Friday, October 13, 2006
The SEC is #1
Why is the SEC the best sports conference in America? As discussed in the website www.secsportsfan.com the real underlying reason is because it has the best fans in America. No doubt.
But, how do we know the SEC is the best sports conference in America. Well, when you conduct a complete analysis of the 11 major college sports – the SEC clearly stands out as the best overall. The SEC is not the best in every sport. For instance, in Basketball – I still rank the ACC above the rest, primarily because of its rich basketball heritage. But, the SEC is not far behind and moving up quickly. Last year, of course, Florida won the NCAA Basketball Championship. LSU was in the final 4 and no ACC team was in the final 4. But, one year does not tell the whole story, so I still give the edge to the ACC—for the moment. Then, when you look at the 10 other major college sports, analyze them all, and rank the conferences – overall the SEC stands out as #1.
For a complete analysis of each sport go to www.secsportsfan.com.
For purposes of this post I will focus on football. After all it is football season and football is the #1 college sport in America. Basketball is strong too. But, nothing compares to the fan interest and support that football receives. It has become our national sport.
For this reason, in ranking the conferences, I have given extra weight to football. And it is the SEC's supremacy of college football, that, in the end, makes the SEC the #1 sports conference.
Now, why do I say the SEC is the top college football conference. Actually, I doubt many serious college football fans would even dispute the point. You have to look no further then the current (October 16, 2006) issue of Sports Illustrated – the premier sports publication in America. The cover story is titled "SEC Power: On Any Given Saturday the Southeastern Conference Proves It's the Toughest in the Country." Go to www.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/covers/issues/2006/1016.html to see the cover.
Beyond that – look at history. When you compare the number of bowl appearances, bowl victories, major bowl victories and national championships – the SEC is #1. See the College Football Data Warehouse at www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/ranking/all_time_conf_rankings.php for substantiation of this fact.
The SEC also leads the conferences in number of athletes that go on the NFL. Year in and year out it has the most teams in the top 25 (right now 6) and top 10 (right now 2). And some say this is a down year for the SEC. Simply put, no conference compares to the SEC for its depth, competitiveness, talent, football history and football culture.
When you are in a state with an SEC football team and that team is playing a home game – you probably know about it because it is probably the biggest thing going on in the entire state. During every home game at Tennessee – Neyland Stadium becomes the 5th biggest city in the state. Actually the 4th biggest as during the game there are actually more people in the stadium (110,000 or so) than in the city of Knoxville.
In the end, it is all about the fans. Ultimately, the conference with the best fans will have the most support for its football program and over time that is the key to why the SEC is #1.
Please post any comments you have here. For more information on this topic – go to www.secsportsfan.com
But, how do we know the SEC is the best sports conference in America. Well, when you conduct a complete analysis of the 11 major college sports – the SEC clearly stands out as the best overall. The SEC is not the best in every sport. For instance, in Basketball – I still rank the ACC above the rest, primarily because of its rich basketball heritage. But, the SEC is not far behind and moving up quickly. Last year, of course, Florida won the NCAA Basketball Championship. LSU was in the final 4 and no ACC team was in the final 4. But, one year does not tell the whole story, so I still give the edge to the ACC—for the moment. Then, when you look at the 10 other major college sports, analyze them all, and rank the conferences – overall the SEC stands out as #1.
For a complete analysis of each sport go to www.secsportsfan.com.
For purposes of this post I will focus on football. After all it is football season and football is the #1 college sport in America. Basketball is strong too. But, nothing compares to the fan interest and support that football receives. It has become our national sport.
For this reason, in ranking the conferences, I have given extra weight to football. And it is the SEC's supremacy of college football, that, in the end, makes the SEC the #1 sports conference.
Now, why do I say the SEC is the top college football conference. Actually, I doubt many serious college football fans would even dispute the point. You have to look no further then the current (October 16, 2006) issue of Sports Illustrated – the premier sports publication in America. The cover story is titled "SEC Power: On Any Given Saturday the Southeastern Conference Proves It's the Toughest in the Country." Go to www.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/covers/issues/2006/1016.html to see the cover.
Beyond that – look at history. When you compare the number of bowl appearances, bowl victories, major bowl victories and national championships – the SEC is #1. See the College Football Data Warehouse at www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/ranking/all_time_conf_rankings.php for substantiation of this fact.
The SEC also leads the conferences in number of athletes that go on the NFL. Year in and year out it has the most teams in the top 25 (right now 6) and top 10 (right now 2). And some say this is a down year for the SEC. Simply put, no conference compares to the SEC for its depth, competitiveness, talent, football history and football culture.
When you are in a state with an SEC football team and that team is playing a home game – you probably know about it because it is probably the biggest thing going on in the entire state. During every home game at Tennessee – Neyland Stadium becomes the 5th biggest city in the state. Actually the 4th biggest as during the game there are actually more people in the stadium (110,000 or so) than in the city of Knoxville.
In the end, it is all about the fans. Ultimately, the conference with the best fans will have the most support for its football program and over time that is the key to why the SEC is #1.
Please post any comments you have here. For more information on this topic – go to www.secsportsfan.com
# posted by Mo Johnson @ 8:50 AM 
