Because Auburn has beaten Alabama 6 times in a row?
AU & FLorida don’t go head-to-head for too many players. Florida can get all it wants in state. Plus, any given team can only take 25 kids a year, max. These kids need to go somewhere, and Auburn is a fanatical football town.
I think 'Bama is going to surprise everyone and go all the way this year. Florida is probably their one true sticking point. SEC Championship game is gonna be really important and fun to watch, I think, this year.
In other college football news, Mount Union is again undefeated on their way to racking up a fourth straight and 11th out of 13 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl appearance. And you think that DI has football powerhouses. 
That’s an excellent plan. Now, all we need is for everyone to agree on what the “2 strongest conferences” are. 
The last 4 weeks,the Big XII has brought us some wonderfully entertaining football. And Florida has been shattering the myth of SEC Defense (at least, for this year).
The BCSCG will probably wind up being Big XII champ vs SEC champ. But I don’t know why everyone feels compelled to dis Penn State; all they’ve done is beat everyone they’ve played, fairly convincingly. I think they’re just tainted by playing in the same conference as Ohio State, everybody’s favorite punching bag.
No.
Sure, come on through! Everybody cut ahead! Line starts in front of PSU!
Seriously? Lower? See, I don’t think that’s going to happen because polls and computers don’t wave their hands and pretend that Penn State isn’t a real football team the way you just did.
Right now, I think most are in agreement. (I’ll wait until bowl season is over before I concede that the Big 12 is on par with, or stronger than, the SEC)
It’s not necessarily a dis. I think that what Texas Tech and 'Bama have done so far is more impressive than what Penn State has. Their crowning achievement is a close win over Ohio State. And I think that Florida would beat Penn State if they met next week.
As always, the 2 opposing questions are:
It looks like the writers agreed with this logic, but the coaches didn’t.
I don’t know why you are even including Florida in that. They lost, to a mediocre team no less, they are out. Alabama’s schedule is nothing special, their win over Georgia is no better than PSU’s win over Ohio State. PSU’s win over Oregon State is the best non-conference win of the group. Texas Tech was impressive in the last 2 weeks, but those were first two games of consequence all season.
Why the hell would anyone think the SEC is any good this year? Beat each other up? Give me a fucking break. Tennessee sucks. Auburn sucks. LSU has lost to every decent team they’ve played. Vandy was a paper tiger, they probably aren’t even as good as Northwestern. All the usual SEC also-rans are just that once again. At first glance I don’t see a single notable non-conference win in the entire SEC. Florida and 'Bama are very good teams. LSU and Georgia are good. The rest of the teams are average-to-bad. That makes the SEC exactly as respectable as every other conference. The whole “beating up on each other” thing doesn’t mean shit when they refuse to play anyone outside the SEC and the Sun Belt, beating Vandy and South Carolina doesn’t mean anything when those teams haven’t beaten anyone but Mississippi and Arkansas.
Now, if Texas Tech wins out, which means beating a ranked Kansas, Texas, OK State. Oklahoma and probably a ranked Missouri in the Big 12 title game consecutively, then hell yes they should get in over Penn State. They should be ranked #1.
If PSU, Alabama and Texas Tech all win out, Alabama should be the odd-team-out. Wins over Ohio State, Michigan State and Illinois are more impressive than wins over Georgia, LSU and Clemson. Of course, if Alabama dominates Florida in the SEC title game that probably puts them on top of PSU.
If I were a betting man I’d guess that Texas Tech will lose a couple games in this brutal run coming up and fall off. Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State will probably beat each other up until they all have 2 losses as well. The Big 12 is out. PSU will win out and get in. Bama and Florida will meet in the SEC championship and the winner will go on to face PSU. If Florida loses to South Carolina or Alabama loses to LSU and the 2 loss team wins the SEC championship game then USC squeaks in to everyone’s annoyance.
LOL. You seem to be under the impression that it is possible for Alabama to go undefeated without beating both LSU and Florida. What does that do to your argument?
In AP poll (all that’s available right now)
Florida 4
LSU 15
Georgia 14
Illinois (nowhere to be found)
Michigan St 18
Big Game Bitch (aka, Ohio St.) 12
Now which team’s wins are more impressive? Penn St. has played NOBODY. Bottom line.
Florida has to beat Vandy and FSU on the road and beat Spurrier’s South Carolina to even get a chance to play 'Bama. You’re frigging drunk if you think that’s a gimme considering what happened against Ole Miss. It’s probably better than 50-50, but it’s by no means something to be taken for granted. If Vandy beats Florida they could still get in after all.
First of all, Bama hasn’t beaten Florida (if they even play them) or LSU yet. PSU has beaten Illinois and OSU. I was comparing Illinois to Clemson when matching up schedules, and Illinois is decidedly better than Clemson. Right now Alabama has only beaten Georgia…saying that they somehow have better wins than PSU makes me think you don’t understand football.
Second, don’t trot out the bullshit rankings as evidence of anything. The AP writers blindly and stupidly give SEC teams credit for absolutely nothing. OSU and MSU are almost an exact analog for Georgia and LSU. Neither LSU or MSU have beaten anyone really good, but they’ve whupped up on teams beneath them. OSU and Georgia are both analogs in that they were overrated early and got dominated by highly ranked opponents. When and if Bama plays and beats Florida then they have a case, but if Florida falls on their face and Bama misses them in the championship game PSU will have the better credentials.
Being a Michigan & Big 10 fan, I am still 100% fine with Penn St. missing the NCG if the Big 12 and SEC champions are also undefeated because they will have the most impressive resumes. I am NOT comfortable with a 1 loss champion jumping Penn St (to the effect they are out of the NCG). That said, there are still quite a few games left and I don’t even think PSU will go undefeated.
You have to factor in how well a team plays against another as well. LSU isn’t very highly ranked, and rightly so, but if they bring their A game they can take down any team in the nation, and are perfectly poised to take down the tide in the most disappointing upset in recent school history.
Let’s look at all the factors going into next week’s Bama-LSU game: traitorous Saban rolls back into Baton Rouge, where it is already notoriously difficult to win, with an undefeated Bama that historically drops the ball at the worst possible moment, against a fired up and pissed off crowd of Tigers.
This is going to be a huge game, and I won’t be surprised in the least if LSU brings the upset. I’ve been calling it since the preseason: LSU Bama is the single biggest game we have to take on during the regular season.
Then there’s vs Auburn, which going by the way they’ve played should be an easy victory, but it’s a rivalry game and those are always in the air. If we can squeak through the rest of the season, look out for probably the best single game of the year, Bama vs Florida.
I agree. I think that both Florida and 'Bama are going to lose 1 more game simply because they have tricky road games coming up and might be looking ahead to a championship game. There’s a long history of SEC teams letting down in the final week of the season before the title game. Of the 3 undefeated teams remaining PSU has the easiest road since they get to finish the season at home versus MSU.
I don’t know how much trickery is going on in the Bama camp, but every interview with players I’ve seen has asked if they’ve been practicing against LSU, and every one of them said the coaches hadn’t ever brought it up. Maybe they were running places in practice designed for LSU without knowing it, but Saban says he hasn’t looked at an LSU tape yet and his asst. coaches have said the same thing.
Alabama also seems to be playing even better on the road than at home, which I think gives them the slight edge over every other team. Maybe that’s just my bias showing, but it’s all conjecture anyway, as it just takes one single borked play from any player to change the game completely.
Oh…imagine the worst football you’ve ever seen, and we’re many times worse than that. I have no doubt my Cougs could easily be the worst team in division one football.
Going to be the best Apple Cup in years though. 1-10 Washington State Cougars host the 0-10 University of Washington Huskies in frigid Pullman on November 22nd. Both teams at a loss to find ANYTHING positive about their respective seasons, fighting for state pride and to stay out of the cellar of the Pac-10. Average Pullman temperature on November 22nd sitting at 35 degrees. Oh it’s going to be SHITS and giggles. 
FSU isn’t in the SEC. Of the two of us, I think you failed to identify the actual drunk.
If Vandy beats UT, UF, and Kentucky, then I agree. Seeing that they just lost to Duke makes that possibility rather unlikely.
No shit they haven’t beaten them yet. However, you were the one who set the fantasy terms as follows:
Stop digging. Please.
The only thing that ruins the crisp air and glorious foliage of time of year? The smell of bullshit emanating from armchair quarterbacks and back-yard coaches. I love me some college football. Don’t get me wrong. But man, it’s the same every year. The SEC somehow suxxors, even though we’ve been posting National Champs for the past two years, and absolutely eating our opponents for lunch.
Take a deep breath, ogre. Nobody EVER says the SEC sux. The worst they ever say about the SEC is that maybe, possibly, they’re not quite as good as they say they are.
My complaint is not thread-specific.