TF's Saturday Preview: The History Behind SEC Dominance

Tribal Fever would like to start this weekend's festivities by directing everyone to a fantastic series on ESPN.com about the SEC.  Which leads us to this week's focus - the historical dominance of the SEC in college football.

There is a pecking order with college football in the Footprint.  It's the SEC and the rest.  The ACC can claim second place.  The Big East can argue.  The Big 12 is probably #2, but they all are second place to the SEC.

History tell us why.

Back on Devember 21, 1894, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was formed.  It was the very first college athletic conference formed in the United States.  The very first members of the conference were Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Sewanee, and Vanderbilt.  By the next year membership doubled to include Cumberland, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas, and Tulane.

The initial idea of the conference was not to determine champions, but to set rules and guidelines as well as eligibility requirements.  Therefore, the SIAA kept expanding members steadily throughout the years.  At it largest point it stretched from Charleston, SC to Austin, TX to Gainesville, FL to Louisville, KY.

(The Texas schools ultimately split off due to travel issues to form the Southwest Conference.  Except for Arkansas and some early years with Oklahoma as a member, the SWC had only schools from Texas.  The SWC had many great team, but it had a limited appeal outside of Texas.)

The SIAA begat the Southern Conference which was formed in 1921.  Because the SIAA had become so large, it was hard to get all the schools on the same page.   Some schools kept a dual membership in both leagues.  (The SIAA was fading and would soon evaporate with the onset of World War II).  At its height, the Southern Conference had 23 schools.

1933 was the year it all changed.  The 13 schools located south and west of the Appalachians (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Sewanee, Tennessee, Tulane, and Vanderbilt) departed the Southern Conference to form the Southeastern Conference.  These schools were the dominant football powers in the Southern Conference at the time.  The Southern Conference responded by adding 6 more small schools.

In 1953, seven schools (Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest) withdrew from the Southern Conference to form the Atlantic Coast Conference later adding Virginia to make it eight total.  Again, these were the next best and biggest football schools in the Southern Conference.

The Southern Conference still exists today, but it is made up of the small schools left behind after the SEC and then the ACC were formed. One way or another, almost every big college football power in the Swampland Footprint was connected to either the SIAA or the Southern Conference.  (The only other Footprint conference worth mentioning is the Missouri Valley Conference which lost its big teams when they formed the Big 6 which later became the Big 8 and then merged with 4 SWC teams to form today's Big 12.)

The SEC's football dominance really should never be in question.  History proves it as fact. The SEC culled all the dominant teams of the Southern Conference, many of whom started the SIAA, and then had a 20 year head start on the ACC who already were a tier down from the schools that were in the SEC when they were all in the Southern Conference together.

Today, everyone can still see that the SEC operates on a different level than the rest of the conferences in the Footprint.  Their coaches are the highest paid and widely considered to be the best as a group.  (Read Patrick Snow's latest column on this subject.)  There are very few head coaches in the ACC that measure up to their SEC counterparts.  This is the same in the Big 12 if you take out Texas and Oklahoma who have always been the dominant teams in that region of the Footprint.

Simply put, SEC schools have had a couple of decades head start in their approach to college football.  The only way that the ACC or any of the other conference can start competing will be to start by playing the same game as the SEC.  This means spending big money on a coach.  Spending good money on top assistants.  Finally, it means dominanting the recruiting game in your backyard while also extending outside it and recruiting on a national level.

There are signs that the ACC is getting it.  Butch Davis is a top level coach and a great hire for UNC.  They just need to keep Davis so that he doesn't pull a Mack Brown and move to greener pastures.  Bobby Bowden has also revitalized his coaching staff by beating out Alabama for Jimbo Fisher's services as their OC.  Frank Beamer is also a solid coach who would probably flourish in the SEC as well.

The only thing the SEC has to fear is itself.  It keeps getting deeper and parity grows.  This conference beats up on itself like no other.  That may help the ACC and the Big East in years those conferences become top heavy.

This Weekend's Slate

Let's start with the Athlon Preview hosted by Patrick Snow.  The three big games covered are LSU-Kentucky, Cincinnati-Louisville, and Oklahoma-Missouri.

Now onto the rest of our weekend preview...

Interconference Showdowns

South Carolina @ North Carolina – Butch Davis got a very nice win. It took him just one game against his old team to let the south Florida recruits know that they better start thinking about Chapel Hill as a destination. Davis is one of the bright lights in an otherwise pedestrian ACC. However, Steve Spurrier is on a mission this year. He wants an SEC East Championship, and he knows how to get up for big games as he showed last week against Kentucky. Expect the Tar Heels to look a little lost out there against the Ol’ Ball Coach.  UNC still is mad from Spurrier's time at Duke.  They won't like him any better after this week. 

UCF @ USF – This is known as the War For I-4 in Central Florida. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been an even matchup so far. Although UCF’s football program is older, USF’s is better, and they are ranked in the top 5 nationally. A lot of people don’t know the history, but USF has played politics for years with UCF. They kept them out of Conference USA, until the Bulls moved on to the Big East and its automatic BCS birth. The series ends this year and USF has no interest in renewing it. Mike Bianchi points out that the Knights have to win this game for it to have any chance to become an annual game.

Unfortunately, UCF has been a tease during the George O’Leary years. This isn’t to say that he hasn’t made the program better because he has. The Knights just have a tendency to play poorly in long stretches (like they did last week against East Carolina). USF is the exact opposite. Jim Leavitt has them taking care of business.

USF wants to put UCF in its place (well below them), and then move on as Florida’s new power program. TF thinks this will happen in blow out fashion.

UConn @ Virginia – We’ll call this battle of the pretenders. UConn is undefeated and UVa hasn’t lost since the opening week. Neither team is getting much respect, and that’s because they haven’t earned anything yet. Whoever wins this game moves towards respectability, the other will be dismissed. TF thinks that Virginia better win this in a strong fashion or the ACC’s credibility will continue to erode.

Middle Tennesee @ Memphis - The Sun Belt wants to get better.  Middle Tennessee could be a player in future years.  Even though both were losses, they played close games against Virginia and Louisville.  This year, however, Memphis will likely win and probably win big.

SEC

Kentucky-LSU supposedly is the big game, but the Tigers should cruise. Yes, Kentucky has been close in the past, but Les Miles has his Tigers playing with a chip on their shoulder. Kentucky’s just not ready this season. Rich Brooks need another solid year or two before Kentucky can be considered in the same breath with the top SEC teams.

ESPN called last week “Gut Check Saturday” but that should be the name of this week in the SEC. On paper, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, and Tennessee should cruise against what are considered to be the lower half teams of the SEC, but the SEC is far more balanced this year than it has been in the past. TF expects at least two of those teams to get a close game. One of them will probably lose.

ACC

This conference has credibility issues. Just when you thought Florida State was turning the corner, they lose again to Wake Forest. This isn’t a knock against Wake, but Florida State was brought into the ACC in hopes that their play would raise the rest of the conference. Instead, FSU seems mired in the mediocrity that is starting to define the ACC. There is no team right now that can be considered a candidate for the title game. The best team in the ACC (Virginia Tech) was already thoroughly outclassed by LSU.

Georgia Tech plays Miami in a matchup of another pair of ACC disappointments. Chan Gailey might be on his last legs at Tech. Randy Shannon is just getting started in Miami. He has been assembling a nice recruiting class, but his loss to former boss Butch Davis didn’t make him or his staff look very good.

(Yes, TF is trying to ignore Boston College. For one, they still haven’t played any significant games. For two, they aren’t from the Footprint. For three, the ACC needs to fold the conference if BC is their best team.)

Big 12

Mizzou @ Oklahoma - This is the premier conference matchup of the week. The Big 12 needs Missouri to become a strong annual contender. Nebraska has fallen, and they can’t get up. It’s good that Mizzou put them down last week. TF hopes that the Tigers can win in Norman to bring some balance back to the Big 12. It’s probably a long shot dream, but the Tigers are finally playing with confidence.

Texas A&M @ Texas Tech – It’s an ugly game for the perennial “who’s the second best team in Texas” trophy. A Tech student has already gotten into trouble for a Vick-themed T-shirt while A&M coach Dennis Franchione is just in trouble period.  A&M needs this game and every game from here on out to save Franchione’s job. He has been a major disappointment since arriving in College Station.

The rest of the Big 12 is playing within the conference. Expected winners this weekend are Texas and Kansas. Nebraska/Ok St, Kansas St/Colorado kind of fall into the "who cares?" realm (although we’d like to see the Cowboys put another stake into Nebraska.)

Big East

TF's least favorite conference is at it again - another week of subpar football hijinks!  The only game worth a look is Louisville/Cincinnati.  Nati remains unbeaten.  This is a war across the Ohio River.  The Cardinals have been a huge disappointment this year.  TF hopes the Bearcats ring another win up as they march towards a showdown with USF.

Meanwhile Pittsburgh and their coach that ruined the Miami Dolphins lost to Navy (Warning, Peter Principle in full effect on Dave Wannstedt.)  Also, there is the Rutgers/Syracuse showdown for anyone who cares.

Louisville, Cincinnati, and USF - remind us again why you joined this conference?  You are dominating it while the rest of the teams are hardly keeping up their end of the bargain.  For Pete's sake, just end this abombination of a conference and reform the Metro like we suggested.

Conference USA

No one really knows what to make of thise conference.  UCF looked like one of the better teams until they laid an egg against East Carolina.  If the Knights lose big to USF (see above), Conference USA will be up for grabs.  Mike Price's UTEP team is consistently at the top of that side of the conference with Tulsa close behind, but the east is really jumbled.  This may be the week where some things get sorted out.

Sun Belt

Much like C-USA, the Sun Belt has a lot of iffy teams.  The two best in the conference, Troy and FAU, are off this week.  There are quite a few young programs in this conference, but as a whole, everyone seems to be improving.

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