Quote:Haha, the Tennessee hype every year always makes me laugh. Every year they are going to be new and improved and every year they are the same old crappy team. The thing is, you have an outlier occasionally, but for the most part the rest of the teams stay about in the same place year after year....its why the polls stay the same way at the start of every year.
Tennessee, Miami, Nebraska, Penn State, Texas. Same story every year. They are who they are now. The glory days are gone.
Quote:Haha, the Tennessee hype every year always makes me laugh. Every year they are going to be new and improved and every year they are the same old crappy team. The thing is, you have an outlier occasionally, but for the most part the rest of the teams stay about in the same place year after year....its why the polls stay the same way at the start of every year.
Tennessee fans have built false hope at the end of the last few seasons when they beat weak teams. It's hilarious seeing that hope smashed by the end of the first month of the following season.
Quote:Tennessee fans have built false hope at the end of the last few seasons when they beat weak teams. It's hilarious seeing that hope smashed by the end of the first month of the following season.
I have two brothers in law that are Tennessee alumni. Every summer I hear "I think they're going to be a lot better this year".
The SEC as a conference has taken a slight hit; however, I think last year is what gave them the biggest nudge down. I mean think about it: Besides Texas A&M and Arkansas, every SEC team last year had an OOC loss. And some of those losses were complete beatdowns. The SEC was 0-4 against the ACC in rivalry week; a lot of teams got embarrassed in their bowl games.
With that said, the SEC West is still the best division in football. We all know every year a handful of SEC teams receive preseason rankings they have never, and most likely will never, live up to. As for the SEC East: Still the worst division in the Power 5. A lot of teams could run through that division undefeated.
Quote:In all honesty, if you look at the preseason poll its not that bad. They have to make educated guesses somewhere. Auburn was the pick by many to win the west so putting them at 6 only made sense. The teams mostly sort themselves out by the end of the year anyway.
What's your suggestion for a better way?
I'm stating that because these teams play in the SEC they are being placed in the top 25 regardless of how they performed or how many players were lost to the draft. Maybe better research would help instead of saying....well they are an SEC team so let's make sure they are ranked.
If it helps you sleep at night, sure
This year I don't think you can argue that they weren't overrated.
Where is Florida on that list?
Yes, but they still have bragging rights to their track record.
So, not sure if any SEC fans will care whether or not anyone labels them overrated.
Quote:Yes, but they still have bragging rights to their track record.
So, not sure if any SEC fans will care whether or not anyone labels them overrated.
Nope...and it's humorous to see everyone complain about it! :thumbsup:
Quote:Yes, but they still have bragging rights to their track record.
So, not sure if any SEC fans will care whether or not anyone labels them overrated.
Thats what teams in the SEC who haven't won anything significant recently do, try to hang their hat on the success of other teams in their conference. It's really laughable.
Last year it was the pac 12 ready to take over. No one in the big ten beats alabama.
Quote:Thats what teams in the SEC who haven't won anything significant recently do, try to hang their hat on the success of other teams in their conference. It's really laughable.
Why is it so hard to understand that people would rather keep the title in the south? I know most Gator fans didn't want it, but I was happy when Florida State won....I root for all the Florida teams, so even when Miami wins I'm more than happy.
Keep it local....root for the home team, of course to a point.
Now when it comes to the NFL, screw the Bucs and Dolphins.
Quote:The AP creates the polls purely to have something to talk about. They could care less if SEC fans toot their own horn for having the best conference or if ACC fans get mad that the SEC has 10 teams in the top 25 to start out the year. That's the point, to get people to talk.
Besides that, it's all a pure guess at that point. It's the main reason the playoff committee waits so long for their first poll to come out. The AP has all the right in the world to put the poll out, it's the fans that need to relax and not give it so much importance.
I don't believe that's true. ESPN splits all profits with the SEC (thanks to the deal with the SEC network), including playoff television rights. If you don't think there's incentive to skew the rankings, you're either naive or biased yourself. You only need to read the headlines to see it. SEC teams get positive headlines in losses (e.g. Florida holds on to...) and other conferences get negative headlines (OSU struggles to beat...). It's very common once you start to notice it.
Preseason rankings are a cancer in college football, and it needs to stop. At least 5 weeks need to play before there is an official ranking, and as long as ESPN affiliates dominate the AP polling, even that isn't going to help. It will prevent some of the more absurd leaps, like Ole Miss being ranked number 3 after beating Bama, only to lose to Memphis, Arkansas and Florida, but it still isn't going to stop that narrative that is being presented by the largest sports "news" network.
All of college football needs to be redesigned, imo, but it's probably never going to happen. To many hands in the coffer.
Quote:Last year it was the pac 12 ready to take over. No one in the big ten beats alabama.
Hopefully with the new playoff system, we will get to find this out.
Quote:Thats what teams in the SEC who haven't won anything significant recently do, try to hang their hat on the success of other teams in their conference. It's really laughable.
Exactly....look at UK fans for a perfect example.
ACC > SEC period! Whooped that tail all day. 3-1 yesterday. Go noles!
Quote:ACC > SEC period! Whooped that tail all day. 3-1 yesterday. Go noles!
They lose rivalry weekend for the second year in a row.
The tides are turning.
Let's not forget, South Carolina, who is awful, beat one of the representatives in the ACC title game, and just about shocked the other one this past weekend.
Quote:Let's not forget, South Carolina, who is awful, beat one of the representatives in the ACC title game, and just about shocked the other one this past weekend.
Ah yes, another moral victory for the SEC.