Leading The Way, SEC Style

 It's no secret that every college football fan has the feeling that their team is the best of class, and sportsmanship.
Most also will point out that their conference is the strongest in the country. The arguments of out of conference scheduling, and inter-conference play can only be settled in one or two contests a season, and the Bowl games.

So to get any accurate data we must look at the overall picture. Over time one can start to see the picture more clearly, with hindsight being 20/20 and all. This is where I should point out to all who do not know that I also write the Auburn Team page on philsteele.com since that is where much of this information is coming from.

Then there is the significance each conference can bring to it's member institutions via money, exposure, and support. The more of a buffer a conference leadership is against the big bad wolf that is the NCAA, the better for each university.

We can't rank the buffer factor, because all things are not made public in that area, and it would be pointless anyway. Every single institution has minor infractions at some point. The major infractions usually end up costing at least some games, and especially bowl games so, that aspect is already factored in. We could go on all day about the effects of major infractions, but really it won't serve any purpose. Most serious college football fans already know what those effects mean for each of their respective teams.

Instead let's look at the area most commonly used as a metering device when signaling the best conference in the country. Wins! The single biggest factor determining where your team finishes record wise, and is ranked each season is it's won loss record.

Second to that is each conferences scheduling, and then we will have a much better look at which conference actually leads the way to be the "Best Conference in America"

Thanks to Phil Steele for this information.

Conference Bowl Rankings 2000-2009

"The SEC was clearly the top performing conference in bowl games in the last ten years. Their overall 48 bowl wins were 10 more than any other conference and their win % was just behind the MWC and Big East. What really separated the conference from the others was their performance in BCS bowls and games against ranked teams. Their 32 wins over ranked teams was 13 more than the Big 10 and their outstanding 12-3 record in BCS games was clearly the best. The conference also went a perfect 5-0 in national title games!"

For the rest of Phil's article go here.

Here is the winning percentage chart from philsteele.com.

If I could add a little something here, the clear indication of the above charts does quite a bit more than suggest the strength of the SEC from top to bottom. It's a definite indicator that the top tier programs in our conference can go toe to toe with the best in the country, and it also emphasis's that the schools also experiencing some misfortune during whatever season can still compete against all other conferences.

Also the argument has been made that "The SEC gets to send more teams to Bowls, so they should have the best winning record" For that Swiss Cheese of an argument I present, again, the last two sentences of Phil's.

"Their 32 wins over ranked teams was 13 more than the Big 10 and their outstanding 12-3 record in BCS games was clearly the best. The conference also went a perfect 5-0 in national title games!"

Nuff Said!!!!

Now let's look at out of conference play.

Phil Steele’s 2010 Toughest Schedules          

 This chart shows no less than 7 SEC teams are in the top 20 for toughest schedules. The Big Ten has three, the Pac 12 has four,the ACC has three, you get the point. Out of conference scheduling has less to do with SEC teams than others because of the interconference play.

In fact some conferences MUST play strong out of conference games just to get noticed by pollsters and computer systems alike. That simply isn't true for SEC teams.

So you see ladies and gentlemen, no matter how you slice it, the best conference in America is the SEC, and the strongest conference in America is the SEC, at least in relationship to football. And since the college football game is the engine that powers the athletic bus in 98% of all major college athletics, it's clear at least for now that the SEC is leading the way.

WAR EAGLE!