SEC OVERRATED? NO, NOT REALLY.

Why the SEC is consistently the best conference in college football

By Audrey Hart

It’s the argument we’ve all heard a million times but never want to believe. Unless you bleed SEC, you probably hate of them. Six championships in a row? Not that impressive, right? It’s just the entire conference riding on the coattails of Alabama, right? Well, no, not really.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

That being said, the fact of the matter is the SEC is damn good and this year they have enough teams to prove it.

Of the top six teams in the country in October, No.1 Alabama, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Georgia, and No. 6 South Carolina are from the SEC. (Only Oregon and FSU brings some other conference flavor, and let’s be honest, no one is sure how they’re going to stack up to the SEC) No. 20 Mississippi State and No.10 Florida make the Top 20 as well. That makes half of the 14-team conference a top ranked team. That seems pretty dominant if you ask me. 

This weekend will prove a battleground for the SEC powerhouses, as No. 4 LSU combats No. Florida and No. 5 Georgia clashes with No. 6 South Carolina. No. 1 Alabama has a bye week and will be spending their weekend watching another SEC team make a statement.

Alabama, comparatively, has a bit of a walk-in-the-park season. They play almost all of the unranked SEC teams with only No. 20 Mississippi State and No. 4 LSU on the slate for conference play. The match up against LSU won’t have quite the hype as last year if the Tigers keep falling in the rankings.

If LSU survives Florida, they have to face South Carolina next week, plus Alabama and Mississippi State down the road. They don’t have much room to breathe and even less room for games like they had against the CAA’s Towson Tigers. I wouldn’t count on them staying at No. 4.

No. 6 South Carolina has had an easy season so far, but they’re about to kick off a three-week campaign against three Top 10 SEC teams. If they can make it through this, expect them face off against Alabama in the conference championship. Connor Shaw and Marcus Lattimore are a great duo. Let’s see if they can make it happen.

But of course this is the SEC where we don’t talk about the offense – it’s all about the defense. And Georgia’s defense has been severely scrutinized of late after a scary 51-44 win against Tennessee. The Vols’ offensive power is nothing compared to the Gamecocks’ so if Georgia plans on playing in December, they better step it up. That being said, beside South Carolina, the Bulldogs’ only other hurdle is No. 10 Florida, a game they can most likely win.

GatorNation has a bit to worry about, while facing three SEC ranked teams in the next four weeks, and No. 3 Florida State to finish the season. Their defense is the best it’s been in years, allowing a grand total of zero points in the fourth quarter this year, while the offense has outscored opponents 64-13 after halftime. If they can stay healthy, they are a team nobody will want to face.

Point is, this is a big freaking weekend for the SEC and will set the tone for rest of the season.

Second point is that the SEC is easily the best conference in the nation and with all these teams, it is far from being overrated.

So, you should look forward to seeing at least one of these teams in BCS Championship come January. Don’t even try to fight it – it’s going to happen.