RunningJacket

How about this? Just win the playoffs and then we’ll know? For any fan of any team.

We no longer have to argue about who should have gotten in the Orange or Fiesta Bowl. Win 10 games, get a playoff bid and then talk smack. Right now, it’s just a fun time waster for 3 more weeks.

But, we all know we’ll be arguing about 3-4 loss teams claiming all their losses were to the 85 Bears.

None of this matters. On field playoff results can’t be refuted. The SEC has been exposed and ESPN can put every SEC team in the preseason top 25 and it won’t change the simple fact that the SEC can’t win the games that matter anymore. NIL and the portal has built others and weakened them. We all watched every game and our eyes don’t lie.

I’m saying LSU and Bama don’t have the money that a lot of other places have. Yes, they spent money on old coaches and new coaches and they bought Leavitt, That’s right now today, They just don’t have the deep money that others have. Nothing I can say will convince anyone. The only thing that matters are results so let’s see how the next decade under NIL unfolds. So far, the SEC has been very unsuccessful with NIL in the playoff era.

And yes, I’m a GT fan. What does that have to do with anything. My team, while improved, is also not spending big time money. We’ll see if we do over the next decade.

No, Bama and LSU are not on the list - yet. It’s money. Not who can get the most fans or who can sign 5 stars for a free car.

The entire landscape has changed and with Saban being gone, no recruit sees Bama in the same light anymore especially after watching them get destroyed by lowly Indiana. LSU shot their shot with a coach who has never won anything of note but has parlayed his demeanor and social media skills into a huge contract from a school desperate to stay relevant.

In another 3 years I expect even the diehard of diehard SEC fans won’t be able to stay asleep.

We have just as good a shot as any. The next decade will be fun as the field is now wide open. I know we are a time of year where every fan thinks there team is clearly better than others but the reality is none of us know.

I’ve always like LSU and am looking forward to watching the Kiffen reality show during the season. I also follow the Sun Devils as my west coast team and I’m just not convinced Leavitt is the guy many of you think he is. It will be fun watching,

So what? The SEC could kick out Texas, OU, Bama, and Tennessee which would make it easier but they’d also lose the money that comes with those teams and TV co tracts. That’s my point - the SEC whines but they put themselves in this position.

And it’s just a myth that they have tougher games. Sure, I expect Kiffen to say that because these guys know a lot of them will end up 9-3 so they are already starting to try and manipulate the committee- as they should.

We already know what every team will be saying in late November. You guys will argue your 9-3 teams should get in and others will be saying their 10-2 teams should get in. I’ve seen every argument over my 56 years on this earth.

The problem the SEC now has this year is that no one believes them because they have been losing a lot of playoff games so the argument about how tough their schedule is goes out the window. Of course, then you bring up the this fantasy that your boys are so tired by December. It’s laughable and no one is buying it.

Texas doesn’t play defense. That’s always their issue. Expecting to win shoot out after shoot out does not lend itself to winning 3 or 4 playoff games.

Oregon, UGA, Miami, Ohio St, and ND are the 5 with a real shot. No one else does. It will be one of these 5.

I can absolutely say the coaching has fallen in the SEC. Only morons would say it hasn’t. No Natty appearance since Saban retired and yet some say there has been no drop off? Mario freaking Cristobal just pushed your ish in twice in the playoffs and you don’t think there’s a drop off? Cristobal has lost multiple ACC games every season and yet he ran thru the SEC like it was standing still.

And the exact same thing many if you are saying today is what you were saying about Texas and OU and yet they are picked in the top 3 of your conference when you said they’d be bottom feeders.

Your big stadiums and ESPN promotion can’t save you from reality, No one is scared to play your teams anymore. You don’t play defense and your QB play is average. Your only chance this year is Smart and Stockton. Otherwise we’ll be watching Day, Freeman, or Cristobal in the Natty.

I agree that the BIG isn’t what the SEC use to be. But that doesn’t matter because that is all history, No different than when Army, Navy, Princeton, and Rice were winning Natties. It’s a totally different era. Just because we remember the hot Jasmine Bleeth doesn’t mean she’s hot today.

The SEC absolutely dominated when the NCAA stopped enforcing its rules and the usual suspects were buying the Cam’s of the world to win.

That entire system is now dead and the sport is better for it because now every fanbase has hope to buy better players. Some will and win and some won’t and lose. But fanbases like Indiana who suffered for 70 years will grow and interest in them will grow. Same for many others, Other programs who traditionally won 8plus games will fall and their fanbases will begin the slow decline. I have lived it with my team and it’s not fast but it’s a slow decline and then a decade goes by and bam you have 40K in the stands instead of 70K. I’m looking at Auburn, Florida, Penn State type schools who have already seen several years of decline. Sure, new coaches bring a hope, but the reality is those places just aren’t getting the same caliber player now that everyone is buying.

The beauty of today is we no longer have to pretend. We have a playoff system now and the results are speaking louder than any homer fans. The SEC is getting dominated in the playoff era. We don’t have to wonder how BIG teams would do with a SEC schedule. We don’t have to wonder how an SEC team would with a BIG schedule. None of that matters because they play each other in the playoffs every year.

We have a playoff now where games are played and actually televised so the time for lies is long gone. We have 2 years of a 12 team playoff where the SEC has had 8 of the 24 bids, That’s 33% of the bids for the SEC. And they’ve won 1 playoff game against a P4 conference - ONE! Meanwhile the ACC has gotten only 3 bids and have won 3 games against P4 teams - 2 SEC and 1 BIG. If y’all had done that you’d be beating your chest even more than you beat it while losing.

Just admit your coaches aren’t that great and the media lies to you about how good you are. And they are doing it again with the preseason polls. They are lying to you and then you won’t believe your own eyes come January.