More on SEC - Pac 10 talk
More reading From CollegeFootballnews.com (stole the link from Tiger Droppings.Having been to the Big House for Michigan - Ohio State, and the Rose Bowl for a game in which UCLA tripped up #3 Alabama, and several times down to Baton Rouge for games, I think it's perfectly valid to say that playing on the road in the SEC is a monumental task. Those other stadiums didn't hold a candle to LSU in terms of crowd noise. Now, I haven't been to any other SEC stadiums besides LSU, but frankly, I think it's pretty easy to find a widespread group of people (fans, sportswriters, OR broadcasters) who have been to all the SEC stadiums and will argue about whether LSU or Florida or Neyland (Tennessee) is louder. All are quite similar. I'm a homer and will say I think LSU has to be the toughest; but I haven't been to the others for a big game to really experience it.
Meanwhile, I love how this guy has to qualify his statements because he knows there's a hoard of Tiger fans ready to fillet him for anything he says that can be construed as derogatory towards the Tigers:
LSU will struggle a lot more than USC, but only because the Tigers are actually playing some people. Yes, that’s meant as a compliment to the Tigers and their conference. But if Tiger fans insist that their team shouldn’t break a sweat, let’s not be hearing about strength of schedule come the first weekend of December.
Let me be on the record here - I think LSU is immensely talented, but in no way do I (or anyone else I know, for that matter) think our schedule is a cakewalk this year. We've got one of the few good teams in the Pac-10 coming in (Arizona State), and then we play the Vols, Gators, Auburn, and travel to 'Bama. IF we make it through that schedule unscathted, there is no question we should be in the Rose Bowl. IF we make it through with only one loss, and are going up against another (or multiple) one-loss team(s), I'd be hard-pressed to find any other team in the nation who'd deserve the bid over us (unless our loss was to Tennessee or even Florida in the SEC Championship game and they had another loss elsewhere, say, to us).
posted by Publius @ 7:02 PM
2 Comments:
What if, say, Michigan or Ohio State or Iowa only has one loss and it's to one of those other two? Or what if Ohio State goes through the Big 10 undefeated but loses to Texas? (And yes, I know Ohio State won't actually lose to Texas, but I'm speaking hypothetically.)
I don't think it's at all out of the question that the Big 10 will have three or maybe even four teams with only one loss. And I think the Big 10 is going to be the best conference in America, with possibly as many as four teams in the top 10 and as many as eight in bowl games.
The SEC isn't as deep this year. It's strong at the top with LSU, Tennessee and Florida, and pretty good in the middle with Georgia, Auburn and maybe Alabama. But unless Spurrier works a first year miracle at South Carolina, the rest of the conference is weak. It's extremely arguable that LSU (or any other SEC team) will undoubtedly be the most deserving one-loss team should there be a few of them spread out over the different conferences. If Michigan, Ohio State or Iowa only had one loss, or if, say, Florida State or Miami or Virginia Tech only had one loss, you could make just as strong a case for those teams as you could for any of those in the SEC.
You know, I made this post and and the blogger.com publisher lost it, so I rewrote it thinking it hadn't appeared...note that in the rewrite I did mention Michigan and Iowa and Ohio State as other possibilities.
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