Why the Rest of the Country Hates the SEC
For the past few days, I’ve been reading on different websites that this conference or that conference was better then the SEC. Though some believe the SEC is down because some of the other conferences (mainly the Big 10 and Pac-10) have had a better showing this year, it all comes down to one thing; fans love to hate the SEC.
Even though they have the number one and two teams in the country for most of the year and had a third team in the top 10, there are still people saying the SEC is down. Here are some of my top reasons why the SEC is hated by the rest of the country:
The SEC Package
The SEC just signed a multi-million dollar deal with ESPN recently along with having the same type of package with CBS, so it’s wall to wall SEC coverage. I was watching TV one Saturday and if I’m not mistaken, all 12 teams were on TV that weekend including the Arkansas/Troy football game.
While the SEC has basically taken over the major networks, teams in the Pac-10, Mountain West, Big 10, Big 12 etc. may appear on Versus or Fox Sports Southwest or Pacific (or whatever they call the Fox West Coast package). They also have appeared on the family of networks on ESPN and ABC, but none of them have the package the SEC has.
The National Media LOVES the SEC
It can be sickening at times how much the national media loves SEC football. Herbstreit says it’s the best conference, so does Fowler, Corso, Mark May, Tim Brando, shall I say more? It’s hard not to hate the SEC because the media adores the league, its players, coaches, and the style of play. Hell, I’m worried that Gary Danielson is stalking Tim Tebow as we speak.
The SEC Wins Championships
The SEC OWNS the BCS Championship game. Florida and LSU have both won the championship twice in the last six years, and Alabama will be playing for another championship which just rubs the rest of the country raw. They are tired of seeing the SEC dominant their team in the championship game.
In fact, fans of other conferences are tired of just seeing the SEC be in the game period. That’s why I think so many of them are hollering for a playoff because they believe the SEC has some kind of advantage over all the other conferences, and quite frankly, they probably are right.
The SEC has better players
Tim Tebow, Mark Ingram, Rolando McClain, Eric Berry, etc. All these players are guys whom we will probably see playing on Sunday. All four of these guys are All-Americans and two of them won a Heisman as Super Sophomores. I’ve never seen so much anti-SEC sentiment towards one player as I do Mark Ingram.
But the fact is, if you look at the numbers, the SEC is probably the most decorated league in the country. The NFL is literally littered with the SEC players and rumor has it, four or five of the top players in next year’s draft are from the SEC. Hard pill to swallow for fans of Toby Gerhart and Suh of Nebraska.
What’s my solution to all of this; nothing, the rest of the country just needs to either get over it or get better.
When you see that half of the top 10 recruiting classes are from the SEC that should tell you something. I hate quoting Collin Cowherd, but what he basically said is true; the SEC takes football seriously. It’s a way of life down here and until the rest of the country takes that same attitude, you might as well get used to seeing the SEC a lot in the BCS National Championship game.
BleacherReport.com
12/15/9
Magnolia Tribune
