The SEC Is the Gold Standard in CFB

[kmoose]

I hope this is being sarcastic. We DO need more depth at Dline after next year we will probably be losing two studs and beyond them we need more depth so has not to have a significant drop off when rotating bodies. I think Jones, Rochelle, Day..., can be studs but depth is crucial to keep fresh legs in the game.

why just the DL? We don't need quality depth at any other position?

The original post was just a knee jerk reaction to the misconception that Alabama manhandled our D Line. They didn't. Our D Line held the line, but they couldn't get off of their blocks and make tackles. They were oh-so-close.....

 

[RubberSoul]

why just the DL? We don't need quality depth at any other position?

The original post was just a knee jerk reaction to the misconception that Alabama manhandled our D Line. They didn't. Our D Line held the line, but they couldn't get off of their blocks and make tackles. They were oh-so-close.....

The defense as a whole got manhandled. The O line got manhandled too.

 

[drayer54]

O-Line didn't get manhandled. I thought Martin and Watt held their own pretty damn well.

I too about puked reading this thread title. Bama is good. The conference is over rated still. Florida losing to L'Ville has already been forgotten and excused. UGA had a pro bowl defense that got scored on well by the Big 10. I still hate the SEC and the crap hype they get.

 

[OrlaNDomer]

For me playing the SEC isn't a reaction to the NCG. I just think we should play teams down south. It could help with recruiting down here also build the fan base in an area of the country that doesn't know a whole lot about Notre Dame (because many people in the south have never been out of the south) and also because we could get some good matchups.

 

[BeauBenken]

Kuehnja, I'm about to bitch slap you for calling the SEC the "mecca of college football".

Edit: Only said this because I care about you Kuehn.

 

[RubberSoul]

What are they doing strength and conditioning wise that is different? Because that was definitely grown man football, as they say.

 

[BGIF]

But I think we should schedule at least one game per year with them. Last night validated everything people say about ND not being able to compete in the SEC, but if we play a game with them in-season (aka, not 30+ days to plan) I know a BK led team can compete with them. Say what you want about schedules, the SEC has won 7 straight titles.

IMO, we should 'lighten' our schedule by taking 3/4 'good' (aka, MSU, Michigan, Stanford when they come back to earth) and add a few 'weak' teams and one SEC team.

Thoughts?

Gordon Gekko of College Football is more appropos than Mecca.

How many years has the SEC been oversiging? How many times have SEC teams been sanctioned for cheating?

"It ain't cheatin', if ya don't get caught," isn't a slogan down here, it the First Commandment.


BTW which SEC team will play ND in a home and home?

ND had a home and home scheduled with Alabama in the mid 2000's. When they got sanctioned for buying a player their AD Mal Moore immediately called ND and asked out as they were afraid they wouldn't have enough good players.

UF? Spurrier was asked after the Sugar Bowl he lost to ND. He ran his mouth before the game when ND was a 10 pt underdog. In a post game interview he told reporters his schedule was too full for a rematch. Florida has rarely left SEC land since WW II. Check it out, I have.

UGA? About 10 years ago the Atlanta Journal Constitution ran an editoral about the thousands of no show UGA tickets holders that don't go to the 70-0 blowout buyout games. They specifically called for UGA to schedule ND. They were told UGA's schedule was too full.

That seems to be the usual story. The SEC schedule is too full. Strange when the NCAA expanded to 12 games not a single team contacted ND to arrange a series but they did manage to find games against directional schools and 1aa teams for the entire conference.

ND has played a number of SEC teams over the years but most of the majors duck ND. OU, TX, MIA, FSU, and other strong programs around the country schedule ND but the SEC doesn't.

Since the SEC split into divisions to promote their conference in the polls through a conference championship game they choose to schedule a weak out of conference schedule as league policy.

ND's arrangement with the ACC will make it even more unlikely in the future.


I'd be interested in hearing which SEC teams will schedule a home and home with ND.

 

[irishtrinity]

Mecca is ND CFB Royalty.. Except it we are Powerful Beyond Measure!!!!!

 

[irishtrain]

They are not the mecca of college footbal they are the best phoney baloney businessmen who set themselves up in a culture that will allow them to prosper. Its pro football boys-I'll say it a little louder its PRO FOOTBALL. It took them a number of years to set up this phoney baloney business and it will take a number of years for it to run its course unless the NCAA throws them a curveball on regulations. Mecca my @$$.

 

[Redbar]

They are not the mecca of college footbal they are the best phoney baloney businessmen who set themselves up in a culture that will allow them to prosper. Its pro football boys-I'll say it a little louder its PRO FOOTBALL. It took them a number of years to set up this phoney baloney business and it will take a number of years for it to run its course unless the NCAA throws them a curveball on regulations. Mecca my @$$.

Yes. This. What I hate is it will take a long time to run it's course because more teams and in turn conferences will try to follow their revenue model.

 

[irishroo]

They are not the mecca of college footbal they are the best phoney baloney businessmen who set themselves up in a culture that will allow them to prosper. Its pro football boys-I'll say it a little louder its PRO FOOTBALL. It took them a number of years to set up this phoney baloney business and it will take a number of years for it to run its course unless the NCAA throws them a curveball on regulations. Mecca my @$$.

Whether that's true or not (I'm inclined to believe it mostly is, but my opinion doesn't mean sh*t), all the SEC does is win national championships. You can complain about oversigning, paying players, scumbag coaches, etc. til you're blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is oversigning is not illegal, the NCAA refuses to do anything about paying players (see: Cam Newton), and recruits don't seem to know or care whether coaches are lying to them. All of these supposed advantages lead to the 42-14 beatdown that was Monday night. Bama's OL was better than our DL, their RBs better than our LBs, and their WRs better than our DBs. Is it fair? Of course its not f*cking fair, but that's the way it is until one of 2 things happens: (1) the NCAA steps in and actually enforces its many rules, or (2) a team steps up and beats Alabama or LSU or Florida or whoever it may be when it really counts - in the national championship game. (1) isn't going to happen anytime soon, but maybe if we're really good at what we do and get a little lucky, ND can be the team described in (2).

 

[Mr. Larson]

So....if you can't beat 'em, blow 'em?

 

[Emcee77]

Kuehnja, I'm about to bitch slap you for calling the SEC the "mecca of college football".

Can we change the thread title?

Mecca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's common to call a place where fans flock a "mecca," but you can't travel to the SEC; it's not a place.

Not to get all dshans, but every time this thread gets bumped I see the title again and I cringe.

 

[Emcee77]

Excellent edit. Thanks to whoever changed the thread title.

 

[btown35]

Oversigning! If you eliminated that from the SEC they are just like everyone else!

 

[RuntheBall]

So know we are calling the SEC an antiquated monetary system which became extinct (in the US) in 1971. Maybe we should name the thread "The SEC is the Fiat Money in CFB".

 

[RubberSoul]

Oversigning! If you eliminated that from the SEC they are just like everyone else!

But they wont so you might as well adjust and adapt or get left in the dust:

 

[vmgsf]

The SEC has won the last 7 BCS championships (2006 to 2012). There was only ONE close game - Auburn by 3 in 2010. Florida by 10 in 2008. All others 14 points or more. If you Google "Notre Dame Alabama TV ratings", you will see that the ratings were extremely disappointing. If the NCAA does not change the rules to clamp down on all the myriad abuses of the SEC, the NCAA football trophy will become the SEC NCAA football trophy. ESPN will lose an awful lot of money. Who wants to watch a professional SEC team destroy a non-SEC team? Would not it be ironic, if behind the scenes, ESPN pressured the NCAA to level the playing field by limiting all the SEC abuses - extreme oversigning, running players off, bringing in JUCOs who can not spell their names, phony medical hardships etc. etc . etc.?

How did the genius - Nick Saban - do when he coached the Miami Dolphins and he had to compete on a level playing field?

 

[ROLLtide]

The SEC has won the last 7 BCS championships (2006 to 2012). There was only ONE close game - Auburn by 3 in 2010. Florida by 10 in 2008. All others 14 points or more. If you Google "Notre Dame Alabama TV ratings", you will see that the ratings were extremely disappointing. If the NCAA does not change the rules to clamp down on all the myriad abuses of the SEC, the NCAA football trophy will become the SEC NCAA football trophy. ESPN will lose an awful lot of money. Who wants to watch a professional SEC team destroy a non-SEC team? Would not it be ironic, if behind the scenes, ESPN pressured the NCAA to level the playing field by limiting all the SEC abuses - extreme oversigning, running players off, bringing in JUCOs who can not spell their names, phony medical hardships etc. etc . etc.?

How did the genius - Nick Saban - do when he coached the Miami Dolphins and he had to compete on a level playing field?

Call me crazy, but I think it's a lot more likley that more teams will try to copy what Nick Saban is doing.
And no one is interested in going with the ND way.

I mean ND has all these standards and want to be independent, but that's what you guys want, not what the rest of big time college football is doing.

 

[ickythump1225]

Bama is not on another level compared to rest of the SEC. This is also a down year for them. They lost to TAMU, went to the wire with UGA and LSU. SC is also climbing into that top teir. HCTI, to say that we'd beat any other team in the SEC... well, I love ya buddy, but you're wrong. There are several easy answers here. Bigger, stronger, faster, deeper. Not rocket science. Throw in outcoached, and boom, the mystery is revealed.

Yes but Alabama during the seasonal grind playing every week =/= Alabama with 40 days to rest and plan for a single opponent. What we ran into was a destructive juggernaut that would have whooped anyone that night. Yeah Georgia and LSU played them close but LSU beat them last year but we seen what happens when Saban gets 5+ weeks to prepare for a team, even LSU. Alabama is NOT the SEC. I'll go to my grave convinced that a UGA/ND NCG would have been much more competitive and we could have won. UGA might have better athletes but A)they are not as deep as Alabama and B)Mark Richt isn't out coaching anybody. Also their QB Aaron Murray is gun shy in big games. What happened January 7th was about Alabama and not the SEC or anything like that.

Also it showed that we have enough talent and good enough coaching to be good, even very good, but not perfect. We don't have the guns to compete with the current CFB dynasty but there's no shame in that...no one else does either. Sure they lost a game this year but it was a let down game for them. If we would have played Alabama a week after the SECCG when they weren't healthy and Saban only had 6 days of preparation perhaps we could have taken them down to the wire/maybe won.

I attend at least 6 SEC games a year. They are not perfect, but they are the best conference. And I hate it (I do like the Vols). We are recruiting size, speed, and stregnth. But we have a few years to go before we aquire similar depth. We will get there. At that time, it comes down to coaching and development.

IMHO, playing the SEC once a year, or every few years does help. We always say competition (internally) drives improvement. Why not externally.

We had a great season. We won every regular season game. Aside from talent, learning how to win is half the battle. Being self aware is the other half. We all are now very aware of who we are, and what we need to do. That's the positive.

I don't think playing Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, etc will help us. CFB, like life in general, is cyclical. Michigan and USC are down right now but they'll be back at some point and our schedule will look considerably tougher. I thought Stanford would dip after Gerhart left, then after Harbaugh left, and then after Luck left, but so far they're staying up so that's another difficult game. Going 12-0 against what is perceived (unfairly) as a "weak/mediocre" schedule can still get you to the big dance, but going 11-1 or 10-2 against a "brutal" schedule won't get us squat in terms of championships.