Maybe so according to this column from CFN: http://cfn.scout.com/2/1353232.html To me maybe the best team out of conference was South Carolina and quite possibly the Gamecocks and Missouri were the two best teams in the conference at the end of the season other than the Tide. In any event we will have the bowls to either prove or disprove the theories he is throwing out there but it is quite possible that the SEC is indeed a little down this year.
I doubt if the Bowls really settle anything. Many times the match ups in the bowls are a little off rather than two supposedly equal match ups. Not to mention SEC bowls will be in SEC country essentially home games for SEC Teams.
Generally the bowls do match up the better teams from each conference on a par level with each other basis. I think it's a better indicator than having the dregs of one conference play the top teams from another conference..... Also.... some teams from the north travel extremely well. I was at the Outback Bowl vs. Penn State a couple of seasons ago and the Nits were very well represented and made one hell of a noise for their team. The crowd seemed about 60-40 and the damn game was in Tampa!
I just don't think we agree at all. Most of the bowls aren't evenly matched these days, especially the Jan 1 bowls and BCS bowl. I can't wait for the BCS to go away.. and yes, I know the BCS is only a small number of games at the top, but they totally changed the bowl world underneath it.
Most of the time I think the bowls match the same tier of teams vs. each other. Usually at least within 8 poll spots of each other don't you think? That's just an arbitrary number I used but I would be curious as to how that actually pans out in the bowl match-ups. In any event if the SEC is down I do think the bowls will reflect that. If the SEC has been beating up on itself..... injuring it's own...... but has a chance to get healthy players back for the bowls and beats other conferences decisively then I think maybe the SEC was cannibalizing itself and making itself look bad. Actually I suspect the SEC will only be average in this bowl season.... just a hunch.
The bowls are probably hit or miss as an indicator but it is the best chance for good matchups between teams that don't play each other often.
Sorry Dave, but your assumptions are incorrect. Many bowls end up lopsided in order to put butts in seats, and they have no interest in a "fair" match up. I know... the Aggies have been on the receiving end many times because we will buy up the seats. I'll even give you some recent examples. 2005 Cotton Bowl. 9-3 Tennessee vs 7-5 A&M (yep, that was a fair one) :roll: 2007 Alamo Bowl 9-3 Penn St vs 7-5 A&M 2011 Cotton Bowl 10-2 LSU vs 9-3 A&M None of those were good match ups... not even close. But we sell tickets, so the bowls would snatch us up ahead of the Big 12 north teams that had better records (much to their chagrin).
Scott, 10-2 LSU vs 9-3 A&M? Is that a really bad matchup? You did pick some lopsided ones, but what about Louisville vs Florida? Georgia - Nebraska? Northwestern - Miss State? Those were some interesting matchups and just last year. There are some dogs in there as well but not all.
I agree Kp that most match-ups in bowls are good ones and you can always find an exception if you look hard enough. I would venture the SEC has been on the short side of a draw more than once or twice.
MCG, I'm not sure I would say "most" and I'm not sure what you mean by saying the SEC has been on the short side of the draw, but there are a significant amount of bowl games that are interesting because 2 good teams are playing each other that you normally get a chance to see. The basic premise that the overall bowl record is an indicator of much is a premise that I'm not sure is valid. 8)
"Short side" of the draw means that how many bowl games have there been when the SEC wasn't the favored team? The way some of the opinions are stated you would think the SEC is always the favorite in every case. Note that the point spread does matter to the wise guys.....does matter in that they have to get it right with respect to who is supposed to have the better team or they'll get slaughtered by the bettors. So if the SEC team is the underdog can you still say their opponent is overmatched? :roll:
kp, It doesn't look too bad on the surface, but that LSU team was similar to those today. The 2010 A&M team was decent offensively, but had no defense outside of Von Miller and got to 9 wins on a pretty weak sched. It was a horrible match up for us... with the outcome a forgone conclusion. I dreaded the game... and was not dissappointed.
There was not one bowl game last year in which the SEC was NOT favored. From thespread.com: -9.5 12-1 Alabama vs. 12-0 ND -6.5 8-4 Vandy vs. 7-5 ACC NC St. -4 10-2 LSU vs. 10-2 ACC Clemson -2.5 8-4 Mississippi St. vs. 9-3 B10 Northwestern -10 11-2 Georgia vs. 10-3 B10 Nebraska -3.5 10-2 S. Carolina vs. 8-4 B10 Michigan -14 11-1 Florida vs. 10-2 BE Louisville -5 10-2 A&M vs. 10-2 B12 Oklahoma -3.5 6-6 Mississippi vs. 6-6 BE Pitt In 2011, there was only one bowl game in which the SEC was NOT favored, against themselves. From thespread.com: -6.5 Mississippi St. vs. Wake Forest -3 Vandy vs. Cincy -1 Auburn vs. Virginia -3 Georgia vs. Michigan St. -1 South Carolina vs. Nebraska -1.5 Florida vs. Ohio St. -7 Arkansas vs. KSU -1 LSU vs. Alabama You have gto go back to 2010 before you find bowls where the SEC was not favored. From thespread.com: +1 Tennessee vs. North Carolina -7 Georgia vs. UCF -3 South Carolina vs. FSU -11 Alabama vs. Michigan St. -7.5 Florida vs. Penn St. +5.5 Mississippi St. vs. Michigan +3 Arkansas vs. Ohio St. N/A LSU vs. A&M +2.5 Kentucky vs. Pitt -2.5 Auburn vs. Oregon Of course the SEC isn't ALWAYS favored in the bowls. But the matchups, more often than not, have been advantagous to the SEC.
Good job WSU.... I knew you would do the work. In 2011 the SEC was favored by 1 point in 4 games and by 3 in two games with -6.5 and -7 being the other two. Hardly evidence of mismatches in the SEC's favor as seems to be the popular thought.
The SEC was the dog 4 times in 2010 alone...... Even in 2011 when the SEC teams were the favorite the match-ups were deemed by Vegas as pretty damned even. Still think the SEC draws decidely favorable match-ups all the time? I don't see it by your evidence...... I can't believe that you really do either.
Seriously? You had to go back 3 years to find ANY SEC teams NOT FAVORED?!?! And for that year 60% were still favored... So out of 26 games there are four dogs for the SEC and you don't see what he's saying???
I see that the SEC did seem to be favored measurably last year.....( which will probably be countered significantly this bowl season )... but that in the other two years listed the difference was marginal and the SEC was a dog in 4 out of the 9 listed. If you go back even further before the notion of SEC "dominance" took such hold I'll be you would see the SEC as a dog in many more bowl games..... much like 2010.