This is not your fault by any means. I almost feel bad for you. The SEC Conference has been able to brainwash you into believing you are on some sort of Mount Everest of sports conferences with the use of one thing: Alabama. Or Nick Saban. It’s one of the two. I’m not sure which one it is, I’ll let you guys argue about that.
Just to be clear, this is about the conferences as a whole. A lot of you forget that there are multiple sports, in multiple seasons, on multiple kinds of playing surfaces. That’s because a lot of you are brainwashed SEC fans. The same lot of you will still maintain that the SEC is on some sort of higher level in football because “the other sports don’t matter”. First off, get that small-minded, foolish ideology out of your head. If football is the only sport that you believe matters, you won’t be smart enough to grasp the information in this article. You can see yourself out. All sports require a different type of athleticism and are equally impressive. Well, except baseball…
Baseball
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. Wait, did I just apologize? I take that back, I don’t apologize for the sake of people’s feelings over the cold hard truth. To me, baseball requires much more skill than it requires athleticism. I’m not saying there aren’t athletic dudes playing baseball, just saying that playing baseball doesn’t necessarily mean you’re athletic. I would consider you extremely skilled, though. Anyway, I’m getting off topic.
I took the last 25 years as a sample size to show y’all recent successes. In baseball, it’s the SEC and Pac-12 constantly battling for supremacy. In the last 25 years, the SEC has 8 titles while the Pac-12 has 6. Jesus, this is so boring to talk about. If you’re religiously watching college baseball more than anything else, I don’t believe you. Anywhoooo, the SEC has shown a slight edge in baseball, so I’ll give them that. Keyword: slight. Not by a mile. Don’t get it twisted, you have competition. You’re not on a level by yourself. And it’s college baseball. C’mon, who really cares.
Hockey
Dear SEC, you’re nowhere to be found. As a matter of fact, the Big Ten is the only major conference across the other major sports who can boast about a presence in the NCAA for hockey. This argument is gonna be short for obvious reasons. You have none. Until the SEC can learn how to skate, they’ll never be considered superior.
Basketball
Without hockey, the SEC can obviously never be at the top of conferences, but we’ll continue on for good measure. Basketball is a little more transparent than football, as it is a little tougher to protect the teams in your conference through BS scheduling. Just like baseball, I pulled the statistics over the last 25 years. I chose 25 because that’s how long I’ve been alive. I also feel its a very fair representative to the term “lately” when referring to domination.
Over the last 25 years, the ACC has 8 titles to its conference name, while the SEC has 6. The AAC is actually in third place, with 4 titles in the last 25 years. However, since basketball invites 68 teams to their playoffs, I branched it out to Championship game appearances. Winning a title is the end-all be-all, but a title run is no fluke in basketball like it may be in football. So, combined champs and runner-ups, the ACC and SEC both have 11 appearances in the title game over the last 25 years, while the Big Ten has 8 and the AAC has 7. During that span, the ACC is 8-3 in the title game. The SEC is 6-5, while the Big Ten is 1-7.
Final Four
I took it one step further, because I am a man of the truth. We can’t have anything go unsaid. So, I, being the diligent man that I am, looked into Final Four appearances in the last 25 years. The ACC has put 19 teams in the Final Four over that span, while the Big Ten has 18, and the SEC in third place at 17. Let’s not forget, the University of Michigan was not even allowed in the bracket due to their Fab Five scandal, so that number could have been much higher for the Big Ten. My point is: the SEC is on no sort of plateau here, and they’ve even been edged out in appearing on basketball’s biggest stage, the Final Four. Basketball doesn’t do it for them, so football is what you’re banking on, SEC fans….
Football
Here we go. The most wide-spread delusion in college sports lies in the belief that the SEC is far more superior in the sport of football. Here’s a basic truth: Alabama is superior in this current era. Here is another basic truth: Alabama is not the entire SEC. If Alabama was in another conference, let’s say the ACC, the rest of the SEC looks no better than any other conference currently looks. “But ZachMac,” you’ll say, “they have 4 teams in the Top 10 right now.” Yeah, you plebeian, they haven’t played each other yet. Preseason rankings are useless, and these guys in the preseason polls are just as brainwashed as the rest of you. Not only that, but the best of the SEC teams don’t even have to play the best of the rest of the SEC! Until Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida all have to play each other in a season, the results are fraudulent. The SEC protects the integrity of its teams more than Adam Silver protects the integrity of the Warriors. It’s gross.
The Evidence
Oh yeah, you bet I went back 25 years for this, too. The SEC has 12 titles, the Big Ten has 6, and the ACC sits in third with 4. Wow, look at the SEC way up there! Hold your horses. Let’s remove Alabama from existence and check the numbers again. Now, the SEC has 7 titles, the Big Ten has 6, and the ACC has 4**. Not so spread anymore, is it? The SEC still has the edge, but it’s not monumental by any means. Alabama makes it seem like SEC is so far ahead, but it’s simply not the case. It’s only Alabama. The SEC is thankful for it, though, and they make sure the hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. How is the favor returned? Here’s just one example: Alabama made last year’s CFP after not even earning a chance to play for the conference title!!
More Numbers
I didn’t stop there, guys. I knew you would be most giddy to hop on the SEC football bandwagon, but I have more numbers for you. Sit right back down and stomach these. If 25 years is too long for you, I took a snapshot of last season, as that could also constitute as “lately”. When looking at overall records, the SEC had a combined win percentage of .594 (107-73), while the Big Ten was at .579 (103-75). Pretty damn close. The ACC (100-78, .562), Big 12 (71-59, .546), and Pac-12 (84-71, .542) trailed a little further behind. It doesn’t stop there. Everyone knows combined conference records will come out even, so let’s take those out. The combined stats of conference teams against non-conference opponents now read as follows: Big Ten (.769) 40-12; SEC (.750) 51-17; ACC (.667) 44-22; Big 12 (.650) 26-14; Pac 12 (.638) 30-17.
The Big Ten boasted the best win percentage last year against teams not in their own conference. Not the SEC. If the SEC was sooooo much better than everyone else, you’d think those numbers would look a little different. The only reason they aren’t is because the SEC is just a ho-hum conference that has one stellar team in it.
Reality
Wow guys, believe it or not, I didn’t even stop there. I looked at some other things. Rattlesnake fuels me, and I wanted to side with him in his arguments. I simply went researching in order to convince myself of the SEC hype. The opposite happened. They were exposed to me as frauds, and even though I’ve already convinced most of you, I would be re-missed if I didn’t give you all the knowledge I have. The reality is this, the SEC is comfortable to watch for the general public. There are no snow games. That means no results tainted by weather or unpredictable circumstances. That’s bigger than you think. Rankings and standings can be flipped on a weekend due to games up north being played in gruesome conditions. They can take championships off the table for teams that otherwise had a shot at competing. You don’t remember that kind of stuff when you look at back at how many titles a program has.
Development
It’s also important to note, the SEC has no more success at the next level than any other conference. Looking at all current starting QB’s as of this very moment, 8 came from miscellaneous conferences, while the Pac-12 claim the most with 7. The Big Ten is next with 5 starting NFL QBs, and the ACC, Big 12, and SEC all have 4. HAHAHA! The SEC has no more than the Big 12… I find that funny. “ZachMac,” you whine weakly, “we produced Gurley, Fournette, and Kamara.” Yeah, you did. However, Zeke, Saquon, Le’Veon, and Melvin Gordon all came from the Big Ten. You lose again. The SEC doesn’t develop players, they aren’t superior. Simple as that. They just play football in the sun every game and that’s easy for people to get behind. WEAK.
To Non-Alabama SEC Fans
Stop hyping up your conference. All you are doing is hyping up the Crimson Tide and they don’t need anymore of that. I went looking to be convinced of the SEC supremacy, instead I was liberated. You can be, too. Alabama are who they are, we can’t change that. They’re damn good. But only at football. And one football team does not a conference, make. Put together just one NCAA hockey team and we can reconvene. As for now, no conference is on a unreachable level, that’s the beauty of it. I think, though, if you read over the numbers, my unbiased ass might have to give a slight edge to the Big Ten. They should be what every conference strives to be, in my humble, honest, researched, opinion.
**Disclaimer: As I appeared on @Chairgatin last night, I received the fairest trial I have seen in my entire life. Mr Rattlesnake opened my eyes to the fact that I counted Nebraska’s title wins for the Big Ten before they were a part of the Big Ten. I admitted, I did this in haste, total accident. However, I’m keeping it in there because I don’t reverse my mistakes, I learn from them. Getting blown out in the courtroom was my lesson and I’ll forever live with it. I still think Mr Rattlesnake is blinded by football rather than the conference as a whole, but the jury is still out on that one.
