SEC: What, Exactly, is So Bad About It?

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XOVER

500+ Posts
I throw it out as a serious question: What, exactly, is so bad about the SEC?

Is it the cheating? Cheating can be dealt with. All major conferences, have, and have had, their cheaters. So what else?

Take out a map. Look at the geography. Sure seems like the SEC makes sense geographically.

Think about this:

Texas
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Missouri
Arkansas
LSU

I haven't even gotten east of the Mississippi River! Well, okay, except for part of Louisiana, but you know what I mean.

I realize the mere thought of the SEC is heresy, putting me in real danger of a Biblical stoning, but this realignment trauma needs to end.

Is there any conference, really, that makes more sense than the SEC?

Won't happen, you say? Forget it, you say?

Ok, I'm back to the B1G. It's the second most logical conference. I'm willing to compromise. Is Belmont?
 
Cheating can be dealt with if you got people willing to deal with it, not only is the SEC not willing/able to do that, for many it is a point of pride. Like how the Aggies think fondly back to the days of Sherrill and FedEx.
 
I understand, atxbomber. I mean, just look at Auburn.

But then I look at the PAC with USC. I look at the B1G with Ohio State. I look at the ACC with Miami.

Is cheating really enough to pass on the obvious (to me, at least) overall best fit for Texas?

I mean, maybe it is, but I sure wonder.
 
USC, Ohio State, and even Miami don't have the cheating history that Alabama has. Alabama is the all-time king of cheating. They are a whole other level of cheating. They make OU blush.

Throw in Auburn, the entire Will Lyles scandal, and now A&M, and you have the outright cheatingest conference all-time.
 
We absolutely should do it.

1. great games - look at our future sucky schedule and see what I mean

2. to prevent OU from doing the same - if OU bolted for the SEC they could maintain their big marquee recruiting game in Dallas WITH A&M and tell us to **** ourselves and we'd be on the outside looking in

3. to cutoff OU's oxygen supply - Arkansify them down to a trickle of Texas talent, and never forget the ratfucking of 2008

The reality is we won't do it.
Why?
Because Belmont won't get to be the big fish in the small pond.
Maybe if there was an alum outcry for it but most fans don't appreciate that its in fact the best thing for Texas.
 
Yes, GabeRocksSocks, Alabama is the all-time cheater, IIRC.

But tell me who are the all-time #2 and #3 cheaters?

They didn't stop Texas from really long associations with them.

I knew I'd get stoned with this cheating stuff, and may it's legitimate, too.

I just look at the map, though, and the SEC is sitting right there.

All of our long-time rivals, too: the aggy, piggie, Sooner. I don't know, guys ....
 
The reasons have been laid out many times....


academics and culture.

I'd also like to add that for those of us who do not think in "football ony" terms, the SEC is a good choice but not the best choice.
 
Exactly- many people here forget about it- but The University of Texas is a school. Joining a conference with Mississippi State, Auburn, South Carolina etc hurts your academic reputation. Florida- Florida is their best academic institution (maybe UGA).
Whereas in the Big 10 and Pac 12 we have Stanford, UCLA, Northwestern, Michigan, Illinois, Cal Berkeley, USC- there is no comparison.

Academics come first, (when the money is about equal) vs. the excitement of playing in the SEC West.
 
I wouldn't say the SEC is "bad" but I think the overall culture is "bad". Not culture as far as the types of people in the geographic are abut that of Football Culture. The "cheating" is a big problem everywhere in college football but seems to be at a different level in the SEC. To say that improper things do not occur at Texas is naive because I am sure it happens at even the smallest levels at every University.

"Cheating" aside, I like the gauntlet structure in the SEC. The games are all enjoyable to watch. If you come out of that conference undefeated, then you shot at the national title is well deserver. I think Texas has to do whats best for Texas. If that means chasing the all mighty dollar and secure financial sovereignty... well the Big12 is where its safest. Who knows what will happen in the next week, yet alone he next year in regards to realignment. All I want is my dam LHN to make all madness worthy.
 
Because A&M is there and now they can prevent us from going there. See Colorado - - you know, the team that voiced a veto to our 2011 entry to the PAC-X, despite being the team we didn't want to take to the PAC-12 in 2010.

Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes...
 
The division someone posted above with Mizzou and Oklahoma added to SEC might not grasp this as clearly as some of us.

Louisiana and Arkansas are not Deep South as in Mississippi to So. Carolina. Arkansas is more like a border state and Louisiana is a world of it's own.

UT (Austin) and Tech (Lubbock) pretty much fit the national stereotype of Texas, very much the opposite of say Athens or Tuscaloosa. The SEC campus has come a long way from the day when George Wallace stood in the Alabama doorway and their academics are closing the gap.

As another poster above stated, every conference has its problems with cheating, some more so then others. The biggest problem for UT and OU is the distance from east or west coast for lessor sports.

ESPN will eventually have it figured out and will have four superconferences and a playoff but they will have to wait until a few more admins leave in the B1G and PAC12.

That's why UT, by default, stayed with geography and LHN. I want the Big 12 to give Mizzou the old two day deadline to do it or get off the pot and lets all sign up and move forward.
 
XOVER,

The only real negative to the SEC is their fan base. Ever listen to Paul Finebaum? Even aggy will find that unbelievable but they will be cashing checks so they will move on.
 
I've heard repeatedly the "Texas does not want to be the little fish in the big pond" argument, but does that argument really have merit? The size of the fish--whether right or wrong--is not solely measured by football victories and conference titles, if that was the case OU would be Jaws. But they're not and they could not swim in the Pacific without Texas. Could any other school pull off a $300m deal for an experimental network that lacks significant carriers?
 
SEC has been a great conference the past 5 years in producing NCs.

However, I think we hype up the conference more than it really should be. Their middle tier teams are just as beatable as any other. Any top team in a BCS conference could beat Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and the Mississippi schools yearly.

At the end of the day, the NC is awarded to teams, not conferences. Therefore, anyone not of LSU, Florida, Alabama, and Auburn have nothing to brag about.
 
Academics are just that, academic. **** the faculty, **** the chess club and **** the lacrosse team.

Culture? We're not like anybody, east, west, north or south; and damn proud of it. We ARE a culture. This is just misdirection. We are not a wannabe. We are what others wannabe.

But some of the SEC schools do have one thing in common with Texas. LSU, Florida, Alabama, and Auburn may not win the national championship every year but they will keep their programs competitive enough to be in the hunt more times than not. No other conference has that many programs committed to success.

Do you want the status quo of the current boring scheduling or something to get truly excited about? Only the SEC offers several excellent games.
 
Then starting next year you'll have lots of opportunities to go to College Station and see several excellent games as opposed to the boring stuff we'll have to watch in Austin.

Have a great time.
 
LSU has been historically irrelevant in football until Saban arrived on the scene. They don't have many top 25 finishes prior to 2000.

Auburn competitive? How are they doing this year? They were successful under Tuberville, but what did they do prior to that? They've won 7 SEC titles, that's it.

Give me a break.
 
Not sure how our schedule which has Mississippi, Arkansas, Cal, USC, Notre Dame, BYU, and UCF as well as still having Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Missouri, Oklahoma State, can be classified as boring.
 
Major Infractions:
SEC - 51
Auburn - 7
Georgia - 6
Kentucky - 6
Alabama - 5
Miss St - 5
South Carolina -4
Arkansas - 4
Florida - 4
Miss - 3
LSU - 3
Tennessee - 3
Vandy - 1

Big 12 - 47
OU - 7
A&M - 7
KState - 6
Kansas - 6
Baylor - 5
Texas - 4
OkSt - 4
Mizzou - 4
Tech - 3
IowaSt - 1
 
it's a little silly.

Bama had to REALLY bust hump the last couple of decades to pass Texas, but they did, as well as notch their first victory.

Yay Bama
wtf.gif
 
This SEC "culture" and "academics" idea is quite silly also.

Here we are talking about adding a BYU, with all of its religious baggage, yet the SEC is not a good fit culturally? And if the best time to schedule the B12 Championship game happened to be on a Sunday, we couldn't do it on Sunday because of BYU's religious beliefs? Not to mention basketball, baseball, volleyball. You reck'on they'll let us throw darts on Sunday?

I mean, think about that. The B12 joins BYU, and yet BYU has a scheduling ace over every single team in the B12 because of their religious beliefs? Or what if Louisville wants to sell suds at their games, but that offends BYU's religious beliefs? How about iced tea? Coca-cola? Really? Religion? We sit around so solemnly praising the addition of a BYU, yet in the same breath call the SEC the "wrong kind" of "culture"? Come again.

The next best school to add out there is West Virginia, they of the mountains, non-AAU, and yet we want to sniff at the SEC over "academics?" Do what now? Tell you what: We lose Mizzou to the SEC, and the SEC will have more AAU's than the B12. Which conference is academically deprived then?

I mean, Christ, the B12 needs at least 3 (4 if MO bolts), and we're seriously thinking about mid-majors like BYU, WV, Louisville, Cincinnati, TCU, South Florida, Boise State -- all part of the "cultural and academic wildnerness" -- yet we can't even give a second thought to Texas' obvious home -- the SEC -- because of culture? Because of academics? Because of cheating? Really?

Gimme a break on the "cultural" and "academic" red herring excuses. Just admit it's about football, and dispense with the silliness.

If you do want to talk "culture" and "academics", in a serious way, then you don't stay in a culturally/academically deprived B12 or SEC, you go to the B1G. But oh no, not the B1G because it's too cold? Or too far away? Huh?

So stay in a conference with "cultural no-nothings" like Boise State, TCU, BYU, Louisville, etc.? With the SEC sitting right here? Right here in our own state, Texas?

With LSU, Arkansas, Texas A&M already in the SEC, and OU and MO very likely to join if Texas joins? Boise State over Arkansas? West Virginia over LSU? TCU over the aggy? Do what?

Strange times with much irrational thinking.
 
Full disclosure: my preference would be to rebuild the Big XII by adding existing BCS teams, not crappy mid-majors. But since that is about as likely to happen as me having sex with Jessica Alba, then either B1G or Pac membership would be my next choice. I'm not wild and crazy about these, but they may represent our best options going forward.
Look, I get that the SEC is very attractive, in terms of competition. I think the academics angle is probably a bit overblown, considering the current company we keep outside of Mizzou, Kansas, and Iowa State. But SEC membership comes with a lot of baggage that I'm not sure we're prepared to accept as a university. Namely:

- Cheating. Yes, the SEC has only slightly more violations than the Big XII. It doesn't help that OU and aggy alone are fully responsible for almost 1/3 of the Big XII infractions. (By the way, can't we go ahead and count aggy's violations in the SEC tally now?) The whole Cam Newton fiasco took it up to a whole new level, IMHO. Is this really the kind of company we want to keep? And what really bothers me is what we don't know about what is going on in the SEC. There is a reason Mike Slive doesn't want to end up in litigation with Baylor over aggy's permission slip, and it's called discovery. Think of all the dirt on the SEC that Ken Starr could dig up. Besides, do we really want to have to police the SEC the same way we had to police the old SWC back in the 80s and 90s? Cleaning up the SEC would be about as enjoyable as cleaning up a Superfund site.

- Dirty recruiting. Read up on all of Lane Kiffin's antics while coaching at the University of Tennessee sometime. How he nearly got sued for slander by Urban Meyer and Jeremy Foley in particular. An extreme example, perhaps, but I think it speaks to the level of how heated and dirty that recruiting in the SEC gets. Again, is this really the kind of company we want to keep? You just know the other SEC coaches will dig up all kinds of garbage on Mack Brown's ex-wife, his dog, and any mistresses he may or may not have had. I'd rather not see our coach tarnished in this way.

- Demographics. In about 20 years, Texas will be a majority Hispanic state. Culturally, what will it still have in common with the Deep South then?

- aggy. I know, who gives a **** what they think. But I think we would all get really tired in a hurry of hearing them crow about how they forced big brother to move to the SEC - and you know that's the spin they will take. I think it would be much more fun to marginalize them and their cultish traditions in Texas. I would rather we cultivate another rivalry with a more normal school, for a change. Even bringing back Arkansas would be an improvement.
 
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