Ncaa football rankings
PAC 10: Won 10 of 16 Matchups Against SEC!
I am an SEC guy. I dislike the PAC - 10 and in particular loathe Rick Neuheisel, who stands for everything that I disdain about that conference. (Except for the fact that Neuheisel CHEATS … like it or not the PAC - 10 is generally a clean conference.)
But I have to admit, last night when I saw Rick Neuheisel yelling and screaming on the sideline while Philip Fulmer was, well, being Philip Fulmer, I knew that the Vols were in trouble. Sure enough, the Vols go down in overtime despite four INTs and a huge edge in talent and experience.
What does this mean? Despite the common claims to SEC supremacy, the woofing by people like me, the PAC - 10 is actually 10 - 6 in their last 16 match ups against the SEC.
More important, take away USC, and the PAC - 10 is still 6 - 6. More important still, take away LSU, clearly the best SEC team of the decade and at worst in a tie with Oklahoma and Ohio State for the second best team overall, and the SEC is only 10 - 2 against the PAC - 10. And unlike USC, where three of their four games against SEC competition were blowouts, LSU got away from Oregon State and Arizona State by the skin of their teeth.
And now you have Tennessee dropping two in a row to the PAC - 10. Granted, these are not as good acheter levitra viagra as the Fulmer teams of the 1990s, but still Fulmer has a national title ring and leads one of the SEC’s elite programs.
Face it folks: the team that destroyed 10 - 2 UGA was themselves dealt a double digit loss by 7 - 6 Cal, and now a team that is expected to finish no worse than fifth in the 12 team SEC loses to a team that is expected to finish no better than eighth in the 10 team PAC - 10. So, my fellow SEC fans … what is going on?
Now of course, it goes without saying that the SEC is a better conference than the PAC - 10. Check the titles. Look at the NFL draft picks. But why is that not reflected in head to head match ups?
And last but not least: I am not saying that Tennessee has to fire Philip Fulmer. The reason is that I am not certain that Fulmer’s replacement would do as well.
Tennessee has to survive with mostly out of state recruiting in a division where Florida and Georgia can build top five programs just by keeping nearly everybody at home (and in a conference where Alabama and LSU can do the same).
But Fulmer honestly does need to make changes in his program, starting with his offensive scheme. This is not to say that Tennessee should run the veer, but Fulmer will never be Pete Carroll. He needs to quit recruiting the west coast passers (most of whom aren’t even that good i.e. the Clausens and Erik Ainge) and trying and failing with the pro-style passing game and go back to SEC football.
I still say that the SEC is #1, but they need to prove it against the PAC - 10. Suddenly that UGA game against Arizona State isn’t looking so easy …
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