Lsu/alabama

[whaler11]

I'm sure the Sagarins are broken. Going into today the 'best' Big East team was West Virginia. They would be behind 7 SEC teams in the rankings.

The SEC has 2 and half times more teams in the top 15 of the Sagarins than the Big East has in the top 50.

By tomorrow morning the Big East might be down to having 1 team in the top 40 in the computers. One team in the top 40. A team that could have lost to a terrible Pittsburgh team tonight.

 

[UCHuskies08]

And hell, a team that won't even be in the conference soon!

 

[Jax Husky]

I know a lot of you think that game was ugly, but I am gonna repeat something I told Palatine before the first game of the year. This is the BEST defense that LSU has ever put on the field. That is saying something too.

 

[SAMCRO]

KSU vs. OSU is a well-played football game. OSU will have a big night against LSU or Alabama if they get the chance.

OSU v. KSU was definitely more entertaining, but if your calling it a well played game, and saying Bama-LSU was "hardly an example of a well played game", then your mistaking your preference for a style of play as being "well played". OSU and KSU defenses were terrible. Awful in coverage, terrible tackling, lacking discipline. It was a sick game, and a lot of fun to watch, but wouldn't classify it as well played while claiming the Bama-LSU being poorly played (except for Bama's kickers, that was horrendous).

 

[champs99and04]

The OP's statement that Bama-LSU is closer to the NFL than UConn is the Bama-LSU is correct, in my opinion. I love UConn football as much as the next guy, but Big East football is flat out terrible in this day and age. Say what you want about the SEC being overhyped, but until a team from another conference can knock off their top dog, the media is going to continue to hype them up, and I have no problem with that. To me, after watching that game tonight, Oklahoma is the best team in the country. Unfortunately, Broyles was hurt today and OU did not show up to play against Texas Tech, so we will likely not get to see OU go up against LSU.

But back to the point, how many guys on the defenses of LSU and Bama are going to play in the NFL? I would guess at least 15. How many are going to be first round picks? I would guess at least eight. That said, Bama and LSU most definitely do not have NFL caliber quarterbacks, but I still think of LSU as the favorite at this moment.

 

[ZooCougar]

Doesn't look like Whaler needs any help, but I still want to help him pile on.

That game is was what happens when you have two almost NFL caliber offenses against two college offenses. Those defenses have incredibly athletes. That's the SEC mentality. Down there they understand that they are better off putting their very best athletes on defense and since they pretty much get better athletes than everyone else then their offenses are pretty much better period anyways.

The other thing about the SEC is that other than the the top three teams, they pretty much drop off and become very ordinary. Usually it's a combination of Floriduh, Bama, LSU, Auburn and this year Arkansas perhaps. Floriduh has taken a back seat as has Auburn. But that's almost half the conference that has the potential to be the best team in the nation. That's tough to beat.

 

[nimzovich]

Hypothesis: That's the SEC mentality. Down there they understand that they are better off putting their very best athletes on defense.
..............................
Question: Did that mentality make their defenses superior against BCS offenses in the country this year or do they just stand out against their own offenses and the nonAQ leagues?

You be the judge:
LSU - 27pts to Oregon, 21 pts to WVU.. NWLa no credit..the 2 BCS teams 48 points outscored 47 total by SIX SEC opponents!
Bama - only 11 to PSU. good, but PSU failed to reach 20 5 times so far this year..Kent, NoTex no credit
Ark- 38 to TexAm..MizzouSt,UNM,Troy
SoCar - no BCS 37 to ECar and 21 to Navy
Ga - no BCS 35 to Boise..CoCar,NMexSt
Fla - no BCS UAB,FlAtl
Aub - 38 to Clem, 38 to UtahSt
Tenn - 23 to Cincy..Buff ,Mont
MissSt - no BCS
Miss- 24 no BCS SoIll(FBS), 28 to Fresno, only 14 to BYU in a loss
Ky- 24 to LVill.. WKy, JackSt
Vandy - 21 to UConn 21 to Army

not cherrypicking, this was all games. SEC doesnt play many BCS opponents and smart enough to choose 4 BE in the small number of 8 BCS opponents for 12 teams to date. 7 scored over 20 points against SEC. Average opponent score 25.4 pts. If you want to add BCS caliber Boise, average goes up to 26.4 with one team(PSU) held below 3TDs...
Did those SEC defenses demonstrate superiority? Thoughts?

 

[ZooCougar]

Nim,


That's good use of evidence. But I think that conference games ate different because the opponents will be more familiar and therefore more likely to be well prepared.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The SEC is not even the best conference in college football, and people are comparing it to the NFL? The SEC is same old, same old. 2-3 very good teams at the top, some decent teams in the middle, and the bottom is pretty bad, though not terrible.

They middle/bottom teams load up on home games against WAC/CUSA/Sun Belt/1AA teams to inflate their record, and you have about 5-6 games a year where jaw dropping SEC officiating enables middle of the pack SEC programs to steal games from bad teams. La Tech/MSU, USU/Auburn, WKU/Kentucky all go down to the wire, all get pulled out by SEC teams on the backs of winning every 50/50 call in the second half, and Auburn still needed a miracle to pull out the USU game. Then Alabama, LSU and usually Florida win some game against an MSU team that needed a bunch of terrible calls to beat La Tech, and the ESPN studio crew spanks their monkeys on TV saying MSU would win most leagues.

The same Vanderbilt that needed an asinine play call in the 4th to beat mighty UConn at home, took Arkansas down to the final play of the game and got bent over the entire 4th quarter by the refs to lose to Florida by 5. South Carolina beat the worst Navy team in 5 years by 3 at home. Boise toyed with Georgia before coasting to an easy win.

The SEC is a good conference that plays a high caliber of football, and LSU and Alabama are very good teams this year. It is not playing some different sport than everyone else, and this year, it is not even as good as the Big 12 top to bottom.

 

[husky91]

The SEC is overrated as a league. It's 2 elite teams, Ark got rolled by 'Bama and needed a fluke play to survive Vandy. With as poor as QB play as Bama, LSU, etc., it is very possible OU, OSU or Stanford get them this year.

It took every once of his self-restraint to say they weren't better than NFL teams.

 

[tzznandrew]

The SEC is overrated as a league. It's 2 elite teams, Ark got rolled by 'Bama and needed a fluke play to survive Vandy. With as poor as QB play as Bama, LSU, etc., it is very possible OU, OSU or Stanford get them this year.

I think that it will be OU v. an SEC team. And much like in 2006 when everyone thought Florida would get killed by undefeated OSU, OU will win.

That doesn't mean the SEC isn't a great football conference, but the offenses this year just aren't as good.

 

[husky91]

If Stanford wins out won't they get the nod?

And if Ark beats LSU, unlikely, we could maybe luck out and not have to see a sEC in Champ game. Albeit, prob not best teams, but that's college football's fault when they refuse to a playoff in any format.

I think that it will be OU v. an SEC team. And much like in 2006 when everyone thought Florida would get killed by undefeated OSU, OU will win.

That doesn't mean the SEC isn't a great football conference, but the offenses this year just aren't as good.

 

[tzznandrew]

If Stanford wins out won't they get the nod?

And if Ark beats LSU, unlikely, we could maybe luck out and not have to see a sEC in Champ game. Albeit, prob not best teams, but that's college football's fault when they refuse to a playoff in any format.

They would.

I'm imagining OU winning out and Oregon beating Stanford.

Any number of things are possible. I just don't want an SEC team to win the Title this year. Best way for that would be for Arkansas to beat LSU. Then maybe we see Stanford-OSU, Stanford OU, or one of those teams v. Boise.

 

[Excalibur]

KSU vs. OSU is a well-played football game. OSU will have a big night against LSU or Alabama if they get the chance.

KSU would be lucky to score 10 against either D. OSU is a little more well rounded, and might manage 21-24, but would get run over on D.

 

[Excalibur]

You compared them to the NFL. Once again, you FAIL.

Holy reading comprehension problem batman.

 

[John Greene]

I was at Bryant-denny last night so I don't know how things looked on TV but let me make the following observations.

This was my third Bama game this year and LSU defense was the only one that matched Bama for speed.

Saban's system does not require an NFL quarterback. What he is looking for is a guy who can manage the game, make the short and intermediate pass most of the time and have a good enough arm to be a creditable long threat.

Bama's lack of a go to receiver since Julio Jones left was never as apparent than last night. Wide receivers could never get much seperation.

College v NFL arguments never make much sense to me but it is hard for me to believe that there is another college team out there that could win more that 2 out of 7 times against either of the two I saw last night.