Gators vs. Jackets at Talladega

In the interest of full disclosure (and in case this is your first visit to my space), I am a Southeastern Conference football fan. I live and breathe it, in all of its glory.

Like most college football fans in the southeast, I recognize the conference as the best. Others merely play out their games to see who should lose to the SEC champion.

It's pompous I know, but it's how we roll.

From its grills outside the stadium to its gridiron fanfare, the SEC is simply superior.

I will also be honest that during bowl season, I root for just about any team playing against an SEC team. The exception is Georgia, as I have now given them enough money in tuition for my degrees to call myself a rabid Dawg.

Oh, and I also pull for any SEC team playing Georgia Tech. Uh...unless it’s Florida.

If that ever happens I would just succumb to whatever is on Jennifer's to do list. Because that game could only entertain me if it were played on the track of a NASCAR race.

No, maybe you misunderstood. Actually during a race... 

Come to think of it, that might be the first time I watch an oval track with cars travelling at such ridiculous speeds that Rosco P. Coltrane's head would spin and his revolver would discharge Plaxstyle...

I digress.

A large number of SEC fans have this feeling of pride in their conference that somehow requires them to root for the teams that their own team competes against every season. 

The SEC is best and we need to pull for each other. We need to show the country how our boys play football.

Do we? 

Is it really necessary and vital that Coach Spurrier has my support for his chickens to have any shot at beating a Hawkeye?

Bad example. Maybe Darth Visor actually did need my voice. 

See, in my mind, pulling for Florida to win yet another national title only hurts my team's chances at it next year. Or the year beyond...or ever again!

That and it would likely make my head implode. 

Let's face it, a Georgia fan pulling for a team of reptiles actually does NOT make the gators chomp harder. Tebow doesn't need me cheering heartily to defeat a team of BoomerSooners.

That's what his cape is for.

Why exactly should I hope that South Carolina wins against Iowa when Georgia not only plays the Gamecocks each year, but recruits against their coaches along the same interstates? And does Bama forgetting that their season is 14 games long this year help the Dawgs' chances at securing a commitment, maybe even a signature of a 17 year old?

Hard to say, but I'll take my chances. Go Utes! 

So as this year's bowl season began, all of the attention was focused squarely on the Big 12. And it turns out there are actually 12 teams in the conference, unlike the Big Ten that actually has 11.

No wonder their teams can't win at football, they can't count to 11! 

Yet again I stray...

Anyway, this attention was newsworthy because the SEC had won the previous two BCS Championships, but had taken some lumps from the media during the regular season. It seems Auburn, Tennessee and LSU had disappointed them.

Altogether now...Awww!

The Big 12 was sexy, high powered, offensive...and full of controversy. While Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma argued over who should play Florida (or Bama...remember they were that close) the SEC was going about their business. 

Practicing. Scheming. Concocting new formations. Having dinner with agents. Come to think of it, maybe Andre Smith knew what was coming in the Sugar Bowl.

And while I was looking at the schedule of bowls and wondering how the SEC would manage just four wins, Rich Brooks had his coaches watching film. Bobby Johnson had his players practicing 45 yard field goal attempts that would erase 53 years of post season misery. Coach Nutt had his Rebels running some sprints.

Coach Fulmer ate another pie.

This all went on behind my back; therefore I picked my beloved conference to finish the post season at .500. And I smiled at the thought that they might do worse.

Now it's no wonder my bowl pool left me at the shallow end before Santa even returned to the North Pole. Not only did Brooks' Wildcats and Johnson's 'Dores win, so did the Rebels and even LSU. WAHOO!

While the national media was setting the stage for a ceremony in which college football's torch would be passed to the sexy new neighbor with the shiny new Heisman and the ever subjective tie-breaker system, the SEC was setting the table.

And cleaning their plates.

Even before Florida won (everybody with me...) ANOTHER national title Thursday night, an argument could be made that the SEC still reigned supreme.

Now, in the words of our favorite Friend Joey Tribbiani, the point is moo.

Three pretty crystal footballs in three years. Six wins and two losses in the bowl season. And not one respectable coach fired in over a month.

The SEC is not back. It never left. The torch it carries is not petering out; it is burning brighter than ever.

Big 12, your case for supremacy has been dismissed. And not by some 1996 OJ Simpson trial judge in LA named Ito. Closer to one like Judge Jackie Glass in Las Vegas.

Oklahoma, Texas, others - you can ask for a retrial in August. But if Tebow and Sanchez return like they should, my vote would be for the Gators to defend their title(s) against the Men of Troy next January in Pasadena.

And this Dawg fan says, Go Trojans!