AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 07
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
SEC vs. Big 12? The difference is defense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Ole Miss, picked to finish no better than fourth in the SEC West, beats No. 4 Florida in The Swamp, 31-30.
• Vanderbilt, which has not been to a bowl in 25 years, beats Auburn, ranked in the Top 10 earlier in the season, 14-13 in Nashville.
• Alabama, the No. 2 team in the nation, has to fight just to get by Kentucky 17-14 in Tuscaloosa.
• Georgia, which started the season No. 1, gets blasted 31-3 in the first half at home by Alabama on the way to a 41-30 loss.
Meanwhile, last Saturday:
Missouri beats Nebraska (52-17), Texas beats Colorado (38-14), Oklahoma beats Baylor (49-17), and Texas Tech beats Kansas State (58-28). This week the Big 12 has four of the top seven teams in the country in the AP Poll.
Therefore, the Big 12 is a stronger conference than the SEC.
Huh?
Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Two weeks ago when the SEC had five of the nation’s Top 10 teams it was the best conference in the country. No argument. But now that those teams are getting into conference play and are beating each other up, goes the logic, the SEC has been exposed as not being so good. Those Big 12 teams are rolling up those big numbers on offense so they have to be better, right?
Wrong.
This is the mistake a lot of fans and a lot of the poll voters outside the South make. They equate high-scoring football with quality football. That ain’t the way it works.
Don’t get me wrong. Those Big 12 teams are really, really good. In fact, I expect the SEC champion to be playing one of them in the BCS title game come Jan. 8 (Sorry, Penn State fans. It ain’t gonna happen. If it comes down to it, you’ll pay for the sins of Ohio State the past two years).
There is a reason that the SEC has won the last two national championships and, quite frankly, made it look easy in the BCS title game. It’s called defense.
There are more really good defenses in the SEC than in any league in the country. That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact. Three of the nation’s top five teams in scoring defense (No. 1 Kentucky, No. 2 Auburn, No. 4 Florida) and seven of the top 19 teams in total defense reside in the SEC. There is only one Big 12 team in the top 20 in total defense (No. 11 Oklahoma). The highest rated defense after that is Texas at No. 28.
Granted, this is a close call because the quarterback play in the Big 12 is beyond great. I can’t recall the last time I saw a conference so deep in big-time quarterbacks with Sam Bradford (Oklahoma), Colt McCoy (Texas), Chase Daniel (Missouri), Graham Harrell (Texas Tech) and Todd Reesing (Kansas).
But on Sunday and Monday people were talking about Big 12 superiority like it was a slam dunk. It’s not.
Aside from defense, here’s the difference in my mind. If you want to compare the top half of the Big 12 (Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Kansas are all in the Top 17) against the top half of the SEC (Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Vanderbilt, Auburn are all in the Top 20), that’s fine.
But look at the bottom half of both leagues. Kansas State, Nebraska, Iowa State, Colorado, Baylor, and Texas A&M all lost their Big 12 openers. Virginia Tech went to Nebraska and won 35-30. Iowa State lost to a terrible Iowa team 17-5. Texas A&M lost to Arkansas State at home (18-14).
In the second division of the SEC, South Carolina (4-2) played Georgia to a 14-7 game when the Bulldogs were ranked No. 2 and last week went on the road to beat Ole Miss. Kentucky (4-1) went on the road and played No. 2 Alabama to a three-point game. Ole Miss (3-3) went to Florida and gave Urban Meyer only his second loss in The Swamp. Mississippi State lost a defensive battle with Auburn (3-2). Tennessee (2-3) has struggled on offense but there is only one truly bad team and that’s Arkansas (2-3). But even the Hogs hung tough with Florida before the Gators got a couple of late score on Saturday to win 38-7.
Bottom line: The difference in the leagues is defense and how tough it is to win on the road. I don’t think anybody in the Big 12 is afraid to play at Iowa State or Texas A&M, the bottom two teams in that conference. Going to Starkville or Knoxville is a different story.
If I’m wrong, tell me why. If you can look at these two conferences top to bottom, which is how you should judge a conference, and tell me that the Big 12’s better I would love to hear your argument.
