Finally some proof that the SEC is the best conference
by Gamecockrock on Jan 11, 2012 1:05 AM EST
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PrintBumped from FanPosts.--ed
I realize some people seem to not grasp the fact that the SEC's 6 straight National Championships prove the assertion that the SEC is the greatest conference in the nation, so here is another stat line that further proves this FACT. I have been watching ESPN basically my entire life and here over the last 3 months I have heard a bunch out of Oklahoma State that for some reason with one year where they was rather good means they deserve the shot at a national title; for some reason they think their schedule is more deserving of a spot in the title game than an SEC team with an equal record to them. I have heard this so much over the last several months, I decided to dig into this bowl season, since you know, it was all about offense and that is what Okay State seems to rest their argument on.
Without further ado, THE SEC's DOMINANCE IS SETTLED. After the jump...
And FYI any Almost Competitive Conference fans, may want to look away. It is really bad for you guys.
People seem to forget the age old saying... DEFENSE wins championships. You better believe it, and even in this bowl season that was all about offense, the SEC stood tall on defense. In the 8 bowl games the SEC played in, the defense's allowed an average of 21.5 points per game; out of the AQ conferences, the next best mark? The Big East which played only 5 games and allowed 25.8 points per game, if you look at conferences who played equal bowl games, the Big XII was 2nd, allowing 27.5 points per game. To put these numbers more clearly, the SEC allowed a total of 172 points this bowl season (21 of those are obviously scored on an SEC defense by an SEC offense); in comparison, West Virginia and Baylor combined for 137 points. So if you don't include the 21 points scored on SEC defenses via friendly fire, those two teams scored only 14 points fewer than the SEC allowed in 7 games. The SEC held opposing offenses to under 20 points 5 times this bowl season (including Bama/LSU game); in comparison, the other 5 AQ conferences only totaled 5 games between them where defenses held their opponents to under 20 points.
While I am on the topic of proving theories, I want to debunk one as well. Often we hear that the SEC defenses dominate because the SEC offenses are lackluster at best. During this bowl season, the SEC averaged 28 points per game scored which is good for 4th best. And if you care to take out the SEC conference match-up in bowl season, you can up that point per game total by 1 to 29 points per game, which when your defense is only giving up 21.5 points per game, is more than enough to win any game any time.
Below are the stats for each of the 6 AQ Conferences.... (this is where you turn and run ACC)
Conference (Games)......Points Per Game(rank)..... Points Allowed Per Game(rank)..... (Average Margin)rank
SEC (8 Games)............... 28 (4th)............... 21.5 (1st)............... (+6.5) 1st
B1G (9 Games)............... 23.1 (6th)............... 29.9 (4th)............... (-6.8) 4th
Big XII (8 Games)............... 29.5 (3rd)............... 27.5 (3rd)............... (+2) 3rd
Pac-12 (7 Games)............... 31 (2nd)............... 38.6 (6th)............... (-7.6) 5th
Big East (5 Games)............... 31.6 (1st)............... 25.8 (2nd)............... (+5.8) 2nd
ACC (8 Games)............... 24.3 (5th)............... 33.5 (5th)............... (-9.2) 6th
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Don't tell an Oregon fan Defense matters.
"There are 40 rules all Schrute boys must learn by age 5. Rule #17- There are 3 things you never turn your back on--- Bears, men you have wronged, and a dominant male turkey during mating season."
FINALLY SOME PROOF
SEC fans have been claiming this for years with nothing to back it up, but now that we have this post, it is indisputable!
/sarcasm
In all kinds of weather we'll all stick together
The rest of the country seems to have forgotten
how to play defense. In the early 2000s, the SEC lead the way with innovative offenses which no one can stop. Now they are again leading the was with innovative defenses which no offense can beat – and they call the result “Boring” in the national media. Save me from the unwashed masses!!
"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."
― Seneca
?
Other than Spurrier and Meyer, what offenses do you speak of?
by Mark Mandingo on Jan 11, 2012 8:54 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Although the spread did not originate in the SEC, Meyer popularized it through winning multiple NCs with it. To my knowledge, no other school was able to do this except Auburn, another SEC school. Currently the spread is the offense de jour, and it seems to me the defenses developed by Saban are designed to stop the spread, and have succeded to the point where the national media is calling the result boring. It seems to me there will be more and more schools adopting the kind of defnese which was showcased Monday, and this may be the end of the spread offense era.
To me, this seems quite obvious and natural, as it is following a pattern which has been repeated over and over again over the years in football. I’m not sure why the national media lead by ESPN aren’t analyzing things in this way. Instead, they only talk about the perceived poor play by the LSU offense, as if nothing Alabama did affected the result. I get tired of such lazy and haphazard analysis, thus my expression of frustration.
If I did not make my point clearly, I understand your comment. I didn’t really fully explain my point of view, so maybe I should express my frustration with myself :)
"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."
― Seneca
the spread has been around for a while
And the spread option has fallen out of favor because it needs a heck of an athlete to run it. I love the sec. But we weren’t the innovators in terms of using the spread or its kid the spread option. Meyer bringing the spread option here in 2005 is a long way from the sec taking credit for innovative offenses that no one could stop. Florida fans will tell you that they won those titles with defense more than offense. The golden age of the spread option in the SEC was really only ‘07-’08 under Meyer and ’09 under Mullen. Spurrier had a much bigger impact on the way offense was played in the sec than Meyer did. And as great as those offenses were, tbey really only served to modernize competing sec offenses as opposed to revolutionizing them. The big 12 is really the conference that embraced the spread offense as a whole. Leach brought his version of the spread to Oklahoma from UK and it was on.
by Mark Mandingo on Jan 11, 2012 10:10 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Not really disagreeing with you
I didn’t think the SEC introduced anything new with the spread, they just were more successful with it than any other conference. I also think the defenses in the SEC are adapted to the spread more quickly than the rest of the coutry seem to be doing, and the results are speaking for themselves. I get tired of analysts ignoring the things that are going on in front of everyone’s eyes.
I think if the Big 12 had to play the kinds of defenses they would see in the SEC, they would no longer embrace the spread offense in whole, maybe not even in part. I think one of the reasons that Alabama doens’t run the spread as an offense is Saban knows how to defend against it to the point where he doens’t want to run it – he wants an offense which may be less flashy against poor defenses but is harder to stop by great ones such as LSU and Alabama have.
In my opinion, sooner or later (probably sooner) other schools’ coaches are going to have to start to emulate what these defenses have pioneered. If a Big 12 school were to run an SEC defense, they would gain an advantage over the other schools and by that logic, I think such a change is inevitable. IMHO this will lead to ending the spread as a popular offense in college, and within 4 or 5 years it will be just a hangover in a few select schools.
"Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."
― Seneca
you can blame Huston Nutt/Gus Mahlzan
for bringing the “wildcat” offense back. Gus ran a form of it at Springdale HS and when he was the so-called OC in Fayetteville he somehow convinced HDN to let D.McFadden take direct snaps because the QB play that year was so horrid.
It was, in effect, putting the ball in the most talented runner’s hands and making the defense adjust.
"I solemnly swear to tell the truth as I know it, the whole truth as I believe it to be, and nothing but what I think you need to know."
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