Comments on: “How Do We Know The SEC Is So Good?” Check The NFL Draft Board

By: MoKelly

MoKelly — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:18:28 +0000

That is why Missouri belongs in the SEC.

By: BryLaw

BryLaw — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:53:20 +0000

Did you just say that Kentucky is better than most teams in the country? Did you watch them play this year?
Is Kansas?

By: BryLaw

BryLaw — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:51:21 +0000

Not against Missouri.

By: MoKelly

MoKelly — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:30:31 +0000

Look at Bowl game results. That is an independent measure. The SEC’s record vs. anyone is spectacular.

By: MoKelly

MoKelly — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:27:49 +0000

Sink to the bottom of what? Their Conference standings? They are still better than most teams in the Country. Iowa State beat Oklahoma State last year and ruined OSU’s chance at a National Championship. Not too shabby in my opinion.

By: BryLaw

BryLaw — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:48:16 +0000

It may well be the “perception” that an SEC schedule is competition at its “best all season long,” but that simply is not true by any measure. Again, I was at the UK/UT game. And the minute you start a counterargument with “Yeah, but (insert crappy team from the SEC here) is an exception,” you’ve made my point.

By: GeoffDawg

GeoffDawg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:40:43 +0000

@MoKelly That’s absolutely accurate. SEC teams will always be given the benefit of the doubt in the rankings because the perception is that an SEC schedule week in and week out is a significant upgrade in difficulty over any other conference. Teams win championships but there is a certain amount of conference pride in that you know that you compete against the best all season long.

By: BryLaw

BryLaw — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:36:29 +0000

And I probably should have capitalized “Tide” in this case.

By: BryLaw

BryLaw — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:34:54 +0000

@MoKelly

If a rising tide lifts all boats, then why does UK and Iowa State sink to the bottom year after year?

By: MoKelly

MoKelly — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:26:48 +0000

I understand what you are saying. Conferences are made-up of individual teams. However, I believe the strength of the overall Conference has a big influence on the strength of the individual school. The Conference reputation is a big help in recruiting the best players. It is a big help in the rankings. It is a big help in getting better throught the year such that you can beat whoever is the opponent in the Championship game.

Teams win championships. But, Conferences help the teams to both get to the Championship Game and win the Championship Game.

Had Alabama been in the Big East last year, do you really think they would have been ranked #2 and had a shot at LSU again in the Championship Game? Also, Iowa State may not get credit when Oklahoma wins the Fiesta Bowl, but they sure get lots of credit for Alabama winning last year!

By: BryLaw

BryLaw — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:20:36 +0000

quad77,

Thanks for proving my point.

I know full well there is a disdain for any critique from “others” and that the SEC “stays together.” I also know that the SEC play good football overall and that many SEC players go on to play in the NFL. But there’s a difference between cashing a check because Alabama won the BCS and actually claiming that the “conference” won the championship.

BTW, the NFL does have a team in Atlanta. They’re not bad.

By: MoKelly

MoKelly — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:17:17 +0000

Hey — you added Missouri and A&M to the SEC flag pinwheel. Good job!

By: quad77

quad77 — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:50:42 +0000

hey brylaw
Of course we stay together and root for each other and could care less what others think.
The majority of NFL’ers come from our backyards. Many of us never had a pro team to root for growing up so we love our schools if you dont like it dont read our posts.
Also Ole MIss will get a rub of Bama’s NC because we share the BCS earnings among our schools, unlike the Big 12.

By: BryLaw

BryLaw — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:21:46 +0000

I say this as a Mizzou fan who is happy to be joining the league for its stability but, at the risk of being branded a “sourpuss” for pointing this out:

First, declaring conference victory in the draft after the first round is a bit like declaring a win halfway through the first quarter. There are a half dozen rounds left and alot of those players will be solid pros, even stars. So this might have been a post better left to Monday.

Second — and again, I say this as a proud new member — the SEC gets to claim the last six championships when they go back and scratch LSU’s or Alabama’s name off of the trophy, replace it with “Southeastern Conference” and relocate it to Birmingham. Teams win championships, not conferences. Or do you believe that the folks in Lexington and Oxford get to claim some “rub off” partial credit? When Oklahoma wins the Fiesta Bowl, does Iowa State get to crow about it? The fact is that whether you talk about the SEC, the Big 12 or the Big Ten, each has its dominant powers, its middle tier teams, and its ”catfish” — the bottom feeders. And the relative stength of teams in those tiers against similar teams in other conferences ebbs and flows over a period of years. Always has, always will.

What I will readily concede — and this is part of the allure AND the frustration surrounding the SEC — is that the fan bases of the SEC are disproportionately enthusiastic (read “insane”) about football above all else (excluding Kentucky). I think that enthusiasm often gets confused with on-field conference-wide superiority. SEC fan bases love thier traditions and riovalries so much that they come to consider the very brand of football played conference-wide is superior to the game as it is known elsewhere. I saw the same mentality about basketball when I lived in the Commnwealth for seven years. But I’m here to tell you, I was at the UK/UT football game this year and I saw Ole Miss on TV. And Vanderbilt. And Mississippi Sttae. You won’t see anything I witnessed on any highlight reel promo generated in the conference offices, and only one player in any of those games got his face on TV last night.

By: GeoffDawg

GeoffDawg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:14:33 +0000

Georgia’s Cordy Glenn was widely expected to be a first round selection as well but somehow dropped. He’ll likely hear his name very early in round 2. You could also argue that Janoris Jenkins would’ve been there for Florida had he not been dismissed from the team.