SEC nothing more than a phony in 2008

The Big Ten, the ACC and the Big 12 all have something in common, and it may not be something that hits you right away. In fact, this year seems to be the exception — a turnaround of sorts — that shows the spread of wealth around the college football world.

The answer to the previous riddle: None of these conferences wins the ‘Overrated BCS Conference of 2008 Award’, at least in my book.
This answer, if you’re wondering, is so simple — the SEC.

Yes, the Southeastern Conference. The 12-team league heralded as the fastest, strongest, flat-out mightiest football conference in all-the-land is nothing more than a figment of our imagination. It’s nothing more than two dominant teams and 10 others that were either over-hyped and underachieving or equally as horrible as years past.

It might have been true in 2007, but this year is a different year and the SEC flat out stinks. Let me explain.

Aside from Alabama (12-0) and Florida (11-1), this conference does not have one program worthy of being in the Top 25.

Eight of the 12 teams finished with a sub-.500 record in SEC play.

What about Georgia, you might ask, the No. 1 team to begin the season?

Yeah, what about them? They lost every important game they played this season.

No. 8 Alabama — loss. No. 8 Florida — loss. No. 22 Georgia Tech — loss.

Then there is No. 4 Mississippi. Well, at least they have a victory over Florida to hang its hat on.

The fact is, the SEC is so bad this year, and it pales in comparison to the always-laughable ACC. If you take out games including the Gators and Crimson Tide, the conference is a pitiful 1-6 against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The capper came when Georgia Tech ran over, under, around and through Georgia in the regular season finale on Nov. 29.

LSU, Auburn and Tennessee, normally top teams year-after-year are a collective 17-19.

The Big 12 has five of the top 20 teams. The Big Ten has four teams with nine victories.

Here’s another stat, just to pile on — the SEC has a combined 7-29 record against teams from the Associated Press Top 25. Four of those wins came from — you guessed it — Alabama and Florida.

What about the Big Ten, you say? It is in the same territory at 8-30. But the difference is, we all expected it to be mediocre.

You may think I’m writing this just to take a dump on the Southeastern Conference — and if you do — you’d be absolutely correct.

For 2008, at the very least, the SEC is overrated. It’s top-heavy. It is the one that should be ripped by national pundits across America.

And since Michigan State fans are probably reading this, I must give this disclaimer: Enjoy the down-year for the SEC while it lasts, because like Michigan football, it probably won’t be down for long.