Why The SEC Is The Baddest-Ass League, Part 44

   Your beloved conference not only led the land of red and blue states in football attendance last season for the 10th straight year, it dominated the Top 10 list of individual schools for most patrons.

   Would you believe Nos. 4 through 9 are SEC-only?

   The NCAA ranks by total turnstile count, not average per game, so Auburn jumped up to No. 5 because of eight home games. The others had seven.

   We list the NCAA order, with average attendance in parentheses:

  No. 4 Tennessee (103,918)

  No. 5 Auburn (84,689)

  No. 6  Georgia (92,706)

  No. 7 LSU (92,619)

  No. 8 Alabama (92,138)

  No. 9 Florida (90,388)

   What's the toughest ticket in the league? Do you have trouble securing a ducat for your team?

   

SEC teams catch breaks in openers

Not that they need any, but several SEC teams are catching breaks in their openers.
Georgia lies in wait for a Georgia Southern team depleted by the suspension of eight players. Tennessee game-plans for a UCLA quarterback projected as a third-stringer before his superiors were shelved by injuries. South Carolina welcomes a North Carolina State team that could not decide on a starting QB -- a redshirt freshman, no less -- until a week before kickoff. Kentucky confronts Louisville, minus one wide receiver who was shot in the back last month and another who was booted after his second drug arrest -- not to mention a cornerback axed after a suspected gas station robbery.
And Florida arranged its kickoff against Hawaii at 12:30 p.m., assuring the Rainbows will be half-asleep. Their body clocks will be set at 6:30 a.m.
Of course, some SEC rosters will shrink in opening week because of the usual rash of suspensions resulting from off-season transgressions. Tennessee just sent two players to detention for the UCLA game.
Anybody know who is this year's leader for dog-housed players in Week One?