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Jeff Blake/jblake@thestate.com/
Clemson running back C.J. Spiller breaks off a big run in the second quarter of the game.
GoGamecocks.com
Morris: Little comparison between ACC, SEC
University of South Carolina football coach, Steve Spurrier hugs Clemson University interim coach Dabo Swinney after Clemson's victory of 31-14 at Memorial Stadium.
C. Aluka Berry/caberry@thestate.com
Posted on 12.05.08
Why the SEC stinks this season:
Georgia
Is there a team that failed to live up to the hype more than the Dawgs? The preseason No. 1-ranked team was thumped by Alabama and Florida and was punked by Georgia Tech.
LSU
The defending national champs are shells of their former selves. Their struggles, like many in the league, can be traced to the quarterback position.
Tennessee
The Vols lost at home to one of the worst teams in the Mountain West. They fired Phil Fulmer. They never did find any offense.
South Carolina
We saw all we needed to see from the Gamecocks when they came to The Swamp. Steve Spurrier's squad is mediocre after limping to the finish line again.
Auburn
The Tigers could have played six games against Alabama and their putrid offense might not have scored.
Mississippi State
Mississippi State has a worse offense than Auburn. The Bulldogs proved it when they lost 3-2 to the Tigers.
Vanderbilt
It says a lot about the SEC's weakness that this team is bowl eligible for the first time since 1982. Vanderbilt was beaten by two ACC teams.
Arkansas
We knew Arkansas was bad when it needed miracles to beat Football Championship Subdivision teams Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe.
Kentucky
The Wildcats schedule Moe, Larry and Curly for nonconference wins so they can sputter around in SEC play and go to the Music City Bowl.
— The Orlando Sentinel
I plead guilty. I jumped to the early conclusion that Atlantic Coast Conference football stunk to high heaven this season. As it turns out, that smell was coming from the Southeastern Conference.
By season’s end, the ACC was a better league than the SEC in almost every area. Give the SEC credit for having arguably the top two teams in the country in Alabama and Florida. In every other comparison, the ACC came out on top.
The ACC won six of 10 head-to-head meetings. Four ACC teams are among the top 25 in the BCS rankings, compared to three SEC teams. The average national ranking for ACC teams in the Sagarin ratings is 30.4, compared to 46 for SEC teams. Further, 10 of the ACC’s 12 teams are eligible for bowl games. The SEC could not fill its bowl slots and will send eight teams.
By the conclusion of the regular season, the bigger question was not whether the ACC surpassed the SEC, but how did this come about?
There were several factors. First, nearly every ACC team improved as the season rolled along. Only Alabama, Florida and Mississippi in the SEC could say the same. Next, perhaps for the first time in its history, the ACC has a solid stable of coaches that can match that of the SEC. Finally, let’s face it, the SEC had a down season.
Who would have thought that would be the case after the first weekend of the season, when No. 9 Clemson was blistered by No. 24 Alabama 34-10; N.C. State was pummeled by USC 34-0; Virginia lost to Southern California 52-7; Virginia Tech fell to East Carolina 27-22; North Carolina struggled to defeat McNeese State 35-27; and Maryland escaped Delaware 14-7.
It looked as if the ACC again would be among the also-rans of college football. After all, this is the league that never has won a BCS game.
Then something strange happened. Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, N.C. State and Virginia Tech all improved throughout the season. Perhaps it was because the league features young quarterbacks who developed as the season progressed.
Another possible reason is that since the league expanded before the 2005 season, every member has made a strong commitment to improving its football teams. That meant bringing in coaches who can build solid programs, such as David Cutcliffe at Duke, Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech, Butch Davis at North Carolina and Tom O’Brien at N.C. State.
All of the sudden, the ACC has a group of coaches on par with the SEC, which in recent seasons has featured an all-star cast from Nick Saban at Alabama to Steve Spurrier at USC.
The result is that perhaps for the first time in ACC history, there were no pushovers in the league. Playing at Duke was no gimme this season. Going to North Carolina and N.C. State was a challenge.
Meanwhile, the SEC fell from its perch as the best football league in the country. The Sagarin ratings have the SEC third in the country, behind the ACC and Big 12.
“It was a down year, there is no question about that, no question at all,” Spurrier said. “It was one of those years where Alabama and Florida were, by far, the two best teams. Usually, there are three or four up there.”
Mississippi ended up being the No. 3 team in the league and might have been the only other team — besides Alabama and Florida — that showed marked improvement from beginning to end. Mississippi did not receive a vote in the preseason rankings and finished the regular season at No. 22.
No doubt, the SEC was hurt by having two of the league’s perennial powers, Tennessee and Auburn, fall from grace. Both failed to qualify for a bowl game with 5-7 records. Additionally, defending national champion LSU held a No. 6 ranking in the preseason and did not receive a vote in the latest poll.
The last and biggest blow to the SEC came this past weekend when Georgia lost at home to ACC rival Georgia Tech 45-42. Georgia was the consensus preseason No. 1 but never lived up to that billing. A 9-3 record dropped Georgia to No. 17 in the rankings.
Still, the SEC could go a long way toward salvaging its reputation if either Alabama or Florida wins the national championship. That would give the SEC three consecutive national champions and four since 2003.
The league also could save face by winning its bowl matchups against the ACC, although the projected pairings of Kentucky (6-6) against Boston College (9-3) in the Music City Bowl and LSU (7-5) against Georgia Tech (9-3) in the Chick-fil-A Bowl do not look favorable for the SEC.
But that’s why they play the games, and why it is best to wait until the results are in before making too harsh a judgment against a particular league.
Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM
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