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The Daily OrangeSouthern Pride
With depth and a wealth of talent to recruit from, it's no wonder the Southeastern Conference has become the best football conference in the country
By Matt Ehalt
Posted: 8/28/08, 1:23 AM EST Section: Football Guide
And that was just 2007.
The SEC has the most national titles (four) since the induction of the BCS in 1998. Since 2000, the conference also has the top winning percentage in bowl games. The conference led the nation with 253 players on opening day 2007 NFL rosters and 35 selections in the 2008 NFL draft. If that's not enough, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow became the youngest player to ever win the Heisman Trophy.
What separates the SEC from other conferences is the league's overall strength.
Composed of 12 schools from nine states - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee - the SEC had nine teams reach a bowl last year. Yet from week to week, upsets were common due to the caliber of the competition from top to bottom.
Dave Baker, host of Raycom Sports' "SEC Football Today," points out how LSU, the top team in the nation, lost in conference games to Kentucky and Arkansas, a pair of 8-5 teams.
This year's top-ranked squad, Georgia, was even upset last year by a 6-6 South Carolina team that was mediocre by SEC standards.
Why are such upsets so common? Largely because of a rich talent pool - think Tim Tebow, JaMarcus Russell, Glenn Dorsey, Darren McFadden - in the southeastern part of the country, where the SEC has a distinct homefield advantage in recruiting battles.
Burke Hayes, regional manager of southeast football recruiting for Scout.com, says the southeast has deeper and better classes of recruits to stock SEC programs.
For example, on LSU's roster, 93 of its 115 players are from states in SEC territory, including Scout.com's top-ranked cornerback from the southeast, freshman Patrick Peterson of Blanche Ely (Fla.) High School.
"Most of the players want to play in the SEC just because of the exposure and the level of competition each week," said Mississippi State sophomore quarterback Wesley Carroll. "For the most part, if a school from the SEC does recruit a player heavily, nine out of 10 times they're going to get the guy because there is so much the SEC has to offer. It's undeniable how many guys from the SEC go on to the pros and that sparks interest in young players' minds."
The SEC has the most national titles (four) since the induction of the BCS in 1998. Since 2000, the conference also has the top winning percentage in bowl games. The conference led the nation with 253 players on opening day 2007 NFL rosters and 35 selections in the 2008 NFL draft. If that's not enough, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow became the youngest player to ever win the Heisman Trophy.
What separates the SEC from other conferences is the league's overall strength.
Composed of 12 schools from nine states - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee - the SEC had nine teams reach a bowl last year. Yet from week to week, upsets were common due to the caliber of the competition from top to bottom.
Dave Baker, host of Raycom Sports' "SEC Football Today," points out how LSU, the top team in the nation, lost in conference games to Kentucky and Arkansas, a pair of 8-5 teams.
This year's top-ranked squad, Georgia, was even upset last year by a 6-6 South Carolina team that was mediocre by SEC standards.
Why are such upsets so common? Largely because of a rich talent pool - think Tim Tebow, JaMarcus Russell, Glenn Dorsey, Darren McFadden - in the southeastern part of the country, where the SEC has a distinct homefield advantage in recruiting battles.
Burke Hayes, regional manager of southeast football recruiting for Scout.com, says the southeast has deeper and better classes of recruits to stock SEC programs.
For example, on LSU's roster, 93 of its 115 players are from states in SEC territory, including Scout.com's top-ranked cornerback from the southeast, freshman Patrick Peterson of Blanche Ely (Fla.) High School.
"Most of the players want to play in the SEC just because of the exposure and the level of competition each week," said Mississippi State sophomore quarterback Wesley Carroll. "For the most part, if a school from the SEC does recruit a player heavily, nine out of 10 times they're going to get the guy because there is so much the SEC has to offer. It's undeniable how many guys from the SEC go on to the pros and that sparks interest in young players' minds."
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Ed Gunther
posted 8/28/08 @ 1:55 PM EST
"Yet from week to week, upsets were common due to the caliber of the competition from top to bottom."
This it the most overused, incorrect stat out there - the numbers just don't back it up. (Continued…)
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