Has the cycle started to shift for the SEC?

[Northeast Stinger]

Alabama gets handled at home and the ACC continues to whip up on SEC teams. Georgia alone appears to be unstoppable but all other SEC teams look like they’ve taken a step back. Is this just the inevitable cycle that conferences go through where they eventually return to earth or is this just another example of how the SEC gets overhyped compared to everyone else?

 

[RonJohn]

Alabama gets handled at home and the ACC continues to whip up on SEC teams. Georgia alone appears to be unstoppable but all other SEC teams look like they’ve taken a step back. Is this just the inevitable cycle that conferences go through where they eventually return to earth or is this just another example of how the SEC gets overhyped compared to everyone else?

What are you talking about? Alabama was beaten by an SEC team, that just shows how strong the SEC is. Yes, Texas is an SEC team. A&M isn't really into games yet. They are looking forward to Auburn, since that is the next game that actually counts for anything. They were just overlooking Miami nothing else. Nothing else matters, except for SEC vs SEC teams, and that is when we will see actual real football. And Vandy isn't really an SEC team, so they don't count.

ESPN will probably have another piece about how bad a week the ACC had citing that the ACC lost to Purdue, James Madison, Purdue, and ND, and then say that the rest of the conference didn't handle the lower level teams as well as they should have. I am not going to watch to find out, but I seriously doubt the talking heads on Sportscenter will even ask the question of whether the other conferences have caught up with the SEC.

 

[yeti92]

Alabama gets handled at home and the ACC continues to whip up on SEC teams. Georgia alone appears to be unstoppable but all other SEC teams look like they’ve taken a step back. Is this just the inevitable cycle that conferences go through where they eventually return to earth or is this just another example of how the SEC gets overhyped compared to everyone else?

No no no, see Texas is moving to the SEC next year so that was actually the SEC getting stronger via Alabama losing, and Vandy losing, well Vandy isn't really part of the SEC, and A&M losing, well A&M just needs to fire Jimbo and they'll definitely be top 15 again, and see Auburn squeaked out a win over Cal so really that's a win over the ACC so really, actually, the SEC is only getting better.

 

[SecretAgentBuzz]

ACC 4, SEC 1 (at least for now)

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I see that several on here have mastered the art of SEC spin. But then, it really isn’t that hard, is it?

 

[slugboy]

Lots of churn in the top 25. Tulane and T A&M will probably be out. Miami should be in. Clemson will stay in because people didn’t see the first half of their game. UNC squeaked by AppState. FSU looks like the strongest in the ACC right now—who else is making a move?

PAC 10 will have a good week in the polls. Colorado will move up. Not a great week for the SEC.

 

[orientalnc]

Lots of churn in the top 25. Tulane and T A&M will probably be out. Miami should be in. Clemson will stay in because people didn’t see the first half of their game. UNC squeaked by AppState. FSU looks like the strongest in the ACC right now—who else is making a move?

PAC 10 will have a good week in the polls. Colorado will move up. Not a great week for the SEC.

After the UNC game the interviewer asked Mack Brown if it was good to play App State. His answer was, "Yes, I think NC State and East Carolina should play them." That was a good game.

 

[bobongo]

After the UNC game the interviewer asked Mack Brown if it was good to play App State. His answer was, "Yes, I think NC State and East Carolina should play them." That was a good game.

They will play East Carolina next week. No shame in beating Appy State by 6. They're usually a tough out.

 

[FightWinDrink]

their conference depth appears to be down this year relative to the last 15-18 years, but I wouldn't call them washed up yet. Most of the top high school talent is still going to schools in their footprint and as much as people like to call out recruiting rankings for being flawed, they seem to be getting more accurate with a higher percentage of 5 stars becoming 1st round picks and blue chip ratio still consistently matching up for national titles. probably the weakest #2-5 spots we've seen in the SEC in a while.

Pac 12 looks like the most interesting conference with decent depth. not sure any of them are really title contenders but there's at least 5-6 different teams in their conference right now that look like they are good enough to contend for the conference title. The other 4 power conferences look like they all have 1-2 really stand out teams that are far above the rest

 

[Buzztheirazz]

Alabama Ole Miss LSU and of course Georgia are all very good teams. It’s early to say these guys are “down”. It’s still early season.

 

[yeti92]

Alabama Ole Miss LSU and of course Georgia are all very good teams. It’s early to say these guys are “down”. It’s still early season.

Two of those teams already have big OOC losses, and a 3rd needed a 4th quarter comeback to beat a G5 team playing a backup qb. uga hasn't played anyone yet, but I'm not sure we can just say these are all very good teams. Maybe just regular good, of course that depends on your personal scale.

 

[GTrob21]

Some of you are very good at the SEC spin. We need you to apply that to the ACC and get out posting on other message boards!

 

[orientalnc]

Two of those teams already have big OOC losses, and a 3rd needed a 4th quarter comeback to beat a G5 team playing a backup qb. uga hasn't played anyone yet, but I'm not sure we can just say these are all very good teams. Maybe just regular good, of course that depends on your personal scale.

I am going against the grain here, but those four teams looked really strong yesterday. LSU and Bama lost to teams that may be CFP teams. That is no disgrace. And uga is probably the best team in college football. The jury is still out on Ole Miss, but they look good so far. When you add Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC is certainly not in decline.

The SEC teams that are not impressing me are Texas A&M and Tennessee.

In the ACC, FSU and Miami are all looking very good. A bit disappointing (to their fans) are UNC and Clemson. Clemson still has problems at QB and UNC would have lost in regulation had Omarion Hampton not had a career day. Drake Maye, so far, looks very pedestrian.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I am going against the grain here, but those four teams looked really strong yesterday. LSU and Bama lost to teams that may be CFP teams. That is no disgrace. And uga is probably the best team in college football. The jury is still out on Ole Miss, but they look good so far. When you add Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC is certainly not in decline.

The SEC teams that are not impressing me are Texas A&M and Tennessee.

In the ACC, FSU and Miami are all looking very good. A bit disappointing (to their fans) are UNC and Clemson. Clemson still has problems at QB and UNC would have lost in regulation had Omarion Hampton not had a career day. Drake Maye, so far, looks very pedestrian.

Just for the sake of argument, if LSU is as good as UNC would that make you think more of UNC or think less of LSU?

If Alabama is on about the same level as Clemson, only with a more consistent QB, does that raise the stature of the SEC or lower it?

If Miami is better than any team in the SEC except Georgia how does that affect your ranking of conferences? If FSU is capable of beating uga on a good what does that mean?

My contention remains the same. No matter how good the SEC is, and some years they are very good, the hype always exceeds the reality.

This year the reality caught up with the hype much earlier in the season than usual.

 

[RonJohn]

I am going against the grain here, but those four teams looked really strong yesterday. LSU and Bama lost to teams that may be CFP teams. That is no disgrace. And uga is probably the best team in college football. The jury is still out on Ole Miss, but they look good so far. When you add Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC is certainly not in decline.

The SEC teams that are not impressing me are Texas A&M and Tennessee.

In the ACC, FSU and Miami are all looking very good. A bit disappointing (to their fans) are UNC and Clemson. Clemson still has problems at QB and UNC would have lost in regulation had Omarion Hampton not had a career day. Drake Maye, so far, looks very pedestrian.

I don't think anyone is arguing that there are no good teams in the SEC, at least I am not. However, the hype usually makes it sound like any SEC team except Vandy against any non-SEC team is like comparing an NFL team to a high school team. The SEC people think that there is some mystical quality of being in the SEC that automatically makes the teams better no matter what metrics or stats say. If the SEC has a winning percentage against other conferences, it is proof of their dominance. If the SEC has a losing percentage against other conferences, there are a myriad of excuses as to why it doesn't signify anything.

Last week, the ACC was dominant against the SEC. The only loss was a very bad Virginia team that lost to an SEC team that struggled with Austin Peay. If the ACC had lost 2-1, the hype from ESPN would have been how dominant the SEC was. Instead, the ignored the conference head to head and had a story about how weak the ACC is since UVA lost to Tenn, BC lost to NIU, GT lost, and Clemson lost. The GT game and the Clemson game were conference games, so there was going to be an ACC loss no matter what. BC and UVA are two of the worst teams in the conference.

The hype is just extremely obvious this year. At some point the SEC hype boys are going to have to admit that SEC teams are not equivalent to NFL teams. It will matter later in the season. If the top six teams all have one loss, should a 1 loss mutt team get picked for the playoffs over a 1 loss Ohio State, FSU, USC, and Texas? If the hype remains that the SEC is head over heels better than everyone else, they will. However, the OOC record for the SEC seems to indicate that they are at worse than other conferences. I think it is reasonable to say that this year the SEC is at last no higher than on par with other conferences.

 

[orientalnc]

I don't think anyone is arguing that there are no good teams in the SEC, at least I am not. However, the hype usually makes it sound like any SEC team except Vandy against any non-SEC team is like comparing an NFL team to a high school team. The SEC people think that there is some mystical quality of being in the SEC that automatically makes the teams better no matter what metrics or stats say. If the SEC has a winning percentage against other conferences, it is proof of their dominance. If the SEC has a losing percentage against other conferences, there are a myriad of excuses as to why it doesn't signify anything.

Last week, the ACC was dominant against the SEC. The only loss was a very bad Virginia team that lost to an SEC team that struggled with Austin Peay. If the ACC had lost 2-1, the hype from ESPN would have been how dominant the SEC was. Instead, the ignored the conference head to head and had a story about how weak the ACC is since UVA lost to Tenn, BC lost to NIU, GT lost, and Clemson lost. The GT game and the Clemson game were conference games, so there was going to be an ACC loss no matter what. BC and UVA are two of the worst teams in the conference.

The hype is just extremely obvious this year. At some point the SEC hype boys are going to have to admit that SEC teams are not equivalent to NFL teams. It will matter later in the season. If the top six teams all have one loss, should a 1 loss mutt team get picked for the playoffs over a 1 loss Ohio State, FSU, USC, and Texas? If the hype remains that the SEC is head over heels better than everyone else, they will. However, the OOC record for the SEC seems to indicate that they are at worse than other conferences. I think it is reasonable to say that this year the SEC is at last no higher than on par with other conferences.

I agree with you, but this isn't new. I remember in 2014 the hype was that the SEC West teams should all be ranked in the Top 5. That didn't work out too well for them that year.

 

[RamblinRed]

It will be interesting to see if the national sport sites talk about this at all, but the SEC has really not looked great so far in the first 2 weeks.

Against P5 opponents they are 3-6 through the first 2 weeks.

LSU 24 - FSU 45
UVA 13 - TN 49
UNC 31 - SC 17
FL 11 - Utah 24
Vandy 20 - Wake 36
Texas A&M 33 - Miami 48
Texas 34 - AL 24
AZ 24 - Miss St 31 (OT)
Auburn 14 - Cal 10

Their 3 wins are TN blowing out UVA (the likely worst team in the ACC). A 7 point home overtime win by Miss St. over AZ and a 4 point win by Auburn at Cal (who is likely to be one of the worst teams in the PAC12).

They are also 1-4 against Top 25 opponents - Ole Miss 37 - Tulane 20 is the only win.

This also does not include some close escapes over some weak competition. The SEC was 3-9-1 ATS this week and underperformed the line by a combined 116 points.

None of this is to say that the SEC is a bad conference, it is not, but to say that top to bottom it may not be much better (if better at all) than some other P5 conferences.

 

[RonJohn]

I agree with you, but this isn't new. I remember in 2014 the hype was that the SEC West teams should all be ranked in the Top 5. That didn't work out too well for them that year.

It worked out pretty well I think. They still had 3 SEC West teams in the top 10 at the end of the season including the #1 team in the CFP rankings. Alabama was ranked #1 even though FSU was undefeated. Ohio State, who won the championship barely made it in at 12-1. Every SEC West top 10 team lost their playoff/bowl games, but they got all of them into NY6 bowl games.

If the SEC over-hype isn't corrected before next year, the SEC will have 4 or 5 teams in the playoffs, and that will continue every year. That won't be because of actual stats, it will be because everyone just agrees that the SEC is better overall. I don't think that the SEC is the gutter of FBS football, but I wish that pundits would hype the negative as much as they hype to positive. At least that way there wouldn't be some mystical feeling that people have about the SEC.

 

[stech81]

Georgia alone appears to be unstoppable

You may want to look at uga’s schedule it is the easiest in college football . Because of that schedule they should not be in the Top 25.

 

[jacket38]

Yeah georgia plays two tune up games to start the season, then UAB and Vanderbilt a couple weeks apart. And as much as I hate to say us to the end the season (but this will change soon)…
Pretty chill schedule.