Scheduling issues aside, the SEC is rapidly improving as a conference and, as I predicted a couple years ago, it is on the verge of actually living up to its year-in, year-out hype as the best conference.
Why is this?
Well, the league has finally got some coaches. No one wanted to believe that Urban Meyer would transform the landscape of the conference, but he has. Especially on offense.
The prospect of a well-coached and fully-loaded Florida program has scared the bejeezuz out of the rest of the SEC.
And so Alabama has turned to a proven coach in Nick Saban. LSU has actually brought some kick to its offense by bringing in spread master Gary Crowton from Oregon. Kentucky is starting to get going under Rich Brooks and South Carolina is always dangerous with Spurrier at the helm. Auburn has Al Borges to direct its offense, while Tennessee has David Cutcliffe.
The mantra among the chattering class is that Florida won the national title last year with defense. I do suppose that it is easy to have a dominating defense when the offenses arrayed on the other side of the ball are not especially dynamic. That has been the case for many a year in the SEC, with a few exceptions here and there.
I think, however, that as offenses in that league improve, you will not see the same level of defensive domination. There will still be great defenses, but there actually might be some great offenses, too.
Now, if only they played decent non-conference schedules….
No comments yet.