record while ignoring any and all other factors surrounding it and make a conclusion.
What conference had more bowl teams? Did they win more bowls?
So exactly what part of “simply looking at a conference bowl record” confused you?
I hear or see that said a lot, about Georgia not caring to play in that sugar bowl. But everything i seen from the players leading up to the game was that they were going to prove the committee wrong and show they were a top 4 team. I can’t remember the players of the top of my head and i don’t really care enough to look i just find it funny and ironic.
The players did rise to the occasion. I am hoping we bump OU out of the #4 spot in the final poll.
I’m very positive y’all will be in that spot after the final rankings.
…And it will definitely matter.
Looking at Oklahoma’s season scores, one has to wonder how many ref flags it took to get them thru the season on top. Can I get a witness from somebody in the at Baylor, TCU, Texas, or Oklahoma State.
Say what you want, the SEC has led the NFL draft by huge numbers for several years. If the SEC has more draft talent than anyone else (obviously so), then it stands to reason that they have more players sit out. If they are STILL dominating bowl season, then that speaks volumes.
Exactly. With all due respect to some of our Missouri friends on here, one has to take with a grain of salt arguments that the bowl wins mean nothing when its coming from a program that didn’t go to a bowl.
It is kinda like the high school kid who gets rebuffed by a girl for prom and than tell his friends, ‘Well I really didn’t like her anyway’
What ever makes them feel good
Minnesota played all season with lot of new-found confidence and emotion…courtesy of P.J. Fleck(they rowed that canoe). It seemed that Auburn either was not motivated…or took em too lightly…couldn’t figure that one out.
Yep, MN was a great story, their confidence and coming together as a cohesive unit was a great thing to watch. The better team that day won that bowl game.
I was at the game. Minnesota simply beat Auburn on both lines of scrimmage. UM has not gotten enough credit for their talent at RB, WR and QB. Once UM took the Auburn run game away, the UM secondary was really tight. Auburn’s only offensive TD was made by Bo Nix scrambling. UM forced him to stay in the pocket and make tough throws.
Their O-line is also massive too.
It’s all that Midwest cheese!
My company is based in Wisconsin and I travel up there a few times a year. I always thought it was a stereotype that they loved cheese so much in that area…it is not
It’s impossible to determine conference strength. Too many variables. These days every conference is top heavy. This is a very bad trend for the game. IMO.
Impossible? The SEC will finish with the best bowl record by far and easily the most teams in the top 10 or thereabouts. There really isn’t much of a case for anyone to make against the SEC.
They weren’t last year?
JTF is right, it’s impossible. The fact that you have to say “there isn’t much of a case” is indicator of that.
Something definitive should be self-apparent. I saw Tenn lose to GSU, Mizzou lose to Wyoming, Arkansas lose to SJSU AND WKU. Auburn just loss to Minnesota, SCAR loss to UNC, Clemson, and App st..I can go on and on.
Are we REALLY the best conference top to bottom because of a 7-2 bowl record? Is it really that clear cut? Or is it our top teams are better than everyone else’s top teams, but our lower tiers are just as bad if not worse than everyone else’s?
The SEC isn’t perfect, but to not be the best means someone else has to be. Can anyone make any sort of case for any other conference? Bowl record is a factor, but there are clearly others. Non conference records overall, national rankings, even the draft and NSD. All favor the SEC, and there isn’t even a close second. Impossible? Hardly.
Good comments, every year is unique…but a bad SEC year is a good year for most other conferences. The SEC generally has 6 and sometime 7 teams that could compete to make TOP in other conferences. With that said, our bottom teams can be as bad as other conferences bottom dwellers as well. How would TAMU faired in the P12 or B12 this year? Not sure, but probably better than in the SEC. The SEC is a few good teams deeper in a time of scholarship limitations as football is very cultural in the south. Like the ACC is typically deep in basketball.
*top 3 or 4
I don’t think it is possible for any other conference to say they are definitely the best either. I happen to think the SEC is the best. But, I can’t prove it.
All those factors you mention LSUSMC just means you can make an educated guess on who is the best, there is still ZERO definitive proof. Hell, even one game usually isn’t definitive proof one is better than another. As a scientist by profession, you are NOT going to change my mind on that because my day to day is making educated guesses based on evidence (i.e. experiments, studies, etc)
I think the SEC is the best, but like JTF said…there’s no definitive proof. Just a bunch of facts that can help lead to a subjective conclusion. By definition, it is impossible.
APT, I agree with you. A hundred percent. But we have no concrete evidence that any of our guesses are true. We can make a strong guess that TAMU probably would have fared better in the Pac 12, but because it didn’t happen it’s just a guess and not a truth.
Gee whiz. There is no other conference even trying to say they are better this season. Even they can admit the truth. Not sure why some here have such issues with the obvious. It’s obvious this year.
Gee whiz…. no one is saying that the SEC isn’t the best conference or that other conferences are claiming it. Those are all straw man arguments.
I’m saying it can’t be proven without argument, i.e. definitively. That’s it.
APT,
Considering TAMU faved 3 #1s and 2 more Top 8, we probably would have had a 10 win season against a Big 12 schedule.
7-2 is great but 8-2 would simply be fantastic.
Bank on 8-2 and two SEC teams in the top 4.
The SEC has had some down years recently. It’s back up again. You need to put a few years together, like compare all the conferences over the last 5 years, to make the conference superiority argument. I don’t march lockstep with the rest of the SEC. In fact, I want to see some SEC teams lose. But I agree that, at least for the last 15-20 years, the SEC has been the strongest conference, despite a few down years.
Without question, there have been some individual seasons where another conference could make a compelling case for why they were the best that season. Those seasons are still the exception as opposed to the rule. This has been the century of the SEC so far. We will see how long it continues.
I am just glad that Urban Lier was on the OSU sideline to see the defeat up close and personal. That was the best part of the entire bowl season, IMO.
bayou…How true…the SEC is back up. the East is getting stronger, with Florida on the rise and maybe Tennessee(not sure of that yet).
Anything than benefits the SEC Conference…Great ! Now…Go LSU !
Bring Home A SEC National Championship !
Jtf and apt, why? I would love more conference games but you know who plays 9? The B1G, the Big XII, And the Pac. While the scheduling has changed, since the bcs started precisely 4 times has a team from one of those conferences won a title game. Why, in Zeus’s anus would we want to copy that. I would actually like to see more legitimate ooc games.
OOC ganes yes – more cupcakes? HAIL no! I want to eliminate those, add another conference game rotating, switch up Mizzou and Auburn in divisions…
As I understood it, a big reason they didn’t move Auburn to the East and put Mizzou in the West to begin with was Alabama, in order to keep Auburn as an annual game they would have to replace it with TN as their cross division game and Bama said no, they didn’t want to lose either Auburn or TN as an annual game. So basically Alabama will have to change their position before Auburn and Mizzou can swap.
I don’t even think true Vols want to lose the Third Saturday in October rivalry either. Sure, it’s been dominated by Bama since 2007 and although I’m no expert on those two teams, I definitely know the historical significance of that rivalry to both of those programs. I don’t see it ending, but who knows?
Yeah I don’t know either, and honestly it doesn’t matter to me one division or the other. But it certainly does make geographic sense anyway to find a way to swap Auburn and Mizzou like people have been suggesting.
Definitely no argument there, it is weird seeing Mizzou in the East in terms of geographical location.
Here’s a solution to the problem – but it’s a bit outside the box. Split the conference into 4 pods.
East – Florida, South Carolina, Georgia
North – Kentucky, Mizzou, Vandy, Arkansas
South – Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn
West – Miss St, Ole Miss, LSU, TAMU
Each team in the 3 team pods has a permanent rival in the opposite pod as follows: Tennessee – Florida, Auburn – Georgia, Alabama – South Carolina (sorry cockies).
On odd years the divisions are formed by combining North + East vs. South + West. On even years the divisions are North + South vs East + West.
With this scheme all the most important rivalries I know of are maintained. At worst though schools play each other every other year, and a home and home series will complete within a student’s four years.
There is the curious wrinkle that it’s possible for 2 teams that face off in a championship game to be in the same conference – LSU and Alabama are one such example.
I’d like to point out the use of the word legitimate…
Solve Alabama’s problems with realignment by moving both Bama teams to the east and Vandy and Mizzou to the west.
Bama, Georgia, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee in the same division? Good Lord lol.
Put Auburn in the East and Missouri in the West.
Why would Auburn add any weight to the East and UT has been a stepping stone for years now. Georgia and Bama would duke it out every year like Bama and LSU do now, same intensity of football, just a different venue every other year.
Georgia and Auburn are consistently good to great teams year in and year out. They play each other every year. Bammer gets UT every year and I think they have lost more times in a row than I have fingers. Not exactly fair for either AU or UGA. Bammer gets a free win every year. Let Bammer play Florida—they are much more consistently good to great than UT. Or just scrap this permanent cross division crap and rotate it around.
Why? Only playing the opposite division’s team every 7 or 8 years is ridiculous. UGA just now, this year, played A&M!!
For the price we are paying for Season Tickets now fans deserve to see SEC teams instead of cupcakes. IMHO.
So, OhSU, Wis, Mich, OU, Texas, Baylor, Wash, ASU, Clemson, etc. are all just cupcakes, too? I didn’t use the term P5 because plenty of G5 teams are legitimate opponents, but I did use ‘legitimate’. Read the whole thing, then respond. If your extra game in 2019 is, say, Vandy, MSU or Arky, does it really help? An example of a legitimate opponent, say, scheduled right now for 2023 would include teams like memphis, minnesota, Army, OSU, and even Louisiana or App St. Teams that have a few years of decent teams. FSU has won titles but was a cupcake last season, so basing legitimacy of a brand or a conference is just dumb. That would mean voluntarily scheduling vandy or Arky based on this seasons results is better and proves more than getting Clemson or Ohio State on the schedule. I disagree. And maybe fans should look at the opponents before buying tickets, if they did maybe they wouldn’t be so dadgum high.
“And maybe fans should look at the opponents before buying tickets, if they did maybe they wouldn’t be so dadgum high.”
You just shot your whole argument in the head. Have a nice evening.
Pointing out that some people are dumb enough to pay to go the very games you are complaining about, with full knowledge beforehand who is on the schedule, and do not deserve to get anything more, that undermines my argument that your logic is senseless? Pointing out that knowingly overpaying for a crap product keeps the price high regardless of quality is irrelevant, at most, and in no way undermines the idea that quality opponents can be ooc while some conference games suck. Are you following this.
The SEC is a strong conference followed pretty closely by the Big 10.
Better bring your A game every week or you’ll get beat.
However I don’t think bowl games are a true reflection of conference strength. After a way too long layoff to expect the same team is sort of ridicules.
Apparently some fans on here think you should actually benefit from the time off. Talking from experience a long layoff is never a very good idea.
It depends on the person. We’re all built differently. A lay off can benefit some people, and it can hurt others.
Time off between big dates makes me anxious, but it has never affected my performance when I’m constantly preparing..one way or the other. (outside of healing for sports)
Tbh I don’t think the SEC will ever post a consistently stellar bowl record for three reasons:
1 – 2-5 weeks to prepare for a game always gives an advantage to the lesser team. Good coaching can cover a multitude of sins when you have that much time.
2 – Statistically, the SEC has more players sit out for the Draft than anybody else (see UGA v Baylor). When you’re down that many players, it’ll come back to bite you.
3 (And perhaps most importantly) – The SEC is the ONLY conference that has 6-7 teams with CFP aspirations year in, year out. Whether it’s schedule, preseason rankings, or fan base expectations, practically half our conference has their eyes on the prize in September. Don’t tell me kids lose part of their fire when, 2-4 weeks away from December, their team falls out of contention. It’s like a kick to the gut for a team’s passion and chutzpah. No other conference deals with that.
I’m ecstatic at what we’ve done this year but the deck is stacked against us in the post-season.
Great post
diehard…Plus you add in the factor that by November, SEC teams have a lot of bumps & bruises, that other conference teams do not have. Great post !
7 and 2 means that the SEC West let us down two times
Lol, can’t be too harsh on State for the loss, but come on Auburn.
Just make da mm sure your Geaux Tigers make it 8 and 2 will ya? Best wishes next week my compadre…
I’m hoping for the absolute best. Thanks, Leghumper.
That’s fair
I’d Like to see UCF In The S E C Than Missouri ! Nobody Outside Of They’re Fans, has EVER accepted them as an SEC Team ! Just Saying…….
I don’t know, man. Those Disney world dwelling clowns seem annoying. It would be fun to see their dreams get smacked down by reality, but I don’t think they’d ever get moved to this conference.
I bet Florida does want Mizzou out of the conference…lol
We should have added Virginia Tech. They would have been perfect for the SEC. A football first fanbase. They would have natural geographical rivals with Tennessee and Kentucky. In fact the Bristol Motor Speedway which was used a few years ago would have been perfect a permanent venue for the VT-UT game every year just like Jacksonville for Florida-UGA.
Yeah that would have been a good add. Let’s drop Vandy. I vote yes!
Never heard anyone suggest VA Tech but ya they definitely would’ve been a cool fit
Welp never met Jobigator before but now I don’t respect him. Mizzou is a good addition to the SEC (should have be in the West but whatever). UCF…? Seriously? They had 2 good seasons, cool.
Also, the SEC has 0 reason to add UCF. They already have the Orlando market cause the Gators.
This “Bowl Challenge” is silly. The SEC was favored in, what, 8 of the 9 bowls they played in. Years that the SEC was “down” in the bowls they weren’t favored. Just silliness. Now, how many times did they, or another conference’s teams cover the spread? That might tell you something. Otherwise it is just a inconclusive way of determining which conference is deeper/better.
SupremeGump, you wrote;
Yes. Makes sense because Nick Saban invented Alabama’s rivalry with Tennessee, and it’s sort of his baby etc.
Excuse me? Nick Saban invented Alabama’s rivalry with Tennessee? You must be a youngster. I recall Bama-TN, the third Saturday in October back into the 60’s and 70’s. Coach Bryant. General Neyland. Cigars for beating the Vols. No, son, Bama-TN goes back a lot farther than Coach Saban.
I have always thought it was because of Albert Means? That player that got Alabama on a 2 year bowl ban and sanction in the early 2000s
I’ve gotten so caught up in the comments that I don’t remember the original article. The “we hate Missouri “ comments are great. Now you know you fit in because you have pissed off multiple fan base posters. Congrats Mizzou. First relevant thing you have done in awhile.
The author is either incompetent or ladeliberately ignoring reality. The SEC had a good bowl record thsi year compared to last Year’s disaster for a couple of good reasons that have nothing to do with conference alleged supremacy. The SEC often has 11 teams in bowls and two or more in BCS bowls plus one in the CFP. Teams number 10 mand 11 end up matched up against number 4 or 5 teams from other conferences and ususally lose. This year with nione teams only, the SEC matched up much more evenly with other conferences. The Auburn flop and the Kenticky upset offset.
The SEC is pathetic when you drop below the top five or six schools. Over half the conference more closely resembles Ruthgers than Ohio State. Put the fourteen teams in the Big 10 aganinst the SEC and I suspect the record would be about .500 hardly a domination. I personally belive the SEC is weaker top to bottom now than at any other time in this millenium. Arkansas, Miss, Miss State, Vandy, Missouri and USC are all dumpster fires, hardly an imposing conference list.
Since everybody with a 6 win record can go to a bowl game, the match-ups can be manipulated to give any conference a winning record in bowl season. But, here are some examples that mean something.
If a conference’s 8th and 9th finishing team beats another conference’s 4th and 5th finishing team. Now your seeing a clearly deeper conference.
If several match-ups are made between similar finishing teams, ie. the 4th place team from one conference from one conference beats the 4th place team from another conference by a wide margin. Then the 2nd place team from the same conference beats the 2nd place team from another conference by a wide margin. (and so on). These groups of wins make a compelling argument about the over quality of play in that conference season. Much more so than bowl record. But when you combine bowl record with match-up data like the above, then an even more clear idea emerges about strength of conference top, conference bottom, and top to bottom.
When it comes to these ballgames, it’s all about psychology. If a team expected to be in the playoffs or an NY6 game and then finds itself in a lesser bowl, you can guarantee that they will come out flat. From a wagering perspective, that is some of the easiest money there is. That’s how you end up with these group of five schools beating top 10 ranked teams. Auburn, had they really been excited to be there, would have certainly done the same thing to UCF that LSU did.
When it comes to these bowl games, it’s all about psychology. If a team expected to be in the playoffs or an NY6 game and then finds itself in a lesser bowl, you can guarantee that they will come out flat. From a wagering perspective, that is some of the easiest money there is. That’s how you end up with these group of five schools beating top 10 ranked teams. Auburn, had they really been excited to be there, would have certainly done the same thing to UCF that LSU did.