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发帖数: 20742 | 1 GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Something was missing Monday night.
At the past few BCS title games, the end-of-game procedure seemed set in sto
ne. An SEC team wins the title, and even before the fans of that team break
into their traditional chants, they serenade departing opposing fans with th
e same three letters.
S-E-C. S-E-C.
But when Auburn's Wes Byrum drilled a chip-shot field goal Monday to clinch
the conference's fifth consecutive national title and seventh in 13 years of
the BCS era, Tigers fans never started the chant. Alabama fans did it last
year. LSU fans did it three years ago. Florida fans did it twice, in January
2007 and 2009.
Auburn fans yelled War Eagle. They chanted "It's great ... to be ... an Aubu
rn Ti-ger!" They tossed rolls of toilet paper in honor of the folks back hom
e who had so thoroughly covered Toomer's Corner in TP that those with untrai
ned eyes would never have known the worst of the snow storm that ripped thro
ugh Alabama had missed Auburn.
But they didn't chant S-E-C.
Maybe it doesn't need to be said anymore. Maybe the conference has such a st
ranglehold on the national title that its fans no longer feel the urge to re
mind the nation which league always seems to wind up hoisting the Waterford
Crystal football.
When Florida capped the 2006 season by whipping Ohio State on this very fiel
d, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany sent a letter to his conference's fans. A
fter all but saying the Gators beat the Buckeyes because they had dumber pla
yers, Delany offered a prediction.
"Let's see if the five- and 10-year trend lines hold or whether the recruiti
ng services and talking heads are seeing a new day," Delany wrote. "We are q
uite proud of our history and tradition and remain optimistic about the futu
re of Big Ten football."Commissioner, the SEC has a five-year trend line it
would like you to see.
This is not to pick on the Big Ten. The Big 12 also takes football very, ver
y seriously. So does the Pac-10, which produced a fine champion (Oregon) tha
t nearly broke the SEC's grip on the crystal football. But despite the Ducks
' best efforts, an SEC team again wound up on the podium as confetti rained.
Auburn coordinator Ted Roof, whose defense held Oregon to its lowest rushing
total since a loss to Boise State in Chip Kelly's head-coaching debut in Se
ptember 2009, believes the competition in the SEC breeds teams capable of su
cceeding on the biggest stage.
"It is such a grind to go through the conference season," Roof said. "It's a
grinder. I think it prepares you for this."
Another reason is the attitude among the top programs in the league. At Alab
ama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and sometimes Tennessee, a team's season
is an utter failure if it doesn't result in a national title. They don't car
e about the Sugar Bowl. They don't care about anything but the crystal footb
all.
Of course, this win-at-all-costs attitude can make for some rather messy sit
uations. Auburn won the national title Monday, but the Tigers will always be
remembered as controversial champions because quarterback Cam Newton's fath
er tried to sell him to Mississippi State for $180,000. Logic would dictate
that a player for sale to one school is for sale to all schools, but no one
has found evidence of any wrongdoing by anyone at Auburn. The NCAA continues
to investigate, though.
"Nothing is ever over, because you never know what tomorrow holds," Auburn a
thletic director Jay Jacobs said late Monday. "But as far as this issue goes
, I have no reservation whatsoever. Cameron has always told the truth and ne
ver done anything wrong."
That attitude also results in a questionable practice in February that may g
ive the SEC an unfair advantage in January. Several SEC schools make a pract
ice of signing more players to letters-of-intent than scholarship availabili
ty would allow. This can result in messy divorces, as players who have outli
ved their usefulness get chased off to lower-division schools or placed on m
edical hardship. In eight of the 10 bowls involving SEC teams, the SEC schoo
l had signed more players over a four-year period than its opponent. This al
lows coaches to cover their recruiting mistakes. In Monday's matchup, Auburn
had signed 19 more players than Oregon over a four-year span. In the Capita
l One Bowl, Alabama had signed 25 more players than Michigan State. In the S
ugar Bowl, Arkansas had signed 30 more players than Ohio State.
The SEC instituted its own oversigning rule in 2009, capping incoming classe
s at 28 players. But come February, some players on scholarship at SEC schoo
ls will still get caught in a numbers crunch. So maybe university presidents
need to pass a rule to level the playing field.
Of course, the conference that has lobbed the most invective at the SEC prob
ably can't say much about the league's must-win attitude now. The Big Ten fo
rfeited its right to be holier-than-thou when Ohio State cut a deal to allow
some of its best players to play in the Sugar Bowl and put off suspensions
for NCAA rules violations. The conferences really aren't as different as som
e would have you believe.
Besides, there is no guarantee new rules would keep the SEC from winning tit
les. Other than a few isolated strongholds such as Texas and Ohio, football
simply means more in the South. Southerners were insulted when the 2004 Aubu
rn team didn't get a chance to play for the national title. What was so good
about the football in Oklahoma and Los Angeles that allowed the Sooners and
Trojans to play for the title? "I believe they were the No. 1 team in the n
ation," Auburn offensive tackle Lee Ziemba said Monday, "and they didn't get
to play for [the title]."
Jacobs understands all too well. The Auburn AD played on the Bo Jackson-led
1983 team that assumed it would rise to No. 1 after it beat Michigan in the
Sugar Bowl and the two teams ranked ahead of the Tigers lost. "We went to be
d thinking we'd won the national championship," Jacobs said. "Then we woke u
p the next morning and we hadn't."
Miami, ranked No. 5 going into the bowls, had rocketed past the Tigers to No
. 1.
The Tigers won one Monday for the 1983 team. And for the 2004 team. And for
the SEC -- even if their fans didn't feel the need to boast on the conferenc
e's behalf.
Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley is the SEC in microcosm. He's fast, str
ong, dominant. He can outmuscle a lineman, split a double-team and outrun a
quarterback. Between the snap and the whistle, he usually is a joy to watch.
But Fairley also grabs facemasks and hits late. His greatness, like the SEC
's, has a dark side that occasionally overshadows the excellence.
So it was quite appropriate after the game when Fairley posted this on Twitt
er. "The State of Alabama runs College Football!!" Fairley wrote.
He's correct. The SEC office is in Birmingham. | Y******e
发帖数: 20256 | 2 too long!
我在电视上看到球员chant了，举起旗那个球员，交了几次。 | W********s
发帖数: 2256 | |
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