So, Cougar fans, what happens if UTEP and UH both win out in their conference games? Off to the Hawaii Bowl to play a WAC team?
Didn't want to start a new thread but the SEC suspended the officiating crew from last week's Florida-Arky game. They were also the crew that officiated the LSU-Georgia game a couple weeks back. I'm not suggesting anything but kinda interesting that both games were substantially affected by horrendous calls against teams that already had losses. There was a very good chance that both LSU and Florida would have lost those games but for those calls.
I don't know about that. The two questionable calls in the Florida/Arkansas game occurred with over 7 minutes left on the clock, if I'm remembering correctly. The LSU/Georgia game is a different beast because LSU only needed a FG to win that game, so the field position after the kick off was a huge deal. (However, I will admit that I feel less pity for Georgia based on the fact that they gave up a TD instead of a FG on LSU's game-winning drive.) I wish they would figure out these damned personal foul rules and stop letting them affect the outcome of games. They get so nit-picky and end up penalizing harmless celebrations in an apparent zero tolerance policy, but then a few possessions later they'll let Tebow get away with jumping around and pumping up the crowd like an animal.
Was reading it... I'm not ruffled by it. I have to agree the SEC is better this year than the Big 12.
That's true pretty much every year. While you can make arguments that the top teams from both conferences are close to equal, Big 12 have more bottom-feeders and SEC's overall quality is better. I can even make the case that Pac 10 is better than Big 12 based on OOC record. That's just sad.
People always say this about the SEC, but they generally play a joke of a non-conference schedule and don't perform all that great in bowl games (not bad either, but the mid-tier teams don't dominate other conference's mid-tier teams as they should if the conference's depth was so much better). What's the basis of them being so great? For example, over the last decade or so, the Pac10 has a better bowl record, has had better OOC performance, and has a winning record against the SEC head-to-head, yet no one thinks the Pac10 is all that great.
Most of their teams do play a weak non-conference schedule, but then again so do most teams in the nation. I can only think of a handful of teams that consistently schedule tough outside of their conference. Plus, the SEC can always go back to their old argument that their intra-conference schedule is so tough that they don't need to schedule tough outside of conference. And while that isn't always true, it is more often than not and the risk/reward just doesn't make sense for most SEC teams to schedule tough out of conference games. Also, I don't know where you got the idea that the SEC doesn't perform in bowl games. They have the top bowl game winning percentage of the past decade! They perform the best in the nation in bowl games.
This year, the SEC has 2 very good teams, a couple of good teams, a couple of decent teams, and a bunch of others. The Big12 has 1 very good team, which could have been 2 if not for an injury, a couple of good teams, a couple of decent teams, and a bunch of others. Same with the Pac10.
I go to and root for an SEC school so I'm probably a bit biased towards the SEC. Having said that, I think that the SEC has begun to feed on its own hype. I do believe that the SEC is the best conference on a regular basis, but the perception among the media that the SEC is heads and shoulders above everyone else is so strong that the SEC teams get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to making the national championship game or the BCS. Then, in turn, when the SEC team gets the benefit of the doubt, makes it into the national championship game, and wins...people say, see, the SEC is so tough because they win national championships. The year LSU steamrolled Ohio State, there were probably several teams that could have whipped OSU's ass in the championship game, it just so happened that LSU got the nod over all of the other 2 loss teams because of the perceived strength of the SEC. The fan support in the SEC is ridiculous. Nine SEC schools in the top 25 of college football attendance in 2008. Big Ten has 6, Big XII has 4, ACC 3, and PAC 10 2. While this doesn't directly speak to the quality of play on the field, it means, from top to bottom, the schools have a financial advantage over other conferences. As a result, these schools can promote themselves harder, spend more on recruiting, and improve their facilities. In the long run, the increased revenue improves the quality of play on the field. Think about it, Kentucky, a basketball school that's rarely had significant success on the gridiron, averaged 69,434 fans per game last year, over 25,000 more fans than Texas Tech and 30,000 more fans than Oklahoma State. Another factor that contributes to the SEC's prestige is the great TV deal the conference has. The SEC easily has the most games on TV and they are on in the most highly viewed time slots. The Pac 10 and Big XII have horrible TV deals.
I just saw these stats on a Longhorn website: . Even as a Longhorn fan, I had no idea our run defense was that impressive. It's a shame the ESPN is too obsessed with the SEC to even mention things like this. OU had averaged 200 yards/game rushing, and Texas held them to -16.... NEGATIVE 16! It is a shame that our inept offense has a chance to spoil the season for this special defense.
<object width="400" height="304"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7176852&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7176852&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="304"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/7176852">Aggie Yell Leader Casey Schaffer</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2223042">Double B</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
