Oh-ver-ate-ed? So Says EWriter About SEC

   A cnnsi.com scribe presents the case that, when you get past the elite pair, the SEC is overrated. He cites disappointing teams in the league's midsection.

   I see his point, but because league games are the most low-scoring of any conference, the numbers don't jump off the page as they do in, say, the Big 12.

   So, while I may have dropped my esteem for the league a tad, I'd still put it up against anybody, top to bottom.

   Have you reduced your appreciation for the league? Or is it still the same kick-ass conference in college football?

    

Big, Bad 12: Challenge To The SEC

   From the Great Midwest comes the claim that its Big 12 Conference is superior to the SEC and all others.

   The heartland makes a good case. It boasts four teams among the premier seven in the AP poll, including No. 1 Texas. Like the SEC, half of its dozen teams cracked the top 25. Average Big 12 ranking: ninth. Average SEC ranking: 10th.

   There's no dispute the Big Ten has some bad-ass offenses. Among the nation leaders in passer ratings, its quarterbacks hold down Nos. 2 through 5. Its teams are second, third and fifth in scoring, first in rushing and top two in passing.

   In the leagues' lone head-to-head meeting all regular season: Texas 52, Arkansas 10.

   SEC teams are showing less offensive flash than normal, with Florida, Auburn and South Carolina stuck in second or third gear. The league's reign as defensive dominatrix continues unabated, but when the Big 12 steps to the podium and debates its worth as No. 1 in the nation, it's difficult for the SEC or anyone else to counter convincingly.  

5th Weekend Lesson: Mainstream Media Don't Know Diddly

   It never fails. Each year, a half-dozen teams open the season 3-0 or 4-0, and sports TV "experts" and sportswriters start fretting about an unbeaten getting shut out of the BCS title game. Or they start carving into stone that so-and-so will be 11-0 entering its last game, automatically assuming the games until then are stone-cold locks.

   Of course, those teams (USC, Florida, Georgia) proceed to lose, week by week, and the media expresses shock at these unfathomable upsets. I prefer another description of them, borrowed from Led Zeppelin: dazed and confused. Folks, in a conference game, there ain't no gimmes anymore. In the big leagues, you cannot expect a squad to maintain a high level of excellence week after week.

   The media is irresponsible to look at, say, a 4-0 team now and say, "They'll be 10-0 heading into the game against . . . " But it happens all the time, without any ifs, ands or buts.

   Well, they look like butts to me when constantly proven wrong.

   Can you see any team that is sure to get through the season unbeaten? 

   

     

Expensive Exit Strategy For Anti-Fulmer Camp

   If this is Phil Fulmer's last season at the Tennessee helm, he won't be leaving Volunteer-ily. The school would have to pony up a reported $5.5 mil to buy out the big fella.

  Vol fans: Would you contribute to the cause?

   With a third loss staring him in the face Saturday at Auburn, Fulmer was properly defiant this week. He and his staff "didn't all of a sudden get stupid" after reaching the SEC title game five times. "We know what we're doing."

   Anyone who watched the Florida debacle would question that statement. Losing is one thing; getting a new one ripped is quite another.

   What must Fulmer and the Vols accomplish this season to save his job?

More, more on the Big Four

   I am not a playoff proponent -- are you? -- but I can't blame the SEC hierarchy for endorsing an expanded postseason, such as the so-called Plus-One game that would essentially be akin to the NCAA basketball's Final Four.

   The league is so strong, so deep that any team getting through unscathed is unlikely. Because poll voters are dazzled by a zero on the right side of a team's record, they are inclined to reward on their ballots the unbeaten teams, thus making it difficult for others to reach the BCS Championship Game. (Last year's appearance by two-loss LSU was an aberration.)

   Thus, a Final Four format would benefit the SEC. Its champion almost certainly would qualify. At that point, it's may the best team win -- and there's a good chance that team would be carrying the SEC banner.

   The football powers have turned thumbs-down to any deviation from the current bowl format. If you were the czar, would you change it?

   Meanwhile, here's my ranking of the Big Four's schedule, easiest to hardest, with games remaining:

   --Florida -- Ole Miss, at Arkansas, LSU, Kentucky, Georgia (Jacksonville), at Vanderbilt, South Carolina, The Citadel, at Florida State.

  --LSU: Mississippi State, at Florida, at South Carolina, Georgia (Jacksonville), Tulane, Alabama, Ole Miss, at Arkansas.

   --Alabama -- at Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, Arkansas State, at LSU, Mississippi State, Auburn.

  --Georgia -- Alabama, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, at LSU, Florida (Jacksonville), at Kentucky, at Auburn, Georgia Tech.

   How do you rank 'em?

  

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?

   

He Cheap-Shots! He Scores!

   So Arkansas running back Michael Smith was grounded for Saturday's game against Western Illinois because of "improper use of scholarship textbooks." What, he cracked one open during the season? For shame.