EDIT: Clay Travis has been added to the Troll List.
Ed-S:
Clay Travis is just a professional SEC troll who got there by doing some good investigative work in the past. He long ago used up any credibility from that. Since I'm friends with someone who is friends with his wife and this will create an awkward social situation for me in the future I wanted one of the mods to step in. But if I must I must. Clay Travis has been added to the Drew Sharp Memorial list of people whose existence has a non-negligible negative effect on human discourse, and therefore should be ignored always except in circumstances in which you have an opportunity to punch him in the nads, wherein you should deign to interact with him only insomuch as required in order to punch him in the nads.
Those posting Clay Travis opinions will be treated as you would treat a guy you barely know who invited Drew Sharp to your Superbowl Party, i.e. harshly, i.e. in such a way as to be made an entertaining example of.
------------
Original:
“Why would it be easier to win at Ohio State?” Travis wrote. “Because Meyer’s building a good SEC program in the Big Ten. And a good SEC program will dominate the Big Ten in a way a good SEC program could never dominate the SEC. “Why? Because the players are much worse in the Big Ten. A good SEC team runs through the Big Ten like a hot knife runs through butter.”
It’s all about the recruiting, said Travis, who thinks SEC coaches are much better and competitive at it. And he said that’s one reason James Franklin left Vanderbilt for the Penn State job. “But at Penn State?” wrote Travis, who got his law degree at Vandy. “All Franklin has to do is out-recruit Meyer, and he’ll have the best players in the entire conference.”
http://www.freep.com/article/20140119/SPORTS08/301190055/ticker-sec-tra…
January 19th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^
The schedule helped but he deserves credit for their recent success. If they can maintain the momentum a la Stanford they may be considered a good program.
As indicated by my name, I suffer daily living in the South ...Travis is on the afternoon sports radio in Nashville, and has made it very easy for me to listen to the other sports talk station. I absolutely do not listen to him as I do not read Sharp.
January 19th, 2014 at 3:06 PM ^
9 and 4 (4-4 SEC) is not "good" and their so-called success is not sustainable.
Kicking the hell out of Elon, Austin Peay and UAB is not impressive.
Franklin beat a down Tennessee by 4, a down Georgia by 4 and Muschamp's Georgia. They beat Kentucky also...is that the "signature win"?
The vaunted Commodores gave up 56 to John Football and A&M, 51 more to Missouri...
If Clay Travis, or anyone, thinks James Franklin is going to just show up at Penn State and dominate; his record sure doesn't indicate any potential for it.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
Must've been the patch.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
Kudos to you, MGrowOld, this is the simplest and most logical retort to the "ESS EEE CEE" meme going on right now. I honestly believe this should be repeated ad infinitum until the media and population at large start understanding.
Rinse and repeat.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^
"Much better and competitive = $ and willing to recruit players like Aaron Hernandez
January 19th, 2014 at 10:30 AM ^
...
I guess that's all I have to say. It's Sunday morning, I don't have the strength to formulate any thoughts on his actual argument short of my instincts to disagree with whatever Travis says.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^
Agreed. Travis is a fool and generally regarded the same way that Sharp is. Just ignore it, plus, freep.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
And Michigan isn't recruiting as good as the SEC right now? Hmmm...
January 19th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
player development by this staff is really lacking
January 19th, 2014 at 2:53 PM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
Read it again.
January 19th, 2014 at 5:23 PM ^
On a team with just a bit over a quarter of its roster as seniors point to these holes in player development?
Funchess? Geode on, Ross, Freshman starter Kyle Bosch? Countess, JMFR, Taylor? Stripling? DG? Shane? Who?
Is it Kalis? Miller? I could see that....but on a team that lost almost 50 percent of its 2009 and 2010 classes to pure attrition (these would be your Seniors and RS Seniors) you have too many young guys playing OL and DL.
This meme about player development is as much informed by the crater that was 2009/2010 attrition (and 3 OL recruits) as coaching.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
Also guys like Gene Chizik and Tommy Tubberville had a lot more success in the SEC then they did in other conferences.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^
Malzahn was what made his UA team tick, without him he's nothing.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
Also guys like Gene Chizik and Tommy Tubberville had a lot more success in the SEC then they did in other conferences.
January 19th, 2014 at 5:26 PM ^
/SEC'd
January 19th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
Makes complete sense. That's why Michigan put up 41 points on them and almost beat them with a QB with a broken foot.
MSU embarassed them and beat them in the B10 championship, proving their worth they also won the Rose Bowl.
Facts don't matter in sports journalism anymore. It's pretty sad.
Edit: Missouri and Texas A&M also wrecked shop in the SEC without SEC recruits, just saying.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 10:44 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
than w/ Tressel? Urban"s entirely responsible for his 24-0 run? Methinks he just walked into that.
January 19th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^
Nobody "just walks into" 24-0. You actually do have to be kinda good to do that.
January 19th, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^
That true, but in 2012 they had every break go their way, and this year, but for a Michigan QB playing with a broken foot, they could have easily lost three in a row. Their schedule, fwiw, was not exactly what you would call hard, particularly the OOC teams they played.
Then there is the B1G right now - not exactly replete with powerhouse programs.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
Travis seems to be on par intellectually with the idiot fans at loser SEC schools who chant "SEC, SEC" like that somehow makes their team better.
January 19th, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^
They don't chant to make their team better. They chant because they think that if they do it loud enough and long enough, it will change the results of the Civil War.
January 19th, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^
Damn JayMo4, I nearly spit my beverage all over the computer I was laughing so hard.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:42 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
The full piece is at Outkick The Coverage (HERE).
The actual article outlines Travis' argument a little more clearly, and he does a lot of comparisons of national versus conference rankings for recruiting. For example, Penn State's 2nd-ranked 2014 class in the Big Ten would be the 10th best SEC class (i.e., nine SEC teams are ahead of Penn State in the national rankings). It isn't the best way to argue this, and he does go out of his way to discount Big Ten recruiting in order to inflate his point.
The James Franklin love is evident in Travis. Towards the end, it is gushing out:
The other SEC schools just had better fan support and facilities to sell.
But at Penn State?
All Franklin has to do is out recruit Urban Meyer and he'll have the best players in the entire conference.
And if you have the best players in the conference you're in pretty good shape to win the Big Ten, which means you'd have a great shot at advancing to the four team playoff.
Write this in stone -- James Franklin will finish with a top five class at Penn State in 2015. I will personally guarantee it.
January 19th, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^
Write this in stone -- James Franklin will finish with a top five class at Penn State in 2015. I will personally guarantee it.
Ok then. It's a good thing he's only betting his reputation on this and not anything of value.
January 19th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
you blame it on the sanctions.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^
create scandal-ridden programs with thug players that get punked by the NCAA for all sorts of violations, then I agree with him.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:42 AM ^
Per the composite rankings from 247, if he out-recruits Meyer he has a top-two class (and with USC and Texas stabalizing for 2015 it's no given that Alabama will have the top class). If he only averages a seventh ranked class nationally he'll have the third most talented team in his division.
I should write an article: Big Ten transplants Nick Saban, Les Miles dominate SEC.
January 19th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
Simple as cake easy as pie.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^
The author must be counting on Elon and Presbyterian joining the B1G.
January 19th, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
This^
Franklin isn't a bad coach and he might even be quite good, but he only beat one SEC team with a winning record and his major in-state rival, Tennessee, was down during his tenure. Franklin was seen a great recruiter b/c be brought better talent to Vanderbilt that it had seen in the past, but a lot of his schtick won't work at PSU. No way he out recruits OSU and Michigan consistently. I think he's gone in three years, either to the pros if he has winning teams (not championships) or he's fired when the expectations like those in the article don't come close to being met.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^
Sounds right to me.
Our SEC transplants - Doug Nussmeier and Greg Mattison - will indeed dominate the Big Ten.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
Exactly, we have a SEC staff and have recruited the last 3 years as good as any SEC school except for Alabama, but Penn State will dominate us and the rest of the B1G even though when they had JoPa they still didn't recruit as good as we are now.
January 19th, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^
It is very nice to have 24/7 coverage of sports. It allows those who are interested to stay in contact with their favorite teams, players and sports from anywhere in the world where there is wifi. It allows sports which may be less popular in one place to still be accessible to their fans - so fans of Real Madrid, the Dakar Rally, cricket, biathlon and so forth can all find info.
A big negative is that with all of the hours of broadcast time, easy podcasting, and bandwidth a lot of stuff has to be found to fill all of the available channels - and sometimes there is just nothing meaningful to express but there are deadlines and contractual obligations to deliver so many column inches, episodes, minutes or shows - so here we are. Back in the days when weekly newspaper columnists were the celebrity sports figures, they would have a slush pile of generic columns which they can roll out when they hit a dry spell or when there just wasn’t anything to write about (in the 1950's e.g. college football season is over, basketball wasn't a big sport then, baseball spring training was months away, nothing going on in the hot stove league) - this is the modern equivalent. Unsupported by any evidence, not even logical given how coaches wander around the country. Is Nick Saban a "SEC" coach - didn't he bring BIG TEN smash football from his time in the BIG TEN down to the SEC? - Or NFL football to the SEC from his time in New England and Cleveland?
Finally it reminds me of another example. As some of you may know people who like wines are as regionally chauvinistic as any football supporter. One of longest disputes is whether French wines or better than Californian wines. A little known fact is that there was an outbreak of parasite, Phylloxera which devastated vineyards in Europe. There is no cure and the only solution was to look for vines which had a natural defense. There are American vines which exude a natural spa defense. So nearly all (99%+) of all French and most other vineyards have vines which are hybrid - having an American root. So technically there are no true French wines unless they were bottled pre-outbreak or in some tiny isolated places. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylloxera
Coaches don't spend their lives in just one state or conference anymore. Like the vines their ideas and concepts travel and become hybridized.
January 19th, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
January 20th, 2014 at 12:03 AM ^
January 19th, 2014 at 10:58 AM ^
Don't ruin his story with facts. SEC rules and always will. /s
The B1G is going to be tough going forward. You have a very tough division with Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State. The other division may not be there yet, but there is Wisconsin and Nebraska. I look for an upgrade to the B1G.
January 19th, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
Did this person not watch any of the bowl games.. I.E. Nebraska/Iowa come to my mind where they beat Georgia and hung in there till the very end with LSU.
