THE SEC SPEED MYTH: IT'S ABOUT THE BARN, Y'ALL

…s’raht, fucker…brrrpphh…uhh, pass ‘at bottla jackblack o’er here…bbrrrphhh, where’s ‘at damn tater…fucker, don’t bogart mah weed…Hail Yeah! ESSEEECEE, bitch!

I neglected to read that diatribe…did they come up with some other excuse for their BCSCG loss?

I disagree. It’s because the southern region of the U.S. did not get in on the NFL action until way after the northern region. The southern region only had college football, therefore it became more important to those living in said region. Plus, the SEC has had some pretty good college football teams over the years which only fueled the fire.

Uh…you disagree with what exactly #3?

ALGator…which would equal us caring more.

So, the “Honk if you sacked Troy Smith” bumper stickers weren’t because Derrick Harvey and Jarvis Moss were faster than the tOSU O-line? Right.

In regards to the Crimson and Cream article — bullshit. No one has talked “SEC speed” for about the last year. You can’t make a counterargument when no one is really making the initial argument anymore.

Well this seems like a reasonable, informed analysis of the ridiculous amount of attention placed on football in the sou- NO FUCK THAT NOISE IT’S CUZ UR ALL REDNEX AND PAY YOUR PLAYERS OLOLOL FUKKEN PWNED WHO WON THE CIVIL WAR THAT’S RIGHT BITCHEZ

On a more serious note, most defensive linemen are “faster” than offensive lineman; that’s why such an emphasis is placed on technique and footwork in coaching them. It sorta has to happen when you’ve got 250-pound converted linebackers going up against 300+ pound OTs. Yeah, Derrick Harvey and Jarvis Moss would run circles around Alex Boone on a race track too, but they’d do the same to Andre Smith and Michael Oher.

gotta agree with #7… C&C Machine’s article smacks of having nothing to talk about in mid-march except for goings on of players in-between college and the pros. “SEC Speed” as a talking point died when Ohio State stepped down from center stage early last year. For the remainder of the season the media was fixated on OMG BIG XII SOUTH OFFENSE IZ GR8!!!

CincySooner—

Why, we couldn’t agree more, since nothing is going on. No motivations here of the same sort, not at all—PAC 10 R GHEY WUDDYA GUYZ THNK?

Until recently, the ACC was technically a “Southern” conference but hasn’t been thought of as a traditional “powerhouse” conference, even though you have a number of historically significant programs (such as Georgia Tech, Clemson, FSU, and Maryland). Probably since we’re always going to be thought of as a basketball conference or the ACC, MOAR LIEK SEC JUNIOR VARSITY AMIRITE?

God damn media monkies and junky junkies….

monkeys

monkees

The SEC is so fast, we read that article 3 years ago.

Yeah! Pac 10 SUXZ. ARP!

1. - I think #3 is making the point that southern states spend more money on/pay more attention to/care more about the college game because they were later in coming to the pro game. No?

I’ll defer to Orson in #5 on that point of logic #16.

Not this argument again. No one is recruiting slugs.

“Yeah, son, we like you because you are as big as a house and move slower than molasses during winter.”

“Crimson and Cream”? That means Alabama to me.

What I like is that pretty much everybody in the media in the last 3 or 4 years states the SEC is the toughest conference as a fact. If the Big 12 wants to say they are the fastest fine, I’ll take toughest.

Spending? take a look at the top 3

http://www2.indystar.com/NCAA_financial_reports/expense_stat/show_field_rank

Orson, your title made me think this was about the barn. You know, that school in southeast Alabama that has spitoons in its hallways.

@ 7 & 9 – I think you mean, “No one smart has talked ‘SEC speed’ for about the last year.” You need look only as far as the comments section of the linked article to see people still talking "SEC speed."

I agree with the notion put forth here that "it’s the coaches (and the coaches’ salaries), stupid." Look at the Big Ten in basketball. The top nine schools all have good coaches in relatively stable situations. As a result, all of them—even Penn State and Northwestern—have fielded strong teams this year. And Indiana will be scary-good in two years or so.

SEC fanbases might go a little crazy in running off good coaches whom they don’t recognize as such (Cutcliffe from Ole Miss and Nutt from Arkansas), but generally speaking they’re willing to shell out big bucks for good coaches.

Nick Saban does not have time for this shit.

Urban Meyer just bought new batteries for chris Rainey.

Houston Nutt is still TEH CRAAAAZZZZZZZZZYYYYYY

And Lane Kiffin just called everyone’s mother a very inappropriate name.

We don’t need your stinkin’ speed.

I love how this debate gets going every year, even after the NFL combine debunks the myth every year. Speed does get diminshed in the cold though, that is a physical fact.

BTW, Woody Hayes died 22 years ago today. He was naked under his clothes, but still dead.

Money and the crazed fans that provide it is too easy an explanation, methinks. If fan obsession won titles, Nebraska wouldn’t be on its third coach in six years. Ditto aTm. If paying coaches butt-tons of cash and giving athletes shiny objects (the “heated barns,” etc.) made the difference, the BCSCG would be Oregon-Iowa every year.

These things help, but the South has no monopoly on either. What it does have is a disproportionate number of I-A caliber football players in its high school ranks (especially if one takes “the South” to include Texas). And anyone with a degree in Duh Studies will tell you those kids are more likely to stay and play in the Southern sun than venture to the frosty north when the time comes.

Also, we train them to run in pads. 40 and shuttle times mean nothing if you can’t do it when it counts. The way the SEC guys cut and blow past people on tape is all the evidence I need.

SEC and speed. Unpossible. Just look at none of the evidence.

Hogan’s the SEC. What’s that make the Big Televen? Iron Sheik I think. The Televen seemingly has the SEC beat with the Camel Clutch, but you know what happens next.

ALGator apparently you’ve never heard of the Atlanta Falcons.
/ Yea, That just happened.

My fast is faster than your fast. My quick smells like french toast.

And I went to a Southern school. LOL amirite???

Wanna know who is fast? Polynesians.

What I think is those fans that support inferior conferences look for any execuse…

My opinion is, we play the toughest teams week in and week out, usually makes us better prepared to kick the shizznizzle out of the teams we play… Right Big 12? That sound you hear is silence in Lubbock, Norman, Columbus, Boston, Atlanta (Ramblin what?), East Lansing.

Nation, get ready ‘cause it’s coming again… another long Fall.

Fast guys down south play football.

Fast guys up north play basketball.

Mentioning speed and polynesians always brings images to my head of Marcus Howard splinching Colt Brennan in the Sugar Bowl. Also, the Atlanta Falcons are the reason so many Southerners paid no attention to the NFL for most of the past half century.

Better weather = longer “seasons”. The “baseball factor” spills over into football.

On Friday nights, there’s nothing else the hell to do in Southern towns except go to the high school football game. That translates into greater interest at the collegiate level.

See above for Saturdays…we’ve already enjoyed the best weather in North America and we’re already crazy about football, thanks to our high school upbringing…so, bring on Saturdays in the Fall!

(I dare you to refute my logic…)

Methinks the eeeeesssseeeccsssspeeeeeddd issue is moot. In most cases ther opponents in the BCSMNCG were out coached. Ohio State was beaten before the first snap against UF. LSU took a little longer but kept the game in hand. As for the Gator’s win over the Sooners, I have nothing to say! BTW, When was the last time OU won a bowl game? Frankly, OSU plays cupcakes and is overwhelmed when they face real competitrion. Neither OSU or OU deserved to play in the ultimate football game

Neither OSU or OU deserved to play in the ultimate football game

So going 12-0, 11-1, and 12-1 means nothing? Until we have a playoff, who the hell else was gonna get picked? Besides Utah, of course, but we all know they could NEVER hang with a mighty SEC team.

As for the Gator’s win over the Sooners, I have nothing to say!

Except that it was tied halfway through the 4th and not put away until the closing minutes?

Not a Big 10 or Big 12 fan, nor do I doubt that the SEC is the premier conference in college football. But its comments like these that make otherwise appreciative football fans loathe the SEC. Having one really really good team doesn’t make your Conference the AFC South. The lesser SEC teams got the snot kicked out of them by Florida all year long. The fact that Oklahoma took them into the 4th quarter doesn’t really seem to be definitive proof of the dominance of the SEC as whole.

And pick a freaking team. Are you rooting for LSU, or for Florida? Or is it a case where you’re unaffliated and hoping to bask in the reflected glory of whoever happens to be hot in a given year?

HAI GUYZ WHTTTTR WE GUD AT?

#3: Another data point between the lack of NFL and success in NCAA football would be USC dominance in the biggest market not in the country without an NFL team. The weather arguments would come into play for SoCal as well.

Orson….this sounds like some Democratic Peace Theory/democracies “trying harder” stuff. Buena de Mesquita and Fearon and all that.

@38

I hear your, but there was no team for a while in LA (physcially for a couple years, and practically for a long time before that) before USC began its recent run. Being from there, I think its safe to say that a lot of fans in LA support USC because its so successful, not necessarily the other way around.

I think a common thread between SC, the top of the SEC, and the other top programs is simple: Coaching. Specifically recruiting. Their are only a handful of coaches who can consistently deliver top 10 recruiting talent year after year after year (and are willing to stick around and not jump to some other job after a bit a success). These top coaches demand top money, and the SEC is more willing as a conference to shell out for them.

Here’s my issue with this “SEC Speed” analysis – it only looks at cornerbacks and wideouts. That was never the issue.

The “SEC Speed” argument centers – in my mind – around the defensive ends, defensive tackles, and linebackers. That is to say, conventional southern wisdom is that the south produces a high number of big-and-fast players relative to other areas.

I’m not saying it is true; I am just saying, in order to dispel the SEC speed myth, you must look at the front seven on defense.

Can’t we just throw science out the window (Hooray – Creationism! JK) and talk about SEC in the context of game-play?

I don’t care about 40 times, but if you can tell me with a straight face that team-for-team, top of conference to bottom, that any other conference in America plays faster on Saturdays then the SEC teams, then you must be watching different games than I. (I’d put the Big 12 on equal terms, probably.)

Chalk it up to adrenaline, coaching, passion, cocaine, whatever…. I just know what I see isn’t an illusion.

Flag on the play #36…. It’s easy to say a team wasn’t “qualified” to play in the MNCG when you only consider the final outcome of the games. However, if you are going to play the “deserve” card, you’ve got to consider the circumstances that led to a team’s selection in the first place.

We’ve all re-hashed the selection process in the BigXII South over and over again, but in the end there was no clear-cut winner of the South. OU came out on top, but there was no definative proof that OU shouldn’t have been selected. If there was a definite winner, then there wouldn’t be a hundred articles written to tout the accomplishments of one team versus another. OU aquitted themselves just fine against Florida. The game was very much in doubt until about halfway through the 4th quarter. Niether team was able to seize control of the game until late. The key to winning the 2008 game was that Florida made 1 or 2 more key plays than OU. If you think otherwise, then you never really paid attention to the game and are making assumptions based on the box score you read in the paper.

As for OSU “not deserving” to be playing in the NC game…
Consider 2007: Nobody had a dominant team in 2007. OSU was the only 1-loss team left among the big boys. Given that LSU handled OSU in 2007 let’s just assume the BCS got it right in selecting the Tigers. Who would they play besides OSU? 2-loss VaTech that lost by 41 to LSU? 2-loss Oklahoma, who plays in the “weak” BigXII South? 2-loss USC who lost to STANFORD? 2-loss Georgia, who didn’t win their division? Kansas? Hawaii? Missouri? OSU earned their way into the game in 2007.

In 2006 who should have been there in their place? Michigan, who lost to OSU? 2-loss USC, fresh off of a loss to UCLA? LSU… who didn’t even win their division? LOUISVILLE?!?!? In 2006 OSU was undefeated and fresh off a win over previously undefeated #2 michigan. I’d say their resume was more solid than the rest of the field in 2006 including Florida’s.

#43… Speed on Saturdays is a product of,… wait for it…. coaching.

Good coaching can accomplish so much for a team in two ways.
One, if a coach has a special way to hammer home the fundamentals in practice, then that will translate to the field. Those dynamic cuts, run downs from behind, and repeated pancake blocks to open mile-wide holes don’t just happen… they are a product of coaching the talent available.
Two, good coaching will put players in position to make plays. The best running back in the country can’t do squat if they are stacking nine in the box. A linebacker will have a much easier time chasing down a reciever on a screen if he’s already in position to make the play. The player doesn’t have to be lightning fast all the time, he just has to be in the right place at the right time. Good coaching will do that for players.

The reason the SEC is better than the rest of the country is coaching. They’ve got the best group of coaches top to bottom in the country. and not just head coaches… coordinators and position coaches as well. How do you get the best coaches? Spend the most money.

Orson’s right. The SEC simply cares more.

@ CincySooner – such rationale thinking from a man located in Ohio! Glad to see that state hasn’t completely rubbed off on you.
Very well put.

Facilities go a long way, but, as someone who drives past the Longhorns’ indoor practice facility every day on my morning commute, I don’t think we (the SEC) have a monopoly there. And some of the high school facilities in Texas would blow your mind. I think we’ve probably got a bit of an advantage, top to bottom, in coaches, but coaching and scheme only gets you so far.

Where the SEC has a DECIDED advantage is in the availability of local talent. If you look at the hometowns listed on NFL rosters, Dixie looms large. Now this opens up a nature/nurture debate: does the south just breed future NFL stars, or is three or four years of playing at a typical SEC program the right crucible for molding NFL players?

Other thing to consider about the SEC’s success against northern counterparts is weather. I can’t deny what an advantage that is, both in terms of enabling players to get used to playing fast and when you consider that most major bowl games are played in the Sunbelt.

The “SEC Speed” thing really got its legs from mainly big guys(over 200lbs) who could run freakishly fast for their size(Bo Jacksons 4.19? 40 speed in the combine) from the 80’s- Bo Jackson, Hershel Walker, Cornelius Bennet, Derrick Thomas. Hershel Walker was a man among boys as a FRESHMAN in college.
I have seen Bo Jackson hit full speed around the corner and get run down from behind by Cornelius Bennet. Thats alot of speed on both sides of the ball. Derrick Thomas was virtually unblockable off the edge-12 solo sacks in a NFL game? Who does that? And he never moved around, stayed in the same position, they knew he was coming and he kept blowing by the tackle, and the tackle couldnt get help.
And in recent times for Linebackers-James Willis,LB from Ole Miss, ran a freakin 4.33, an INSIDE linebacker who could go from hash to hash like a corner and run in coverage with WR’s is insane.

I found a cut & paste error in your beautiful message:

“This equals "caring more," which we do in a very substantiated way by hiring coaches at higher salaries, pouring more money into training and developing football players,…”

…should be…

“This equals "caring more," which we do in a very substantiated way by hiring coaches at higher salaries, pouring more money into training and developing football players at higher salaries,…”

That is all

War Damn %

Give credit where credit is due: The muck rabbits of Okeechobee deserve some of the credit. (For both speed and incredible cutting ability).

…s’raht…

Honestly, growing up down here in south Alabama(from age 8 thru 14) and playing against some of these future NFL stars,(Pre-Madden and Xbox,PS3, when kids could safely go outside and your parents werent worried about predators and gang shootings and you could leave at 1pm and come back at 8pm all beat up) I can say weather does have alot to do with how players are developed. (The skills I learned was toughness, playing hurt, knocking the hell outta people, getting the favor returned, and how to break tackles, how to gain respect of a tougher opponent-mainly learning that the brothas dont mess with crazy white boys) We called our own fouls(bad idea). I would say the weather is why there are so many great B-Ball players up north cause its an Indoor Sport, and many of the same Southern players would play B-Ball instead of football if they lived up north, simply because of the weather and wanting to be competitive somehow. I lived in a town that was “rough” around the edges and the wealth was divided by a set of train tracks. When we werent knocking heads from the time we were 5 yrs old til the time we got into high school, we always played “sandlot football” on our off time and we had some great friendships “with the brothas” and had played with or against some of the best athletes in the state via park ball and high school.(Many high schools are segregated via zip codes)
And after football season, in the winter (our typical winter days on average is 65ish, coldest is 35 ish, maybe for 3 or 4 days tops) on about every Saturday and Sunday, (sometimes on Friday if school was out early) we would always meet at the park after lunch on Sat or church on Sunday, and we would have some of the most rugged, knockout, dragout full on tackle football sessions that would last well over 4 hrs, hell we would keep score by number of TDs, not by points. It was like Arena Football sans the kicker since we always just dug a hole and kicked off again. Passing games were huge and non stop. There was always a guy who could throw it a mile and always someone fast enought to go get it. It was like some sort of prison team like Tulsa-Florida shootout, with no one ever in the backfield and usually had someone as the coveted “All Time QB” who actually played QB and couldnt get hurt. And if we were short on people or blockers, center was an eligible receiver after the dreaded 3 Mississippi rush….. And the game wasnt limited by age, hell there were many times guys who had played some sort of college ball(older siblings) would usually drop in and we would balance out the teams based on speed and talent and size so that no one would get killed. We called it “FootBrawl” since playing tackle without pads, you are gonna get hurt. Many collarbones(my own included) were claimed by trying to get extra yardage while being held up then jumped on and falling onto the ground on your shoulder. We eventually were found out by the coaches at our various schools, we were all but stopped by the time we were Freshman in high school from that since some injuries were career threatning and expensive(ACL’s, ankles, sprains, concussions, black eyes, teeth) and most didnt have health insurance or werent covered unless they could fake it til practice, then get covered by the schools insurance.
So to sum up, out of 365 days a year, many kids down here all the way to south Florida have about 350 days to focus and play some sort of football due to the weather. The other times we were forced to workout in some aspect with things called “weights”. Many coaches HATED multisport Athletes and made you pick mainly between Football and Baseball or Basketball since the Spring would always get here too fast and many of the white kids still played Baseball and the brothas who were tall and lanky took to Basketball.
Thats why down here, you have your traditional Baseball power, a Basketball power and a Football power, and its so rare to be competive in all sports since you really good athletes are stacked into one sport at each school, even though many of these same kids could play and be great at all of them, and the Coaching is competitive, and most want to keep their job so they hog all the talent for their particular sport if they are the dominant coach in their school, and such is life, and so life is…….

I got board after “Honestly”

ILT @#53…“bored” I presume? Honestly? No, really, I am bored, thus here I am…and 5:00 still almost four hours away…shit.

Whether you believe in “SEC” speed or not, if you follow a program and do not live in California or Texas, you best hope that your school is recruiting some players from the south…

Reality@37, I picked a team about the time I lost My baby teeth. Actually, I didn’t pick a team, My old Man picked a team for Me. UGA is My team, but since this blog was about the SEC as a whole, I didn’t think my personal feelings were relevant. OSU, excuse Me, tOSU has not beaten an SEC team in their last nine tries. In 2007 USC, OU, and UGA all had better teams than tOSU. Texas had beaten OU head to head last year and both teams had identical records. So I stand by My statement, neither team deserved to be in the BCSCG. Oklahoma has great athletes, yet they have lost in BCS games three years in a row. The Ohio State has great athletes, yet they are 0-9 in their last games against the SEC, including TWO losses to South Carolina! The SEC has the best coached teams top to bottom in the country. I think some people use “speed” as a covert racial slur when refering to the SEC. So I guess other conferences don’t have fast Black Guys?

the SEC has the most starters and players in the NFL. The biggest change attributed by everyone making the jump from college to the NFL is the speed of the game. Coincidence… me thinks not.

In 2007 USC, OU, and UGA all had better teams than tOSU.

And they all also had more losses. When you have a championship system where the number one qualification (for the blessed BCS schools, that is), is “team with least losses”, that trumps anything else. Especially when one of those other schools got blown out badly and didn’t even make their own conference’s championship game.

Texas had beaten OU head to head last year and both teams had identical records.

And OU won their conference because of a stupid, stupid rule. I was personally against it, as I believed that Texas should have gotten the nod, but stupid rules are still rules.

OU still made it a game against the Gators. Florida beating them by 10, with a late TD to put things away, is a credit to Florida. But don’t oversell it. They did something that Texas also did. The same Texas that needed a last minute miracle to get by the supposedly inferior tOSU.

And you still can’t explain why the 2006 tOSU team (12-0) didn’t deserve to be there. Saying that they have never beaten an SEC team in the past IS NOT a legit reason.

Reality is a bitch, isn’t it?