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re: Who will be the next elite team in the SEC?

Posted on 9/17/12 at 3:01 am to
Posted by MaroonNation
StarkVegas, Mississippi, Bitch!
Member since Nov 2010
21950 posts
Posted on 9/17/12 at 3:01 am to
quote:

Miss State will never be a perennial top 5 program, that's just not who they are. I see Tennessee as next in line


Do they vote on this every year at the SEC Coaches meeting with Slime? Just wondered because I hear this often. I didn't know that the SEC had a caste system in place...Someone needs to let Mullen know cause he is going to overstep his boundaries
Posted by Fishhead
Elmendorf, TX
Member since Jan 2008
12196 posts
Posted on 9/17/12 at 3:45 am to
quote:

Do they vote on this every year at the SEC Coaches meeting with Slime? Just wondered because I hear this often. I didn't know that the SEC had a caste system in place...Someone needs to let Mullen know cause he is going to overstep his boundaries
Well MSU is located in Starkville, MS. Strike 1. And no matter how many "This is Our State" billboards they plant all over MY state's highways, it's just, not. In fact, you share the state with Ole Miss and USM, and Alabama, and LSU, and Auburn. You have no recent success to point to, no tradition worth speaking of, and it's taken Mullen years to beat any single SECW team not named Ole Miss. I think it's more than fair to say MSU will never be elite.
Posted by aggressor
Austin, TX
Member since Sep 2011
8718 posts
Posted on 9/17/12 at 8:57 am to
There isn't a caste system but certainly there are those who have more and those who have less. The SEC shares better than pretty much anyone resource wise but still the fundamentals will always strongly favor certain schools. It's money, facilities, recruiting base, and fan support that determine quite a bit. A school can overcome it to an extent and overachieve but consistently beating schools with far stronger resources is really tough and it is getting tougher. That said Bama and LSU actually aren't the strongest resource wise in the conference though simply because of the size of their states but they are very strong, they have been absolutely hitting on all cylinders though and for now are certainly above those who "have more".

That said, the schools that have elite resources are these:

Florida
Georgia
Bama
LSU

A&M could be counted or not on this list because they lack a few things. The potential at A&M is strong enough they are the only school that could really go toe to toe with Florida long term.

Auburn is next and I'm amazed at the size and passion of their fan base and finances considering Bama is still the bigger name and it is not a very big state. They just do it on sheer will. They seem to be hitting a down cycle though and could get knocked down for a few years if they aren't careful.

Tennessee has it all but the recruiting base. I have never understood why that state doesn't produce better talent. Still everything else if off the charts there so they can buy a lot.

Arkansas has a lot in common with Tennessee, though the money they have is from a smaller pool of people. Just aren't many great football players produced out of the state though.

South Carolina and Missouri have a lot in common. Though SC has better facilities and more talent per square mile Mizzou has a greater population base to pull from and more potential, they just have never truly been dedicated to great football. We will have to see how much the SEC momentum carries them.

The Mississippi schools have a decent recruiting base and some passionate fans but simply don't have the money or facilities to keep up. They can overachieve from time to time but long term they are never going to be able to keep up in the SEC West. Almost every conference opponent they play has twice their AD spend.

Kentucky could actually be a decent program if they cared about something other than basketball. If they invested in their program they could own the state recruiting wise and make inroads into some Big 1G territory. They seem happy though to get big checks from the SEC though football wise and put everything in basketball.

Vandy is of course stuck at the bottom long term for reasons everyone knows.
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