SEC - Chicken or the Egg?

So this past weekend was a big one for SEC football. Alabama, ranked #4, had its BCS title hopes on the line at home against 5th ranked LSU and 9th ranked Georgia was hoping to stay in the BCS picture against #15 Auburn. Being that I live it Virginia, albeit northern Virginia, I was subjected to both of these games on television and came to this conclusion - the SEC stinks.



Whenever the so-called college football experts speak of the SEC it's all about defense - tough defense, swarming defense, and my personal favorite "punch you in the mouth" defenses. And the statistics seem to back that up - the SEC has 5 teams in the top 20 for scoring defense in 2005 - Alabama (1), LSU (4), Auburn (7), Georgia (10), and Tennessee (19). In addition, the SEC also boasts 5 teams in the top 20 in total defense - Alabama (3), Florida (8), LSU (9), Tennessee (12), and Auburn (15).

Pretty impressive, right? Well, have you ever heard the old saying, "The best offense is a good defense"? In the case of the SEC it's more like "The best defense is an incredibly inept and floundering opposing offense quarterbacked by Helen Keller's less physically talented, blinder, and lesser known sister".

If one were to look at the 2005 offensive statistics (and believe me, in the case of the SEC they are offensive), the SEC has only 3 teams in the top 50 in scoring offense - Auburn (15), LSU (39), and Georgia (tie 48). In addition, they only have 3 teams in the top 50 in total offense - Auburn (23), Georgia (26), and Vanderbilt (48). There are 12 teams in the SEC, boasting such storied programs as Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Tennesse, and Auburn - and the 3rd most prolific offense belongs to Vanderbilt? Really? Vanderbilt? Seriously, the Commodores? Where's that high-flying offense of Urban Meyer's at Florida? What happened to pre-season #3 Tennessee?

My hypothesis - the SEC's defenses look better than advertised because they're playing against high school level offenses week-in, week-out. Do I have any proof to substantiate this hypothesis? Precious little besides my own well-honed college football eye and the results of one game pitting a highly rated SEC defense against a highly rated non-SEC offense, Tennessee v. Notre Dame. Now granted, Tennessee is having a down year (although they were ranked #3 in the pre-season so how bad could they really be? Does anyone know the Heimlich maneuver? I hear someone choking...), but that's more due to the fact that Danny Ainge and Rick Clausen would both be backups on my flag football team and Gerald Riggs, Jr. lost his leg in a tragic tractor combine accident in week 4 (or he just sprained an ankle, the SEC injury reports are notoriously vague). So Tennessee comes in to South Bend needing a win to right their sinking ship and keep hope alive for a bowl bid and all Notre Dame does is hang 27 offense points on them (42 overall) and sends them home with their tails between their legs. An SEC-based (or -biased, take your pick) media member tried to bait Tennessee head coach Philip Fulmer after the game by asking how he thought Notre Dame would fair if it were a member of the SEC. Probably hoping for an answer along the lines of, "Hoo golly, Bobby John! They'd stink worse than a skunk dun got hit by momma's Chevy and served fer dinner!" Translation: Their fancy pants offense would get eaten alive by the SEC defenses. Instead he got, "I think they'd be one of the elite teams in the league every year". Translation: They'd probably kick the crap out of everyone else like they just kicked the crap out of us. Oops! That backfired...

There's a reason why the SEC team has been on the outside looking in for BCS title contention the past few years - Auburn, LSU, and Alabama this year (before losing to LSU) - it's because they voters aren't buying the whole "The games are low scoring because our defenses are so good... We swear!"-excuse. The voters (and computers for that matter) see the SEC for what it is - a passed by league that still hasn't adopted the forward pass as a viable offensive option and tries to live on its past laurels and reputation. Once they switch this thinking though (and shy away from quarterbacks name Brodie, Cody, Billy Joe, and Shane) they'll be a force to be reckoned with due to their ability to recruit talent based on reputation, idyllic campuses, and a willingness to look the other way when boosters buy athletes (and by athletes I mean male football players) new SUVs. Until then however, the USCs, Texas's, and Notre Dames of the world will hang 40+ on them any day of the week and twice on Sunday (just once on Sunday for Notre Dame - because they're at church). Enjoy the Outback Bowl, SEC!