Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

SEC east has sucked for years! We just forget their OOC scares and losses against lesser perceived schools because ESPN continues to convince the sheep they are the best.

What myth did you think it ended? The nature of the game is that there is a winner and a loser. The worst team in the conference lost to the Citadel and the winner of the East was taken to overtime by a G5. So what? The conference as a whole isn't as strong this season as in the recent past. Does that give you a woody? Why do some feel that others must be made to look bad so they can feel better about themselves?

I'm just saying, we've had it shoved down our throat for so long about how much of a battle it is within the SEC and why they should be given the benefit of the doubt for beating each other and as justification for scheduling weak as they did this week.

What do you want, I said its still the best conference bar none, just overhyped, which has historically been important in a sport which still doesn't have a true playoff (otherwise, every FBS team would have equal access to the title).

The SEC currently has a coaching problem. Both LSU and Georgia really need new blood to take over. South Carolina and Mizzou both are a damn mess and can't get their seasons over soon enough. Add in the fact that Florida is in the first year of a rebuild and Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, and Tennessee all haven't lived up to expectations. So I get why people think that the SEC is struggling. In fact,I believe the SEC really is down. It's just that outside of a few Big10 and Big 12 programs. Everyone else is playing horrible also. Look at the ACC and the PAC. Two ACC programs are carrying the conference this season. I guess you say three if you wanted to count Notre Dame. The PAC was supposed to be the second best league this year and couldn't live up to the hype. The AAC has a few giant slayers this season and promptly started slaying each other. So that league is done, and the MWC has no pulse.

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

This is awfully vague ... the SEC is the "best" conference but not "so much further ahead and better than everyone else" as some unspecified people presumably argue?

I reckon if you can't pin down the myth that you are talking about any more clearly than that, then the answer is ...

(11-22-2015 09:08 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

This is awfully vague ... the SEC is the "best" conference but not "so much further ahead and better than everyone else" as some unspecified people presumably argue?

I reckon if you can't pin down the myth that you are talking about any more clearly than that, then the answer is ...

I agree Bruce, other than a few talking heads on TV, who is it doing all of this "shoving?" I don't see people on the board starting threads and boasting about the supremacy of the SEC. I have seen a multitude of threads on here putting the SEC down, taking any slip and blowing it up beyond reason. I've also seen people defend the conference in those threads, making an effort to set the record straight or explain away a misconception, but I don't see the chest beating SEC fan starting threads about how great the conference is. I don't know if it's jealousy over the recent run of national championships (which has now been over for two years) or a predisposition to dislike anything from the South, but I tire of the whining, the gotcha finger pointing and the absolute falsehoods perpetuated on here as it relates to the SEC.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to brag, you'd better be a fan of Clemson or Iowa. Otherwise, everyone has pimples.

South Carolina just lost to The Citadel (FCS)
Vanderbilt lost to both W. Kentucky and Houston

Just an SEC East problem?

Ole Miss lost to Memphis
Arkansas lost to Toledo

What's more, LSU just lost to both Ole Miss AND Arkansas in the last 2 weeks.

No one is saying some other conference is invincible... just that the SEC is NOT all that special, either.

(11-22-2015 09:24 AM)Zombiewoof Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 09:08 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

This is awfully vague ... the SEC is the "best" conference but not "so much further ahead and better than everyone else" as some unspecified people presumably argue?

I reckon if you can't pin down the myth that you are talking about any more clearly than that, then the answer is ...

I agree Bruce, other than a few talking heads on TV, who is it doing all of this "shoving?" I don't see people on the board starting threads and boasting about the supremacy of the SEC. I have seen a multitude of threads on here putting the SEC down, taking any slip and blowing it up beyond reason. I've also seen people defend the conference in those threads, making an effort to set the record straight or explain away a misconception, but I don't see the chest beating SEC fan starting threads about how great the conference is. I don't know if it's jealousy over the recent run of national championships (which has now been over for two years) or a predisposition to dislike anything from the South, but I tire of the whining, the gotcha finger pointing and the absolute falsehoods perpetuated on here as it relates to the SEC.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to brag, you'd better be a fan of Clemson or Iowa. Otherwise, everyone has pimples.

I'm a Syracuse XC fan. Find a pimple there

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else?...

It's still the best conference, especially the West...

Why is it every time someone says it's time to "end the narrative" about SEC football superiority, they always feel obliged to add "it's still the best"?

It's OK to call it if the SEC is no longer the best football conference. They weren't the best before 2003 or so, and inevitably some conference (or conferences) will jump ahead of them in the future.

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

The SEC is hitting the coaching turnover that people kept saying was coming by the end of this decade.

Spurrier didn't care anymore the last couple of years and now he is gone. South Carolian likely will not win 11 games in a season again in years and years and years.

UGA is at a point where Richt is winding down and will be out soon. He has been there for a long time.

Les Miles is getting fired from LSU.

Meyer already left the conference and won a national title in another conference.

Auburn's coach isn't as great as people initially thought.

Miss. State's coach wants out.

Freeze isn't an elite coach, but a decent coach.

once Saban retires or takes an NFL job, that is when the coaching turnover will have taken full circle. Once that happens no coach in the SEC will have won a national title or coached in a Super Bowl.

College football has always gone in cycles. SEC use to be be average to slightly above average for a long time, then went on a great run for 7 years and now fading back.

(11-22-2015 11:05 AM)Nebraskafan Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

The SEC is hitting the coaching turnover that people kept saying was coming by the end of this decade.

Spurrier didn't care anymore the last couple of years and now he is gone. South Carolian likely will not win 11 games in a season again in years and years and years.

UGA is at a point where Richt is winding down and will be out soon. He has been there for a long time.

Les Miles is getting fired from LSU.

Meyer already left the conference and won a national title in another conference.

Auburn's coach isn't as great as people initially thought.

Miss. State's coach wants out.

Freeze isn't an elite coach, but a decent coach.

once Saban retires or takes an NFL job, that is when the coaching turnover will have taken full circle. Once that happens no coach in the SEC will have won a national title or coached in a Super Bowl.

College football has always gone in cycles. SEC use to be be average to slightly above average for a long time, then went on a great run for 7 years and now fading back.

I agree with a lot of what you posted. But what you have left out is the fact that the SEC will hire every top coach it can. I fully expect to see the next generation of elite coaches headed toward the SEC.

(11-22-2015 09:41 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  South Carolina just lost to The Citadel (FCS)
Vanderbilt lost to both W. Kentucky and Houston

Just an SEC East problem?

Ole Miss lost to Memphis
Arkansas lost to Toledo

What's more, LSU just lost to both Ole Miss AND Arkansas in the last 2 weeks.

No one is saying some other conference is invincible... just that the SEC is NOT all that special, either.

ESPN claiming Alabama should be number one is crazy.
Losing to Ole Miss at home who lost to Memphis should matter.
Now can they beat anybody sure they can like OSU last year.
But OSU wasn't getting a bunch of hype to be number one over undefeated teams .
They slipped in at the last minute Alabama has a chance to get the number one spot over Clemson.

(11-22-2015 08:51 AM)hawghiggs Wrote:  The SEC currently has a coaching problem. Both LSU and Georgia really need new blood to take over. South Carolina and Mizzou both are a damn mess and can't get their seasons over soon enough. Add in the fact that Florida is in the first year of a rebuild and Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, and Tennessee all haven't lived up to expectations. So I get why people think that the SEC is struggling. In fact,I believe the SEC really is down. It's just that outside of a few Big10 and Big 12 programs. Everyone else is playing horrible also. Look at the ACC and the PAC. Two ACC programs are carrying the conference this season. I guess you say three if you wanted to count Notre Dame. The PAC was supposed to be the second best league this year and couldn't live up to the hype. The AAC has a few giant slayers this season and promptly started slaying each other. So that league is done, and the MWC has no pulse.

What happened to the QBs? Every conference seems to be struggling with QBs this year.

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

If we are going to expand again then we need to do it and balance the divisions. It is out of whack. Alabama is probably deserving of high ranking this year and there is the usual up and down with the West teams, more down for my Tigers than anticipated but that's the nature of the West. If you have a weakness it gets exploited.

That said there is no dominance in the East and Missouri being down hurt even though Tennessee seems to be re-emerging. The transition at South Carolina just further weakens things. But I do believe the Gators are much better, at least defensively and a little better offensively. Georgia needs to resolve the dangling Richt issue one way or the other. You can't let a coach hang in limbo like that and expect success.

If we don't expand further then Auburn and Alabama need to move to the East and Missouri and Vanderbilt to the West. Then at least maybe the two best teams would meet in the CCG instead of knocking each other off in the West.

But to your main point, we have definitely slipped. Whether that is long term, or a blip on the timeline remains to be seen.

(11-22-2015 11:25 AM)hawghiggs Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 11:05 AM)Nebraskafan Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

The SEC is hitting the coaching turnover that people kept saying was coming by the end of this decade.

Spurrier didn't care anymore the last couple of years and now he is gone. South Carolian likely will not win 11 games in a season again in years and years and years.

UGA is at a point where Richt is winding down and will be out soon. He has been there for a long time.

Les Miles is getting fired from LSU.

Meyer already left the conference and won a national title in another conference.

Auburn's coach isn't as great as people initially thought.

Miss. State's coach wants out.

Freeze isn't an elite coach, but a decent coach.

once Saban retires or takes an NFL job, that is when the coaching turnover will have taken full circle. Once that happens no coach in the SEC will have won a national title or coached in a Super Bowl.

College football has always gone in cycles. SEC use to be be average to slightly above average for a long time, then went on a great run for 7 years and now fading back.

I agree with a lot of what you posted. But what you have left out is the fact that the SEC will hire every top coach it can. I fully expect to see the next generation of elite coaches headed toward the SEC.

You mean schools like Muschamp that already got fired at Florida as a head coach?

Some of the young best head coaches are not going to be leaving to run to the SEC. Oregon, Ohio State, Stanford, Michigan, Penn State and others all have coaches that are young and will reign supreme over the sport for the near future as they are already established and young.

Herman will end up at a P5 school eventually, but he is no Steve Spurrier that would spend decades in the SEC. He LOVES the Texas job and wants that job.

McElwain is from the west and could easily end up back that way in the future. TN's head coach isn't a stud and will be around that place for years to come as long as he doesn't have losing seasons.

Most of the SEC teams have coaches that will be in place for years to come until they eventually get fired.

(11-22-2015 01:14 PM)Nebraskafan Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 11:25 AM)hawghiggs Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 11:05 AM)Nebraskafan Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

The SEC is hitting the coaching turnover that people kept saying was coming by the end of this decade.

Spurrier didn't care anymore the last couple of years and now he is gone. South Carolian likely will not win 11 games in a season again in years and years and years.

UGA is at a point where Richt is winding down and will be out soon. He has been there for a long time.

Les Miles is getting fired from LSU.

Meyer already left the conference and won a national title in another conference.

Auburn's coach isn't as great as people initially thought.

Miss. State's coach wants out.

Freeze isn't an elite coach, but a decent coach.

once Saban retires or takes an NFL job, that is when the coaching turnover will have taken full circle. Once that happens no coach in the SEC will have won a national title or coached in a Super Bowl.

College football has always gone in cycles. SEC use to be be average to slightly above average for a long time, then went on a great run for 7 years and now fading back.

I agree with a lot of what you posted. But what you have left out is the fact that the SEC will hire every top coach it can. I fully expect to see the next generation of elite coaches headed toward the SEC.

You mean schools like Muschamp that already got fired at Florida as a head coach?

Some of the young best head coaches are not going to be leaving to run to the SEC. Oregon, Ohio State, Stanford, Michigan, Penn State and others all have coaches that are young and will reign supreme over the sport for the near future as they are already established and young.

Herman will end up at a P5 school eventually, but he is no Steve Spurrier that would spend decades in the SEC. He LOVES the Texas job and wants that job.

McElwain is from the west and could easily end up back that way in the future. TN's head coach isn't a stud and will be around that place for years to come as long as he doesn't have losing seasons.

Most of the SEC teams have coaches that will be in place for years to come until they eventually get fired.

Hawghiggs is correct. We hired Urban from Utah but he wanted to go back to Ohio after he lost Mullen who was the author of his offense, much the same now that he lost his new offensive guru to Houston.

Saban was hired from Michigan State. Miles was picked up from the Big 10. The salary at Alabama is 7 million plus perks. Malzahn is making 5. Michigan and Ohio State will always be destination jobs. But as for the rest they can be raided. Just watch the ACC this year and see what happens with Jimbo Fisher and Dabo. Clemson and Florida State as good as they can be, are not destination jobs. Bowden stayed because he had a lot of control over the program and it was his baby. Now it's a job.

The retiring of good coaches is going to be happening everywhere, not just in the SEC. It is a Boomer issue. There will be a period of tremendous coaching turnover for a decade or so and if football is still played as we know it today and still as lucrative then some stability will set in as young coaches hit midlife and stick where they love it.

What the SEC had to get over before they could start their run of championships was the notion that unless a coach had played for Bear or learned to coach under him they weren't worth hiring. Once we ran through the disciples of Bryant and started hiring coaches on performance rather than pedigree the worm turned for the SEC. Until then we were living in the past.

Your first sentence proves my point. Urban came and left already and is now dominating in another confernece. If Herman ended up with an SEC job, he would take the same path. McElwain could easily take the same path.

Hiring hot assistant coaches is always a risk. Some workout while others do not.

Notre Dame, Florida State, Oregon, Stanford, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, and others all have head coaches that are young for head coaches and are already well established at their schools.

LSU is putting all of their future dreams on landing the Florida State head coach. If they don't get him, then they are not going to land anyone that will produce better than Les Miles did during his days at LSU. I have seen how this plays out at some programs in over the last 30 years and they almost always end up the same. Notre Dame, Nebraska, Alabama, Miami, USCw, Texas, etc, have all been through this and now it LSU might be heading down that path.

I don't think it's disspelled the myth, but the fact is, the SEC has been ugly this year....Saturday was pretty pathetic for the SEC East...

(11-22-2015 01:48 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 01:14 PM)Nebraskafan Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 11:25 AM)hawghiggs Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 11:05 AM)Nebraskafan Wrote:  

(11-22-2015 02:22 AM)_C2_ Wrote:  Can we finally end the narrative that the SEC is so much further ahead and better than everyone else? They're lucky some teams escaped in OT as opposed to suffering, at best, losses that would have gotten their coaches fired.

It's still the best conference, especially the West where everyone is good but that's about it.

The SEC is hitting the coaching turnover that people kept saying was coming by the end of this decade.

Spurrier didn't care anymore the last couple of years and now he is gone. South Carolian likely will not win 11 games in a season again in years and years and years.

UGA is at a point where Richt is winding down and will be out soon. He has been there for a long time.

Les Miles is getting fired from LSU.

Meyer already left the conference and won a national title in another conference.

Auburn's coach isn't as great as people initially thought.

Miss. State's coach wants out.

Freeze isn't an elite coach, but a decent coach.

once Saban retires or takes an NFL job, that is when the coaching turnover will have taken full circle. Once that happens no coach in the SEC will have won a national title or coached in a Super Bowl.

College football has always gone in cycles. SEC use to be be average to slightly above average for a long time, then went on a great run for 7 years and now fading back.

I agree with a lot of what you posted. But what you have left out is the fact that the SEC will hire every top coach it can. I fully expect to see the next generation of elite coaches headed toward the SEC.

You mean schools like Muschamp that already got fired at Florida as a head coach?

Some of the young best head coaches are not going to be leaving to run to the SEC. Oregon, Ohio State, Stanford, Michigan, Penn State and others all have coaches that are young and will reign supreme over the sport for the near future as they are already established and young.

Herman will end up at a P5 school eventually, but he is no Steve Spurrier that would spend decades in the SEC. He LOVES the Texas job and wants that job.

McElwain is from the west and could easily end up back that way in the future. TN's head coach isn't a stud and will be around that place for years to come as long as he doesn't have losing seasons.

Most of the SEC teams have coaches that will be in place for years to come until they eventually get fired.

Saban was hired from Michigan State. Miles was picked up from the Big 10. The salary at Alabama is 7 million plus perks. Malzahn is making 5. Michigan and Ohio State will always be destination jobs. But as for the rest they can be raided. Just watch the ACC this year and see what happens with Jimbo Fisher and Dabo. Clemson and Florida State as good as they can be, are not destination jobs. Bowden stayed because he had a lot of control over the program and it was his baby. Now it's a job.

Huh? Way off base with FSU

Great recruiting, tremendous fanbase and tradition, excellent salary? Ya no one wants that...