We were talking about how insulated the SEC has historically been, except for a very few exceptions already mentioned here. Florida played at UCLA in 1958 too, but that’s the last time they ventured out of their territory and that’s too long ago.
Yeah, if you can count on both hands the number of BCS-level road games a team has played in the past 50 years…we may have an issue.
On the other hand, Cal went to Tennessee in 2006, Maryland in 2008, and goes to Minnesota next week.
FTR, UF had a home/home with USC in 1982/1983.
Florida has two big time out of conference rivals that it plays frequently. They play FSU every year and they have played Miami 3 times this century int he regular season.
Teams that don’t have natural in-state out of conference rivals have an easier time scheduling National games than teams that do.
You’d actually have a point if I wasn’t talking about the last couple of years.
Doing some more research, Florida played at Syracuse in September, 1991 and played at Houston in September 1979, At Georgia Tech in 1978 and 1980,
As a life-long Ohio State fan, it pains me to say that I think USC is going to destroy us. Our offensive line is horrible, and that will be the key to the game. As talented as Pryor is, he can’t do everything on his own.
I also don’t see much hope for stopping USC’s running game–which I think is often overlooked. Joe McKnight is probably the best back in college football, and you never hear him get much play in the national media.
OSU’s only chance to win is to stop McKnight and protect Pryor.
No kidding. Someone up thread actually mentioned teams playing against “negroes.” We’re not in the 60s folks. The old canard about “the SEC doesn’t travel” is just that–old.
Sure, no SEC team can play a traveling road show like a Notre Dame or a mid-major can–there’s just too much brutal conference play. But most SEC teams are making a non-conference effort within the past 5 years.
And LSU went to Arizona to play Arizona. And to Arizona to play Arizona St. And to Washington to play Washington.
In fact, LSU’s record against the PAC-10 last 10 games? 10-0. Overall non-conference record the last 20 games? 20-0. And that includes bowl game smash-downs against Notre Dame, Miami, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, and Ohio State.
I really don’t want to derail this wonderful thread into a conference pissing match, so I’ll just get in the last word, then we’ll move on: 
There is some circular logic in the SEC rationale.
- We can’t play good teams OOC because we’re so powerful
- We’re so powerful because so many of our teams are highly ranked
- We’re so highly ranked because of our great OOC W-L record
Go to #1 and repeat.
If you play 4 cupcakes, + Vandy, Miss St and Kentucky…it’s not hard to get to a bowl game.
But I will acknowledge that there is some recent movement towards decent OOC matchups involving SEC teams, wandering more than one zip code away from home.
Here’s an interesting article dated 9/5/09 by David Whitley re Florida’s reluctance to venture out of the Swamp:
Florida’s cupcake diet should make Gators’ fans sick
I liked this passage:
Since some in here are doing some research, is there any chance you could look up what the most recent SDMB college football thread was that didn’t devolve into an SEC/Big 10 bitch fest? 
Yeah, let’s nip this in the bud.
My headlines for the weekend:
SI Cover Jinx Strikes Oregon
Michigan, Notre Dame Don’t Suck as Much as Last Year
BYU? Really?
Best Team in the ACC Loses (note: it’s debatable as to whether VT or GT is better…that’s why we play the games)
Ohio State, Iowa and Minnesota Hang on to the last Shreds of Big 10 Dignity
SEC Teams other than bama Beat Up Crippled Kids and Take Their Lunch Money
10 games? since 1945?
Its probably not very many but I think it is more than 10 games.
As I pointed out previously:
GT in 1978, 1980
USC in 1983
Syra in 1991
NC State 1947, 1966, 1975
UNC in 1946 and 1968
UCLA in 1958
Miami about 20 times
Maybe he only included games outside the South? If nobody can confirm this online, I’ve got a CFB Encyclopedia at home that’ll have the facts.
The article excluded Florida State only. There has been 22 UF/Miami games in Miami since 1945.
They also played @Tulane in 1967 and 1982, after Tulane left the SEC.
I’d be pleased if you could point out a team & season where this was the case. 4 OOC cupcakes, plus Vandy, Miss St, & UK (2 of which were bowl eligible last year, by the way). After that, you could point to several more, since you are implying that it is common.
Anyway, that’s a damn fine looking strawman you’ve got with you in the stands. Damn fine.
Every conference has 3 teams that won’t be bowl eligible. If you beat those 3, plus you schedule 3 guaranteed-beatable OOC games…ta da. Instant winning record.
UGA played Arizona State & Georgia Tech OOC last year, and only 2 teams that were not bowl eligible within the conference. That is 3 fewer easy wins than you listed in your original scenario. The same can be said for several other SEC teams last year.
Fact is, none of the top SEC teams from the past several years were playing 4 OOC cupcakes. You can keep saying it, and saying it, and saying it, but it will continue to be wrong.
Malcom Williams basically no-showed. He had one catch in the game to continue his under achieving ways. It’s sad that someone as talented as him is such a non-factor in almost every game. You must have confused him with someone else (maybe Buckner) when you said he had a decent game.
Also, Monroe returned a kickoff not a punt. He apparently has trouble fielding punts so don’t expect to see him doing so this year.
OK, here’s what I’m talking about, and then let’s let it go.
Florida’s 2009 schedule:
OOC: Charleston Southern, Troy, Florida Int’l, Florida State. That’s 3 cupcakes, and a bran muffin.
Conference schedule includes 2 teams that were 6-6 last year and 3 teams that were below .500. The “tough games” on their slate are Georgia (9-3) and LSU and So Carolina (both 7-5).
But so I’m not just picking on the SEC, here’s the same deal with Penn State:
OOC: Akron, Syracuse, Temple, Eastern Illinois. Give me a break.
Conference schedule: 3 sub-.500 teams from last year (Illinois, Mich, Indiana). The best teams on their schedule this year are Ohio State (10-2), Northwestern?? (9-3) and Iowa (8-4).