This is a lengthy article about the factors that led to the SEC being where they are today. I am not doing any quote but it's worth the read if you have an interest in the state of college football and how the SEC has accomplished what they have. Behind The Rise of The SEC
SEC dominance is bad for college football and I submit this is the reason that you guys are doing so well. POWER SOURCE NO. 4: BROKEN PROMISES FBS football programs are limited to 85 scholarship players and 25 initial scholarships per season. That hasn't stopped SEC schools from "over-signing." Houston Nutt once signed 37 players to a recruiting class. Saban once signed 32. How do SEC coaches get below the scholarship limits? Some players transfer or quit. Some fail academically or take medical hardships. But the student-athlete doesn't always make the decision. Sometimes a coach flat-out yanks a scholarship from an underperforming player or recruit, essentially kicking him out of school. It's like promising Christmas presents to four kids, then buying three. Over-signing enables SEC coaches to minimize the damage of poor talent evaluation. It's representative of the SEC culture, Terry Bowden said. "If the rules allow you to over-sign, the SEC is going to take it to the extreme to make sure nobody has an advantage over them," Bowden said. Last summer, the SEC announced new legislation that restricts over-signing. From a public relations standpoint, it's a smart move. But from a competitive standpoint, DiNardo said, it's a mistake. "That will hurt them."
Despite the stripping of scholarships, parents still encourage their sons to sign with schools that could well throw them on the scrap heap. It shows the priorities in the SEC culture, football over education.
The SEC is 4-2 in bowls this year with existing members and 6-2 if you wanna count new members TexA7M and Missouri. Arkansas is still to play and then of course we will have a 1-1 split between LSU/Bama so realistically the conference could wind up 8-3 counting all who will be members next year. It's a very competitive league and when you can navigate your way to the top of the SEC.....you can more than hold your own up nationally.
Ah, but then you also have to note that the current Big XII is 6-1 with only KSU to play Arky. Probably a loss, but that leaves 6-2 which is pretty good. However... the XII is NOT a good league this year... I think we just got a lot of favorable matchups for bowls.
Yes...nice bowl record for the Big 12 this year. RE: the SEC: Nebraska, OSU, Va, and Wake Forest were all comparable teams and the SEC managed to prevail over those. Vandy disappointed me vs. Cincy.....thought they would do better and Georgia-MSU was a nail biter that could have gone either way between two conference playoff runner-ups. If Arky beat KSU then it's significantly in favor of the SEC having had a good bowl record also and to win the BCS title game obviously has merit even if you are cannabilizing your own.
I've waited a couple of days before replying to the first two comments. Let me say this, it was a pretty lengthy article that presented a lot of reasons the SEC has become the conference they are. It presented positive and negative reason and was not a whitewash by any means. As far as Terry's comment, he presents the reason, the over signing issue. First there are far more than just one reason. Second, two of those six championships were the Gators. We did not over sign and remove scholarships. Second the league has taken action to prevent the really big signing classes in the future. It's hardly the reason though it was a factor. gippers comment? I don't know exactly what to say. Sour grapes comes to mind but that is more than I really mean. Let's just say that it was never the majority of the conference that ran off players and that it was also addressed when the number of signees was capped. Now to remove a scholarship the commissioner has to give his approval. I will say one thing that I think was left out, and that is the Spurrier factor. His wide open offenses that the other teams could not handle in his first several years changed the conference as the other teams learned to deal with the Fun and Gun. It made the SEC a better conference. I still think it was a pretty comprehensive article and don't intend to get into any debate as to the SEC is the greatest. We are good but it won't last forever.
The Spurrier factor was huge in making the SEC strive to be more competitive.....to be the best. When UF beat Bama in Tuscaloosa in 1990 by a modest score that was one thing. But when the Gators smoked the Tide 35-0 the following season that made the Tide faithful sit up and take notice and similar ass whoopins by Florida over the rest of the SEC in Spurrier's early years stoked the competitive fire of all the SEC alumni/fan base and resulted inevitably in the mega hire of Nick Saban at Bama for huge bucks.....and the retention of Les Miles by LSU and yes....in the hire of hot commodity Urban Meyer by Florida. In the SEC if you are not competitive you are burnt toast.
I do think Bill's linked article is correct. It's a number of factors and can't really be linked to just thing.
Make sure and lets talk quietly, we don't want to wake up Stu. I am full in favor of limiting scholarship offers and making it difficult to take one away once the player is in school. However a lot of the fault there lies with the NCAA, why isn't the scholarship for four years if there is not extenuating circumstances? However I also think that it should be ok to extend conditional offers as long it is clear to the player that there are conditions involved. No matter, we move forward to bigger and better things. Hope this extended post didn't wake up Stu.