yea except theres teams that have been just terrible for like the last decade. Tennessee and Kentucky are ahead of Clemson. Penn State is #24(i figured people wouldnt touch this school with a 10 foot pole for at least a decade like people did with SMU after they got the Death penalty) But the ones that schocked me was TN and KY being #3 and #12. Last time TN ended a season ranked was 2007 and I couldnt even find last time KY finished ranked. Its one thing to have a down year like Auburn did last year. That probably isnt going to hurt you as much. But TN and KY have had a down decade. Unless those kids are going "Hey those schools suck I can go there and be a star. Then I get noticed more and get an easy ride into the NFL"
honestly i don't pay much attention to recruiting rankings, because frankly, if you cannot develop the talent you are getting it doesn't mean anything.
look at michigan. consistently top 10 recruiting classes, but they haven't really done much of late.
look at schools like UCF. do you think they had a high recruiting rank?
Performance matters to some, but history is more important overall. Tennessee has a great history of winning, and won the title not too long ago. You know, when these current recruits were growing up. My guess is that they want to help them win again.
Facilities are a huge selling point. Campus life is huge. Playing time is a big deal to many top recruits. Guess who has open spots? The ability of the coaching staff is huge. Not to mention their knack for recruiting. Also, the style of play matters.
I think current team performance is pretty low on most recruit's list. They know that they are going to be part of that team's future, not present. History is a good indicator of how a team will fare in the long run, not what they did this year.
I like sandwiches
Considering that every SEC school receives a portion of the conference's total bowl winnings, I'd say that's a logical reason to root for a rival whether you personally agree with it or not. That's not to mention that fact that if an SEC team wins it just goes to further bolster the rhetoric of it being the best conference in college football (this obviously helps things like network deals, media coverage, and recruiting).
I'm pretty sure that the payout per team is the same regardless who wins, but certain bowls might be different. Like I know I read an article that both Clemson and OSU received 18MM for their Orange Bowl appearance. So in that case the money will come regardless, you could then flip the other end of your argument and say you want other SEC schools to get embarrassed on National TV so recruits are less likely to go there and maybe choose your school instead.
You're right about the payouts, I was more referring to the situation when SEC fans are rooting for a team to win vs a non conference opponent to stay at the top of the rankings to get into a better bowl game, like rivalry week (UGA vs GT, Florida vs FSU, South Carolina vs Clemson.) Absolutely you want recruits to choose your school over others and having them lose helps that, but what about situations like A&M, Florida, USC. When kids are considering other in-state options being able to say you're going to get to play in the SEC can work to your advantage. The mindset in the SEC is very much an us vs them for a lot of fans.
Stupid rule is stupid. Nick Saban and Brett Bilema propose a new rule to slow down offenses.
This just screams "whining because you can't stop it", and this is coming from an Alabama fan.
That rule is retarded.
Agreed, you could just learn how to defend against it. Or just go with it, like the Pac 12 has. They said screw the power game for the most part, defense involves pass-rushes, and speedy DB's. Even then it can't really stop Oregon save for the one game they fack up every year.
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All right SEC naysayers, have this one.
Instead of having a ninth conference game like the others, they decided that SEC teams will have a mandatory game against a Big-12, PAC-12, Big 10, or ACC team. So they're all going to emulate Alabama basically.
9 conference games only made sense for conferences that had 10 teams. The SEC has two 7 team divisions, so they have 6 divisional games to ensure they all play eachother, and 2 games outside the division to preserve rivalries, makes sense enough to me, and having the mandatory games against other conferences means they don't pile up a bunch of guaranteed losses in the conference like the Pac-12 does.
They will still only schedule guaranteed wins, like most teams do - including my favorite in the PAC-12. I like the idea though, and I liked it a lot better when I thought it said they had to play one team from each conference every year (which, of course, doesn't make sense - but that was just my misread initially).
All I want is my thankgiving day or weekend game of Texas A&M and Texas rivalry back, since I seriously doubt we will see a UT vs. UTSA rivalry anytime soon.
and I hope this new playoff system doesn't cater to Alabama.
dont they feed those boys at FSU?
Relevant enough, since he didn't really play in the NFL, Auburn tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen died in a car crash Sunday: http://espn.go.com/college-football/...d-car-accident
I remember him being a pretty big deal on the field. Or maybe it was just because he had a memorable name. Isn't confirmed whether or not the driver was drunk, but either way it really sucks dying in a car crash when you weren't even driving.
As a Michigan fan, I'm not seeing any top recruits. Braxton Miller is out for the year and low and behold a freshman whose better than our stater...
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Michigan won't be good again until they get a top coach who can bring in recruits
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If they were able to pick up John Harbaugh when he leaves Baltimore they might just have a chance