Is it really a surprise to anyone that the SEC is above the rest?

[Rolltide94]

Every team matched up with good teams and basically outclassed them. Yes, Ole Miss and Miss State are "out classing" people in talent. It's a terrible time in college football to be honest. The majority of the conference has been getting top 20 recruiting classes with success nationwide for 5+ years. I realize calling out the recruiting tactics has a political correctness feel to it with the fear of being called a bitter fan but it's getting to apparent. If any blue blood did what A&M did, they would probably average 2+5*'s every year on the rivals standards. It's getting ridiculous and to be honest, it's killing college football.

Barkley is a proud donor in the SEC, and a pretty straight up honest person. I actually like him quite a bit. He tells it like it is and doesn't care what anyone has to says about it. He straight up says that he thought Auburn got a great deal on Cam and offered to buy Dirk. He also says that we take care of our own in the SEC.
Lets not forget just last year Stephen Garcia claimed that Alabama offered him a corvette to be an elephant.

Since I graduated highschool, teams like Tennessee, Ole Miss, Miss St, Vandy, Kentucky, UGA(7-9 wins average), Arkansas, South Carolina, EVEN Alabama and Auburn(pre-Saban) were out recruiting most teams not named USC, ND, OU, tOSU,Mich with 4-7 win seasons. It almost seems like the only way to beat the SEC is having an element that is to challenging to stop, like a Ben Watson at Clemson or Manziel at A&M.

I will always love college football regardless of the increasing lack of parity but when are we going to change the rules. It's either we make it legal to pay players or the NCAA goes Joseph McCarthy on college football and cracks down hard on any type of illegal compensation.

The Arkansas coach is right. If any team played in the SEC right now with their current squad, the odds are they have more losses. It's only logical. If teamA(bottom half SEC team) is getting a top 10 class every year and teamB is getting top 15-20, i think its fair to say that teamA has an advantage as far as depth and talent. I know this isnt a shared thought or statement in the realms of fans in the SEC but it's becoming intellectually dishonest to not even contentiously notice it or discuss the possibilities.

Too much to read I know but just some thoughts.

If you want a real difference between programs look at how coaches are paid.

20 of the top 50 assistants are in the SEC...and not just at the elite programs, plenty of South Carolina, Kentucky and Missouri on this list. Of the none SEC teams, mostly it is the Ohio St, Texas, Michigan, Clemson, and Florida States of the world that pay.

It gets worse after the coordinator level...

Alabama as a staff makes 50% more than Oklahoma's coaching staff, and that doesn't include the number of "consultants" on our staff.

Generally speaking, you are getting out-coached and out-recruited by teams with more and better paid coaches than you. Recruiting times are limited, if you aren't putting more and better boots on the ground you are losing before your team even steps on the field.

But keep pretending it is all just based on paying players, and we will keep spending money where it counts and reaping the rewards.

 

[Runeman]

Wasn't too long ago when the majority of this forum was mentioning how bad the SEC East teams play. Other than Florida, a team with no quarterback, the rest of the SEC East did OK in their respective bowl games.

 

[sooner4life130]

If you want a real difference between programs look at how coaches are paid.

20 of the top 50 assistants are in the SEC...and not just at the elite programs, plenty of South Carolina, Kentucky and Missouri on this list. Of the none SEC teams, mostly it is the Ohio St, Texas, Michigan, Clemson, and Florida States of the world that pay.

It gets worse after the coordinator level...

Alabama as a staff makes 50% more than Oklahoma's coaching staff, and that doesn't include the number of "consultants" on our staff.

Generally speaking, you are getting out-coached and out-recruited by teams with more and better paid coaches than you. Recruiting times are limited, if you aren't putting more and better boots on the ground you are losing before your team even steps on the field.

But keep pretending it is all just based on paying players, and we will keep spending money where it counts and reaping the rewards.

Thats my point! you have to pay high dollar for coaches if you want to win. Like I said before, when Kentucky is out recruiting half the AP top 25, you have to have the best coaches to stay relevant in your conference. You're right though, Alabama is doing amazing because of coaches like Lane Kiffen and not the 3 5*s they get year in and year out.

 

[sooner4life130]

I'm thinkin' Marcus Dupree, Rhett Bomar, etc, etc, etc

Not sure about Dupree but boosters at OU payed Bomar for work he didnt do and got popped. When was the last time Bama got popped for this completely illogical success in recruiting? Not lately....

 

[Rolltide94]

Thats my point! you have to pay high dollar for coaches if you want to win. Like I said before, when Kentucky is out recruiting half the AP top 25, you have to have the best coaches to stay relevant in your conference. You're right though, Alabama is doing amazing because of coaches like Lane Kiffen and not the 3 5*s they get year in and year out.

You can't put the cart before the horse. Great coaches recruit great players. Want better players...get better coaches.

 

[sooner4life130]

[

You can't put the cart before the horse. Great coaches recruit great players. Want better players...get better coaches.

Oh come on. you can't seriously use this logic for the lower half of the SEC. Ole Miss, Miss St and Kentucky have literally been the biggest joke in football my entire life. Suddenly in the rise of LSU and Bama comes the rise of the powderpuffs of the conference that averaged the level of a non P5 teams in recruiting is now competing with the best? Thats bullshit and you know it.

 

[WizardHawk]

You can't put the cart before the horse. Great coaches recruit great players. Want better players...get better coaches.

Teams/conferences recruit themselves. Even when ND or Mich has bad coaches they still recruit to the name. Kids want to go to the SEC just to go to the SEC and are willing to go to the lessor schools of it if that's all they can get.

Way too simplistic to say just get a good coach and you are on equal footing.

 

[Deep Creek]

Oklahoma boosters and the players committing crimes is what got OU in trouble. Barry was a great coach and a father figure to many of these guys. He has a big heart and if anything he wasn't strick enough with them.

For the most part, this is who takes care of the dirty work for coaches and ADs. The school employees can't afford to get their hands dirty so they rely on these guys. Plausible deniability.

People raise an eyebrow when "non bluebloods" snatch highly rated recruits...and not just the lower tier SEC schools. Briles has raised eyebrows lately. Hermann is raising eyebrows now with a five star and three four stars.

According to 24/7, right now the SEC has 1/2 of the top 10 recruiting classes # 1 (LSU), 4 (Bama), 6 (Ole Miss), 7 (Auburn), 8 (Florida) B1G has 3 #2 tOSU, #5 Michigan, #9 Penn St. The final two spots are #3 FSU and #10 USC.

IMHO, the position with the largest disparity in talent is the defensive line. The SEC has a disproportionate number of top flight talent in the DL. That is where Bama and LSU have done so much better than anyone else in the nation, much less the SEC. Hell, Bama's DL this year has enough talent for 5 teams!

 

[Wild Turkey]

Thats my point! you have to pay high dollar for coaches if you want to win. Like I said before, when Kentucky is out recruiting half the AP top 25, you have to have the best coaches to stay relevant in your conference. You're right though, Alabama is doing amazing because of coaches like Lane Kiffen and not the 3 5*s they get year in and year out.

No your point was that the SEC is cheating But have zero data to back up the claim. Pretty weak stuff.

 

[sooner4life130]

No your point was that the SEC is cheating But have zero data to back up the claim. Pretty weak stuff.

Charles Barkley is an Auburn booster. He just admitted in this video that he attempted to buy Dirk Nowitski. Literally saying that he offered to cheat in the name of Auburn. Nope, no data.

 

[Wild Turkey]

Charles Barkley is an Auburn booster. He just admitted in this video that he attempted to buy Dirk Nowitski. Literally saying that he offered to cheat in the name of Auburn. Nope, no data.

How stupid do you have to be to use Barkley as your source...he also is going to be the governor of Alabama one day.

 

[sooner4life130]

How stupid do you have to be to use Barkley as your source...he also is going to be the governor of Alabama one day.

Well let see, he's a millionaire who happens to be a active Auburn booster and has no problem pulling him financial weight....

 

[Bayou Tiger]

Well let see, he's a millionaire who happens to be a active Auburn booster and has no problem pulling him financial weight....

Hope he didn't subsidize the hiring of Kevin Steele !

 

[Wild Turkey]

Well let see, he's a millionaire who happens to be a active Auburn booster and has no problem pulling him financial weight....

Un huh...Barkley the funny man is your source.

 

[Deep Creek]

How stupid do you have to be to use Barkley as your source...he also is going to be the governor of Alabama one day.

If Alabama is anything like Texas, Barkley's probably more honest than any elected official we've had!

 

[Bayou Tiger]

You know what else is "really a surprise" ?

How OU made it to the playoffs when they only beat 3 teams in their conference with a winning record all year and loss to a team with a losing record.

That is surprising too, is it not ?


Oh wait I know what did it ! That huge win over Tenn who was 5-3 in conference play !

 

[Deep Creek]

You know what else is "really a surprise" ?

How OU made it to the playoffs when they only beat 3 teams with a winning record all year and loss to a team with a losing record.

That is surprising too is it not ?

Yeah but be careful using such criteria. IIRC, Sparty had the most wins over highly ranked teams and look what that got 'em!

 

[sooner4life130]

You know what else is "really a surprise" ?

How OU made it to the playoffs when they only beat 3 teams in their conference with a winning record all year and loss to a team with a losing record.

That is surprising too, is it not ?


Oh wait I know what did it ! That huge win over Tenn who was 5-3 in conference play !

Tenn was more talented than OU... I wonder why? Tenn who's records over the past ten years have been as bad as Rutgers recruits better than OU....

 

[Bayou Tiger]

Tenn was more talented than OU... I wonder why? Tenn who's records over the past ten years have been as bad as Rutgers recruits better than OU....

You don't think maybe that has more to do with Big Game Bob's record in Big Games ?

 

[sooner4life130]

You don't think maybe that has more to do with Big Game Bob's record in Big Games ?




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Tenn winning 5-6 games a year isnt comparable to Bob winning 10 a year or losing in BCS games. That's an absurd statement.