BCS Breakdown: Does the SEC Have Too Much Power? - jmik58's Blog

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BCS Breakdown: Does the SEC Have Too Much Power? Stuck

Posted on October 16, 2012 at 10:24 AM.

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If the first wave of BCS standings teach us anything it's that the SEC is still king of college football. They play by their own rules and quite frankly -- rule college football.

2011 delivered a national championship matchup between two teams from the same division of the SEC (Alabama and LSU from the West). The initial offering of the BCS for this season doesn't exactly eliminate a repeat performance with Alabama at number one, Florida at two, LSU at six, and South Carolina seventh. The SEC has earned their top billing due to six consecutive national championships, but is their success being blown out of proportion to the detriment of the present?

Moving forward it's clear to see that the rest of the nation is playing by a different set of requirements than the SEC as a loss means more to everyone else outside of that tight inner circle. The question may now become: How will we ever know when the SEC has lost its edge?

The conference home to the past six BCS titles is riddled with top-ten teams. But if they are good due to their rankings -- and conversely ranked highly due to their solid reputation -- what will it take to bring it to and end? When a supposed #12 beats #2 and they change places, we assume they were appropriately rated. Have we created a self-serving reciprocal relationship that has no end?

Quite frankly, the SEC's hold on the nation is reaching a point where the 2014 playoff format is going to arrive just in time. With over 120 teams in FBS (and growing yearly) there is no way that teams can prove their worth directly. Instead, we're stuck making inferences and relying on illogical and hypothetical number-crunching that amounts to subjective conjecture.

The BCS proved this flaw by ignoring a one-loss Oklahoma State team in 2011. We should have been given a chance to see how an LSU or Alabama defense would perform against the likes of the Cowboys' spread attack. Instead, the computers took that away; tying together distant ends by filling in non-compatible components.

There is no way that the SEC will be left out this year. The only question is whether they'll get two teams in again or only one. The winner of the Alabama/LSU contest will have the toughest argument going into postseason play. If the SEC East representative should take down either the Tigers or Crimson Tide, they'll automatically receive the bump necessary to square off in the national title game. And the winner of South Carolina and Florida this week has just as tough a grip out of the East.

With all these ranked teams scattered across the top squads of the SEC, it's becoming less a hypothetical question of "Does the SEC deserve an automatic bid?" and more an informal reality that someone in the conference will get a spot in the national championship.

Throughout the rest of the nation, #5 Notre Dame's schedule looks too daunting, #3 Oregon must survive Stanford and USC (possibly twice), #4 Kansas State is a "boring" product that voters likely hope will fall to Geno Smith and West Virginia; meanwhile #11 Florida State is praying that Florida stays in the top two for their season ending matchup.

The bottom line for everyone outside of the SEC is that too many things have to go perfectly for even a hack at the championship. A loss by any non-SEC team is devastating and requires extensive argument in defense of inclusion. A loss by the SEC's elite means something completely different.

It means a shrug, a point to the schedule, and a back-pat from the BCS standings.

Sound Off: What are your thoughts on the initial BCS standings of 2012?

Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @long_snapper

Comments

# 16 Bmore Irish @ Oct 20

SEC fans are so full of themselves. LSU is probably the most overrated team in college football this year. They nearly lost to Towson, an FCS team, and they probly would've if it wasn't for a few boneheaded Towson mistakes. Alabama is great, sure, but i think this is the year they go down in the title game. will Florida make it through the season undefeated? maybe, but i seriously doubt it. either an undefeated Oregon or Notre Dame team will dethrone the SEC, and i hope to God it's Notre Dame, so i can gloat for a year how the SEC went down to a team who doesn't even need a conference.

# 17 jmik58 @ Oct 22

@BonesKnows85 ... My standing as an Iowa fan has no impact on this column. I try to be an objective analyst and I believe that comes out in my writing. In this piece I don't recall apologizing for the Big Ten and I see no connection between my main points/questions and your comment. If you're trying to discredit the question I've asked because I hope the Hawkeyes play well, then you're doing yourself and everyone a disservice. Read the main points of the column again and maybe you'll see without your SEC perspective. You bash me for being an Iowa fan, yet you refer to accomplishments of the SEC as "us" and "my Gators". Regardless of opinions, the big question remains. With so many teams ranked in the top 10-15 every loss means less and every win means so much more. How will anyone else ever get a fair shot at knocking off the SEC? And how will we know when the SEC isn't elite? It's a hypothetical and a loaded question, but it needs to be discussed.

# 18 FunkDockta27 @ Oct 23

And everytime the SEC gets a BCS bowl, (outside of Bama vs Utah, which I believe the kids were still upset over losing out on a title shot by losing the SEC Title game to Florida) what happens? Destruction...Florida vs Ohio St, (I remember my buddies pointing out how "awesome" Ohio St and Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr and their whole offense was.) Florida vs that potent Oklahoma offense, Florida vs Cincy (Florida didn't let the lessons learned from Alabama vs Utah go unheeded lol). Seriously who lines up against the SEC well? Unless you're talkin Vandy or Kentucky....not many teams. If OK St would've played Bama, it would've ended the same Bama's D would have stepped up and punked out Oklahoma St and their offense. That's just how it goes anymore.

2007 - Title Game: Florida 41 - Ohio St 14; Sugar Bowl: LSU 41 - Notre Dame 14
2008 - Title Game: LSU 38 - Ohio St 24; Sugar Bowl: Georgia 41 - Hawaii 10
2009 - Title Game: Florida 24 - Oklahoma (The most potent college offense EVER!!!) 14; Sugar Bowl (The Fluke): Utah 31 - Alabama 17
2010 - Title Game: Alabama 37 - Texas 21; Sugar Bowl: Florida 51 - Cincinnati 24
2011 - Title Game: Auburn 22 - Oregon 19; Sugar Bowl: Ohio St 31 - Arkansas 26. Here's your one win against an SEC school outsiders. Beat a #2 ranked SEC team and barely. I actually rooted against Auburn this year, I dislike Cam Newton. Lol.
2012 - Title Game: Alabama 21 - LSU 0. See what the SEC does to its own #2? Oofah...that's power right there...

As Ric Flair would like to remind everyone "In order to be the man, WOOOOOOOOOOOOO you gotta beat the man!" Someone wants to end the SEC's domination, then beat them in the non conference games. Better yet, beat them in the big games.

GO Gators!

# 19 Tdgsport27 @ Oct 26

Take Bama out of the picture and then judge the conference.
Florida - Getting better week by week
LSU - Not sure
Miss. St. - We'll find out about them real soon
Georgia - Who've they beat this season?
So. Ca. - Having trouble on the road
A&M - Has a huge opportunity with MSU and Bama ahead. And that really rounds out the quality SEC teams thus far, (Ole Miss will push for a 6 win season)
This is a classic, rich in tradition conference but at this point in the season there are pretty much 7 quality* teams and 7 below average/poor teams. This is a great opportunity for a different conference to step up, and I for one am all for it.

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