BamaBoy I hear what you are saying and I don’t fully disagree, what I am saying is football is a grind no matter what conference you are in. There is so much hype(much of it deserved) around the SEC as a conference due to the big TV deals with ESPN and CBS so they both have become defacto marketing arms for the conference. Before the BCS came into existence the talk about “Conferences” never even came up. There we many big independents like ND and Penn State who were good and never needed a conference until the BCS. I never heard any of the SEC teams after winning a game 15 years ago start chanting S-E-C, S-E-C. The SEC has done a brilliant job of taking a great conference and great teams and marketing the hell out of it. It doesn’t take anything away from the SEC in doing so but sometimes you have to separate the hyperbole from reality. The reality is that there is virtually no way to compare whether it is a tougher grind in the SEC than say the PAC 12 or Big 12, and just because the talking heads at ESPN and CBS say it doesn’t make it true. My point is that the SEC on any given season has an additional 1 to 2 ‘power teams’ than the other BCS conferences. So does having one or two extra ‘power teams’, of which a team may or may not play both teams depending on the schedule, really make any conference that much more dominant top to bottom? I for one do not think so. It is currently the best conference because of the top 3 or 4 teams the remaining 8 to 9 on any given season are no more of a grind that the bottom 8 to 9 of any other conference. Let’s use the top four historical power houses in the SEC. Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Florida. I’ll even throw UT in since they have won a national championship in the BCS era. If you pulled any one of those schools and dropped them into any of the other BCS conference they would not run the table and win the conference every year, year in and year out. The top programs would find ways to beat them just like USC would drop games to Oregon State or Oklahoma would lose to OSU.
IMHO this whole conference things is so over exaggerated and has evolved due to the BCS BS! I played D1 football in a major conference and we never talked about “our conference” we talked about our team and our team only! The middle and bottom of every conference would be middle or bottom in any conference. Using this season if you dropped UGA, UT, Ole Miss, Vandy, UK, into the Pac 12, Big 12, Big 10 or ACC they would be not all of a sudden become great teams. They would still be mediocre.
Root for a team and not a conference.
I definitely agree with you. It would not have broken my heart last year if Oregon beat Auburn. Most people in the SEC pull for their team first then the conference. I think most people here in the South love the SEC because it is so dominant in College Football. I think it has more to do with identity than marketing.
This region of the country was rabid for college football before ESPN and College Game Day. Some of the largest stadiums in College Football are also in the South East (Yes I know of the Big House & Horse Shoe). We also don't have as many professional teams compared to the rest of the country. If you look at the rest of the country no other region has as much passion and crazy fandom as the South East.
REST OF COUNTRY:
North East: Baseball (Exception Penn State)
Midwest: NFL, NHL,NBA, College Football (Michigan & Ohio State)
Central: Texas= High School Football, NBL, NFL College Football (Texas, Oklahoma)
West Coast: Granola, Hiking, Surfing, Marijuana, NFL, (USC,Oregon) Great weather and natural beauty make this region of the country a tough place to stay inside and watch College Football on Saturdays.
My point is there are pockets of College Football fans in certain areas in every region of the country. ESPN and College Gameday are doing a good job of marketing College Football to the rest of the country. The South East is on lock down concerning College Football. People plan their lives around College Football in the Fall. There is a website out there called "i hate fall weddings"
Conference identity will grow nationally once the 4 (16 Team) Super Conferences are in the place. The first domino is about to fall with Texas A&M joining the SEC. I don't know if other parts of the country will have as loyal conference identity as we do in the SEC.
I also agree with you about no team in the SEC running the table in another conference every year. If you look at the past 5 years no one team in the SEC has run the table two years in a row. Conference strength of schedule is hard to gauge. I think teams in the major conferences Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC all have tough schedules.
I think it is awesome that College Football is growing in other parts of the country like in Idaho and Oregon. I would have laughed if I was told 10 years ago that Boise State and Oregon would have great teams one day. College Football is growing and changing and the next ten years should be interesting to watch.
