re: Joel Klatt: SEC-Big Ten scheduling agreement expected once CFP expands to 24

You just made my point. Everyone has players now. Used to be an SEC team could count on a Vandy and maybe one or two other SEC teams to be not very good. A top SEC team knew they still had to go take care of business but they only had to play a C or a D level game and still get out with an ugly win. Today it’s 100% all the time or you lose because there is no off weeks. Plus it’s not just about the quality of the team you are playing in the SEC you have to go into the harshest environments in all of college football and play. Playing in Baton Rouge, Auburn, Knoxville, Starkville, Gainesville, Austin, Norman, Tuscaloosa, Athens, and several others is a way different experience than a team like Ohio State pllaying at Rutgers, Purdue, Northwestern, Maryland, Minnesota, etc. it’s a different game for SEC teams than the Big 10, ACC, or Big 12. All conferences are not created equal.

As far as injuries go they matter more than ever now. Just look at the injuries that Bama, Georgia, and LSU have right now. There is probably more key players in the training facility for them right now than on the practice field. That level of loss can’t be sustained for anyone. I don’t care how much money the school has. If teams are lucky they can pay for enough quality depth to go 2 deep at every position. After that teams are playing guys that are probably not ready to play significant snaps. Even if a team can hold on and manage enough wins to make the playoff then how effective will that team be in the playoff playing the best of the best. Thats exactly what happened to Bama last season. They made the playoff yah. Once they got there though they couldn’t be effective because of injuries and players having to play so beat up they really couldn’t preform.

Everyone wants to watch good games every week. I get it. In the end though I want to watch the best teams go against each other as close to 100% as possible for all the marbles. When Indiana is playing such a pillow soft schedule they can pull the starters before halftime most of the year and stay pretty healthy while the SEC teams are beating the hell out of each other and fighting and struggling for every win then I can’t say with any certainty that we will see SEC teams win many titles in coming years. I’m all for the SEC as a league challenging themselves. But they should start asking the other power 3 conferences to get better before the SEC jumps and go all in on making things harder. Otherwise the SEC is just handing the national title every year to the other power conferences.