USC in the SEC

[The Seer]

I've seen alot on here talking about USC beating SEC teams. First, I have a great amount of respect for Pete Carrol's teams. They have a ton of talent. Yes, I think in a 1 game situation they could play with or beat anyone in the country. However, what would they do with an every week SEC schedule? If they slip up every once in a while and lose to a Stanford, how would they do if they played LSU's schedule where they've got to get up for a tough game each week?
I think they lose at least 2-3 of these.

#=rank at time
Thu, Aug 30 Mississippi St. *
Sat, Sep 08 #9 Virginia Tech
Sat, Sep 15 Middle Tennessee
Sat, Sep 22 #12 South Carolina *
Sat, Sep 29 Tulane
Sat, Oct 06 #9 Florida *
Sat, Oct 13 #17 Kentucky *
Sat, Oct 20 #18 Auburn *
Sat, Nov 03 #17 Alabama *
Sat, Nov 10 Louisiana Tech (HC)
Sat, Nov 17 Ole Miss *
Fri, Nov 23 Arkansas *

SEC CHAMPIONSHIP
Sat, Dec 01 #14 Tennessee

National Championship
Mon, Jan 07 #1 Ohio St.

[BadNina]

LSU's two losses came in triple overtime against SEC opponents. And I'm not a big LSU fan.

[The Seer]

LSU's two losses came in triple overtime against SEC opponents. And I'm not a big LSU fan.

I understand that. I appreciate your response but that is not answering my question.

[BigBollocks]

Without question they take three or more losses. In all fairness that is what is so difficult about the conference. There isn't one weak sister in the bunch, and you have to play eight straight weeks plus a conference championship. It is extremely possible to beat two top ten teams at home, and then lose to say a #20 team on the road the next week due to being completely drained. It's a brutal grind that often eliminates all the top teams from national contention...

[Razz]

SC played a tough schedule. They played at the three other best teams in the conference (LSU played all the big boys at home and didn't play UGA at all), and played at ND and Nebraska, which looked difficult in the preseason.

But here's my thing. If you're a prized recruit west of Texas, where do you want to go to school? SC. Carroll can basically pick and choose a Western HS All-Star team, and then sprinkle in the occasional recruit from Florida, Louisiana, Texas, or other states.

If SC was somehow moved to the (insert random southeastern city here) and had to compete against UGA, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, and company, they wouldn't get the same quality players. That is what is so impressive about SEC teams navigating the conference stacked with elite teams the past couple seasons.

[shrax4]

The were also plagued by injuries...

[teazeman]

BigBollocks:

[Louisvillekid1]

The bottom of the SEC would destroy the bottom of the pac 10. . . USC gets too many easy conf matchups throughout the year.

[pokernut9999]

The bottom 3 teams South Carolina, Ole Miss and Vandy were no slouches.

[imgv94]

The were also plagued by injuries...

Pac-10/USC haters seem to conviently forget that..

Do I need to remind you people what USC has done the last six seasons?





76-14 Record
23-0 in month of November
48-9 conference
Won 34 straight games between 03-05
Won 68 out of their last 75 games
A record six consecutive years as PAC-10 Champions
A national-record 33 consecutive weeks as AP's No. 1-ranked team
A NCAA-record of 63 straight 20-point games
Three Heisman Trophy Winners...

[The Seer]

Pac-10/USC haters seem to conviently forget that..

Do I need to remind you people what USC has done the last six seasons?





76-14 Record
23-0 in month of November
48-9 conference
Won 34 straight games between 03-05
Won 68 out of their last 75 games
A record six consecutive years as PAC-10 Champions
A national-record 33 consecutive weeks as AP's No. 1-ranked team
A NCAA-record of 63 straight 20-point games
Three Heisman Trophy Winners...

I'm not hatin' at all. I respect the hell out of USC but I don't think they reach half of those milestones if they played an SEC schedule each year. Those Heisman trophy winners weren't playing SEC defenses week in and week out. I doubt Bush would have looked so good against Auburn, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, TN, etc.

[tblues2005]

I think that USC and LSU would be been a much better match up than what Ohio State had to offer. If USC had Ohio States schedule they would have clobbered every team because their schedule was terrible. They would have gone into that game with a perfect record without a doubt.

[BadNina]

Not to be argumentative (or not too much) but Stanford wasn't that great of a team.



just sayin'

[guitarjosh]

People are forgetting if USC played in the SEC they would have 4 OOC cream puffs every year, and probably 8 home games.

[imgv94]

All you USC haters mention is Stanford. Don't you have anything else to say?

Alabama lost to Monroe. oooh.

[pavyracer]

If USC was in the SEC they could have a hard time prepare for the away from home games because of all the travelling, so unless they move the campus to the Southeast they will be at a disadvantage from the start.

There was only one team in the PAC10, in addition to USC, that had enough talent to play in the SEC due to their speed and that was Oregon which USC lost to. If USC had to play more teams to the caliber of Oregon they would have probably lost more games than the two they did this year. All of Georgia's opponents in the SEC where ranked at some point in the season with the exception of Ole Miss. This is why is hard to get undefeated or even with one loss in SEC.

[guitarjosh]

If USC was in the SEC they could have a hard time prepare for the away from home games because of all the travelling, so unless they move the campus to the Southeast they will be at a disadvantage from the start.

There was only one team in the PAC10, in addition to USC, that had enough talent to play in the SEC due to their speed and that was Oregon which USC lost to. If USC had to play more teams to the caliber of Oregon they would have probably lost more games than the two they did this year. All of Georgia's opponents in the SEC where ranked at some point in the season with the exception of Ole Miss. This is why is hard to get undefeated or even with one loss in SEC.

Like I said earlier, if USC played in the SEC, they would only have 4 away games a year, so they probably wouldn't be worse then 10-2 every year.

Secondly, Cal had enough talent to beat SEC runner up Tennessee by double digits. And how can you say those other teams didn't have enough talent to play in the SEC? The have as much as Ole Miss, Miss State, Vandy, SC...

[uscfootball33]

People are forgetting if USC played in the SEC they would have 4 OOC cream puffs every year, and probably 8 home games.

Some Regular Season Games This Year:
LSU played Virginia Tech
Tennessee played California
Florida played Florida State
South Carolina played Clemson
Miss. State played West Virginia
Ole Miss played Missouri
UGA played Oklahoma St.
Kentucky played Louisville
Auburn played South Florida
Arkansas played Troy
Alabama played Florida St.


You are wrong my friend. On top of an already ridiculously tough SEC schedule, these teams go out and play opponents from the BCS conferences. Now about Southern Cal, they are a good team, but put them in the SEC and they would struggle. Week after week they would get tested and beat on by big and fast football teams because in the SEC, they are all big, fast, and capable. Playing a few good teams a year is one thing, having to play a tough SEC schedule 8 weeks a year where anyone can beat you on any given Saturday is a whole different thing.

[uscfootball33]

Like I said earlier, if USC played in the SEC, they would only have 4 away games a year, so they probably wouldn't be worse then 10-2 every year.

Secondly, Cal had enough talent to beat SEC runner up Tennessee by double digits. And how can you say those other teams didn't have enough talent to play in the SEC? The have as much as Ole Miss, Miss State, Vandy, SC...

South Carolina beat UGA in Athens this year, name a few Pac 10 teams that would have done that this year.

[guitarjosh]

Some Regular Season Games This Year:
LSU played Virginia Tech Finished #9
Tennessee played California Finished unranked
Florida played Florida State Finished unranked
South Carolina played Clemson Finished #21
Miss. State played West Virginia Finished#6
Ole Miss played Missouri Finished #4
UGA played Oklahoma St. Finished unranked
Kentucky played Louisville Finished unranked
Auburn played South Florida Finished unranked
Arkansas played Troy Finished unranked. The best OOC team Arky played is Troy?
Alabama played Florida St. Finished unranked


You are wrong my friend. On top of an already ridiculously tough SEC schedule, these teams go out and play opponents from the BCS conferences. Now about Southern Cal, they are a good team, but put them in the SEC and they would struggle. Week after week they would get tested and beat on by big and fast football teams because in the SEC, they are all big, fast, and capable. Playing a few good teams a year is one thing, having to play a tough SEC schedule 8 weeks a year where anyone can beat you on any given Saturday is a whole different thing.

So I see 4 ranked OOC teams out of 48. Now you're correct that they do play BCS schools OOC, but that doesn't mean the teams they played are good. Since the NCAA allowed a 12 regular season game, the SEC has had 96 OOC games. 80 of them have been home games. Others have been Tennessee going to Memphis, LSU going to New Orleans to play Tulane, SC going to Clemson, Georgia going to GT...Missouri was scheduled home and home before they were any good. In fact, they haven't finished the season ranked since 1998. But since we're comparing OOC schedules...

Washington played #4 Ohio State, and at #18 Hawaii.
Wash St. Played at #21 Wisconson
Oregon played at # 18 Michigan
Oregon State played at #17 Cincinnati
Cal hosted #12 Tennessee
UCLA and Arizona played #13 BYU.
USC played at both Nebraska and Notre Dame, something that historically would be considered suicide.

And we saw what happened the last time USC played home and homes with teams from the SEC. They're 4-0.

[guitarjosh]

South Carolina beat UGA in Athens this year, name a few Pac 10 teams that would have done that this year.

Stanford beat USC in LA this year. And Georgia got a lot better as the season went on.

[imgv94]

Stanford beat USC in LA this year. And Georgia got a lot better as the season went on.

co sign

[idontlikerocks]

i agree that top to bottom the sec is a tougher schedule to play than the pac 10. however, some of the sec teams take it pretty easy on the out of conference schedule, while others don't. looking towards next season:

LSU plays: North Texas , Troy, and Tulane

Georgia plays: Oklahoma State and Arizona State

USC plays: Virginia, Ohio State, and Notre Dame

If you put USC in the SEC and give them LSU's non conference slate i think they can go 10 -2. However if they keep their own non conference schedule, 10 - 2 would indeed be pretty tough.

[hhsilver]

Here's the complete OOC list for the SEC:



ga --okla st,ga tech---troy---- w car
tn --cal---s miss,ark st,la laf
fla --fsu---troy,fau----w ky
ky --lville---kent st,fau----e ky
s car --n car, clem---la laf---- s car st
vand --w f---mia o,emu----richmond
lsu --va t---tulane,mtsu,la tech
aub --ksu,usf---n mx st----tenn tech
ala --fsu---hous,la mon----w car
miss st --wvu---uab,tulane----gardner webb
ark -- ---troy,n tx,fiu----chnooga
miss --mo---memp, la t----nw st

opponents are from:
bcs conf-14
1a non bcs conf - 24 (12 of which were Sunbelt)
1aa - 10 !!!!!
only GA, S CAR, and Aub played more than one (2) against a BCS conf team.
Ark played none (3 sunbelts and chnooga).
Only LSU and Tenn did not play a 1aa school.

As a whole, I don't find this to be a daunting slate of opponents for the "toughest" conference.

You can draw your own conclusions and maybe do a similar list for other conferences.

I believe the SEC is good, but I also believe their high pre-season rankings due to the perception of them being even better than they really might be leads to them having an inflated SOS as the season goes on and leads to continued higher rankings than are deserved, at least in some cases. Ranking should not be made until 4 or 5 weeks of play.

After saying all this, I believe LSU is a worthy champion, as they were 4 years ago when they beat Okla. in the title game. So they are the first 2-time BCS champ and the great USC will just have to do better next time ; say maybe beat a 40 pt underdog.

[mofome]

the sec is the best by a decent margin. these rosters will send so many more players to the nfl, than the rosters of any other conference, that its ridiculous.

[uscfootball33]

Living in ACC country for many years made me realize that the majority of football fans don't understand the SEC game because they have never watched it week after week and most of them have never been to a game. Football in the SEC is a religion, not just a game. I have been to games at Tennessee, at UGA, at South Carolina, and at Florida. Go to Tennessee and hear the crowd as they play Rocky Top, Go to UGA and hear the noise between the hedges, Go to South Carolina and hear 2001 and the "GAMECOCKS" chant, Go to Florida and the noise is like being beside an air raid siren. After you go to those venues and hear those crowds and see those teams compete, you start to understand why the SEC is so much better than every other conference. Top to Bottom, there is just no comparison. Every team can beat every other team and as you can see, the top teams get it done also, as has Florida and LSU the last couple years. Truth is, you can take a middle of the road team from the SEC and if you put them in any other conference, they will be a conference title contender immediately. The truth hurts, but its true. I have been to many out of conference venues like Penn State and Virginia Tech and they just aren't even close. It's a different game and it has been displayed prominently on the national scene the last two years.

[guitarjosh]

Living in ACC country for many years made me realize that the majority of football fans don't understand the SEC game because they have never watched it week after week and most of them have never been to a game. Football in the SEC is a religion, not just a game. I have been to games at Tennessee, at UGA, at South Carolina, and at Florida. Go to Tennessee and hear the crowd as they play Rocky Top, Go to UGA and hear the noise between the hedges, Go to South Carolina and hear 2001 and the "GAMECOCKS" chant, Go to Florida and the noise is like being beside an air raid siren. After you go to those venues and hear those crowds and see those teams compete, you start to understand why the SEC is so much better than every other conference. Top to Bottom, there is just no comparison. Every team can beat every other team and as you can see, the top teams get it done also, as has Florida and LSU the last couple years. Truth is, you can take a middle of the road team from the SEC and if you put them in any other conference, they will be a conference title contender immediately. The truth hurts, but its true. I have been to many out of conference venues like Penn State and Virginia Tech and they just aren't even close. It's a different game and it has been displayed prominently on the national scene the last two years.

No, that is your opinion. Look, I have no problem with someone thinking the SEC is the best conference year in and out. But come on, Ole Miss isn't going to BCS bowls because they play in the SEC, but because they're not a good team! And if you took them out of the SEC, they still wouldn't be a good team.

[mofome]

No, that is your opinion. Look, I have no problem with someone thinking the SEC is the best conference year in and out. But come on, Ole Miss isn't going to BCS bowls because they play in the SEC, but because they're not a good team! And if you took them out of the SEC, they still wouldn't be a good team.

ole miss is not a middle of the road sec team tho.

[guitarjosh]

Well, Arkansas, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy, and Miss State wouldn't either.

[mofome]

Well, Arkansas, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy, and Miss State wouldn't either.

kentucky/ark could play with osu imo.

[guitarjosh]

kentucky/ark could play with osu imo.

They can in certain years, but historically tOSU would mop the floor with both. I think Kansas and Missouri could could play with Ohio State this year too.

[mofome]

They can in certain years, but historically tOSU would mop the floor with both. I think Kansas and Missouri could could play with Ohio State this year too.

yeah, but in other years ole miss (eli manning) could have played with osu. osu is only 0-9 vs the sec because they've only played them 9 times.



the sec is Much better than everyone else. the only real debate is who is the 2nd best conference.

[guitarjosh]

yeah, but in other years ole miss (eli manning) could have played with osu. osu is only 0-9 vs the sec because they've only played them 9 times.



the sec is Much better than everyone else. the only real debate is who is the 2nd best conference.

But they would also lose to Texas Tech and Memphis when they had Eli.

The purpose of this thread was to say that USC would struggle if they played in the SEC, and no real facts were offered up by those who held that belief. While I'm not knocking the SEC at all, I am saying that USC would be in the championship mix every year.

[mofome]

But they would also lose to Texas Tech and Memphis when they had Eli.

The purpose of this thread was to say that USC would struggle if they played in the SEC, and no real facts were offered up by those who held that belief. While I'm not knocking the SEC at all, I am saying that USC would be in the championship mix every year.

if usc played vandys schedule

usc out recruits everyone in the pac-10 by a ton. thats not the case in the SEC. The sec also has much more difficult road venues to win at. the sec also has the best coaching staffs in the nation. usc has the most talented team in the nation, but they dont have a home atmosphere like tn, auburn, bama, uga, uf, lsu. not even close. its much more difficult to win on the road in the sec, usc and vandy would probably have the two weakest home fields in the league.
usc is loaded with talent though.

[guitarjosh]

if usc played vandys schedule

usc out recruits everyone in the pac-10 by a ton. thats not the case in the SEC. The sec also has much more difficult road venues to win at. the sec also has the best coaching staffs in the nation. usc has the most talented team in the nation, but they dont have a home atmosphere like tn, auburn, bama, uga, uf, lsu. not even close. its much more difficult to win on the road in the sec, usc and vandy would probably have the two weakest home fields in the league.
usc is loaded with talent though.

If USC played VAndy's schedule, they would have 8 home games. Richmond, Bama, Ole Miss, E. Mich, Georgia, Miami Ohio, Kentucky, Wake. Road games are Auburn, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee. USC could easily go 10-2 with that schedule.