Based on this data…
… would it be pissy of me to suggest that the last round of conference expansion is part of the reason SEC football is not perceived as being as dominant as it once was?
Not that South Carolina and Arkansas have brought much to the table of late, either…
Get The Picture 
South Carolina and Arkansas never have brought much to the table from a football perspective.
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At least they’ve both played in an SECCG.
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UK, Vandy, Ole Miss, and A&M haven’t, anybody else?
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As Missouri did twice already, obviously, so it’s difficult to make the claim that the newbies aren’t competitive enough.
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Conference wins are a zero sum game. I don’t understand your point.
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All I see are a bunch of .500 or worse records. Would you describe either of those programs as great?
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What I really didn’t understand was your comment about the two new teams being “part of the reason SEC football is not perceived as being as dominant as it once was?”. They are respectively 5th (tied) and 9th in SEC play with a 52% and a 48% winning average. It looks like they fit in just fine competitively within the conference. What did you want them to do in conference? Again, conference wins are a zero sum game. A win for one team is a loss for another.
Now if you want to piss all over how their OOC records ( I don’t know, didn’t look) represent the SEC, knock yourself out.
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I agree. I’ve never understood the logic behind evaluating conference strength based on conference records. You have to bring in out of conference results to start determining conference strength but even that only goes so far since there are so few meaningful out of conference games.
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UT sitting there tied with Vandy and a solid 8-9 wins behind the likes of Mizzou, SCU, and Miss State – wow. I knew UT was bad, but I didn’t know they were THAT bad. As a UGA alum from the late 90’s, I hope their misfortunes continue for 50 years.
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Yes, a thousand times yes. I was at UGA during the 9 game losing streak, they can never lose enough, or badly enough for me. I even pull for Florida against them, which would be a heretical and foriegn attitude to my teenage self who grew up less than 50 miles from the Georgia-Florida line.
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I pull for a meteor every year. Either way I’m happy because someone has to lose.
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I hear you, the way I see it, Florida is always going to be a threat because they sit on fertile recruiting ground. Tennessee however is simply a parasite program that has to suck talent out of surrounding states, if we can keep them down long enough, they’ll stay down, barring the resurrection of General Neyland or some other absolute legendary coach. Also, Florida fans are just different, I’ve grown up around them, they stay pretty cocky no matter what, Tennessee fans are like Georgia Tech fans, they just aren’t as smart, they wear their emotions on their sleeves and it is much more fun to observe their butthurt.
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Here’s the thing, though: keeping them down isn’t good necessarily for us over the long haul. We benefit from playing against good competition, and only Tennessee and Florida in the SEC East have any real tradition of national success. Cycles are normal and expected but on balance they need to at least be a threat, IMO.
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Lack of any real conference competition doesn’t seem to be hurting Clemson any. Daddy Bowden knew what he was doing when he got in the weak ass ACC. I’d be fine if the SEC was Georgia and the 13 dwarfs.
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Respectfully, screw that, Mississippi used to be a powerhouse. They were top 10 in overall wins in the first 30 years or so of the AP poll. They have at least 5 SEC titles and haven’t won one since the 60’s. That was back when Florida had zero and Auburn had like 1 or 2. Someone will step into the void, hopefully Georgia by going from being an occasional champion to the Alabama of the east. I would be perfectly happy with the road to Atlanta going through Jacksonville every single year, an occasional challenge from Carolina, and Tennessee permanently devolving into the Kentucky Part Deux their in state talent would otherwise justify.
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I agree with your logic but I still wouldn’t mind a few more years of the Dawgs kicking the shit of both those teams so badly their fans don’t leave home without a paper bag.
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“Tennessee however is simply a parasite program that has to suck talent out of surrounding states, if we can keep them down long enough, they’ll stay down, barring the resurrection of General Neyland or some other absolute legendary coach.”
That’s just beautiful, Brandon!
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Same. This is my favorite game to hate-watch every year.
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Incredible that Mizzou won the East back to back years.
Man I’m so glad Richt is gone!!!
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MIssouri’s football history pre-SEC was so pathetic that they’ve won only two conference championships since 1945, and even those were in the 1960s. So, no conference titles in football in 48 years and counting. They’re right down there with Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Kentucky when you get down to it.
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You do realize that one of Richt’s best teams was gutted by injury in 2013 before the Missouri game? As a Heisman favorite, Gurley went down with an ankle sprain in the LSU game. Marshall, Scott-Wesley and Bennett went down in the Kneeland game. As a result, we were ripe for a loss against the best Missouri team since their admission to the SEC. That team would have been 7-1 when Georgia went to the Plains to play Auburn if the offense had been at full strength the entire year.
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The organization of the logos on that graphic makes me want to punch a baby.
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Took me a minute to figure it out too.
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Still not seeing it as organized. Shouldn’t KY be last with the worst record? Several teams seem out of place.
But the thing that surprised me was that Vandy has won a third of their conference games, as has Tennessee. The East really has been down. I would love to see East improvement, but it would have to come against the West. Maybe the worm will turn a little in the next year or two.
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I must have stared at it for 5 minute and I still don’t see any organization. You almost have to put effort into jumbling them up that badly.
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SEC has always had the best players even since expansion. Lots of inept coaching, Bama’s dominance and the Kanell’s of the media world has created the narrative that the SEC ain’t what it used to be. TA&M not so much but Mizzou’s likely to always be the redheaded stepchild of the SEC. Adding Arkansas and SC made sense to create the championship game.
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The chicken’s record is representative of their entire football history. I honestly would have thought UF would have had a better record than that and there is no way I would have thought UT and Vandy would have the same record over that period.
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How about Auburn barely sliding in above .500?
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This is why I refer to them as the Florida Marlins of college football.
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You’re being a little harsh on the Marlins, methinks.
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Bret Bielema to Arkansas seemed like kind of a random choice at the time; now it just looks flat-out incompetent.
Butch Jones to Tennessee, on the other hand, seemed like it might work…until we were all reminded he was like the Vols’ 5th or 6th choice.
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Which might not bode well for Jeremy Pruitt, either.
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I thought the Bielema hire was great for Arkansas. I’m more surprised that it didn’t work out.
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Yet, UT revisionist history suggests nobody liked the Butch hire from the outset, which is bs as they were thrilled at the time and gave him a nice honeymoon period. Basically the same treatment Pruitt is receiving. Of course, Pruitt was like their 8th choice, so hopefully the pattern continues.
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8th?! Seems to me Pruitt was something like their 30th choice. Let’s see, there was Gruden, Sheridan, Gruden, Leach, Schiano, Gruden, Kiffin, Frost, Mullen, Kelly, Gruden, Gruden, Kiffin, Gruden…
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I think Gruden is on the short list when Pruitt gets fired.
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They literally had assholes on YouTube singing songs they wrote for Butch Jones when he was hired.
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Are A&M and Mizzou responsible for Florida, Tennessee and LSU tailing off? Yes, I’d say it’s a smidge pissy.
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If they beat them, they are.
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LSU hasn’t lost to A&M in conference play yet. Florida and Tennessee have lost to Missouri when they were bad and beaten them when they were pretty good. Florida’s split with A&M, and Tennessee beat them in 2016. LSU hasn’t played Missouri yet.
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To answer the original question – No it would not. Despite the fact that Mizzou has represented the East twice, they do drag down the rep of the conference, especially in regard to overall talent level and physicality of the defenses.
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6 teams have been above .500
6 teams have been below .500
2 teams have been right at .500
Sounds about right.
Looking a little closer at the records…
Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Florida have clearly been the best.
Tennessee, Vandy, Arkansas, and Kentucky have clearly been the worst.
And Auburn, Texas A&M, Miss St, Carolina, Mizzou, and Ole Miss have been in the middle.
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Agree. And right now there is no team in the middle that is threatening a jump to the “best” category unless it USCe. That would have to happen at the expense of UF, which I think will right their boat in a couple of years and prevent it. The West would seem to be more vertically fluid with A&M and Auburn able to supplant LSU on the high list.
IF CJP is reasonably successful at UT he may very well be Saban’s successor at ‘Bama. UGA’s job is to make sure CKS is locked down in Athens.
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Auburn’s inconsistency and Tennessee’s incompetence have affected the conference and its perception much more than anything than Mizzou or aTm has done.
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Count me as fully in favor of expelling Arkansas, South Carolina, Missouri, and Texas A&M. I’d put it right below ending the designated hitter forever in my list of sports priorities I wish I could see happen.
Sincerely,
Crotchety Old Man in a 36 y/o Body
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OK..but I’d like to see Tennessee have such bad record in a few more years that they’ll be on your list too. Imagine this..Vandy is on the cusp of having a better “since expansion” conference record than UT, and has a two game streak against them with a chance to grow it.
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