OT: Bob Stoops thinks the SEC is overrated

Submitted by Toby Flenderson on

Bob Stoops believes that the Hype machine for the SEC is overblown.

“So you’re listening to a lot of propaganda that gets fed out to you. You’re more than smart enough to figure it out. Again, you can look at the top two, three, four, five, six teams, and you can look at the bottom six, seven, eight, whatever they are. How well are they all doing?"

“What’d we [the Big 12] have, eight of 10 teams in bowl games this year? Again, you figure it all out.”

It seems that winning the last 7 National Championships is not domination

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/jeff-schultz/2013/may/08/bob-stoops-says-sec…

GoBluePhil

May 9th, 2013 at 10:31 PM ^

Just stating a fact. I didn't say it in the above post but I wish the NCAA would mandate honoring scholarships for the 4 years. However all things being equal Michigan would be more competitive and its team depth would be better. Can't get around that.

gwkrlghl

May 10th, 2013 at 7:04 AM ^

but its like saying "I wish you business didn't pay our employees, because then we'd more profitable". Ideally, the 4 year scholarship offer would mean something to players coming out of high school, but everyone thinks they're going to be an All-American so they'll keep taking shady 1-year scholarships from places like Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida State, etc.

State Street

May 9th, 2013 at 8:45 PM ^

In a sport where the hype machine can literally push you into a National Title Game (see: Notre Dame, University of) is winning 7 straight titles really proper justification for your argument?

JimBobTressel

May 9th, 2013 at 9:31 PM ^

I invite you to tell me what another measuring stick could be.

Every year, without fail, the best of the SEC dispatches, by multiple scores, the best of the rest in the title game (with the exception of Auburn vs Oregon).

MichiganAggie

May 9th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^

So, A&M finished 3rd in the SEC West, beat the crap out of OU (1st in the Big12) by 27 pts. If that makes the SEC overrated, then what does that mean the Big12 is?

vablue

May 9th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^

The problem is that in the BCS era the hype machine gets you into the game. What we will never know is if some of the teams left out of the BCS games would have won. What we know about the SEC is they are great against the second ranked team, though that team may rarely be the next best team. If they continue their run when the playoff starts, then I will be impressed.

WolvinLA2

May 9th, 2013 at 11:53 PM ^

Sure, the SEC gets a lot of hype, but doesn't the BCS pick the two most deserving teams most years?  Not all, I grant you.  But of the years the SEC has won the title, is there a team other than the team they beat that would have beat them?  

It sounds like you feel the SEC didn't actually deserve those titles every year.  Which years did they not?

Taps

May 10th, 2013 at 7:21 AM ^

Off the top of my head: 2008 undefeated Utah left out for 1 loss Florida (which they validated by thumping Bama), 2010 TCU (not as easy to defend but Auburn still got there just for being SEC). 2011 Bama is selecteed over OkState (who has an easily better resume) and Stanford.  2012 You can make an argument for Oregon or Kstate going over Bama.

Any year there are not 2 and exactly 2 undefeated teams the BCS gets it wrong (so basically USC/Texas and Bama/Texas).   The SEC has been left out in the cold once (Auburn) and been the beneficiary a half dozen times at least.

UMgradMSUdad

May 10th, 2013 at 12:04 AM ^

As an example, two years ago Okie State and Stanford both had credible arguments for making the NC game against LSU instead of Alabama.   Granted, Alabama laid the wood to them, and I don't think any other team in the country would have beaten LSU to the same extent, but both OSU and Stanford would have had a great chance of beating LSU.

 

WolvinLA2

May 10th, 2013 at 12:13 AM ^

Stanford barely - they didn't beat anybody and got crushed by Oregon.  OK State certainly had an argument, at least on paper, but it seemed pretty clear after watching them play that they were not on the same level as Alabama.  They lost to Iowa State, and the Big 12 was down.  If you play in a weak-ish conference (and don't schedule any tough OOC games), you have to win out to go.  

UMgradMSUdad

May 10th, 2013 at 12:04 AM ^

As an example, two years ago Okie State and Stanford both had credible arguments for making the NC game against LSU instead of Alabama.   Granted, Alabama laid the wood to them, and I don't think any other team in the country would have beaten LSU to the same extent, but both OSU and Stanford would have had a great chance of beating LSU.

 

UMgradMSUdad

May 10th, 2013 at 12:04 AM ^

As an example, two years ago Okie State and Stanford both had credible arguments for making the NC game against LSU instead of Alabama.   Granted, Alabama laid the wood to them, and I don't think any other team in the country would have beaten LSU to the same extent, but both OSU and Stanford would have had a great chance of beating LSU.

 

maizeonblueaction

May 9th, 2013 at 11:44 PM ^

I noticed a couple days ago that at least according to Rivals and 247, even the B1G is recruiting better than the Big 12. Our top two recruiting classes were both in the top 5, with Nebraska in the top 25, and the Big 12 didn't even have a single program in the top 15, with their third out of the top 25. So, as much as we rip on the B1G, the Big 12 is now having a hard time doing much, and we will probably see it get worse in the years ahead.

FrankMurphy

May 10th, 2013 at 8:15 PM ^

The best way to silence the SEC lovefest is for someone to beat the SEC in the BCS championship game. No one has done that yet, since the SEC is 9-0 in BCS championship games. Two of those wins came against Stoops (LSU in '04 and Florida in '09), so he's not in much of a position to be calling the SEC overrated. Hell, Lloyd Carr (6-1 vs. the SEC) is in a better position to talk about the SEC than Bob Stoops.  

VCavman24

May 10th, 2013 at 4:47 PM ^

While I do think some parts of the SEC Hype Machine has led to the conference being  overrated, the SEC certainly has proved on the field that they are the best conference.  Now are they the greatest of all time, no.  But best of right now, yes.  And Bob Stoops, stop complaining.  Win a few first, then complain.

CompleteLunacy

May 10th, 2013 at 5:46 PM ^

The SEC is teh best conference in  the nation. The SEC is also highly overrated...these two things do not have to be mutually exclusive.

But Stoops, having a poor record against SEC and also losing to ND at homelast year, is no tmuch in a position to say things like this.

UMgradMSUdad

May 11th, 2013 at 7:27 AM ^

Context is everything, and of course the question Stoops responded to is missing in all the media reports of his statement.  I heard on the radio yesterday from someone who was at the press conference, and he said the reporter prefaced his question with a short speech about how great and dominant the SEC is and therefore have a leg up on OU in recruiting, even in-state, and that's what Stoops was responding to. Btw, the top in-state recruit in Oklahoma, DE Deondre Clark has been heavily recruited by Oklahoma, and Jerry Montgomery is now leading that charge.  At one time recruits like that almost always went to Oklahoma or Texas, but now almost all the SEC teams have extended offers to Clark (More SEC than Big 12 teams have now offered him), and it seems the SEC recruiters are playing the "SEC is the best" card in their recruiting. DLine is obviously a huge need for Oklahoma (Jerry Montgomery being brought in to help fix that weak link), and possibly losing one of the top DEs in the nation who just happens to come from a highschool less than 30 minutes from OU, has to stick in Stoops's craw.

JayMo4

May 11th, 2013 at 10:45 AM ^

What I think is overrated is this constant need to compare conferences.  You have these groups of varying numbers of teams that play very little in the way of head-to-head matchups across conferences (with most of them coming after a post-regular season BYE that is half as long as the regular season itself and often with different head coaches than the ones that got them through the season to begin with,) playing at sites that tend to favor teams from the local conference over the visitors.  

Then you have to consider that everyone has different criteria for what makes a conference the best:  Is it the conference with the best individual team at the top?  The conference with the best upper half?  The conference that gets the most teams ranked/BCS wins or berths/bowl wins or births/head-to-head wins OR the highest % BCS wins/berths, bowl wins/berths, head to head yada yada yada...

Plus there are always those that want to consider things like popularity, fan base, tradition, etc as if these things have anything to do with answering the question of "Does team A beat team B on a neutral field?"  Often you'll hear commentators take as a given that the SEC is best, skip right through the arguments, and go directly to the explanations of why.  You'll hear everything from history and prestige to demographic shifts and extremely vague concepts like "speed."  Yeah... one conference of 14 teams is better than another conference of 12 teams because their 100+ players per team are collectively faster than the other conferences 100+ players per team.  What a deep and insightful argument that is.

Plus most of the people judging this competition have pretty transparent biases, up to and including the network most responsible for raising these debates to start with.  And, as previously mentioned, it does get to a point where the whole thing becomes somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If the media beats it into everyone's heads that the SEC is best, yes, that does impact recruiting.  In my opinion, it's no coincidence that the SEC's rise to prominence corresponds with the point in time that ESPN and CBS began heavily and repeatedly beating the "SEC is best!" drums.  College Football Live has spent an entire week attacking Stoops' comments, as if he had just insulted their mothers.  The only thing they do on CFB more often than stroke the SEC and feign outrage against anyone that questions their dominance is call Mark May "May Day."  I started a drinking game where I take a shot every time they say it.  By the first commercial break, I've already lapsed into a coma.