December 02, 2004
SEC Domination
The Southeastern Conference has completed its 72nd year of college football competition. The tradition of excellence in the SEC has continued in 2004 as the league has five teams ranked in this week’s polls.
Here are some highlights from the SEC this season:
SEC IN 2004
* Has the most teams ranked in this week's Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls and Bowl Championship Series Top 25 ratings. The five teams ranked this week are (AP/USA Today-ESPN/BCS): 3/3/3 Auburn, 8/7/7 Georgia, 13/12/11 LSU, 15/15/15 Tennessee and 20/19/22 Florida.
* Has had more different teams ranked in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Top 10 than any other conference. The SEC has had five different teams at one time or another ranked in the Top 10 this season - Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee.
* Among the six teams that have been ranked at one time or another in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Top 25 polls this season, the longest losing streak by any team has been two - once by Florida and once by South Carolina.
* Eight SEC teams defeated a team this season that was ranked in the Associated Press or USA Today/ESPN Top 25 at the time the game was played.
* For the first time since 1957-58, every SEC team has won a conference game in consecutive seasons. (Depth of the league)
* The SEC had more intra-conference games decided by five-points-or-less than any other conference in the nation. The league had 15 of its 48 league games or 31.3 percent decided by five points or less. The MAC was next with 14 of 56, followed by the Big Ten 10 of 44 and Big 12 with 10 of 48.
* Among all Division I-A conferences, the SEC attempted less pass plays per game than any other conference in the nation (27.5) ... The league also averaged less plays per game than any other conference (67.0) and was 8th of 11 conferences in total offensive yards per game (367.8). (League’s strong defensive play)
* In four of the six computer polls used by the BCS, eight SEC teams are in the top 50. In the other two, five SEC teams are in the top 50.
* The SEC is the only conference of the three that has four teams with nine wins or more. The next highest total in a league is the Big Ten with three teams with nine wins or more. No other conference has more than two.
* The SEC has five teams ranked in the nation's top 20 in total defense.
* The SEC has five teams ranked in the nation's top 35 in total offense.
SEC FOOTBALL HISTORY
* The SEC has had 15 national champions in the Associated Press, USA Today/ESPN, Football Writers Association of America and United Press International final polls.
* Since conference expansion in 1992, four different SEC teams have claimed national championships – Alabama (1992), Florida (1996), Tennessee (1998) and LSU (2003).
* In its history, the SEC has won 72.4 percent of its non-conference games (2203-811-91). This season, the SEC was 25-11 in non-conference games (69.4) percentage. The SEC has won at least 60 percent of its non-conference games every year since 1982.
* The SEC continually leads the nation in attendance and this year may be no different. The league teams drew 5.8 million fans in 78 games, an average of 74,416 fans per game. League stadiums were filled to an average of 95.87 percent of capacity in 2004. For 23 straight seasons, the SEC has led the nation in total attendance.
* Last season, the SEC posted five bowl wins, tied with the ACC for most in the nation. Using current conference alignments, the SEC leads the nation with 172 bowl wins in its history.
* During the last three years, the Southeastern Conference has had eight student-athletes honored by the National Football Foundation as Scholar-Athletes. The eight represent one-third of the 24 that the NFF has honored the last three seasons and is most of any conference in the nation. This year, Georgia quarterback David Greene and Tennessee offensive lineman Michael Munoz achieved the honor.
(Statistics and records compiled from far too many different sources to link or cite.)
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Comments & Trackbacks
boifromtroy says:
posted on December 2, 2004 05:22 PM — link"The SEC has had 15 national champions in the Associated Press, USA Today/ESPN, Football Writers Association of America and United Press International final polls."
Wow. And USC only has TEN.
Mike says:
posted on December 2, 2004 06:34 PM — linkAccording to the NCAA, since 1950, when all of the polls and groups that pick a national champion are included, the SEC has tallied 24 national football championships. By contrast, the Pac-10 has only 16 in the same time period, 9 of which are credited to the USC Trojans.
In the period form 1920-1950 the Pac-10 won an additional 13 titles for a grand total of 29, while the SEC kept pace by winning 13 more as well, for a final of 37 titles. This is of course not counting the years when more than one SEC team won a title, as happened 4 times. In 1950, Kentucky and Tennessee split, in 1962 Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss had a three way, in 1964 and 1977 Alabama and Arkansas shared a crown.From 1926 to now, USC has won 14 titles (subtracting the 2002 title given them by the Dunkel system), while Alabama has 17.
Both the Pac-10 and the SEC have 8 Heisman Trophy winners, while the Big 10 leads all conferences with 14, including the only two-time winner, Archie Griffin.
Mike says:
posted on December 2, 2004 08:51 PM — link28 only if you want to count all of the titles dating to 1920, but the SEC has a few more if you want to open that door, with 43.
But I think its safe to say that in 1970, Nebraska was undisputable, along with Oklahoma in 75, so subtract those two Arizona State "titles" and I'll also take Stanford's win in 1940 since no one in the country wanted a piece of Minnesota.
Also, Cal is credited with a win in 1937 when almost everyone gave the title to Pitt.In fact, if you pare the lists down to the years in which one of the conferences had a consensus national champion, the SEC would have 19 while the Pac-10 would have 12, according to the NCAA site.
Jeff Quinton says:
posted on December 2, 2004 09:01 PM — linkArkansas had one from one of the lesser polls one year in the 50s or 60s too I remember hearing and they claim it but no one else does.
Aaron says:
posted on December 2, 2004 09:16 PM — linkIt's nice to hear someone mention it other than us Hog fans. It was 1964. We went 11-0 under Frank Broyles, beat Nebraska 10-7 in the Cotton Bowl and were voted National Champion by the old Football Writers Association of America. It still stings that no one recognizes it, considering that it was our ONLY one.
Here is some history of that team: http://oinkville.tripod.com/1964.html
Jeff Quinton says:
posted on December 2, 2004 09:18 PM — linkAaron, I'd never heard of it until watching the Thursday night game with S.C. in Little Rock last season.
I remember them mentioning that most of the polls voted on their National Champion before the bowl games and if I remember correctly, that FWA poll voted Arkansas #1 after the bowls.
Mike says:
posted on December 2, 2004 09:25 PM — linkYeah, I included that '64 Hogs win in my count, its too bad the '69 team couldn't beat Texas at home or they'd have had another title that year too.
Mike says:
posted on December 2, 2004 09:33 PM — linkI know how we can settle this, compare the teams from ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Big 10 against their Pac-10 counterparts in head-to-head games:
Oklahoma-USC
Miami-Cal
LSU/Georgia-Arizona State
Wisconsin-Oregon State
Virginia-UCLAI don't think I'd pick the Pac-10 team in any of those games on a neutral field, except for Cal, maybe.
AU Tiger 83 says:
posted on December 5, 2004 02:58 AM — linkYou california bed wetters are amazing. Somebody besides the folks from the land of fruits and nuts exhibits some football talent and you have a problem? Come on dummies.
Auburn looks like they have a real team, and can give any bed wetters serious contention. Open the offense on up so the interlopers get a taste, but dont get stupid/Arrogant.
AUT83todd says:
posted on December 6, 2004 05:31 PM — linkstephen, i don't know about the whole sec, but bama's bowl record against (current) big 12 teams is 6-5-2 (30-18-2 in all their bowl appearances). i'm mad that a & m is playing tennessee this year, now i'm going to have to root for coach fran again!
