Without Alabama SEC is Just Another Conference

by Mike Whitney
(Mobile, AL)

It's NOT the SEC, It's Alabama!!


Fans of SEC schools other than Alabama love to talk about how the SEC is historically the best conference, because if they had to talk about their own schools, there'd be slim pickin's to brag about; therefore, they fly the SEC banner because it's easy to look good riding Bama's very long coattails.

Bama is the pride , the cream, and the creme de la creme of SEC football. Sure, Florida's done well recently, but if you look at the long haul of college football history, Florida's a mediocrity. When you look at Bama's national championships (8 legitimate ones, not the fictitious 13) they have roughly as many as the rest of the conference put together.

Furthermore, the rest of the SEC rolls over and plays dead for the Bama game; the Tide just has them all completely psyched out. Alabama holds a substantial head-to-head series lead over every single team in the conference. Without Bama, the conference, at least HISTORICALLY, is no better than any other. If I were an SEC fan (I'm not), I'd want to ride Bama's coattails, too.

The REAL question is not whether the SEC is the best conference, (other conferences don't care, they just care about whether their TEAM is the best TEAM), but whether Alabama is the best TEAM of all time. That's a distinct possibility, but it's worth noting that Bama's head-to-head record against two of their chief rivals for best all-time - Texas and Notre Dame - is a combined 2 wins and 12 losses, (1-5 vs. ND, 1-7 vs. Texas, even after their championship victory over the Horns in 2010).

Still, I'm willing to admit that Bama is as good a contender as anyone for being the best of all time; but SEC fans, let's give the credit where it's due: historically speaking, it's Alabama, not the SEC. Take the Tide out, and you're just another conference.