The Return- SEC Academics

For the past year or so, I've been writing for one of my friends at theangryt.com. I recommend reading it daily. He's really got some great stuff there, and it gets a ton of traffic. In the past few weeks, I've decided to start writing in here again, and I'm going to start by posting some of my favorite articles that I've written for The Angry T.

This is probably my favorite-- talking about how poor academics actually helps SEC in recruiting.


Bigger... Faster... Dumber?


The SEC is the dominant conference. We've heard it for years. The last 2-3 years it is very possibly true. But why? They're faster, people say. Apparently the deep South breeds differently than the rest of the country.

Is it possible, though, that SEC schools are just able to take more athletes than other schools? Lower academic standards certainly make it a possibility. When looking at the academic reputations of the four major college football conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac Ten), it is clear that the SEC fails miserably.

Of the SEC's twelve schools, only Vanderbilt (18) and Florida (49) make the top 50 of US News and World's 2009 rankings. Only Georgia (58), Alabama (83), and Auburn (96) join them in the top 100. Two schools, Mississippi and Mississippi State, fall under the Tier 3 category. Even when those two sub-par schools are excluded, the average ranking among the other 10 SEC schools is a below-average 89.1.

By comparison, the two worst Big Ten schools (Michigan State and Indiana) are both ranked 71st. That's right, the worst Big Ten schools are ranked significantly ahead of the SEC's average. In perhaps the most staggering statistic, the SEC only has three schools that rank ahead of the two worst Big Ten schools. The Big Ten ranks at the top of the four conferences with a 50.1 average ranking and all eleven of their schools in the top 100.

The Pac Ten ranks second with an average ranking of 62.1 and only one Tier 3 school (Oregon State). The Big 12 falls slightly ahead of the SEC with an average ranking of 86.4 and two Tier 3 schools (Oklahoma State, Texas Tech).

So what does all of this mean? In short, the SEC has a recruiting advantage. Anyone who follows recruiting even a little bit realizes that there are a lot of kids coming out of high school with poor grades, test scores, etc, that are extremely talented athletes. It's not a stereotype. Different kids have different reasons for their academic shortcomings, many of which are beyond their control. When a school has lower academic standards, they can (in general) accept more recruits than schools with higher standards. Even if their entrance standards are decent, an easy trip to college appeals more to kids that are dead set on going to the NFL. Let's face it, student-athletes are not student-athletes anymore. If that were the case, kids would be flocking to the Big Ten. Or, recruits would be lining up to go to Vanderbilt, by far the best school in the SEC. Oh... but there's this little thing called reality. So are SEC players faster? Maybe. But it sure sounds like they're getting an easier ride.

This might not be as humorous as you expect from an article on the Angry T. But, well... the truth is funny enough.