Stoops, Dragon Slaying, and Tilting at Windmills

This windmill is more like a buzz saw. Who can stop the SEC?

By now you heard about the ridiculous statements of Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops. Old news, right? Did you know the big question around the country is: Who is going to end the reign of the SEC in college football?

 Here are a few sources: ESPN , The Atlantic, Sporting News, and that is just a few. Trust me there are plenty more where those came from.

 You're asking what Bob Stoops' comments have to do with these articles about the end of the SEC's dominance in college football. Well, let me try to tie this all together for you. SEC envy. That doesn't really satisfy your intellect? Okay, I'll dive head first into why I call this a nation wide ambush of the SEC in general, and the state of Alabama in particular, an envious attitude.

 Imagine that you are a college football sports writer in the Northeastern part of the country. You write about Syracuse, Boston College, Penn State, and the northern half of the Eastern seaboard. What have you had to write about in the last decade that would be considered good news for your readers? Not much at all. 

Same can be said for those that write for the middle part of the country. Ohio State and Oklahoma lost their attempts at a BCS Championship. The West coast teams have only one BCS crown in the last decade to their credit, and that has been tarnished. Nothing to write about there either.

 I would not be surprised to see more than a few sports writers that have a vote, use that vote for teams that are not members of the SEC. Particularly when it comes to the third and fourth best teams in our conference. 

 The Southeastern Conference is the premiere football conference in America today. No less than 7 consecutive BCS Championship trophies lie within our conference. The last four belong to the two schools in the great state of Alabama. There are those out there that wish to see this come to an end. Let us examine the contenders.

Ohio State- OSU plays Buffalo, San Diego State, Florida A & M, and California,  for their out of conference contests. The big problem here? OSU will likely start the season in the top 5 of the polls. Here is a LINK to their entire 2013-14 schedule. It's not a schedule that would strike fear into anyone. Look for the Buckeyes to be in the mix at seasons end.

 Oklahoma State- The Cowboys are projected to be the best in their conference by some experts. Their complete schedule is here.  If the OSU squad is for real, they will have to survive tough tests against Mississippi State, and on the road in Morgantown against West Virginia.

Southern Cal- USC has four out of conference games, with two of them being true contests. Boston College comes to town in the middle of September, and a month later their annual battle with Notre Dame looms large. This year the Trojans don't have to play Oregon, so their conference schedule is a bit easier. 

Phil Steele has two other PAC-12 teams ranked ahead of USC in his preseason poll prediction. I am having trouble believing Stanford can navigate their last four games without a loss or two. However, they do have one of the best coaches in the country.  Oregon is loaded with talent, but a new head coach, and NCAA trouble brewing will be too much of a distraction to overcome.

I would like to hear from you. Tell me who you think can be the "Dragon Slayer" and end the rule of the SEC. As if that could happen.

War Eagle!