The Side Line

OK, I admit it. The Southeastern Conference is far and away the best in college football.

I wanted to believe so badly that the other BCS conferences were right behind, and only needed a couple of big wins to prove it. Well, those wins haven’t come, and actually, in games where SEC schools are matched against quality BCS opponents, it’s the same story over and over again: the SEC dominates.

My vision of parity among the BCS conferences was finally and completely shot down this past Saturday night.

In the “game of the day”, Clemson faced Alabama in the Georgia Dome in prime time. I was ready for a great game, but instead what I got was more and more upset as the game progressed.

As I watched a middle-of-the-pack SEC team absolutely destroy the preseason pick to win the ACC, I silently accepted the truth that I had been fighting for years: the SEC is simply better than everyone else.

Several SEC coaches have said it best: winning the conference championship is essentially winning the national championship, and that whole BCS thing is secondary.

Having been to an SEC championship game myself, I won’t dispute that.

The SEC is better because they do everything better, from the passionate fans to the highly skilled coaches and players.

Schools shell out insane amounts of money for state-of-the-art facilities and the best coaches, who in turn pull in the best recruits.

Give me an Arkansas-Ole Miss or Kentucky-South Carolina matchup over any of the supposed big games around the country, any day of the week.

Why? Because there is more riding on low-level SEC games than top-tier Pac-10 matchups. When a team has to face the schedules of the SEC schools, there are no sure victories.

No, I am not a UGA fan, let’s make that clear. But you have to respect a team that plays the following games in one year: at Arizona State, at LSU, at Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, at South Carolina, and Alabama.

Are you kidding me? Just another season in the SEC.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 5 2008. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry