Everybody Hates the SEC

Question: Should the SEC Champ automatically qualify for the BCS championship game?

A few weeks ago, I was riding in a car with three University of Illinois graduate students, on our way to the Danville Correctional Facility in Eastern Illinois. We were on our way there to work at our volunteer jobs tutoring inmates at Danville who are working towards earning either their Associate's or Bachelor's degrees. As it were, none of us really knew one another, and so the conversation covered those polite and superficial topics: college majors, grad student politics, the weather... sports. After about twenty minutes of driving through the Illinois plains - plains that were slowly turning into gently wooded hills as we approached the Indiana border - we realized that three of us were quite avid college football fans. Annie* had grown up in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and her family and taught her at an early age how to be fan of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys had long been a doormat of the Big Eight/Big 12 Conference, having only one winning season between 1989 and 2001, including an 0-12-1 campaign in 1991.

The weekend before, UCLA had shocked the world by waltzing into Austin and beating then #7 Texas 34-12.** And I was surprised by how excited Annie was at the Longhorns' loss. But I guess I shouldn't have been; Texas had long tormented Oklahoma State, and had dominated the Big 12 for most of this decade, even having the power to hold the entire conference hostage by threatening to bolt for the Pac-10 over the summer. I asked her how she felt about the upcoming Oklahoma-Texas showdown: surely she would be rooting against her in-state rival? She thought about it for a second, but then said, no, she thought she would rather see mighty Texas fall again.

Riding shotgun in our carpool was Brent, who had gone to Illinois as an undergrad and was now there as a grad student as well. And Brent hated Ohio State. Hated, hated, hated them. This conversation was before the Illini had played the Buckeyes, but I imagine that Brent was none too pleased that Illinois played them tough - they still lost.

Then there was kinda a lull in the conversation. Sure, I rooted against 'SC in all in-conference games, but I was always glad to see them win the Rose Bowl. I couldn't muster nearly half of the vitriol towards the Trojans as Annie could to Texas or Brent Ohio State. There was a pause. Annie complemented Oregon's offense. Another pause.

Then I said, "But boy, do I hate the SEC."

The car erupted in agreement.

It didn't matter if we came from Oregon, Illinois, or Oklahoma. It didn't matter if we were Pac-10, Big Ten, or Big 12. We all hated the SEC. We hated their pompous coaches, their protective schedules, their policy of promising more athletic scholarships than they can provide and then turning away their student-athletes at the last second. We hated their excessive media exposure and their over-representation in the AP poll.*** We hated the fact that they have two "Bulldogs" and two "Tigers." We all hated the SEC.

And now we have a new reason to hate.

In the second week of this year's BCS standings, the Auburn Tigers have leapfrogged both Oregon and Boise State into #1, following their 24-17 victory over the LSU Tigers. This is despite the fact that Auburn began the season ranked 22nd, and that Oregon and Boise State still continue to outrank them in the AP, Coaches, and Harris Polls.**** Auburn's position in the BCS is based almost entirely on their high ranking in the computer polls, which give them an average score of .9800 (out of 1.0000). Meanwhile, the computers have Oregon ranked 8th, behind not only one-loss LSU, but also behind one-loss Oklahoma.

It seems to me that the computers are dedicated to having the SEC champion in the National Championship game. And why not? After all, the last four national champions have all come from the SEC. And, during those four years, the SEC has gone 21-11 in bowl games against other BCS schools (plus the WAC and MWC), for a winning percentage of .656, second only to the Mountain West's record of 10-4, with a .714 winning percentage. By comparison, in those four years the Pac-10 has gone .565, the Big 12 .516, and the Big Ten a lowly .321.

I'm not saying that Auburn doesn't deserve to be the #1 team in the country. In fact, I highly doubt that Oregon's defense could stop Cam Newton, or be able to keep their offense on the field. (Akin to how Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeyes beat them in the Rose Bowl last year.) The simple truth is that I have no way of knowing. The same holds true for Alabama and Mark Ingram. But I don't know anyone in their right mind who would rank the LSU Tigers above the Ducks. Besides, the Tigers have lost a game; the Ducks have not. Therefore, there is no justification for the computers to judge that LSU's SEC schedule is so difficult that they deserve to be ranked higher than the Ducks.

Unfortunately, that's the system that we are stuck with. If the rest of the country - from Stillwater, OK to Champaign, IL to Eugene, OR - wants the SEC to fall, then they're going to need to beat them on the field.

* Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
** A feat that looks a lot less impressive now that Texas has lost to Oklahoma and to, ahem, Iowa State.
*** Of the 60 voters in the AP poll, 15 are from SEC states. 11 are from the Big Ten, 8 from the Big 12, and 6 from the Pac-10.
****Also, what's up with Auburn playing 8 of their 12 games at home this year?