BleacherCoaches.com

Anyone catch the new SI? I did. And like every other week, I tore off my address and threw it straight into the garbage. I don't even leaf through them. I got a free subscription when I signed up on Rivals, and I wish I would have just rejected the free issues altogether.

This week, according to the cover, there even more SEC back-patting, as if there wasnt already enough to make people go insane.

If there is ever a case of college football programs living off of reputation alone, you need not look any farther than the 2009 SEC.

Roll that beautiful bean footage.


EAST:
=======

Florida:
- We've all pretty well agreed that Florida is the best team in the nation. I dont disagree with that, I reckon. Aiding that opinion is the fact that I haven't seen many great teams this season. It seems like everyone has more holes than usual. Even still, I'd vote Florida #1, even though their defense is not as good as advertised.

Georgia:
- Did you know that Georgia, that powerhouse SEC school that reloads and doesn't rebuild, is 3-3? Have you caught any of their games yet? If this isn't one of the worst defenses I've seen I don't know who is. They do however have probably the best WR in college football. Other than that? So much for "reloading". How much longer are the fans going to deal w/ Richt and his disappointments? I suppose the SEC jerkwads will point to his record. The percentage of us who dont live on Fantasy Island all know the truth about that record, however.

Tennessee:
- As much as I hate Lane Kiffin, he'll recruit a ton of talent and Tennessee will challenge Florida in a year or so. Crompton played a nice game in their last contest. But in 2009, this team is slightly above average in a BCS-conference sense.

Kentucky:
- They have no hope. This team sucks.

South Carolina:
- One of my most hated college programs. I am so tired of the "This is Spurrier's year" and "Garcia will be awesome" crap. Spurrier is never turning that program around. The 2009 version is no better, and I literally cannot wait to see Alabama but 50 on them this weekend and kick them out of the top 25 where they never belonged to begin with. This team is terrible. Terrible.

Vanderbilt:
- They lost to Army. Don't tell me how deep the SEC is. A whole half of the conference is a shambles this season other than Florida.


WEST:
==========

Alabama:
- Cannot say enough good things about this team. Love McElroy, love Ingram, love that defense. And as much as I hated Saban 2 years ago, now I love him and cannot wait for them to become the new evil empire that everyone loves to hate. Wouldn't mind seeing Saban win the title this season.

LSU:
- Talk about living on reputation. What has anyone seen from this team in 2009 to think they even remotely deserve top 10 status, let alone top 4? This is a top 25 team, but anything higher than 15 is disgusting. They have questions at EVERY position.

Ole Miss:
- Jevan Snead sucks, and Houston Nutt is obnoxious. You should also root against Ole Miss because they will accept anyone regardless of grades. Everything that is wrong with athlete admissions is what Ole Miss welcomes wholeheartedly. This season, they have already been proven to be the joke a lot of us knew they'd end up.

Arkansas:
- I love to hate Petrino, and I love to love Ryan Mallet. I am glad that they demolished Auburn, and I think they can test anyone in the SEC. But as for them being world-beaters, the defense simply isn't there.

Auburn:
- Probably the program I hate the most other than Notre Dame. Auburn has been running a dirty program since before most of us were even born. I love seeing them lose, and will love seeing them get exposed 2-3 more times this year. I can't believe the world became so enamored with these bozos so quickly, just because they were 5-0.

Mississippi State:
- I dont really like Miss State, but I am happy to see them playing tough football for once. Dixon is a wonderful RB. Other than that, there's not much to look at this year.


In conclusion, if you are going to watch ESPN highlights, watch them on mute.

After Florida and Alabama I really question if there is another top 25 team in this conference. LSU is on the border. I agree completely and that is why I really no longer watch ESPN or get any information from them and I canceled my SI subscription. These people are claimed to be some of the best journalist in the country but have no idea what they are talking about. People need to learn to be subjective to what these SEC blowhards are telling you but instead it seems as everyone takes their columns as gospel. This is one reason why each year I seem to care less and less about the national title race.

The love for the SEC is understandable when you look at the condition of the majority of the other conferences. I agree that the conference as a whole is overrated, but it's definitely the best, in my opinion. They seem to put one team in the National Championship every season and that team usually wins. The Big 10 has been bad for a few years now. The Big 12 had a nice year last year, but have totally fallen apart this year. The ACC has a decent conference, but I would not consider any teams this year a real stand out. Virginia Tech is close, but I'm not so sure they even win this week. Miami is getting back to where they were, but they still aren't a major threat for a National Championship. The Pac 10 probably deserves a little more love than they are getting. However, I'm not sold on USC this season as they have already lost to Washington and will probably lose another game. Oregon lost to Boise State, which never should have happened. I guess all I am is saying is what other conference do you think should get all of the love and why?

Why does one of them need to get "all the love"? And why do you feel the B12 is down? Texas is probably the 2nd best team in the nation, and Oklahoma is still going to end up with 10 wins by the end of bowl season. Oklahoma State is pretty good, maybe a little overrated. Texas Tech is doing fine. Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska FINALLY have made the North "decent". There might be a case that the B12 as a whole is BETTER this season.

I honestly think VTech is as good as anyone in the nation. Huge game this week. I really like this VT team.

Boise is definitely not a top 5 team.

The Pac-10 should definitely be getting more love, as you said. This Oregon team is not the same team who lost to Boise. USC is not as good as usual but they are still good. Cal will always be up there. Oregon State is good. Stanford is good. And there is depth now: Wash, Ariz, ASU can all compete.

APBK brought up a good point about not caring who the nat champion is. I dont think I care either, to be honest. I do find myself watching more conference games and not paying any attention to the shows or polls. I am much more concerned with the conference races, honestly.

...And I find myself more enamored with the NHL than NFL, that is a definite.

I see your point about the Big 12, but look at all of their non-conference schedules and tell me the big game that the Big 12 won. Texas didn't play anyone in their non-conference schedule. Nebraska almost beat Virginia Tech, but almost doesn't count. Oklahoma lost to BYU and Miami. Oklahoma State lost to Houston. I could go on and on about the weaker teams, but when the big boys aren't winning their big non-conference games, then it's tough for me to give them a lot of love. I do agree that the North has improved a lot to make it a stronger conference from top to bottom. The top is just not near as strong as I had anticipated. I agree with practically all of your points, though.

Two excellent posts deliverance. Really I think all the conferences are down a little this year. More parody with the usual suspects not quite as dominate. Deliverances point still stands if not the SEC than who? I still think the SEC is at the top but the margin is certainly smaller to the Big 12. I think the Big Ten though not dominate has much more parody this year making for some real exciting games.

One thing the SEC does better than any other conference as a whole IMO is play defense. Well Except for Georgia....Mark Richt is a highly overrated coach of a highly overrated program. I hate Georgia almost as much as Alabama.

With all do respect I must disagree with TAE (yet again). But if he would have read the article it was much more than the writer claiming the SEC is better on the playing field or in the polls. Even though the SEC has won the National Title the last 3 years.
It was about the conference as a whole and the game day atmosphere at all of their stadiums and the traditions of the SEC.
In the Big 11 you have psu, osu and Meechigan that have great game day atmospheres and attendance. Outside of that, it the attendance and atmosphere drops drastically. But in the SEC, it is pretty level throughout the league.
Every week is a huge game in the SEC. Not true in the Big 11. Or many other conferences for that matter.
In my opinion, the author was trying to convey this to the readers, not just the fact that the football is better.
His 1st paragraph states, "as last Saturday's marquee matchups in Baton Rouge, Oxford, Fayetteville, Knoxville and Columbia showed, nobody does it quite like the SEC, where speed-driven, bone-crunching football is played in front of packed houses and is rivaled only by the high spirited traditions surrounding the games.
I think that TAE missed the boat on this one but that is just my opinion.

I think the SEC IS the best conference. But I dont understand why we need to keep rehashing it. Is there a human being left who doesn't think the SEC is at least slightly better than the other conferences right now? Maybe the jurors on the OJ panel, who claimed to have no knowledge of the murders, but who else?

Why do we need to crown a "best conference"? And even if we do... what the hell does it prove? That you shouldn't watch the Pac-10 or Big East? That doesn't even make any sense. So the SEC is the best conference, okay... now, what again did you want me to do with this information? I'm not going to stop watching Oklahoma State and Texas just because Vanderbilt is playing Kentucky or Mississippi.

The SEC is the best conference, but so what?

I don't think the writer said that one shouldn't watch any other conferences or teams.

I am sure your opinion would be different if that was a Big 11 article.

But with your rational you could have that "so what" attitude about 99% of the opinion articles that are written.

I would relate this to all those opinionated recruiting articles that people always refer too. Should we quit watching the no star and 1 star kids and only watch the 4-5 star athletes?? Who cares?

Good points shocker. A buddy of mine has a son going to Purdue. First home game consisted of 10 RV's in the RV lot. A far cry from Happy Valley. He also bought 50 yd. line tickets for that home game at Purdue for 50 bucks.