Not talking about the folks on this board, but many of the talking heads in the national press. Seems I heard/saw a lot of talk about how college football had caught up to the SEC, that the conference would not dominate, etc. etc. Well, if the bowl season is any gauge to go by, I'd say the SEC put things straight. And that's before Bama next week.
Where are all the SEC doubters now?
- Thread starter OHIO COLONEL
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Does that mean the SEC was horrible last year when all its ranked teams got stomped?
I think it is always the best, regardless of bowl games
I think it is always the best, regardless of bowl games
They were sure loud last season when the SEC struggled a little in bowl season. Now this year, crickets.
I've never believed bowl season gives you a pulse on how good or how bad a conference is. It tells me the West was solid, UT continued trending up just like they were when they played us but the rest of the East wasn't as good
I've never believed bowl season gives you a pulse on how good or how bad a conference is. It tells me the West was solid, UT continued trending up just like they were when they played us but the rest of the East wasn't as good
To be fair, the bowl schedule was favorable to the SEC this year. We held serve -- favored in 8 games and won them all. That's impressive considering motivation is often a problem in these games. It was particularly imposing the way the SEC teams DOMINATED in their wins. Really represented. Only the Georgia - Penn State game was close in the 4th quarter.
Interesting that last year was considered a "bad" bowl year for the SEC yet they still had a 7-5 record -- most wins and second best percentage among conferences. (They did lose in the New Years 6 bowls.) The SEC has the most bowl wins and highest winning percentage of any conference in the last decade. They are 64-32 since 2006.
Interesting that last year was considered a "bad" bowl year for the SEC yet they still had a 7-5 record -- most wins and second best percentage among conferences. (They did lose in the New Years 6 bowls.) The SEC has the most bowl wins and highest winning percentage of any conference in the last decade. They are 64-32 since 2006.
I think it only helps us in recruiting. If we can ever get a consistent winner a SEC that is a dominate conference could only help us pull kids out of the north. The key though is to become a competitive program. We might can pull some of those kids that want to play in the best conference, yet weigh in location in their choice.
Well, to be fair again, although they were favored in the games not only did the SEC teams win, they covered the spread------and in most games it was a rout.
Just think according to main stream it was a down year 8-2 huh. I bet thry would Hate to see an up year 11-0 maybe in bowls etc...
Always listen on the radio to the ESPN show that comes on at 7am with Mel Kiper as I'm driving to see my mom who's in a nursing home. To their credit they were talking about how dominant the SEC was/is this year in the bowls. Kiper mentioned how the media ripped the SEC last year when particularly the SEC West struggled. Went on and on of how in his opinion the SEC is by far the best conference and started citing the Top 300 in high schools of who's committed how many are SEC, B1G, Big12, etc. SEC had the most by far.
A third string QB who was ranked the #1 pro-style JC QB in the nation and who had thrown 27 passes during the regular season (completing 12). But other than that, you are correct.
I do agree that the SEC was very impressive in bowl games this year, and is typically the deepest conference year-in and year-out.
Results of the Power 5 conferences in bowl games this season:
Which state had the best bowl record? The cream rises to the top!
Kentucky 2-0 (100%) (WKU, UL)
Alabama 2-0 (100%) (Alabama, Auburn)
Louisiana 2-0 (100%) (LSU, Louisiana Tech)
West Virginia 2-0 (100%) (West Virginia, Marshall)
Washington 2-0 (100%) (Washington, Washington State)
There were eight states with 1-0 records.
California (4-2) and Ohio (3-3) had the most teams in bowl games with 6 apiece. California's two losses were by two of their most prominent schools: USC and UCLA. Texas had 5 bowl teams and went 3-2. Michigan and North Carolina, with 4 bowl teams, both went 2-2.
Which states performed poorly? Schools in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania went 0-3 in the bowls.
Florida, the state with arguably the best recruiting in the country, had the worst bowl record of any state, 0-4. (Florida, Florida State, South Florida, and Miami all lost). Mark Richt, come on down!
SEC: 8-2 (80.0%)
PAC 12: 6-4 (60.0%)
Big 10: 5-5 (50.0%)
ACC: 4-5 (44.4%)
Big 12: 3-4 (42.9%)
PAC 12: 6-4 (60.0%)
Big 10: 5-5 (50.0%)
ACC: 4-5 (44.4%)
Big 12: 3-4 (42.9%)
Which state had the best bowl record? The cream rises to the top!
Kentucky 2-0 (100%) (WKU, UL)
Alabama 2-0 (100%) (Alabama, Auburn)
Louisiana 2-0 (100%) (LSU, Louisiana Tech)
West Virginia 2-0 (100%) (West Virginia, Marshall)
Washington 2-0 (100%) (Washington, Washington State)
There were eight states with 1-0 records.
California (4-2) and Ohio (3-3) had the most teams in bowl games with 6 apiece. California's two losses were by two of their most prominent schools: USC and UCLA. Texas had 5 bowl teams and went 3-2. Michigan and North Carolina, with 4 bowl teams, both went 2-2.
Which states performed poorly? Schools in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania went 0-3 in the bowls.
Florida, the state with arguably the best recruiting in the country, had the worst bowl record of any state, 0-4. (Florida, Florida State, South Florida, and Miami all lost). Mark Richt, come on down!
Great matchups for the SEC this year.
But it is glaring how weak the SECE was that UGA and Florida could both manage 10 wins.
While I see UT making a jump next year, I see Florida taking a huge step back when all of those stars on the D are in the NFL. As in 5-6 win season bad.
SEC has had the most NFL draft picks of any conference nine years in a row? And has a chance to win NC no. 8 in the last 10 years. So who were the doubters?
(Admittedly, SEC has more teams than the Big 12, for example, so naturally will have an advantage on NFL draft day)
(Admittedly, SEC has more teams than the Big 12, for example, so naturally will have an advantage on NFL draft day)
Talk about working hard to make the backup's backup look good. How many yards did he throw for in high school?
Agree with all your post. The doubters I was referring to were many in the national media, regional media, other fan bases, etc. this time last year after the SEC had a rough time in the bowls. Don't remember what the conference record was in the '14-'15 bowls, but it wasn't all that great especially after the SEC West had been heralded all season. Many of those noted were saying that the SEC was over-rated, others had caught up with the SEC, etc. Kiper talked about it as well on his Sunday morning ESPN show (after my OP) and basically said how wrong they all were.
I'm sure you've seen enough of my posts to get a sense of who I am.... Did you think that I wouldn't know the bio of the opposing team's quarterback for our bowl game?
And to answer your (rhetorical) question, I do not know the answer to what his high school stats were, but I do know that he did not have any offers from major conferences coming out of high school, which is why he went the JC route.
I think most of us UofL fans came away with the thought that we were pretty lucky that it was his first start. He missed on a lot of plays in the first 20 minutes that he did not miss on the rest of the game.
SEC East went 5-0 in bowls last year, while the SEC West went 2-5, so the SEC still went a respectable 7-5 last year. The criticism for the SEC came from primarily from their 0-3 performance in the NY6 bowls: Alabama lost to Ohio State (very entertaining game), Mississippi State lost to Georgia Tech (49-34), and Ole Miss got blown out by TCU (42-3).
With all due respect....did that QB play on the defense that gave up 27 points too?
The Cards also lost 2 defensive starters on the first defensive series for the rest of the game....and 1 CB for some of the first half due to injury. It was a next man up for both squads type of game.
Game turned out to be very competitive and went down to the last series for both teams to decide the winner. It was one of the more entertaining of all the bowl games. Kudos to both A&M and UofL for that.
The much maligned SEC east has lost one bowl game the last 2 years. Impressive.
Tennessee has scored 90 on the 2 B1G teams Iowa and Northwestern.
Tennessee has scored 90 on the 2 B1G teams Iowa and Northwestern.
This year (and the last couple) to pretty much everyone else. I don't think there is another division in the P5 that Florida could have won, much less wrapped it up as early as they did. And don forget Mizzou one it two years prior.
And with the exception of UT, i think it will be weak next year win so many teams rebuilding - including Florida.
Not just the SEC West. Georgia beat Georgia Tech this year, but other than that, the SEC East went 0-7 in their Thanksgiving weekend rivalry games with the ACC the last two years.
I think you have to look at two games from last years bowl games for the SEC. Ole Miss and Miss St. Both were ranked very high during the year and had expectations of a possible NC. They lost games down the stretch and Ole Miss lost a very key player in their receiver Treadwell.
Ole Miss ran into a buzzsaw TCU. They were ticked off that they weren't given a chance to play in the playoff. Not sure anybody could have beaten them that night. Miss St played a very good GT team that has an unusual offense that is very hard to defend. Also, I think it's fair to say that there was some letdown for them. JMO.
Ole Miss ran into a buzzsaw TCU. They were ticked off that they weren't given a chance to play in the playoff. Not sure anybody could have beaten them that night. Miss St played a very good GT team that has an unusual offense that is very hard to defend. Also, I think it's fair to say that there was some letdown for them. JMO.