It's College Football Season boys!!!

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

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Everybody else is pretty ordinary this year too, as evidenced by Miami, VaTech, and GaTech having some major slips in the ACC, The Big12 being utterly dominated by Texas (OU, OSU, and TT all embarrassed in some way or another, mostly in non-conference play), The Big Te(leve)n weaker than usual (My Buckeyes couldn't even beat a weak USC team), the Pac 10 could have ended in a 6 way tie of 2-loss teams as of 2 weeks left in the season, and the Big East is , well, the Big East. This is why there are 3 minor-conference undefeateds... because the FBS conferences were so weak this year, they could not win their non-conf. games.

The SEC is what it always is... a very Top-heavy conference whose best 2 or three teams are consistently in the top 5 in the country.

Most years, I would say the depth in the Big12 or Big10 exceeds that of the SEC ... there were many years I would bet the farm on a Wisconsin, MSU, Iowa, Purdue or Illinois team against an Ole Miss, Miss. State, Arkansas, or South Car. And While we have NWU and Indiana as throw-aways, the SEC boasts UK, Vandy... but I can't argue with the fact that the top two teams (UF, LSU) and the rotating #3 (UGA, Auburn,UT) in the SEC have proven themselves to be the best in college football repeatedly, by winning 5 out of 11 BCS championships, while the only other conference that has more than one is the Big 12. Meanwhile, the Big 12 and Big 10 combine for 3 wins and 6 losses during that period (if you can count, that means a big 10 or 12 team was in all but the first 2 BCS championship games - UT vs FSU and VTech vs. FSU ).

The SEC wonks love to say they are "faster"... I submit they play a faster style of football b/c they don't play in November in OH and MI... but if you stack players 40 scores, you'll see they are quite similar... I would love to see a playoff system that brings the SEC up north every now and then... and bring back some parity.


The FSU vs FLA game Saturday, Demps who is a world class athelete, who is argueably one of the fastest guys in college football almost got ran down by a linebacker from FSU, that guy was quick, surprised me.

Originally Posted by Unbreakable

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SEC is ordinary, but yet two mediocre SEC teams beat the top team in each ACC divison. SEC is ordinary with the #1 and #2 teams in the nation. And somehow I have a feeling that SEC with be ordinary when we take the BCS title again this year.

Next year SEC will be ordinary, I don't have a doubt, but we'll have UT stepping up bigtime I feel.

I'm just wondering if the definition of "ordinary" has changed.

Originally Posted by Unbreakable

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SEC is ordinary, but yet two mediocre SEC teams beat the top team in each ACC divison. SEC is ordinary with the #1 and #2 teams in the nation. And somehow I have a feeling that SEC with be ordinary when we take the BCS title again this year. Next year SEC will be ordinary, I don't have a doubt, but we'll have UT stepping up bigtime I feel.
Having the number 1 and 2 teams in the nation is not the be-all and end-all... See OSU/scUM in 2006. That said, I think my previous post shows I tend to agree... and yes.. Kiffin-U will be strong next year.

Originally Posted by Unbreakable

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The FSU vs FLA game Saturday, Demps who is a world class athelete, who is argueably one of the fastest guys in college football almost got ran down by a linebacker from FSU, that guy was quick, surprised me.
So you are agreeing... athlete for athlete, the SEC players are not necessarily faster individuals.. but the style of football in the SEC is faster... SEC football is also (excluding Spurrier's fun & gun) the closest to pro-style football played anywhere, with the Big 10 and Pac 10 and Texas being next. Too much of the Big 12, ACC, and Big East offensive scheming is dependent on Options, Gimmick PLays, Wildcats, Single Wings, Spreads, etc. There are precious few college teams capable of running a West Coast anymore without Joe Walsh and a group of geniuses at Stanford. Except for the Big10/Pac10/SEC power I pro-set offense, most college football schemes would never work in the NFL. The defenses that are designed to stop all the gimmick plays look like they are getting dizzy when they face a good pro-style offense. That's why the SEC looks so fast against everyone else. However, I still submit that the play-calling and tempo used in the SEC would be very difficult to execute in Ohio in November. It's too easy to make mistakes when you're going vertical for 40 yards in 10 degrees and snow. So you adopt a more conservative style that looks slower and more predictable, and it's very hard to switch that up just because the bowl game is in a warm climate.

And yet the best SEC offensive team runs a spread option. Auburn is putting up much better numbers now that they are running a spread, etc. SEC offenses are finally adopting some of the innovations used elsewhere (see Arkansas and Ol Miss running the Wildcat). College teams run more eclectic offenses successfully because defenses are limited in how much they can prepare each week for a specific offense. This is true in the SEC, as well. In the NFL, defenses can study each week until they learn all the tendencies. It's a different game.

Originally Posted by airportlobby

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And yet the best SEC offensive team runs a spread option. Auburn is putting up much better numbers now that they are running a spread, etc. SEC offenses are finally adopting some of the innovations used elsewhere (see Arkansas and Ol Miss running the Wildcat). College teams run more eclectic offenses successfully because defenses are limited in how much they can prepare each week for a specific offense. This is true in the SEC, as well. In the NFL, defenses can study each week until they learn all the tendencies. It's a different game.
The gimmicks only work in the short run. Reasons: 1> The best athletes want to prepare for the NFL, don't want to be in a scheme that won't do that 2> The pro-style offenses that are successful against well prepared defenses are the most efficient overall 3> Too many of the gimmicks expose skill players (especially QB) to unnecessary injury So yes, the element of surprise works up front for the gimmick schemes... but it is not the best way to move a football... The single wing was a very early formation that was trumped HARD by the power-I and T when they were developed. Devolving to that formation is not a long-run recipe for success... or you would see it in the NFL

Disagree. Obviously, Urban Meyer's career belies your point. College is just a different game - elite teams have better athletes than all but one or two teams they play each season, and defenses don't have enough practice time to implement real strategic changes on a game-by-game basis. There's a reason there are few successful college coaches who make the the jump to the NFL (and vice versa).

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

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So you are agreeing... athlete for athlete, the SEC players are not necessarily faster individuals.. but the style of football in the SEC is faster...

SEC football is also (excluding Spurrier's fun & gun) the closest to pro-style football played anywhere, with the Big 10 and Pac 10 and Texas being next. Too much of the Big 12, ACC, and Big East offensive scheming is dependent on Options, Gimmick PLays, Wildcats, Single Wings, Spreads, etc.

There are precious few college teams capable of running a West Coast anymore without Joe Walsh and a group of geniuses at Stanford. Except for the Big10/Pac10/SEC power I pro-set offense, most college football schemes would never work in the NFL. The defenses that are designed to stop all the gimmick plays look like they are getting dizzy when they face a good pro-style offense. That's why the SEC looks so fast against everyone else.

However, I still submit that the play-calling and tempo used in the SEC would be very difficult to execute in Ohio in November. It's too easy to make mistakes when you're going vertical for 40 yards in 10 degrees and snow. So you adopt a more conservative style that looks slower and more predictable, and it's very hard to switch that up just because the bowl game is in a warm climate.

Yup I am agreeing. Also I think the Monte Kiffin Defense hes going to/is bringing to the college level is going to make for some interesting games next season. Just look at this season for the most part (minus the Ole Miss game...good lord) UT played ball with both Florida and Bama, held bama to Zero touchdowns.

Originally Posted by munchausen

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I'm just wondering if the definition of "ordinary" has changed.

I was being sarcastic, I bleed SEC

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

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There are precious few college teams capable of running a West Coast anymore without Joe Walsh and a group of geniuses at Stanford. That's why the SEC looks so fast against everyone else

Everyone not driving a Maserati at 185 that is......

Originally Posted by Unbreakable

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The FSU vs FLA game Saturday, Demps who is a world class athelete, who is argueably one of the fastest guys in college football almost got ran down by a linebacker from FSU, that guy was quick, surprised me.

THere was actually a study of Olympic 100 yd dash times that showed holding a football slowed them down by about 1.1 seconds.....

So it's not too uncommon to be run down by a defender not holding a ball

Originally Posted by FLMountainMan

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Everyone not driving a Maserati at 185 that is......



THere was actually a study of Olympic 100 yd dash times that showed holding a football slowed them down by about 1.1 seconds.....

So it's not too uncommon to be run down by a defender not holding a ball
That's intriguing. So that's like a 10% handicap for holding the ball. I would love to understand the biomechanical disadvantage it causes.

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

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That's intriguing. So that's like a 10% handicap for holding the ball. I would love to understand the biomechanical disadvantage it causes.

Whoa, yeah 1.1 seconds is tremendous...

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

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That's intriguing. So that's like a 10% handicap for holding the ball. I would love to understand the biomechanical disadvantage it causes.

Florida State has actually done quite a few studies like that. Two doctoral theses from the year I graduated stick out in my mind:
The contribution of arm swing to vertical leaping ability
The effect of visual background distraction of free throw shooting.

On a side note - Gary Danielson, the broadcaster who called FSU the "junior varsity" during the UF v. FSU game and had three hours of other jabs at FSU's ****** football team, now says he is appalled that the school fired Bobby Bowden.

DIAF.

Having Danielson call a game where your team is losing is such a beating. What a frontrunning tool. I'm glad he's in the SEC now; I still have nightmares from the him calling Red River Shootout games when OU owned UT.

Christmas came early this year. Ladies and gentlemen, Willie Martinez has left the building.