re: Those Who Defended Our 2008 OOC Schedule

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Tell it to the BCS. Like I said originally, if there is even a remote possibility of UF being denied, when they played and beat two BCS conference opponents, what makes you think we'd have any chance with the shite we played?

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I don't think we should miss out if we were to have done the same. We played pretty much the same teams.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that this is the way it WILL happen, just the way I think it SHOULD happen - i.e. overall quality opponents, in conf.or not.

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wait, you're saying beating VT didn't matter last year?

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Not at all. Where do you get that? You're not understanding me. It should be about quality opponents, once again, WHETHER THEY ARE OOC OR CONF. Va. Tech was a quality opponent.

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also, did you miss 2004 AU not getting in?

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That had more to do with ranking at the beginning of the season, and of course, being behind two undefeated teams who started the season being ranked at or near the top. It was a problem discussed by many sportswriters before that season even began.

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Typically, but not this year. You're not seriously throwing SC in with UF and Bama are you?

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Presumptuous again. The conference as a whole is "down" but still offers quality competition. As for SC, they are a good team that was drubbed by a juggernaut UF squad. Not to mention Ole Miss, which hasn't lost any game all year by more than a TD.

But up or down, the conference is still stronger than the PAC 10 and match up pretty well against the Big 12 too. shite, I'd put Ole miss against any of the Big 12's top 5 teams and I'd do pretty well. The conf. just doesn't play defense. They have become the PAC 10. Florida would destroy any of them.

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That's definitely not what I was suggesting...decent opponents, a couple from BCS conferences preferably. Doesn't have to be juggernauts.

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Well, as for the SEC's top two, UF played Miami (at the beginning of the season when they were still healthy and fired up - still with a high level of talent) and FSU, a ranked team they decimated. Bama has enjoyed a pretty easy OOC schedule, BUT started the year off against a then very highly ranked Clemson team. What Clemson turned out to be isn't Bama's fault.

And a lot of it has to do with scheduling so many years in advnce. For example, when LSU scheduled a home and home with Arizona not too long ago, the Wildcats were a top PAC 10 team. When we scheduled ASU, they had played OSU in what was effectively the MNC game. When we scheduled Oregon State, they had just crapped all over Notre Dame in a BCS bowl. Sometimes, the level of play drops off between scheduling and playing the games.

Teams like USC SHOULD have to play strong OOC schedules, because their in conference schedule is lame and weak (but still finds a way to beat them despite being 25-40 point underdogs ).

My main point was and is that the SEC conf. schedule is tougher than most teams' conference + "tough" non-conference schedule."

So frick the "pundits." It's hard enough to go undefeated in the SEC without loading up the off weeks with solid opponents. And you should also take note of the fact that much of your argument seems to hinge on the SEC being "off" this year. Any other year, that argument doesn't work.