SEC Football discussion thread #2

[Sea Ray]

Mizzou vs. Auburn in the SEC title game... aliens

Regardless of what happens, I hope Mizzou gained some respect in the SEC. I never thought they would be this competitive this quickly. People calling for Pinkel's job last year should be eating crow.

It's amazing how far not one, but (the) two teams in the SEC have come in one year. It gives a UT-Knoxville fan like myself hope...

Missou has earned respect by beating so many teams on their SEC schedule. It's not like going 11-1 in the ACC or the Big Ten...and given the let down factor, your team has a chance to win in Atlanta

[Sea Ray]

I was not arguing the contrary, was just surprised how bad the out of conference was.

Washington State Cougs are going Bowling this year. How many Bowl teams do you expect from a non conference schedule?

[kaldaniels]

Washington State Cougs are going Bowling this year. How many Bowl teams do you expect from a non conference schedule?

6 win team and "Bowl Team" are now used interchangeably.

They aren't a cupcake, but they are a .500 team, who I'd guess had a few cupcakes of their own.

[Roy Tucker]

All the big guys pads their schedules. All of them. They do it because they can and they make a buttload of money off it.

However, with the 4-team (and I bet 8 teams within 5 years) post-season tournament coming and a NCAA-hoops-like committee deciding who gets in using a variety of factors, strength of schedule will begin to factor in more. St. Mary's School of Blind Nuns and Eastern Cupcake will start to disappear off the big guys' schedules.

You'll still be stuck with your conference schedules (however good or bad they are), but AD's will be able to build a teams' resume with quality opponents (and be penalized for playing the Flying Nuns). I think that will be good for college football from a competitive standpoint.

[dabvu2498]

It's amazing how far not one, but (the) two teams in the SEC have come in one year. It gives a UT-Knoxville fan like myself hope...

Missou has earned respect by beating so many teams on their SEC schedule. It's not like going 11-1 in the ACC or the Big Ten...and given the let down factor, your team has a chance to win in Atlanta

If you look at common opponents, in some ways, Mizzou has been more impressive than Auburn and is a bad kicking game of their own away from being 12-0.

[Roy Tucker]

If you look at common opponents, in some ways, Mizzou has been more impressive than Auburn and is a bad kicking game of their own away from being 12-0.

Yep. A tough 2 OT loss at South Carolina with QB Franklin out and playing the freshman Maty Mauk.

[dabvu2498]

I'd like to take a moment for an appreciation...

In the history of the SEC, only one WR has reached 100+ receptions in a single season. That feat was accomplished yesterday by Vanderbilt senior Jordan Matthews. Matthews has also set the career SEC records for receptions and receiving yards. If you haven't seen him, check out YouTube and be sure to watch Vandy's bowl game. He's a monster.

All the while, Matthews has been a model of preparation and hard work and will graduate in a few weeks with a degree in economics and a +3.0 GPA.

[dabvu2498]

This is why we need more than a 4 team playoff. Bama is out of it now because they lost to a team that neither OSU nor FSU had to play in the regular season

Yesterday was Bama's playoff game. They lost.

[RedTeamGo!]

Washington State Cougs are going Bowling this year. How many Bowl teams do you expect from a non conference schedule?

Auburn played wash st?

[jojo]

Auburn played wash st?

Yes.

[Gizmo]

It's amazing how far not one, but (the) two teams in the SEC have come in one year. It gives a UT-Knoxville fan like myself hope...

Missou has earned respect by beating so many teams on their SEC schedule. It's not like going 11-1 in the ACC or the Big Ten...and given the let down factor, your team has a chance to win in Atlanta

All it shows me is that maybe the SEC isn't miles ahead like everyone wants us to believe. Also-rans who finish yearly in the middle of the pac of the B12 move to the SEC and are all of a sudden national powers? I'm not buying it as anything more than the SEC overhype. Hype up the Big Ten like the SEC and all of a sudden MSU is #4, OSU clear #1, Wiscy drops out of top 10 after loss yesterday, Michigan hangs around 25, etc. All major teams play basically no one out of conference, so the most hyped conference gets the benefit of the doubt, and have tough wins and losses in conference matchups, while all other conferences close games show "how weak Conference X is". We really only see how conferences stack up against each other in evenly matched bowl games, but those are mostly gone as teams move up slots to make up for teams ahead of them going to higher bowls (aka #2 team playing in a #1 slot because #1 got an at large BCS bid, or championship bid).

[dabvu2498]

Texas A/M has a 10-6 SEC record the last two years. Nice, but hardly overwhelming.

Mizzou hit the 2013 SEC East at just the right time, I'd grant you. And if you watch them, they're pretty stinkin good.

[jojo]

People shouldn't be surprised if Auburn is number 2 in the BCS poll tonight....the computer is doing Auburn a solid and OSU really needed Wisconsn to win.

[Gizmo]

missou finished behind Nebraska nearly every year ever in the B12, the same Nebraska that can't sniff a division title in the B10, but Missou gets there immediately in the best conference ever. SEC miles ahead of B10...Screw that noise.

EDIT: I'd also think TaMu was about 10-6 in most 2 year stretches in the much maligned B12 conference. Sounds like B12=SEC in terms of TaMu play.

[Gizmo]

People shouldn't be surprised if Auburn is number 2 in the BCS poll tonight....the computer is doing Auburn a solid and OSU really needed Wisconsn to win.

I'd be very surprised if a team that lost by 2 scores at a very average LSU passes a team that has done nothing but win every game for two straight seasons in a BCS conference.

Ohio State may have played a "weaker schedule"(with 7 bowl teams on it) but they've won them all.