SEC Open Thread

[koonja]

South Carolina beats Georgia last week, net rankings movement = +4.

MSU beats LSU this week, net rankings movement = +4 (and beyond considering MSU was past the top 25).

See a trend? Literal cannot lose situations for SEC.

 

[T Town Tommy]

South Carolina beats Georgia last week, net rankings movement = +4.

MSU beats LSU this week, net rankings movement = +4 (and beyond considering MSU was past the top 25).

See a trend? Literal cannot lose situations for SEC.

It's great to be king.

 

[Booslum31]

It's great to be king.

I liked you better when you showed a little more humility.

 

[Bishop2b5]

South Carolina beats Georgia last week, net rankings movement = +4.

MSU beats LSU this week, net rankings movement = +4 (and beyond considering MSU was past the top 25).

See a trend? Literal cannot lose situations for SEC.

Yes, but we've won 7 of the past 8 NC's (and came within a few seconds of being 8 of 8), have a winning record in each of the past several bowl seasons, and have made some non-SEC #1's and conference champions look like our scout teams. That just might have something to do with it.

 

[wizards8507]

South Carolina beats Georgia last week, net rankings movement = +4.

MSU beats LSU this week, net rankings movement = +4 (and beyond considering MSU was past the top 25).

See a trend? Literal cannot lose situations for SEC.

The takeaway there is "oh shit, maybe MSU shouldn't have been unranked last week, either." The bulk (probably the entirety) of the +4 net movement is a correction of a prior week's miscalculation.

 

[MNIrishman]

Yes, but we've won 7 of the past 8 NC's (and came within a few seconds of being 8 of 8), have a winning record in each of the past several bowl seasons, and have made some non-SEC #1's and conference champions look like our scout teams. That just might have something to do with it.

I dispute the "NC" where both teams were SEC teams. If equal treatment were provided, either M or OSU would have won in 2006 because the SEC never would have been given a chance.

This is also easier for SEC teams since they don't really have to travel most of the time, and even when they do, the climate is far more similar to what they're used to than that to which the opponent is acclimated. This won't ever be rectified until half the NC games are played in NYC, Chicago, and Green Bay.

 

[Bishop2b5]

The takeaway there is "oh shit, maybe MSU shouldn't have been unranked last week, either." The bulk (probably the entirety) of the +4 net movement is a correction of a prior week's miscalculation.

That's certainly a possibility. I haven't seen MSU play and haven't seen the LSU game. I genuinely don't know if MSU is a lot better than expected, LSU is a lot worse, or MSU just played over their heads and LSU had a bad night.

 

[Bishop2b5]

I dispute the "NC" where both teams were SEC teams. If equal treatment were provided, either M or OSU would have won in 2006 because the SEC never would have been given a chance.

This is also easier for SEC teams since they don't really have to travel most of the time, and even when they do, the climate is far more similar to what they're used to than that to which the opponent is acclimated. This won't ever be rectified until half the NC games are played in NYC, Chicago, and Green Bay.

I don't recall the details of 2006 and why you believe UF shouldn't have been in the title game, but clearly given the results, UF belonged.

As for major bowls and championship games being played in warm climates, it probably is a bit of an advantage (or at least avoids putting southern teams at a disadvantage having to play in cold climates). I wouldn't have a problem with the playoff or championship games being played in Chicago, NYC, etc.

 

[Ndaccountant]

That's certainly a possibility. I haven't seen MSU play and haven't seen the LSU game. I genuinely don't know if MSU is a lot better than expected, LSU is a lot worse, or MSU just played over their heads and LSU had a bad night.

I will save you the pain of watching that.

LSU has no QB (or offense) and their defense made some bonehead plays. This is the best MSU team in years. I think MSU is still a 9 win team +/- 1 game. They are good, but probably not great. IMO LSU is probably a top 20 team this year with better QB play and MSU is top 15. MSU was way underrated and I think LSU is overrated even after the loss until they prove they actually can move the ball.

 

[irishfan]

Something tells me the PAC-12 wont end up with +4 in the polls after this UCLA/ASU game this week

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

It's great to be king.

King of what? I thought FSU was the most recent champ?

Oh, you must be referencing that bowl game you won last year?

No? I'm stumped.

 

[koonja]

King of what? I thought FSU was the most recent champ?Oh, you must be referencing that bowl game you won last year?

No? I'm stumped.

ACC! ACC! ACC!

 

[MNIrishman]

I don't recall the details of 2006 and why you believe UF shouldn't have been in the title game, but clearly given the results, UF belonged.

As for major bowls and championship games being played in warm climates, it probably is a bit of an advantage (or at least avoids putting southern teams at a disadvantage having to play in cold climates). I wouldn't have a problem with the playoff or championship games being played in Chicago, NYC, etc.

Ex post facto justification is immaterial. Florida had a worse loss than Michigan leading up to the game, which is the only datapoint that was available to the contemporary selectors. It is entirely possible that Oklahoma State would have beaten LSU to a pulp in 2011, but no one will ever know because they were not given the opportunity they deserved. Instead, LSU (whom I personally consider to be the true national champions of that year, fielding one of the best teams in recent memory, despite my disdain for the purple and gold) was forced to play Alabama again in an emotionally-deflated and pointless matchup fueled by the media's false belief in overarching SEC primacy. Teams surprise the SEC all the time. UCF beat Georgia, while Louisville and later Georgia Southern beat Florida in upsets no one would have predicted. The main thing that protects the SEC is the misguided belief that most SEC teams have nothing to prove and the fact that more than half the SEC are ranked to start the season and always move up in rankings on average, unlike every other conference. I was especially impressed by the way in which Vanderbilt recently played South Carolina much tougher than they did Temple, who beat them like a rented drum. Or the way in which Oklahoma, who "had no chance," whooped on Alabama.

 

[Booslum31]

King of what? I thought FSU was the most recent champ?

Oh, you must be referencing that bowl game you won last year?

No? I'm stumped.

When an SEC fan sometimes says "we" they aren't referring to an actual team...they mean the SEC. It's sometimes hard to distinquish which they root for more...their individual team or the SEC. There is safety in rooting for a whole conference vs. a singular team.

 

[NDohio]

When an SEC fan sometimes says "we" they aren't referring to an actual team...they mean the SEC. It's sometimes hard to distinquish which they root for more...their individual team or the SEC. There is safety in rooting for a whole conference vs. a singular team.

I don't mind it so much when the 'Bama or LSU fans do this, it's when the Kentucky, South Carolina, etc fans start the whole SEC thing that drives me nuts. Who are they to talk about SEC dominance?

 

[Booslum31]

I don't mind it so much when the 'Bama or LSU fans do this, it's when the Kentucky, South Carolina, etc fans start the whole SEC thing that drives me nuts. Who are they to talk about SEC dominance?

Good point...agree.

 

[T Town Tommy]

King of what? I thought FSU was the most recent champ?

Oh, you must be referencing that bowl game you won last year?

No? I'm stumped.

It was tongue in cheek to koon's post. That's all.

 

[NDdomer2]

I have never understood the group mentality of SEC. Growing up in Big Ten (11, 12, 14) country it was always fvck the rest of the conference. Also, I don't recall ever coming across an NFL, MLB, NBA fan that took pride in "our division/conference won the championship."

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

I have never understood the group mentality of SEC. Growing up in Big Ten (11, 12, 14) country it was always fvck the rest of the conference. Also, I don't recall ever coming across an NFL, MLB, NBA fan that took pride in "our division/conference won the championship."

It is working to their benefit. Each game they lose to an in-conference opponent means they only slide marginally in the poles because it's perceived to be such a daunting conference.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

It was tongue in cheek to koon's post. That's all.

I was just busting your chops, Alabama has earned the right to gloat. (even if it annoys me because I want to be near or on top).

 

[RammerJammer91]

Ex post facto justification is immaterial. Florida had a worse loss than Michigan leading up to the game, which is the only datapoint that was available to the contemporary selectors. It is entirely possible that Oklahoma State would have beaten LSU to a pulp in 2011, but no one will ever know because they were not given the opportunity they deserved. Instead, LSU (whom I personally consider to be the true national champions of that year, fielding one of the best teams in recent memory, despite my disdain for the purple and gold) was forced to play Alabama again in an emotionally-deflated and pointless matchup fueled by the media's false belief in overarching SEC primacy. Teams surprise the SEC all the time. UCF beat Georgia, while Louisville and later Georgia Southern beat Florida in upsets no one would have predicted. The main thing that protects the SEC is the misguided belief that most SEC teams have nothing to prove and the fact that more than half the SEC are ranked to start the season and always move up in rankings on average, unlike every other conference. I was especially impressed by the way in which Vanderbilt recently played South Carolina much tougher than they did Temple, who beat them like a rented drum. Or the way in which Oklahoma, who "had no chance," whooped on Alabama.

A loss to a mediocre Iowa State team is better than a 3 point OT loss to the "true national champion"? If Bama lost to a 6-6 Vandy team that year and Oklahoma State lost to Oklahoma or Kansas State, would Bama have deserved to get in?

 

[palinurus]

You guys can laugh at me, but I think the SEC unity thing is an indirect effect of history, from the Civil War through Reconstruction through the hard economic times that followed, through the civil rights movement, through today.

I don't mean this in a negative way, or a collective guilt way. Just that those experiences give Southerners, generally speaking, a sense of history and region that is much different than Northerners or Westerners have. That sense of region and being the guys getting looked down on brings a sense of unity and us vs. them that makes their fans see other teams in their conference as "us" even though, eg, Bama hates Auburn more than hell itself. It's still "us." They're more likely to be raised with a notion of the South as a region and a idea and family and their past. Hell, my people were in the mountains of Italy a hundred years ago, so my sense of the North is relatively recent.

I won't go on and bore you, but that's my back of the envelope assessment as a Northerner born and raised, but one who has read a little history and one who has traveled by car, side roads style, through the South more than a lot of Southerners have.

 

[koonja]

You guys can laugh at me, but I think the SEC unity thing is an indirect effect of history, from the Civil War through Reconstruction through the hard economic times that followed, through the civil rights movement, through today.

I don't mean this in a negative way, or a collective guilt way. Just that those experiences give Southerners, generally speaking, a sense of history and region that is much different than Northerners or Westerners have. That sense of region and being the guys getting looked down on brings a sense of unity and us vs. them that makes their fans see other teams in their conference as "us" even though, eg, Bama hates Auburn more than hell itself. It's still "us."

I won't go on and bore you, but that's my back of the envelope assessment as a Northerner born and raised, but one who has read a little history and one who has traveled by car, side roads style, through the South more than a lot of Southerners have.

I'm too drunk to taste this chicken, but I don't think this is crazy at all.

 

[dshans]

I'm too drunk to taste this chicken, but I don't think this is crazy at all.

Ahhh, yes! A (Dixie) beer can roasted chicken, marinated in shine and basted with Old No.7!

 

[Ndaccountant]

Won't let me embed for some reason but this is a good PC by the obc. The best part is the pinky up on the sip of sprite. Steve Spurrier after win over Vanderbilt - YouTube

 

[Booslum31]

Won't let me embed for some reason but this is a good PC by the obc. The best part is the pinky up on the sip of sprite. Steve Spurrier after win over Vanderbilt - YouTube

I'm uncomfortable every time I see/hear him speak.

 

[irishfan]

I've always liked Spurrier a lot haha. Guy has some of the best quotes out there.

 

[Rhode Irish]

He is the prototype southern college football guy. The ol' ball coach, indeed.

 

[irishog77]

You guys can laugh at me, but I think the SEC unity thing is an indirect effect of history, from the Civil War through Reconstruction through the hard economic times that followed, through the civil rights movement, through today.

I don't mean this in a negative way, or a collective guilt way. Just that those experiences give Southerners, generally speaking, a sense of history and region that is much different than Northerners or Westerners have. That sense of region and being the guys getting looked down on brings a sense of unity and us vs. them that makes their fans see other teams in their conference as "us" even though, eg, Bama hates Auburn more than hell itself. It's still "us." They're more likely to be raised with a notion of the South as a region and a idea and family and their past. Hell, my people were in the mountains of Italy a hundred years ago, so my sense of the North is relatively recent.

I won't go on and bore you, but that's my back of the envelope assessment as a Northerner born and raised, but one who has read a little history and one who has traveled by car, side roads style, through the South more than a lot of Southerners have.

I think there's absolutely something to this.

But the "ess eee cee" mantra is relatively new one. Much like the old saying/belief that the only thing that unites Arabs is their dislike of the West and Jewish people or that the only thing radical Muslims dislike more than America and the West is Israel, the only thing that Southerners dislike more than Yankees are rivals of their favorite team. It literally makes zero sense for alabama fans to ever cheer for auburn, or florida fans for georgia, or georgia for auburn, etc.

Interesting enough, it seems like alabama fans (who have ruled their conference, historically...and recently) are the least "ess eee cee" prone. But yeah, they all definitely share in the polyamorous affair of 14 schools and teams. And schools like florida and lsu (now or recently at the upper echelon of the sec) haven't been great historically. That's more of a recent phenomenon than a historic one. It would be like oregon claiming, retroactively, that because of their recent prowess, they have been a Pac-8, 10, 12 Titan for all of history. But as we know, they have not.

 

[IrishLion]

Living in Kentucky, I think a lot of it is also "my team sucks, so I'm gonna act like I can celebrate 'SEC Championships' even though I'm supposed to hate these other schools. But go SEC!"

UK fans have nothing to cheer about in football since Randall Cobb left, so their only option is to ride the coattails of the strong members of the conference, and to act like a strong program by association. They actually brag about SEC football as their football-convo contributions, because they've got nothing else and they've brainwashed themselves into believing they have a right to claim the conference's success.