ESPN's (selective) silence about the SEC

Submitted by crg on
This could change soon, but so far ESPN has said nothing about how half (7 teams) of the SEC lost over the weekend. Yet, on the same day that UM, OSU, and MSU lost a few years ago, they were headlining "The Day the Big Ten Died" before the last stadium had even cleared. Curious indeed.

Edit: I should qualify that I'm mainly referring to their website. I don't watch ESPN much outside of the games themselves.
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MMB 82

September 6th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^

actually, the AZ Giant Hairy Scorpion is not poisonous; the sting hurts and that's about it. Also, these big guys tend not to enter houses. The Bark scorpion on the other hand, is tiny and nasty. The only truly poisonous scorpion, which happens to make its home primarily in Maricopa County...

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Blue Ballin'

September 6th, 2016 at 11:53 AM ^

True story. One of these (a scorpion, not a pencil) got into my bed and stung me three times before I could get it off me. The stings are like nasty little electric jolts. I count myself lucky, though, as the stings were mere inches from a place that would have been awfully embarrassing if I'd had to go to the ER. Freaked the wife out more than me, but yeah, I was a bit concerned for a while. Sold that house shortly thereafter.

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WolvinLA2

September 6th, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^

Maybe because the SEC isn't that bad? Yes, LSU flopped, but that was on the road to a team that might be pretty good. And Tennessee looked like shit too, for the most part. But the SEC also has Alabama who looks like they always do, and they also had wins over a ranked ACC team and a ranked Pac 12 team. Mississippi's loss was expected, Missouri's loss was a toss up anyway and Vanderbilt lost to another SEC team. Miss St's loss is embarrassing for Miss St, but they weren't going to do anything this year anyway. I just don't see how it was such a bad weekend for the SEC. Uncharacteristicly, they played a lot of tough games this weekend, and yeah, they lost some of them. Big deal.

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WolvinLA2

September 6th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^

OK, but what other conference can say they did any better? The Big Ten had one big win plus tomato cans, same with the Big 12, except their top team got upset. The two ACC powers beat SEC teams they were favored against and nothing else. The Pac 12 didn't do shit. So how is the SEC's first week any worse than that?

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SpikeFan2016

September 6th, 2016 at 10:47 AM ^

Okay, it's also about how they looked. 

 

Kentucky also had a horrid loss in which they allowed 28 unanswered points or something crazy like that. Arkansas was INCREDIBLY lucky not to lose to Louisiana Tech. They won by 1 point, and LA Tech missed TWO field goals from reasonable distance; either would've won the game. 

Tennessee obviously looked horrible. 

Florida was in a 6 point game against UMass into the 4th quarter. 

 

Mizzou got slaughtered. They scored points in garbage time to close the gap. 

LSU lost by 2 points, but was thoroughly outplayed the entire game. Wisconsin should've won by double digits. 

 

Texas A&M looked better than expected. But that was the only team. 

South Carolina and Vanderbilt both looked HORRIBLE. It was a Purdue vs Illinois type of game.

 

And Georgia looked fine, but I highly doubt UNC finishes this season ranked, and Georgia had massive home field advantage for a "neutral" site game. 

 

Just because Alabama is incredible doesn't give the SEC any depth or better talent than other conferences. (also, USC was way overranked. This is a team that finished unranked last year, has a shitty new coach, lost to Wisconsin in a bowl with pseudo home field advantage, but yet somehow was #20 when the Badgers were unranked). 

UCLA is another perpetually overranked team too. The Los Angeles teams are always way overrated. I'm willing to bet that the PAC 12 South will have a champion with the worst record of any division in football. 

It's more likely than not that none of UNC, USC, or UCLA finish this season ranked; or, if they do, none are in the top 20. 

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WolvinLA2

September 6th, 2016 at 10:47 AM ^

"How a team looked" in week 1 is maybe not the best argument, especially if that team still wins. We had one of those too in MSU. And although I don't disagree with a lot of your post - how many conferences can say they did better? And you really can't say the Big Ten because all of our top teams played nobodies except Wisconsin and NW lost to a MAC team. And if you're going to go with "how they looked" then you have to give the SEC props for Auburn and Ole Miss, both of whom I thought would get smoked, hung with two top 5 teams really well. Unranked Auburn had a legit shot to win at the end.

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SpikeFan2016

September 6th, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^

I literally don't understand how you don't get what we're saying. 

 

You're asking how many conferences did better. That is so far from the point. 

 

The point is, for the last decade the SEC has been viewed leaps and bounds ABOVE all of the other conferences. Their conference games between middling teams are viewed as marquee. When they lose to conference teams that are not in the top 10, they don't fall in the rankings. This season too, they entered with more teams ranked in the top 25 than anyone else.  (Florida over Wisconsin? come the fuck on). Now, there were years when that was true (especially for the SEC West, East is another matter). However, it's been over for a few years and this weekend confirms it. 

 

The point is, this weekend proves the SEC is on the same level as everyone else. That's it. Just because they have Alabama does not mean that their middle or lower end teams are better than other conferences. 

 

Also, the SEC had zero teams who looked dominant against non-P5 competition. Even Illinois and Maryland looked dominant as fuck, for example. 

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lhglrkwg

September 6th, 2016 at 12:08 PM ^

but can't we all agree that if the Big 10 performed similarly that our league would be getting lambasted by ESPN's talking heads?

Imagine Iowa losing at home to South Alabama, Wisconsin squeaking by Louisiana Tech, MSU going up big on FSU only to cede 30 straight points, and then us barely getting by App State in OT. ESPN would be declaring that the Big Ten is already or should already be out of the CFP.

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PEMBLUE

September 6th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^

I wonder how much inside information Steve Sarkisian gave Bama about the USC players and playcalling as he was just hired by Bama and USC kept the hire internal, limiting shakeups and twists to the playbook.

Bama will still be dominant but the timing of the hiring raises some questions.

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JamieH

September 6th, 2016 at 12:24 PM ^

has, for years, played very few big games in the early non-conferece and then crowed about how great they are because they have so many ranked teams.  Then they beat up on each other and claim they are great because they are beating ranked teams.  It's quite the racket.
 

 They practically invented the strategy of playing nothing but teams like Southwest Missouri State and Florida Atlantic as non-conference opponents to pad your record.  Alabama is one exception, as they have generally scheduled pretty well, and Florida has always played FSU but had some streak of like never leaving the state for a non-con game in like 20 years.

 

This year the SEC actually scheduled well, and, shock, they lost some games.  Because they have NEVER been as much better than everyone else as they claimed they were.  Because of the way college football works, where perception is reality with the polls, hyping your conference was the best path to success, and the SEC has been the best at hype for the last 25 years. 

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Rabbit21

September 6th, 2016 at 8:31 AM ^

They talked about it this morning and basically just hand-waved it away. I totally understand wanting more data points before they bring on the wrath of the SEC fanboys.



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