Long touted as the gold standard of college football, the SEC has had a rough bowl season. Despite looking menacing while punching itself in the face on a weekly basis this fall, the SEC hasn’t fared well against the rest of the college football world this postseason. After Mississippi’s blowout loss to Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl on Tuesday night, the conference that supposedly means more dropped to 0-4 in bowl play, including 0-3 against the Big 12 (the conference Texas and Oklahoma just left high and dry for the promise of SEC riches, it should be said).
In a quote befitting the holiday season: Buzz, your girlfriend, woof.
But wait, it gets worse. After the Red Raiders' 34-7 beatdown of former coach Mike Leach, who spent all week bad mouthing Texas Tech after they fired him for allegedly locking a former player in an electrical shed for hours while dealing with a concussion, defensive lineman Tony Bradford did a radio interview with Tech reporter Chris Level. There he revealed the Red Raiders’ real motivation for handing out an a$$-whooping, and it looks bad for the SEC. Like real bad.
It’s tough to corroborate these things … and yet there is no doubt in our minds that this actually happened. When you combine youthful machismo with SEC arrogance you get one hell of a potent cocktail. So potent in fact, that a 7-5 Bulldogs team missing a bunch of players due to COVID-19 was still talking trash. That takes a special level of hubris only the SEC can produce.
The SEC still has time to turn things around, of course, and another Alabama-Georgia playoff showdown would go a long way in that department. But confidence in the self-righteous juggernaut is waning. Bettors are jumping ship like rats off a flaming shrimp boat. Are the rumors of the SEC’s demise true? Probably not, but it’s nice to dream.
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