Give the first national title to the SEC

Matt Hayes

Poor Aubie. Best team in the nation last season and couldn't play for the national championship. Best team in the SEC this year and can't play for the league championship. Maybe the Eufaula (Ala.) Tribune will give the Tigers some paper championship again. That, or Auburn will have to settle for my designation of being the best team in the best conference.

Seriously, who wants to play the Tigers now? Get a glimpse of the Iron Bowl? Did you see the balanced offense, the train of a tailback in Kenny Irons and any of the 11 sacks, 20 hurries and 15 knockdowns Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle had to endure?

Think how well Auburn is playing and understand this: The Tigers' reward could be only the Citrus or Cotton Bowl. Such is life in the SEC, where the best team won't play again for six weeks and the two that will play in the conference championship are both scant plays from being unbeaten.

LSU blew a 21-0 lead to Tennessee in its SEC opener and lost in overtime but has won every game since. Georgia got an untimely injury to quarterback D.J. Shockley and lost to Florida, a team the Bulldogs could have beaten by two touchdowns had he played. The Dawgs then lost two weeks later to Auburn after the Tigers completed a fourth-and-forever late in the game.

Now, here's where it gets scary: If Florida and Georgia win this week as favorites, the SEC would have four teams with nine wins and another with eight. Yet, I keep hearing about the SEC being overrated because its teams are offensively challenged. Maybe--just maybe--that's because there are six SEC defenses among the top 16 in the nation. And unless you are the Southern California Trojans, you win big games with defense.

I know Big Ten and ACC snobs will point out that their conferences each has seven bowl-eligible teams (and the ACC will have eight after this week). I don't care. Bowl eligibility doesn't equate to strength of conference. The Big 12 could have eight bowl-eligible teams if Kansas beats Iowa State this weekend, and we know how brutally tough the Big 12 is (that's sarcasm, folks).

"I know every coach thinks their conference is the toughest," says Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville. "But those guys aren't playing in this league week in and week out."

OK, Tubs. I'm a believer. So where exactly does everyone else stand?

2. ACC. This used to be a finesse league. Not anymore. The shame of it all: The ACC and SEC play only once in the bowl season. But the ACC has won the past four Peach Bowls against SEC teams by a combined 100-37.

3. Big Ten. Penn State is the story of the year in college football, but there's plenty of disappointment after that. Michigan and Iowa have eight losses combined, and even Ohio State--which likely will get an at-large BCS bid--could have done better if not for a ridiculous share plan at quarterback the first month of the season.

4. Big 12. Texas is the most complete team in the nation ... wait, wasn't the same thing said about Oklahoma last year before USC tossed around the Sooners in the Orange Bowl? Look, it's not like the Longhorns have been tested in this dog conference. I'm going under the assumption that Texas is just that good and everyone it plays is completely overmatched. Texas Tech has had a nice season; everyone else ... yeeesh.

5. Pac-10. USC is at 33 in a row despite sleepwalking through last week's win over Fresno State. UCLA is better than it showed against Arizona, and one-loss Oregon is getting lost in the BCS at-large talk. After those three, it's Big East ugly.

6. Mountain West. TCU has had a fantastic season; the Frogs are the quietest 10-1 team in the nation. Take Utah, BYU, Colorado State and New Mexico--all bowl-eligible teams--throw them in a locker room and switch uniforms, and I guarantee you couldn't tell who's who.

7. Big East. OK, there's West Virginia. And West Virginia. And West ... you get the picture. A quick tip for Louisville: Win a big game when it matters, then come talk to me.

8. Mid-American. This conference took a step back this season, but Bowling Green and Toledo have enough to scare the bejesus out of BCS heavyweights.

9. Conference USA. C-USA has fewer bad teams than the WAC. Congrats, fellas.

10. WAC. Fresno State, Boise State and seven bad teams.

11. Sun Belt. The league champ (Louisiana-Monroe) is 5-5. There may be 10 or more I-AA teams that could win this conference.

HAYES' 6 PICKS

Texas 56

Texas A&M 14

And Fran thought he had it tough at Alabama.

West Virginia 27

Pittsburgh 17

Pat White is the next great spread option QB.

Florida 16

Florida State 13

Meyer will have beaten rivals Tennessee, Georgia and FSU.

Notre Dame 35

Stanford 17

Welcome back to the BCS, Irish.

Kentucky 33

Tennessee 31

Vandy and Kentucky in the same season? Why not?

Virginia Tech 30

North Carolina 17

This one may be tougher than the 'Noles next week.

speed reads

It's time to get rid of the penalty for celebrating in college football--or at the very least, adjust it. The ridiculous rule cost Vanderbilt a chance to beat Florida, and it nearly cost Ohio State in its victory at Michigan. There's no need for the choreographed stuff, but there shouldn't be a problem with a little jukin' and jivin'.

Do me a favor--watch the Senior Bowl. There you will see Washington State tailback Jerome Harrison, who leads the nation in rushing yards and had four 200-yard games this season. Some NFL team is going to love this speedy fire hydrant.

INSIDE DISH

It looks as though the BCS will have its best bowl lineup yet as long as conference favorites (USC, Texas, Virginia Tech, West Virginia) don't get upset. Ohio State likely locked up one of two at-large bids last Saturday when it beat Michigan while Alabama and Miami lost. Notre Dame will secure the other bid with a win at Stanford on Saturday. The probable BCS breakdown: Rose (USC-Texas), Fiesta (Notre Dame-Ohio State), Orange (Virginia Tech-Penn State) and Sugar (LSU or Georgia-West Virginia). Pac-10 officials will try to pressure the Fiesta to take one-loss Oregon over the Buckeyes, and the Orange and Fiesta could swap Penn State and Ohio State to keep the Buckeyes from playing in the Fiesta for the third time in four seasons. * Look for a staff shakeup at Michigan State, which lost six of its last seven games. Spartans coach John L. Smith started his tenure at State in 2003 with a 7-1 record, but his teams are just 11-16 since, including a 7-13 mark in Big Ten games. Smith has three years and $3.2 million left on his contract, and that's too much for the school to eat. Defensive coordinator Chris Smeland and special teams coach Jim McElwain, two of Smith's confidants from their days together in Louisville, are under pressure because of their units' poor play. The special teams have been atrocious; the Spartans had a punt blocked that was recovered for a touchdown last week against Penn State and also missed a short field-goal attempt--a 10-point turn in a 31-22 loss. * Wyoming began the season with high hopes and four wins in its first five games. Twenty-five turnovers later--yep, 25--the Cowboys have finished off one of the biggest collapses in the nation with a loss to San Diego State, their sixth straight

defeat. There's no better indicator of a team's success than turnover ratio. Last year, Wyoming won seven games and was 19th in the nation with a plus-7 ratio. This season, the Cowboys rank 112th with a negative-12. * Quietly and efficiently, offensive coordinator Galen Hall has worked his way into the lead pack of eventual replacements for Joe Paterno at Penn State. Who knows when Paterno will retire, but Hall's work with a once anemic offense-and his successful history as a head coach at Florida (40-18-1 in six seasons)--will be hard to overlook. * There's not a more confounding team than Virginia, which has been loading up on elite recruits for several years but continues to struggle in big games. The Cavaliers are 36-25 under coach Al Groh, including a 2-9 record against the ACC elite of Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech. Groh recently signed a contract extension that will pay him $1.7 million a year through 2010. Now how does last week's 52-14 home loss to the Hokies look?

One key factor for UCLA in its December 3 matchup with USC: Two consecutive weeks off will allow RB Maurice Drew to get healthy. Drew hasn't been the same since spraining his knee last month against Stanford. He has gone three straight games without reaching 100 yards rushing but said last week that he finally feels free of pain. The Bruins have zero chance of beating USC without a big game from Drew, who one AFC scout says will be the fastest player on the field--including Trojans RB Reggie Bush.

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