I Like it When the SEC Gets Knocked Down a Peg

[Eric]

Well, I still like Clemson. Everybody will be boarding the Alabama train after this game. Bama is great at every position, except QB, the most important one. Coker played his best game of the season tonight, but what are the odds that that continues?

[Eric]

Much St looks almost as good as Vanderbilt or Kentucky. Both teams would put up more of a fight than this. Pitiful. Bama is good but they are not that good.

Nice to hear back from you, Doss.

Speaking of the SEC, I expect Arkansas to drub Kansas State. Kansas State is good at beating bad teams, and bad at beating good teams. You never know with Bielema though.

[armchairqb]

Connor Cook just made the worst throw I've ever seen in my life. Just horrible.

And that would not be the only bad throw of the night.

I will give State some credit for containing RB Derrick Henry for a good chunk of the game. But that is a small victory; Sparty got manhandled everywhere else.

[Dossenator]

Thanks Eric! Hope Ark can pull out a victory Sat vs Kstate. I will be at the game in Memphis.

[Dossenator]

SEC is blasting opponents in their wins. 6-2 right now and 6 wins are all blow outs. They are dominating what is supposed to be top teams: Mich St, Ok St, Northwestern, etc. I was not expecting this. Does this bode well for Ark vs Kstate tomorrow....Ark blasted LSU in Baton Rouge, Beat Ole Miss in Oxford, beat Tenn in Knoxville, beat Auburn at home, lead at Alabama well into 2nd half. I am hoping for a good showing tomorrow by Ark!

[Eric]

SEC is blasting opponents in their wins. 6-2 right now and 6 wins are all blow outs. They are dominating what is supposed to be top teams: Mich St, Ok St, Northwestern, etc. I was not expecting this. Does this bode well for Ark vs Kstate tomorrow....Ark blasted LSU in Baton Rouge, Beat Ole Miss in Oxford, beat Tenn in Knoxville, beat Auburn at home, lead at Alabama well into 2nd half. I am hoping for a good showing tomorrow by Ark!

Well they sure know how to make me eat crow

[Spence]

They got use on a wet field on a cold, windy, rainy night. All they had to do is stop the run - which they are good at - and they did. Unfortunately Ohio State isn't built for bad weather and Michigan State is a ball control team.

I also don't think Dantonio thought that Coker would beat them.

[billybud]

Swampdaddy should be feeling good...a 7-win team beating an 8 win SEC West team, in retrospect, is a great accomplishment.

The SEC did look mighty good.

[Eric]

I thought Bama, Ole Miss, and Tennessee had the best wins of the group, but Kansas State and NC State were weak opponents who got by on soft non-conference slates and Texas Tech can get bowled over by anyone with a running game. Northwestern is a total paper tiger also. I don't know what happened to Memphis at the end of the year, but they had been reeling down the stretch. I think if Hackenberg stayed in, Penn State would have done better, as he was making some very good throws before he exited. Can't blame him for leaving for the NFL if he has to play another year behind that offensive line. You'd be lying if you didn't notice that they did have a relatively cushy bowl slate.

I have been dissing a lot of the QB play in the conference, but I may have been too harsh. I think a lot of that was a product of the opposing defensive lines. I knew a lot of teams in that conference had some great units and while the position could use a conference-wide upgrade, they weren't as mediocre as I thought. It would be nice to see things balance a little more if the ACC could start recruiting future-NFLers on that side of the ball again (cough Miami, NC State, Georgia Tech cough) like they did as recently as eight or seven years ago. They all want to go play in the SEC now though. It doesn't help when you've had ESPN shilling for them for the last decade or so.

All in all though, since the Pac-12 wasn't that hot this bowl season, I'll give them their "best conference" crown back

[billybud]

Yeah...I like to make excuses too. Like, if FSU's QB hadn't badly sprained his ankle, he wouldn't have had to throw off his back foot all night leading to over throws and 4 interceptions, if etc. Heck, Houston was the better team that afternoon.

There are some truths...the SEC, while favored in almost all their match ups, looked good in meeting those expectations.

The ACC while dogs in most of their matches, including Clemons-Oklahoma, looked fair.

The impressions of the Big Ten get formed when the two teams who played i their championship game get beaten 38-0 and 45-16. Bad beats. But the Big Ten also looked fair.

[Spence]

I agree. The B10 has looked fair, but the top 2 conference teams this year got waxed. There isn't much to be said about that. I think Dantonio thought if they sold out to stop Herny that Coker couldn't beat them. He was wrong.

[Eric]

Yes, they sound like sour grapes or excuses, but those are my honest thoughts. I don't know how else to explain that, you can draw your own conclusions. NC State and Kansas State were weak opponents with no defense who had losing records in their own conference and they're expected to compete against the SEC West; kudos for beating teams that also got beat by their own conference in similar fashions, I guess. I don't have an axe to grind with the SEC outside of the media hype or their occasional (deserved) arrogance. If they win, they win, fine. I never said that they didn't look good. In fact, Alabama and Ole Miss looked amazing and exceeded any expectation that I had of them, Tennessee also. I'll give it where its due. But everyone forgets when Memphis and Toledo beat the mighty SEC West. Maybe those are blips on the radar, but they aren't the NFL.

College football is the king of the small sample size, and people make a lot of conclusions after bowl season when there's a month-long layoff. I have no issue admitting that the SEC is probably the best conference, as I have in the past at different times. I thought the Pac-12 happened to be the best this year and I think that's still a defensible position, although I'll even hop on the SEC bandwagon now. UCLA I think can be good when they want to, I just don't think they cared too much about the Nebraska game (and Nebraska is better than their record IMO).

[Eric]

I don't like it when people lose perspective and hop on bandwagons. There were those who were dumping on the SEC West after they faceplanted last bowl season. I appreciated that it brought some balance to the conversation, but people were going overboard in saying how overrated they were. Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Bama still had very good teams who all deserved their "New Year's Six" slots.

[billybud]

And, if you ask FSU fans, Georgia Tech is the best 9 loss team in the country.

[Eric]

And, if you ask FSU fans, Georgia Tech is the best 9 loss team in the country.

They probably are