In this story in the October 19 issue of Sports Illustrated, Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt (pictured here telling people how awesome SEC football is) is quoted as saying, “I watch other conferences all the time and I think, Boy, I’d like to play them.” By “other conferences,” Nutt must surely mean the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-10, right? (These are the other conferences besides Ole Miss’s SEC that have automatic BCS bowl bids.) At least that’s what John Ed Bradley, the author of that story, seems to imply. He uses this quote by Nutt as evidence of the SEC’s superiority over the rest of college football, but what he fails to mention is that Ole Miss’s incredibly tough nonconference schedule all but guarantees wins against two Conference USA (Memphis and UAB) and two Division I-AA/FCS (Southeastern Louisiana and Northern Arizona) opponents. This logic continues throughout the article, where Bradley combines hyperbolic writing with meaningless claims to argue that SEC football is far and away better than any other conference.
Before I go on, I have to say that I’m not writing this to just call out Mr. Bradley, though I’m sure some will probably read it that way. One of the reasons we started this blog is because, on top of loving sports, we’ve gotten sick of writers creating stories out of non-stories by overstating the minuscule. In my opinion, Sports Illustrated is one of the media outlets that has heretofore avoided bombarding us with nonsense because they simply recognize that the success of the magazine lies in good writing. (They even went out of their way to NOT cover the waffling Brett Favre while ESPN was busy climbing all over his Wranglers and mopping up his man tears.) I’ll also admit that the article gets some things right, especially how awesome fans of SEC schools are. If there’s anything I can respect, it’s LSU fans making “cardboard signs in the shape of a hand with the middle finger sticking up and the words HEY, TEBOW, HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP?” I can also respect the fact that, as the story points out, Tennessee finished number four nationally in attendance in 2008, drawing an average crowd of 101,448. What he doesn’t tell you is the three schools that finished ahead of Tennessee. Those would be Big Ten schools: Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State.
He goes on to explain the “depth” of the SEC by pointing out that then 2-3 Tennessee dominated Georgia 45-19, saying, “That traditional powers Georgia and Tennessee are unranked and fighting to get back among the SEC’s elite speaks to the depth of the conference.” Maybe that’s true, but I’m bothered by this because, as someone who graduated from a Pac-10 school, I’ve seen this argument constantly applied to Pac-10 schools. This logic has also been used in the Big Ten this year, as preseason reports everywhere announced the conference as “Ohio State and everyone else.” The AP rankings released this week have Iowa as the highest Big Ten school at number seven (number six in BCS rankings), and I’m anxiously awaiting all the stories in the vein of Bradley’s about the disappointment of the top schools instead of acknowledging that another school might actually be good. This is exactly what happened when USC lost to Oregon State in 2006 and 2008, Stanford in 2007, and Washington this year; everyone reacted as if USC lost to a junior college instead of even considering that there might be a reason their three losses since 2006 have all been at the hands of other Pac-10 teams. But what can you expect when all the quotes in this story are from SEC athletic directors, head coaches, and players? Like the quote from LSU tight end Richard Dickson, “Your USCs, your Ohio States, sure, they’re all great teams, but as far as a league, I don’t think you can compete with the guys we have to go against each week.”
Apparently their season opener was too long ago, when the Washington Huskies, a team expected to scrape the bottom of the Pac-10 pool, was able to hang with LSU for a full four quarters. While LSU pulled that one out, it’s worth noting that what might still be one of the worst Pac-10 teams (though UW is certainly on the rise) was competitive. It’s also worth noting that perennial powerhouse Georgia barely escaped Arizona State, (another Pac-10 bottom feeder) and Tennessee actually lost to UCLA, who is currently ninth in the Pac-10. I’m not saying the SEC isn’t good. I’m just saying the SEC and other conferences like the Big 10, Big 12, and Pac-10 are very close to being on an equal playing field and the others should get the credit they deserve.
So why respond to a story like this? What’s the point and what’s at stake? Well, as Bradley points out, the SEC as a whole brought in $91.7 million to split among the schools and have broadcasting contracts with CBS and ESPN that “will pay out more than $3 billion over the next 15 years.” That’s what is at stake. In an economy where schools are being forced to cut athletic and academic programs, any amount of money makes a huge difference. Much of the income split among conference schools comes via the bowl game payoffs, and the BCS bowl games are determined by the incredibly flawed BCS ranking system, much of which is determined by a perceived strength of schedule. Much of that perception is fueled by ridiculous exclusive broadcasting deals and hyperbolic, irresponsible articles like Mr. Bradley’s.
